The Twilight Zone

I am surprised how we didn't cover The Twilight Zone in this class. It has such a great mixture of sci fi and horror elements, brought to you with great story telling. (Also, it is now streaming on Netflix.) It’s a very strong series, influencing many notable Sci Fi and Horror writers, and I would not consider it as mainstream as other renown sci fi shows.

            The episodes run for around 20-30 minutes a piece, and have some thrilling stories packed in. I was originally introduced to the Twilight Zone by my dad when I was younger, back then, the most terrifying episode to me was Nightmare at 20000 feet. Now I would have to say it’s the one with the doll who has a mind of it’s own (Living Doll). Dolls scare the hell out of me, those, and clowns. Stephen King’s “It” is a no go for me. I saw it once when I was younger – never again.

            The Twilight Zone does a good job trying to capture the essence of what the future may hold, but is a little too eager on the timing. For instance, in the episode titled “Steel” features Robots created for boxing matches (Boxing is banned because of the violence.) Boxing Robots, Battle Bots, are futuristic, yes (kind of), but the episode is based in 1974 (broadcasted in ’63). Jumpin’ the gun a little bit.

            However, this does not hinder The Twilight Zone from telling captivating stories.

Fun Fact: Rod Serling passed away in my home town of Rochester, NY. Rest in peace!

Monster Island

I love zombies. I’m not necessarily sure why, perhaps the impending doom to mankind as we know it, halt to civilization, the scenarios that are manifested, or the ample opportunities for cheesy catch phrases. That being said, I felt a need to check out Monster Island.

It is terrifying to think of New York City (as any other city) being overrun by zombies. How they encountered the horde on Liberty Island in the beginning is incredibly vivid, and the entire “Give me…” thought was absolutely horrifying.

When I first read it, I thought Gary was one of the survivors. Well, I guess he did survive, but in a less glamorous way. In fact, it took me a few read-overs to understand that he was a zombie. Obviously, I have never experienced what it is like to be a zombie, but I felt that Wellington did an impeccable job describing it. His description provides an intriguing thought: What if you woke up after you died? What would you think about? What would you feel?

However, I don’t believe the scary part of zombies lie in their physical nature. They are dead bodies that just so happen to move, target practice. Their numbers are vast, and their attitude of constantly feasting upon the morsels of human flesh is kind of messed up, but their significance in symbolism is more chilling than any other undead characteristic.

We as humans are prone to violence, unfortunately against one another. Wars are fought between people have been happening since the beginning of civilized time. This makes me wonder, what if there is a war going on between some powerhouse countries when zombies attack? What if zombies attacked during World War II? Would all the parties involved drop everything and start fighting the zombies to protect mankind? Or would they continue to kill one another in order to obtain their objectives of war, and then kill the zombies that they just made by trying to obtain their objectives, in order to protect mankind? Probably the latter.

I also find it interesting that obtaining the cure for AIDS is the main goal, where the cure for zombies is pushed aside, then again, the cure for AIDS protects the living, the cure for zombies has already been in use, guns and bullets.

Wellington did a great job on providing a fresh concept for zombies. Being able to hinder brain damage by continuing to pump air into the lungs post mortem is one thing. But the addition of any living organism to the menu of the undead is a relatively foreign concept, as well as animal zombification. These ideas challenge most zombie characteristics that have been basically set in stone by other zombie entrepreneurs such as Max Brooks and George Romero. A bold move by Wellington, however he pulled it off quite well

Frankenstein

Frankenstein is one of those subjects that I don’t feel I can really get into because I’ve heard the story so many times. But that’s just me. From a creative standpoint, it’s a great story. Mary Shelley did a fantastic job at creating a monster never seen before, as well as having it seem not so impossible of actually happening.

I remember when I was younger and found out that ‘Frankenstein’ did not refer to the monster, but the scientist in the book, and ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ was the correct terminology for the spliced up body of flesh. Being able to correct my peers on their misnaming of the monster was one of my proudest moments of my childhood, among other things.

In a way, not only did Shelley create the thought of a “failed science experiment” running lose or better yet, “successful science experiment” she created a basic concept of zombies. But also made a direct point to beware of playing God, everyone needs to be loved, and looks aren’t everything.

Side note: Shelley was 18 when she wrote this. That’s crazy!