Monday, October 29, 2012

TWILIGHT ZONE / The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street - 1960

It's the last Monster Monday Halloween Countdown 2012 with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. So, what better way to end it than with this classic episode of TWILIGHT ZONE that my whole family watched when it originally aired on March 4, 1960?!.. Pretty cool, huh?

Eegah!! sent over a soundclip for our listening enjoyment, therefore, you can push the big red 'GO' button located directly under the poster of THE CREEP, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's Rod Serling filling us in on the skinny... The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street!

The nice quiet day on good old Maple Street USA is disturbed by a mysterious UFO landing nearby. Claude Akins plays neighbor Steve Brand, he and the others are very curious about what they just experienced... Kinda weird, kinda spooky!

Then, all the electricity goes off, Tommy reads lots of comics and says that he thinks it's an alien invasion from space!

And, when odd things start happening, like this guy's car starting all by itself, well, maybe there's something to Tommy's story about aliens living on the block in advance of an invasion!

Things get dangerous fast, that's Jack (THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET) Weston as Charlie and Jason (CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS) Johnson as the old man.

Charlie overreacts, he shoots and kills their neighbor Pete, who went out on a scouting mission earlier! That is not black powder.

Charlie gets stoned by the neighbors for killing Pete!

Then, Tommy gets attacked because he knew everything from the beginning, he must be the alien!

Everybloody just starts freakin' out!

Then, the ding-dang lawn mower starts up and begins mowing the lawn all by itself!!.... Bibida, bibida, bibida!

Just in case it slipped your mind where you are.

Monsters from the Id pay a little visit to the 300 block of Maple Street!

As we pull back to a nearby hillside, we see two aliens who have just finished their work, seeing how easy it is transforming peaceful Earthlings into bloodthirsty maniacs. I swear, after watching this again, I could only think of one thing... Fox News!

The outfits worn by the aliens and this saucer are from FORBIDDEN PLANET, only, the saucer is upside down.

7 comments:

Prof. Grewbeard said...

"Fox News"- i thought of that as soon as i read the title of your post! nice one.

Adam Gott said...

One of the best episodes from the series for sure and I could totally see it happening today (minus the monster/alien comics references).

Exeter said...

WoW!
Great little capsule summary...
And yep, the saucer is upside down!
Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Perhaps a brain slip... Jack Weston was NOT in THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN. BUT he WAS in the earlier THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET- both starring Don Knotts.

As for the boy who plays, TOMMY. I had a great feeling of recognition for the actor when I recently viewed this episode. He was previously in only one other SIGNIFICANT acting role, that of the young boy in AUNTIE MAME with Rosalind Russell. If you google the actors name, you'll discover he's now a LAWYER and see some great NOW photos!!!

Questions?/Comments? * This Has Been e-mail From:
"Dr. Mark" Hill * The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ drmark7@juno.com

TABONGA! said...

Anon - Weird, I totally thought Jack was the one yelling "Go Luther" in the background in Mr. Chicken, have corrected the error, thanks...

Anonymous said...

Funny, I thought of MSNBC. Claude Akins was great.

Anonymous said...

>>>Weird, I totally thought Jack was the one yelling "Go Luther" in the background in Mr. Chicken

*_*_*
The correct quote is: "Atta Boy, Luther!"

Have to keep things correct as I'm one of the biggest fans of THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN. Here is the page I made on what I feel is the greatest horror comedy of all time!:

http://www.kiddiematinee.com/g-gmchicken.html

Questions?/Comments? * This Has Been e-mail From:
"Dr. Mark" Hill * The Doctor Of Pop Culture /*/ drmark7@juno.com

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