The Twilight Zone Scripts of Earl Hamner

Rating:
Summary: Lost & Found in the Zone
Review: Earl Hamner is truly the "lost" writer of the Twilight Zone. Author of eight scripts for the original series, making him fourth in terms of production (behind Rod Serling, Charles Beaumont, and Richard Matheson, in that order), he has nonetheless failed to achieve a major reputation in the world of Twilight Zone fans. Part of this may be due to the fact that Marc Scott Zicree all but ignored Hamner's contributions in his seminal analysis of the series, "The Twilight Zone Companion"; another likely factor is that Hamner later made his reputation with "The Waltons," about as un-Twilight Zoneish a TV program as it is possible to imagine.

But this wonderful collection makes it clear that, though not on the level of the "big three," Hamner was an important writer for the series, bringing a down-home rural sensibility to a program which was more often urban and contemporary in focus. Several of his works published here, including "Jess-Belle," "The Hunt," and "Stopover in a Quiet Town," deserve to rank highly in any overall assessment of the series. All are classics, and have stood the test of time.

It must be admitted, however, that this handsomely-produced volume also points up Hamner's limitations as a Twilight Zone writer. Some of the scripts, such as "A Piano in the House," are merely mediocre. But some are truly ghastly--none more so than "Black Leather Jackets," a notorious stink-bomb of an episode from the final season (featuring, and I am not making this up, beatnik bikers from outer space!). Incredibly--almost unbelievably--the original script as published in this collection is even worse than the transcendentally-terrible episode as aired, with even more absurd dialogue and ludicrous plot develoments.

But in truth, for the devoted Twilight Zone fan, even the bad scripts and episodes have their value--if only to point up the wild contrast with the show's established classics. At its worst, as in "Black Leather Jackets," Twilight Zone still remained enormously enjoyable television, and reading the weakest scripts contained in this book is still fun. It is worth noting, too, that in at least one case, a Hamner episode generally dismissed as a failure as produced is revealed to have been simply a victim of poor acting and directing. "The Bewitchin' Pool," Twilight Zone's final program, is never more than intermittently interesting on screen, but the script is a lovely effort, beautifully written and paced.

Finally, a word of commendation is due Tony Albarella for his superb commentaries on each of Hamner's efforts. These essays are surely the most complete analyses of any Twilight Zone works since Marc Scott Zicree, and Albarella's keen insights offer a necessary corrective to Zicree's often overzealous and dismissive criticisms. The writer also offers original interview material with many of the actors from Hamner's episodes, making this book not only a testament to Hamner's talents but also a celebration of the program itself. A generous photo section (unusual in books of this type) adds to the nostalgic glow of this volume.

In all, a wonderful contribution to the literature of the Twilight Zone. What a pleasure to see Earl Hamner, the "lost" Twilight Zone writer, once again found!

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular
Review: Earl Hamner Jr wrote some of the finest Twilight Zone scripts aired on TV. This book is simply a sample of his greatest work in script form. It is a book meant for those who want to see how the original script read. I am one of those people. I personally believe the TWILIGHT ZONE is one of the most imaginitive shows ever developed for Television, and any time I can get the scripts in written form will be a treasure.
If you are a fan of the Twilight Zone, you will enjoy this treasure this book has to offer. Since I am an avid fan, this book comes as a wonderful asset to my collection.
I would like to see EVERY TZ story written for fans to read. As for now, we have these treasures to enjoy along with some written by Rod Serling himself and others.
I hope to see more books like this one that are written for avid viewers of the original Twilight Zone like myself.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best TV script books
Review: Having read and/or casually perused more than thirty so-called 'TV script books', I can easily say that this new book is one of the best. As has been mentioned, Earl Hamner was among the forgotten writers of "The Twilight Zone" (Montgomery Pittman, Hamner, Jerry Sohl, plus a handful of others who wrote only one or two segments). His contribution to the series numbers only eight episodes, but two of these are surely among the most memorable in the entire series ("Jess-Belle", "Stopover in a Quiet Town").

At this juncture, three other volumes of "Twilight Zone"
scripts are available to us, including those of Richard
Matheson and George Clayton Johnson. Rod Serling's scripts
have not as yet been published, nor have those of
Charles Beaumont. The two "Twilight Zone Scripts" volumes containing the scripts of Matheson, released in 2001 and 2002, as well as the "Twilight Zone Scripts and Stories" of Johnson were somewhat of a disappointment. Not the scripts themselves, but the way in which they were presented.
Those of Matheson were edited (if you can call it that)
by Stanley Wiater. But really, Wiater did little more than re-state what has already been said elsewhere about Matheson's
episodes. Here and there, a new tidbit from Matheson himself is added into the commentary, nothing too special. No interviews with actors from Matheson's episodes were done,
nor is there any special insight into the material. Johnson's
volume (now out of print) is welcome, but slim and altogether lacking commentary.

So, it is with "The Twilight Zone Scripts of Hamner" that we get what we were after. The scripts are preceded by thoughtful, thorough, and occasionally critical commentary by Albarella that matches or surpasses the level of Marc Zicree's in "The Twilight Zone Companion". Albarella obviously went to great lengths to get anecdotes from stars of Hamner episodes including such luminaries whose voices we don't hear often: Anne Francis, James Best, Barry Morse, plus lesser-known actors Nancy Malone, Kevin Hagen, and Michael Forest. Of course, background as to the genesis of each story is detailed with comments from Hamner himself. The commentaries are welcome in more ways than one; after all, haven't fans been reading and taking to heart the critiques of "The Companion" for the last 21 years? Time for some new blood in the pool.

Also included is a section of production and publicity photos from each episode, as well as recent shots taken in 2002 at the "Stars of the Zone" Convention (the first convention
for "Twilight Zone") of several actors appearing in Hamner's episodes. Unfortunately the quality of many of these shots is only marginal.

As the ardent fan of the original series knows, Hamner occupied an oddly interesting place amongst the core of writers from the series. Serling focused on bespectacled bank clerks and high-paid businessmen suffering from ulcers who craved serenity in another time period. Matheson usually focused on realism and the writing is often extremely despondent and horrific. Beaumont gave us the extraordinary. Hamner's 'dissertation for Twilight Zone' compares and contrasts country folk ("The Hunt", "Jess-Belle") with city folk ("You Drive", "Stopover in a Quiet Town", "Black Leather Jackets", "The Bewitchin' Pool"). Two fantasy stories, "Ring a Ding Girl" and "A Piano in the House" round things out nicely. Needless to say, the eight shows by Hamner generate a great deal of interest,
if for no other reason that they examine a number of interesting
ideas. Luckily, the ideas are now in print!

Hopefully the future will see the release of the scripts of
Serling; while you wait for that book, this is the book to read.