Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión
The Twilight Zone (1985): “Button, Button”
From the Reagan-era version of the classic series comes an episode based on a classic short story by author Richard Matheson, a key contributor to the original Twilight Zone. This episode is about a young couple with money problems who are presented with a mysterious box. If they open up the box and push a button, they end up killing someone they don't know. But they also get a lot of money.
But they do not really want to kill anybody.
Yet they can really use the money.
But they do not really want to kill anybody...
As you might guess, this episode was inspired by the same short story that inspired the recent Cameron Diaz movie The Box. And though the episode is not that long, it seems to stretch things out to the point I am almost scared to see what the movie adds to the storyline because even the short version seems way longer than it really needs to be.
It does not help that the show portrays its two main characters more unsympathetically than the short story does -- thus removing a key element of suspense from the ending. Thus, instead of wondering if the young couple will resist the urge to give in to temptation, I could not help but wonder what was taking them so long. And since they were so unlikable in the first place, it was a bit hard to worry too much about what would happen to them -- and that is not really the type of reaction I should have been having if the episode had been made correctly.
Gee, I miss Rod Serling. He may have been a bit heavy-handed at times when he was writing the original Twilight Zone, but at least he knew how to hire writers who knew something about storytelling.
And think that this episode was part of the same anthology series writer Harlan Ellison was involved with. What happened?
Edited to add:
Apparently Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay for this episode but was so dissatisfied with the version that eventually aired -- especially its new ending -- that he had his name in the screenwriting credits changed to Logan Swanson. After seeing this episode, I can understand why.
The Twilight Zone (1985): “Button, Button”
From the Reagan-era version of the classic series comes an episode based on a classic short story by author Richard Matheson, a key contributor to the original Twilight Zone. This episode is about a young couple with money problems who are presented with a mysterious box. If they open up the box and push a button, they end up killing someone they don't know. But they also get a lot of money.
But they do not really want to kill anybody.
Yet they can really use the money.
But they do not really want to kill anybody...
As you might guess, this episode was inspired by the same short story that inspired the recent Cameron Diaz movie The Box. And though the episode is not that long, it seems to stretch things out to the point I am almost scared to see what the movie adds to the storyline because even the short version seems way longer than it really needs to be.
It does not help that the show portrays its two main characters more unsympathetically than the short story does -- thus removing a key element of suspense from the ending. Thus, instead of wondering if the young couple will resist the urge to give in to temptation, I could not help but wonder what was taking them so long. And since they were so unlikable in the first place, it was a bit hard to worry too much about what would happen to them -- and that is not really the type of reaction I should have been having if the episode had been made correctly.
Gee, I miss Rod Serling. He may have been a bit heavy-handed at times when he was writing the original Twilight Zone, but at least he knew how to hire writers who knew something about storytelling.
And think that this episode was part of the same anthology series writer Harlan Ellison was involved with. What happened?
Edited to add:
Apparently Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay for this episode but was so dissatisfied with the version that eventually aired -- especially its new ending -- that he had his name in the screenwriting credits changed to Logan Swanson. After seeing this episode, I can understand why.
Labels: La Dimensión Desconocida 1985, Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión IV, Ricardo Matheson, Series de Televisión de Ciencia Ficción II, Series de Televisión de Halloween I
posted by Tonio Kruger at 9:21 PM
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