RD of Your TZ Episode

Imagine that Rod Serling has chosen you to write the next episode of the Twilight Zone.  The deadline for your RD is Wednesday, Oct. 30!

To find some TZ links, look to the left side of the page. You can watch full episodes on the Internet; some are free, and some are not.

Try:

• Hulu
• Netflix
• Amazon
• CBS.com

Consider these aspects of your episode:

    Possible TZ  Topics (not Themes!)

• Humans’ and Aliens’ reactions to each other
• The Afterlife/Zombies, etc.
• Dreams/Nightmares
• Hallucinations
• Humans trying to live on other planets
• Inanimate objects coming to life
• Parallel dimensions
• Twins
• Psychic or telekinetic abilities
• Robots
• Technology's effects on humans
• Time travel
• Magic potions
• Curses 

What's your basic story line?

• basic situation
• complications
• climax
• falling action
• resolution

Summarize your plot in one sentence by filling in the blanks:

The main character, _______________________, 

wants _____________________,

but _____________________________________, 

so ____________________________. 

then, in the end, ________________________________.

What's your underlying theme? 

Rod Serling always had a theme to each episode. In other words, he used the storyline to put across

a provocative life lesson or message he wanted the viewer to think about. 

Example: In "Monsters are Due...," he wanted the viewer to consider what happens when people are confronted with situations they're uncomfortable with because they don't understand them. The people began to blame each other, resulting in an unnecessary death of one of the community members. It turns out the aliens didn't have much difficulty whipping the humans into a frenzy because they were easy to manipulate. The question became: Who were the real monsters, after all?

Possible themes: 

• Prejudice and fear can kill because they can lead to physical violence (guns, wars, etc.).
• Avoid pre-judging people based on their idiosyncracies. 

Other themes from various episodes:

• Be careful what you wish for.
• Beauty, or even just "normalcy," is in the eye of the beholder.
• Bad behavior (greed, hate, jealousy) always has negative consequences.
• Ignorance is the root of prejudice.
• Advances in technology are not always positive.
• Too much technology can fracture human relationships.