This isn't the first time somebody has tried to revive Rod Serling's TWILIGHT ZONE, the classic genre anthology series that originally ran from 1959 to 1964. There was the 1983 feature film version from Steven Spielberg and John Landis that was, ultimately, forgettable. There was also a revival series in the late '80s that was run by the likes of BABYLON 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski and sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison. It was an admirable show that had its ups and downs, but without Serling's inputthe creator of the ZONE had passed on into the Zone in 1975it just wasn't the same thing. So what makes the UPN network think they can recapture the magic of THE TWILIGHT ZONE with this new take on the series?
Actually, they probably don't care one way or another, as long as they get people to tune in. Which they just might do, considering the network's popular (if increasingly lame) STAR TREK spin-off ENTERPRISE serves as a lead-in to THE TWILIGHT ZONE. So with a built-in viewer base and Serling's name (and name brand) in hand, does this new ZONE have what it takes to transport us to another dimension?
It might, though it's still too early to tell. For starters, the executive producers behind the program have a genre pedigree that cannot be ignored. Ira Steven Behr guided the underrated STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE through its best years, while Pen Densham, along with John Watson and Mark Stern, were behind the modern version of THE OUTER LIMITS. Add to that some high profile guest stars like Jason Alexander and Shannon Elizabeth, a budget that would have made Serling's producer Buck Houghton blush, andone hopesa reverence for what the original show was all about, and you might just have the makings of a decent anthology series.
The new ZONE is an hour long, offering two half-hour episodes a weeka wise move considering that the classic show's weak fourth season switched from half-hour to hour segments. First up is "Evergreen," a sort of "Stepford Children" riff that depicts a private community that is committed to straightening out wayward kids. One such teen is Jenna (Amber Tamblyn), a garden variety punkor whatever they call it these dayswith multi-colored hair, a few piercings, and a couple of well-placed tattoos. Nothing to get too worried about in this day and age, but her parents would beg to differ. Determined to get their daughter to fly rightor to break her willthey've put all the money they have into the move to Evergreen. Upon arrival, a spiked glass of lemonade sends the teen reeling, and when she awakens she finds herself well on the path to homogenization: no piercings, no tats, ordinary colored hair, andgasp!wearing the town uniform.
Jenna refuses Jason Alexander and Tyler Christopher in the premiere episode of UPN's THE TWILIGHT ZONE © UPNto conform, however, and she soon meets a boy named Logan (Jesse Moss) who is a fellow free spirit. Together the two make plans to drink his hidden stash of booze and listen to MP3s (told you these kids were rebels), but Logan is caught by the local authorities. A town meeting among the parents results in a vote which sends the boy to what the kids are told is a military academy... though it's the kind of academy that you never come back from. Soon Jenna is on her own, desperate to avoid Logan's fate and save her younger sister too. But how often do you get a happy ending in the Twilight Zone?
"Evergreen" is, if anything, dark, and that's refreshingespecially when one is accustomed to the Candyland stories that UPN's ENTERPRISE doles out each week. What it is lacking is the humor that often peppered Serling's show, but that's made up for in the second segment of the premiere. "One Night at Mercy" gives us Jason Alexanderyes, George from SEINFELDas the personification of Death. He's been admitted to a hospital after attempting to kill himself, which as it turns out is not an easy task for the Grim Reaper. In fact, it's impossible.
What follows for the rest of the episode is a debate between Death and the admitting physician, Dr. Ferguson (Tyler Christopher). The good doctor doesn't believe Death's story at first, but when the Reaper pulls a couple of otherworldly parlor tricks (including appearing as Ferguson's dead mother), he is convinced. Death then goes on to claim that he has quit his job. He's sick of it all, and depressed too. So people all over the world suddenly just stop dyingwhich won't necessarily make Ferguson's job any easier.
Jason Alexander's dry take on his character carries this segment a great deal. His Death is sardonic but honest, resigned to his fate but not so soulless as to blindly follow it without question. The result is a funny but interesting take on the notion of death, but without Alexander's unique touch one fears the episode would not have fared so well. It's an otherwise by-the-numbers exercise that throws in a twist ending seemingly for the sake of having a twist ending.
Ultimately, both segments are decent, if not exactly fantastic installments. It's nice to see the show's willingness to explore the darkness of the ZONE, but there's no getting around the difficult task at hand here. It must be said: remaking THE TWILIGHT ZONE is a nearly impossible task, if only because without Rod Serling (as narrator or writer), it's not really the ZONE. Forest Whitaker is fine as the new narrator of the show, but the bottom line is he is nothing more than a stand-in for a guy who won't be back anytime soon.
It remains to be seen where the show will go from here. Upcoming stories sound interesting if time-honored (a character travels back in time to kill an infant Hitler, a racist inexplicably finds his own skin color changing), but unless the show gets to the heart of what made Serling's program workexploring that darn old human conditionthis modern version will be THE TWILIGHT ZONE in name only.
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