Twilight Zone / Ghosts from Subs

Bixby and Oakland on the Twilight Zone

 I was looking at my Favorites list (I'll scrutinize that damn thing to death now, always seeing some episodes too far down or perhaps too far up) and "The Thirty-Fathom Grave rests at #30.

28. The Silence

29. Shadow Play

30. The Thirty-Fathom Grave

31. Third from the Sun

32. Passage on the Lady Anne

33. The New Exhibit

34. Little Girl Lost

You'd think this would perhaps be a bit higher but this show has so many damn good episodes. In the fourth season, a few episodes really stand out, I think, and "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" is one of them for me. I remember going through the fourth season a few years ago. Yes, TZ is simply at its best in the 30 minute format. I guess I don't mind the "padding" in "The Thirty-Fathom Grave", the technical submarine jargon, the military order and how officers follow their commander in Simon Oakland. Kellin as the haunted Bell being "drawn" to where he escaped 20 years prior in WWII by "ghosts of the past"...he "got away once" but returning to the Guadalcanal at the site where a sub lays on the ocean floor, where a banging is heard by all onboard (the doc seeing seaweed where its possible Kellin's crew's ghosts were calling to him might be a manifestation) might not allow Kellin to escape again.

When New Year's falls on Saturday/Sunday, "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" makes for a fine episode to watch on New Year's Day evening right before the final big primetime lineup kicks in gear. I always usually keep that particular viewing time when I revisit the episode. I am disappointed when this doesn't make SYFY's cut during their marathons. I'm sure this would be an ideal Midnight episode, but I just like it as a nice evening Twilight Zone episode. Yep, it has lots of talking. Lots of "What is causing the banging? What could it be?!", Oakland giving orders and trying to run his ship tight, and Kellin at the breaking point. But those ghosts and that banging are spooky. Twilight Zone made its rep on episodes like this one.

Kudos to Serling for having to stretch this out when he intended it to be 30 minutes. The music, which is very much of the TZ library you hear throughout the series, seems to really accentuate the right beats. The episode with its length does have no music plenty of the time, especially during big dialogue scenes but when Kellin is tormented by his ghosts (and that banging on the hull is unnerving) that TZ library is put to great use. You can use the same music over and over again, but when all the ingredients accumulate plus those familiar musical cues, TZ really could create a tapestry.