The Twilight Zone - Hocus-Pocus and Frisby

This last Twilight Zone marathon, Syfy didn’t show “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby” as it has in the past, often in the afternoons, giving it exposure that, when reading the room when you spend time with Zoners on Twitter or message board sites dedicated to the show, it wouldn’t otherwise have. Its sense of humor and use of aliens as participants in the joke of a “self-flatterer” who always boasts of many great historical achievements, including embellishing about direct communication with Dwight D Eisenhower and Henry Ford, being a soldier of great experience, holding many, many degrees at the very best colleges, and even recalling his great intellect was put to good use when asked to investigate a vast room of computers that he proved were in various stages of disrepair and faulty condition. Aliens wanting to attain the earth’s most accomplished human for their “zoo”—sort of bringing back to mind “People Are Alike All Over”—settle their sights/attention on Frisby, considering how he claims to be of such importance and significance, wanting him to be that special specimen. It is really a one-joke episode—an elaborate liar whose many falsities can’t even line up with any true synchronicity, if the dates of when his accomplishments took place were examined with any real certainty. Because the aliens don’t have an understanding of lie in their interpretation of “earth language” (well, the English language, it seems), Frisby’s admission to being a spinner of tall tales doesn’t resonate. They still want to take Frisby to their planet to be the specimen of great value on earth, so a harmonica is the device needed to upend their kidnapping of the yarn-spinning small town gas station attendant/seller-of-goods. Just a few huffs-and-puffs on the harmonica, a rip of a discordant sound, and the aliens go berserk, simply unable to deal with that, some even collapsing to the floor of their ship (the Forbidden Planet set and props never ceased to produce Twilight Zone with dressing for their scifi stories!). But the locals who happen to hang out at Frisby’s store just can’t help but laugh aloud when Frisby, after a surprise birthday celebration, tries to tell them of that experience with the aliens on their flying saucer, having been whisked away from the porch into the air right to the entrance of their ship.

Just to add color to his tall tales, Frisby would mention to the likes of Howard McNear, Dabbs Greer, and Clem Bevans (a trio of good ole boys with faces quite recognizable to fans of 50s and 60s television) what his nicknames were by those in need of his “services”:

    Ol' Enfiladin' Frisby

    Old Cumulus Frisby

    Ol' Archimedes Frisby

    "Rear-Engine" and "Ol' Rear-Engine Frisby

    Stonewall Frisby

    Ol' Rocket Thrust Frisby

    Old Liquid Propellant Frisby

    Ol' Mile-A-Minute Frisby

Look, I think this is the kind of episode that will more than likely divide TZ fans. This will never be an episode I feel any need to see again, but I still often myself watching when it is on. It is completely inoffensive, I think, if you are in the right frame of mind, in a good mood, or in no real need for the more thought-provoking TZ content we often associate with the series. Frisby is such a blowhard with nothing but eye-rolling nonsense rolled out to his friends every day, delivering it all with a great deal of panache and bravado. You always knew he was full of shit, but because he was so harmless and funny in his absurd anecdotes (and could co-opt them to any conversation, pulling out his yarns with relative ease, even though when challenged to explain in more detail just how he could be able to do all of those experiences, he had to manage a slippery escape) those in attendance just pooh-poohed it all with a grin and pbbst. The alien makeup (imagine the worst face-stretching plastic surgery, but the aliens have beady dark eyes) is quite unnerving considering the beings are rather ignorant and gullible. Often the aliens are sinister or highly superior to humankind. Here in this episode, they almost take a hostage back to their world who is nothing more or less a lying country boy in overalls with a penchant for weaving bloated fibs that couldn’t possibly be realistic. They just had no reason to disbelieve this obvious dipshitter. So TZ fans might consider the episode a bit of piffle that isn’t a necessary viewing experience. But if you like the lead and the cast that play off him, this might go down a bit easier. But the reaction I noticed a year or two on Twitter was that “Hocus-Pocus and Frisby” was a bathroom break episode. It doesn’t reach inside you and imprint any strong meaning. It doesn’t provoke serious debate or thought. It doesn’t tug on the heartstrings or have you contemplating the many facets of life. The human condition isn’t surgically investigated in any way. This is just a light-hearted romp with Andy Devine playing a bullshit artist, and he sculpts some real whoppers, that’s for sure. 2.5/5

*Decades Network did show "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" on New Year's Day, unlike Syfy, at 8 in the morning (central time), so it got some exposure. But I just don't think it makes the cut for many TZ fans. Perhaps it does have its fans, a little contingency who giggle at Frisby and take it all in stride.