A word or two of explanation: I love The Twilight Zone. I have seen every episode of its original run (1959-1964) at least once and own them all on Blu-ray. Sometime last year I started watching the show from the beginning, with the intent of blogging on each of the 156 episodes. I watched all 36 episodes of Season One and blogged on most of them, but have been on something of a hiatus while trying to finish my MLIS. Now that that’s over, it’s time to re-enter the Zone.
Other than my own thoughts, ideas and opinions, I have three print resources that are invaluable for all things Zone related:
The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree
The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams, Jr.
Dimensions Behind The Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television’s Groundbreaking Series by Stewart T. Stanyard
And now, let’s jump into Season Two:
Season Two, Episode 1
“King Nine Will Not Return”
Original air date: September 30, 1960
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Buzz Kulik
Production Costs: $61,812.53
Truth is stranger - and usually more interesting - than fiction. That’s certainly the case with the opener for the second season of The Twilight Zone, a Rod Serling-penned story called “King Nine Will Not Return.”
In 1959 (about a year before Serling wrote the story), a group of British geologists exploring the Libyan desert discovered the wreckage of an American B-24 bomber called the Lady Be Good, which had disappeared during WWII sixteen years earlier. The geologists discovered the plane’s guns and ammo intact, its water jugs full - but found absolutely no sign of the nine-man crew.
This was just too good for Serling to pass up. He adapted the story and acquired the talented actor Bob Cummings to play Captain James Embry, a man who awakens in the desert amidst the wreckage of the King Nine, but with no traces of his crew.
For anyone who’s been watching The Twilight Zone from the beginning, the biggest problem with “King Nine” is its similarity to the series pilot “Where is Everybody?” One of Serling’s most-used themes in the show is the “man in isolation” theme. This wasn’t the first time Zone fans would see it and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.
But despite the “We’ve seen this before” problem, “King Nine” does have some good points and is certainly worth watching. First, Cummings gives a convincing performance that still holds up well 50 years later. (Serling pushed for an Emmy nomination for Cummings, but didn’t get it.) Second, the downed plane in the middle of the desert makes for a stark, impressive shot, all the more so considering that this was well before the days of CGI and the crew had to transport and reassemble an actual aircraft in the desert area of Lone Pine, California. (Somehow Serling talked the Air Force into letting him use one of their B-25 war surplus planes for $2,500 rather than the original asking price of $345,000.)
Although it had nothing to do with the show itself, “King Nine” marks the first time Serling appears onscreen at the beginning and end of each episode (although he did in the Season One finale, “A World of His Own.”)
3/5
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