What if you could go back home in time, to meet your younger self? That's the heart of our film choice this week, a teleplay from the first season of The Twilight Zone.
This is a personal favorite. Serling sure knew how to evoke memory. Especially, but not only here. The child doesn’t anticipate loss; the grownup cannot undo it. Having moved though those seasons I feel like the old man in the wonderful Dickens story you shared at Christmas. In our latter years, if it please God, the storehouse of memory is always within “walking distance.”
And I did listen closely this time to the father/son conversation near the end: the older Martin had his summer and must move on so the younger Martin may have his.
Nostalgia is indeed a good thing, but one must be careful not to fall into a kind of paralysis such as the graduate who long afterwards continues to hang out at the high school parking lot.
Later in the program's first season, Serling wrote a similar themed episode - albeit with a tragic ending - titled A Stop At Willoughby. Serling lived in southwestern Connecticut for a few years in the 1950s, and in this script made references to actual stops on the New York Metro North/New Haven Railroad line.
This is a personal favorite. Serling sure knew how to evoke memory. Especially, but not only here. The child doesn’t anticipate loss; the grownup cannot undo it. Having moved though those seasons I feel like the old man in the wonderful Dickens story you shared at Christmas. In our latter years, if it please God, the storehouse of memory is always within “walking distance.”
Great episode, thank you.
And I did listen closely this time to the father/son conversation near the end: the older Martin had his summer and must move on so the younger Martin may have his.
Nostalgia is indeed a good thing, but one must be careful not to fall into a kind of paralysis such as the graduate who long afterwards continues to hang out at the high school parking lot.
Later in the program's first season, Serling wrote a similar themed episode - albeit with a tragic ending - titled A Stop At Willoughby. Serling lived in southwestern Connecticut for a few years in the 1950s, and in this script made references to actual stops on the New York Metro North/New Haven Railroad line.
Thanks for this suggestion! Twilight Zone had some stellar shows.
Nostalgia is so perilous, because so much that is good has been taken away. And yet...Blessed be the Name of the Lord.
One of the BEST episodes from one of the BEST shows from “The Golden Age of Television” …
Absolutely!