The Federalist: How Reboot Culture Transformed The New ‘Twilight Zone’ Into A Hyper-Woke Bummer.
“It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of one’s fears and the summit of one’s knowledge. You are now traveling through a dimension of imagination. You’ve just crossed over into The Twilight Zone.”
This is the opening sequence of Jordan Peele’s “Twilight Zone” reboot, which just concluded its first season on CBS All Access. Fans will recognize these familiar lines from the original 1959-1964 series, but few will notice a very slight edit. In the original series, the line was: “and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge.”
It may feel petty and nitpicky to point out such a near-imperceptible change, but this clearly wasn’t just a slip-up. The re-creators evidently did think it necessary to change “man” and “his” to the gender-neutral “one.”
This little tweak is the perfect microcosm of what is wrong with the latest “Twilight Zone” iteration, which ham-fistedly projects its values onto history. It is so caught up in itself that it can’t face the complexity of history or human nature. It trades the magic of the original for something more glitzy, but ultimately less satisfying.
The Reboot Lets Agenda Get In The Way Of A Good Story
Here is a quick and dirty summary of a few episodes from this latest “Twilight Zone” reboot (look here for a more thorough breakdown of “The Twilight Zone’s “plots):
- In “The Traveler,” a female Alaskan-Native cop is provoked to resent her white coworkers by her drunk brother and an alien. Her white boss spouts Christian platitudes while being a prideful jerk.
- In the convoluted space/Armageddon drama “Six Degrees of Freedom,” the crew to Mars consists of two utterly forgettable, non-threatening white men, an Australian woman who chose her job over her marriage, and a biracial American woman. Their captain is black and a lesbian.
- In “Not All Men,” a meteor shower gives men the excuse they’ve been dying for to become murderous, violent rapists. The only one who resists is a gay teenage boy.
What on earth does any of this have to do with the story? Nothing, and that’s the problem. There’s nothing wrong with trying to give screen time to underrepresented groups. But like the nitpicky opening sequence switch, the recreators have performed verbal acrobatics to insert a political agenda where it does nothing to serve the plot. In place of three-dimensional characters, there are only caricatures. Instead of inviting us to explore the human condition as peers, it shows contempt for characters and viewers alike.
Woke or not, this is still funny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xyhVO-SWfM&list=PLIB5X6SGnEcQFljpGlQaJtNQj1wjX3L1F4
https://liartownusa.tumblr.com/post/155516623750/twilight-zone-introductions-1959-1961
We have really entered the Twilight Zone.
This is number 1,000 of good reasons to stop watching the boob tube, except for the current Jeopardy run and possibly a few other programs.
The ignorant boob tube watchers eat up this crap, which is negative, evil, and destructive.
The new theme is the characters sexuality equates to their virtue’ The gay and lesbian are morally superior to the mundane and deeply flawed hetro. The story’s plotline is only a vehicle to get these points across.
I wish Jordon Peele into the cornfield.
The old saying is: “they can screw up a wet dream” It definitely applies in this case.
The episode with Billy Mummy was one of my favorites from the original series. Unfortunately, Hollywood has lost it’s ability to create anymore. Its all singing, dancing, dating, gameshows, stumbling about on an island or police shows. Nothing original ever comes out anymore and everything seems to have to contain a SJW lean or agenda. I generally watch documentaries or old tv shows. Everything new is crap.
Different Tim, I’ve been without a TV for two years now. Don’t miss it. For three or four years before I got rid of my TV, I didn’t watch any new shows except for old shows, science, history and documentary channels.
8pm I’m usually watching Andy Griffith show. Seen every episode more times than I can count but compared to new stuff at least its entertaining.
Rod Serling wrote many episodes about hate, racism, irrational fears, etc.
Yet he didn’t beat you over the head with them.
They were extremely well written and made their point.
I suppose the target audience these days is just too damn stupid to get subtleties and nuance.
If Rod Serling were still around, Jordan Peele isn’t qualified to fetch his coffee and cigarettes.
I agree Tim, thankfully the old shows didn’t try and shoehorn a minority into every single situation on TV and movies like they do these days.
I see plenty of minorities in NEARLY EVERY SINGLE COMMERCIAL ON TV!
LocoBlancoSaltine MAY 31, 2019 AT 6:12 PM
Don’t forget the to include the gay person also…
Wish it into the cornfield.
Ever since Vic Morrow lost his head decapitated by a rotating helicopter blade The Twilight Zone has gone down hill.
Geoff, I thought a couple of extras were killed, not Vic?
I liked the part where the kid turns the “very bad man” into a Jack-in-the-Box.
Updated TZ episodes.
A 1950’s suburban neighborhood is rocked when they think an alien spaceship crashed in the vicinity. The community is made up of frightened middle class white people with station wagons in their driveways.
Mrs. Robinson: Maybe they’re peaceful.
Mr. Adams: Yeah, but what if they’re not?
Mrs. Cunningham: You men should get your guns right now!
Mr. Burle: She’s right. Let’s get our guns, boys. Let’s put our white hoods on so they know we mean business.
With the community ready to face this threat, out of the darkness comes three young black men, holding hands – three homosexuals.
BLAM BLAM BLAM…within seconds, the three black homosexuals are dead…blood and gore all over the street.
Rob Sterling: Lesson for the ages…what’s alien to you may not be alien to them…in, the Twilight Zone.
It was Vic Morrow and 2 Vietnamese child actors who were killed in that tragic accident.
Without any doubt the worst remake of the Twilight Zone… EVER. It was painful watching the premiere episode. Not only was the virtue signaling intolerable, the actors were obnoxious. The storyline was supringly decent, but overshadowed by leftist platitudes. The production was the only decent part. Hope this “remake” is cancelled soon, because the new version is a mockery of the stellar, original Twilight Zone.
The original Twilight Zone was full of anti-Cold War political bullshit, too.