Block of TZ Post SYFY Marathon

Rod presenting Man in the Bottle

• The Invaders - I wish I would have watched this later at night when it was on  NYE at 10:25 PM, but I'm glad I finished this one uncut on Netflix (my viewings for tonight will be from Netflix and perhaps a few from HULU) on our new 58 inch smart television (we waited and waited for a bit, saving and saving and putting this luxury back until last week). Agnes Moorehead, to me, is basically in a slasher plot with the invaders of the title hobbling about in tin can space suits that reminded me of little robot toys firing itty bitty lasers that cause welts on her skin. Moorehead never uttering anything but frustration and pain, defending herself while her invaders coordinate attacks to try and stop her, without as much as one word is quite taxing, but she's obviously game for this kind of difficult role. Granted, she's mostly scampering about her house looking for the invaders, having to counterattack her own knives used against her while finally wrapping one of the tin suits in a blanket, bashing it against wood, eventually boxing it before dropping it into an open fire. But that ending with the Forbidden Planet ship and the wreckage (obviously a different prop) after she wields that hatchet is what really I think has given this episode its rep. This episode isn't quite in my personal top tier, but I still recognize its importance. The non-talking part for Moorehead and the twist of who the invaders are...can't compliment either enough.

The Invaders

Nervous Man in a 4 Dollar Room

11:00pm – Dust

11:25pm – The Invaders

11:50pm – The Man in the Bottle

12:15am – Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room

12:40am – A Thing About Machines

1:05am – Nick of Time

1:30am – The Lateness of the Hour

1:55am – The Trouble With Templeton

2:20am – Once Upon a Time

2:45am – A Quality of Mercy

• Man in the Bottle - Poor Adler and his wife, Janiss, will never escape debt operating that dead end pawn shop. They couldn't help give away millions to locals that they knew, squandered a first wish on fixing broken glass on a display case, and the wish for power in a foreign country where you can't be voted out was a recipe for disaster. Ruskin, with that impeccable voice and sinister laugh, is every bit the anti-genie so often associated with such a wish-giver to those desperate and yearning for the "anticipated windfall" that comes with three four wishes. Ruskin's well-put-together, sophisticated, well-tailored genie looks as if he just visited Saville Row before being let out of the bottle found in an ashcan by a poor frequent visitor to the shop (looking for just a dollar). I am always amused at how Ruskin is the antithesis of what a genie is often presented to me. But the wishes are a monkey's paw. At the end, the couple, debts stacking up, are just where they were before the genie ever visited upon them four wishes. This is an episode I barely ever watch, even during marathons. I don't hate it, and the cast is fun. Just not an episode that I look forward to every marathon.
• Nervous Man in a 4 Dollar Room - Nervous nail-biter Jackie Rhoades is told by William Gordon's George to kill a bar owner not paying up as the mob demands or cooperating. Inside a four-wall square room, Jackie (Mantell) sees his reflection in every mirror wanting to replace him. Like a tougher, thick-skinned, secure and stronger-minded side of Jackie kept buried inside, this personality reflecting back wants to take charge while the current Jackie walking around repeats "George" as  his sweaty, nervy, self-defeated presence wastes a life in crime and cowardice. I read that Jackie says George 56 times. I would probably laugh at the script after Serling's dictation was printed to page. I think anyone seeing the new and improved Jackie appreciated it after spending twenty minutes with the shriveling, quivering weasel. Good to see a confident John Rhoades ditch that clown.
• A Thing About Machines - Haydn as food critic, Bartlett Finchley, isn't exactly a sympathetic character. Far from it. He rips into everyone he meets, with very little nice to say. The television repairman (played by Barney Phillips, who is rather wasted when compared to his famous "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?') and his typist (Barbara Stuart) both understand that first hand. So it isn't a surprise that the machines in his mansion revolt against him. The way he smashes clocks, tosses radios, throws phones, and tosses chairs into televisions...that the car chases him around yards, through neighborhoods, and eventually into a pool is really just expected considering this is The Twilight Zone. Haydn's character is so prone to outburst, easy to rant all vitriolic, and lift his voice complete with a sneer that bites as much as his tongue that by episode's end we want the machines to drive him crazy. It certainly doesn't help he's such a snob with a vocabulary packed full with poisoned tip.

Finchley not happy with his machines

I just couldn't bring myself to watch Nick of Time so late. It has always been one of those episodes I like to watch in the early afternoon. I think it will fit nicely tomorrow on Sunday. So the next block is devoted to an early morning of 1st of January that I fell asleep through right after watching the "The Lateness of the Hour" - "A Quality of Mercy".