The Twilight Zone - Black Leather Jackets
Let’s get to the brass tacks, shall we? Black Leather Jackets is at the very bottom of the totem pole or
quite close to the lower rung of any Twilight Zone ladder. Still, I have seen TZ
fans defend this and even the worst of the worst, Caesar and Me, so it isn’t necessarily a surprise some might object
to my vocal rejection of Black Leather
Jackets. While some TZ episodes are mediocre but have their merits, I just
see very little to recommend about Black
Leather Jackets. It summons Brando in The
Wild One, but incorporates aliens in disguise planning to (*yawn*) colonize
the planet. Stationed throughout the planet are these aliens disguised as
humans, considering the human race unworthy to continue, with plans to poison
the drinking water at a certain coordinated time.
This episode follows three aliens with black hair, white shirts, cold eyes, jeans, and black leather jackets. They arrive in a small town and one of them (Lee Kinsolving) falls for a pretty teenage neighbor (Shelley Fabares), causing some friction with his boys (Michael Forest and Tom Gilleran). When Kinsolving realizes that not all of the humans are “killers, destroyers, haters, and evil”, he appeals to his species not to commit to their annihilation plan but will they even listen? And if they don’t listen, will Kinsolving be able to thwart their efforts? Infiltrating the human race as cops, medics, and citizens, the aliens have positioned themselves quite well. I might make this episode actually sound quite better than it really is with my synopsis, but it is quite inconsequential. Kinsolving finds unlikely romance with susceptible Fabares although their chemistry is null and void. Kinsolving is this blank canvas that remains blank. Forest has plenty of close ups of his eyes and when they communicate to their leader back on the homeworld all we see is this eye on a monitor. Oh and the technology used in this house with no furniture and just a few consoles with blinking lights and a few switches is quite unimpressive. The budget was quite tight. The story, too, was lacking in inspiration as were the performances.
Simply put: nothing about Black Leather Jackets but perhaps the tragic outcome of human disbelief resulting in the destruction of the human race (and even that has been done far more successfully elsewhere) resonates. The fifth season had its goodies, but there were also clear signs of wear and tear to Serling and company that showed obvious creative fatigue. Black Leather Jackets, to me, is a clear example of that. Forest, as mentioned, has close-ups to his eyes because he can influence the minds of humans to forget or obey as well as open windows and turn knobs to doors. It does allow for some special effects tricks and allows us to see how dangerous they are. Ultimately this is just the same old tricks used before. Kinsolving is a cold fish and his neighbors call for him to be taken away to the loony bin…not that it would have made much difference anyway. What is one family going to do about a planet overrun by aliens?
This episode follows three aliens with black hair, white shirts, cold eyes, jeans, and black leather jackets. They arrive in a small town and one of them (Lee Kinsolving) falls for a pretty teenage neighbor (Shelley Fabares), causing some friction with his boys (Michael Forest and Tom Gilleran). When Kinsolving realizes that not all of the humans are “killers, destroyers, haters, and evil”, he appeals to his species not to commit to their annihilation plan but will they even listen? And if they don’t listen, will Kinsolving be able to thwart their efforts? Infiltrating the human race as cops, medics, and citizens, the aliens have positioned themselves quite well. I might make this episode actually sound quite better than it really is with my synopsis, but it is quite inconsequential. Kinsolving finds unlikely romance with susceptible Fabares although their chemistry is null and void. Kinsolving is this blank canvas that remains blank. Forest has plenty of close ups of his eyes and when they communicate to their leader back on the homeworld all we see is this eye on a monitor. Oh and the technology used in this house with no furniture and just a few consoles with blinking lights and a few switches is quite unimpressive. The budget was quite tight. The story, too, was lacking in inspiration as were the performances.
Simply put: nothing about Black Leather Jackets but perhaps the tragic outcome of human disbelief resulting in the destruction of the human race (and even that has been done far more successfully elsewhere) resonates. The fifth season had its goodies, but there were also clear signs of wear and tear to Serling and company that showed obvious creative fatigue. Black Leather Jackets, to me, is a clear example of that. Forest, as mentioned, has close-ups to his eyes because he can influence the minds of humans to forget or obey as well as open windows and turn knobs to doors. It does allow for some special effects tricks and allows us to see how dangerous they are. Ultimately this is just the same old tricks used before. Kinsolving is a cold fish and his neighbors call for him to be taken away to the loony bin…not that it would have made much difference anyway. What is one family going to do about a planet overrun by aliens?
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