You Know TZ Wasn't Filmed in the 21st Century.., Times sure have changed

...when you see the Shat crawling on the aisle of the airplane to retrieve an exposed gun! First because of the gun, and next because Shatner wouldn't be able to fit in the aisle now!

This is another tranplant from the 5th D message board. I think it should have a home right here.

Leen

Nobody was jabbering away on their cell phone. Maybe that was a good thing.

If you mean a home "right here" on the message board, I definitely agree, and thanks for bringing it back. If you mean specifically in the Miscellaneous Twilight Zone forum...well, I've felt for a while that most of the threads in this forum could really go in the Classic TZ forum, as long as they're talking about the Classic TZ series in one way or another. (The exceptions are the "fan fiction" threads that have no direct connection with the Twilight Zone.) I haven't been moving threads from here because 1) people generally don't like to have their threads moved, all things being equal, and 2) miscellaneousness is in the eye of the beholder sometimes.

There are a lot better examples for this thread than this one, but did you ever notice how much people in the Twilight Zone talk about baseball as compared to other sports? If the series had been made in the 21st century, this would be unlikely at best. The late 1950's-early 1960's was probably either at or near the end of the era when baseball was clearly the most popular sport in the United States. Also notice that boxing and even pool get more attention in the Twilight Zone than either football or basketball.

At least one of Rod's biographies says that he was a big baseball fan. He definitely wasn't a pro football fan; his 1984 Museum of Brodcasting tribute program contains a Serling reference to "that gigantic fraternity of mesmerized NFL buffs who have turned the United States into one vast fifty yard line..."

You are right Beev. This is evident when in movies they used baseball during WWII or the cold war to figure out if one was a spy or not. Like "Who won the National league pennant in '45?" If you didn't know the answer you weren't an American. Nobody but the most ardent fans know this kind of stuff these days.

Good one Beev. One that wasn't brought up in the 5th D to my knowledge.

No, I meant a home in the Cafe. Nothing more.

Leen

The Chicago Cubs, who haven't won it since.

And if you didn't know who won the 1960 World Series, you were a Martian.

Got another one. Two words: House calls. I remember this one was mentioned on the old board, maybe more than once. It must have been nice to have the doctor visit you in those days.

Needless to say, all of the twentieth-century prices also date the episodes set in that era. (35 cents for an ice-cream soda with three scoops! Martin Sloan is right, that's highway robbery! ) So does some of the dialogue in this thread that Leen also started, the link to which is right here: http://www.ibforfree.com/members/index.php...r&showtopic=387.

In the old days, someone having a one-person conversation was mentally suspect. Now, they're just talking on their cell phone.

Do any places have jukeboxes these days? Nowadays, it seems you're subjected to some radio oldies station or something being piped in, like it or not. With jukeboxes, the clientele at least got a chance to choose the music.

As many, if not more, public places have TVs nowadays. It used to be just bars, lately I see them in restaurants. The public is fighting back! These sets are high on the wall, and sometimes no one to turn them off, and people find themselves concentrating on the set rather than each other. A guy has invented a device which will automatically shut off almost any set made! I want one! Sure beats having the cowboy shoot it!

I have not been in a Waffle House just recently but the last time I was there, they still had jukeboxes.
I know what you mean about TV's. My favorite restaurant here at our local mall, Mr. Dunderbak's, just installed a big-screen TV.

You know you are in the 21st century when you can get LP records (like Perry Como) for $1 each at the local flea market (and get much better music than you hear on the radio today!)
You also know you are not in the 60's when one rock "singer" can tear the bra off another one on national TV or a football player can mock-moon the crowd and it's only "controversial". Imagine what would have happened to these people in the early 60's!

My advice: hang onto those old LPs and videos. CDs and DVDs may have clearer picture and sound, but LPs and videos will still be playing when CDs and DVDs are skipping unplayably!

Speaking of phones, I saw another sign of the times while re-watching "Valley Of The Shadow" tonight: The old-style phone exchanges like "Beechwood 4" as in "Beechwood 4-5789." I forget right now what the one used in "Valley" was, but there was one in there. I'll edit it in later if I feel like it. Somebody brought this up on the old board, too, I think, Hank or Leen or Crown 85 or somebody.

Rotary dial phones, period. My niece picked up our one remaining one and asked, "How do you work this thing?"

Oh, gee, that's funny.

Oh, gee, that's funny.

If it has not been thought up, imagine a rotary Cell phone, that would be odd. LOL

Zone respects

I don't know if anyone's noticed this, but they almost always seem to be "Klondike 5", which is 555, the phony prefix used in TV and the movies. One exception I can think of off hand is "Trafalgar 4" in "The Hitchhiker".

As a matter of fact, the phone number in "Valley Of The Shadow" was Chapel 7-7205, using another non-phony prefix. I'm pretty sure "A Stop At Willoughby" used a non-phony prefix, too. Did TZ just not worry about using people's real phone numbers, or what?

Then there's the obviously fake phone number on the real estate sign at the beginning of "Black Leather Jackets": 486-412. (Yes, I know phone numbers had only six digits at one time, but that was well before TZ.)

I just think they didn't worry about it in those days. There were many unassigned numbers and also not as many kooks around.

My favorite phone was the Western Electric 300 model. My grandparents had one. Brings back memories.

http://www.moonworks.com/phones/images/we_300.jpg

A sure sign of how things have changed: You could smoke anywhere you wanted to--even in your hospital bed, if you chose to!

Characters like Fred Renard, Mr. Bevis, Ed Lindsay and Vinnie Broun lived in boardinghouses. Are there any still around?

...when you see TZ residents patronizing dime stores instead of dollar stores.

Kelley

ArtsyLibrarian, Welcome to the ZONE, once again.

That was funny. Things have changed, we use credit and debit cards, we are using DVDs/CDs not reel to reels or vinyl,etc...

If Walking Distance was done for today, Martin Sloan would be walking into what a 1980s shop, asking the counter person for a low carb chocolate milkshake, or whatnot, the counter person would just stare blankly.

...when you watch "The Gift" and realize almost none of the actors in this one are hispanic in reality!

It's actually humorous to watch it and think about that. Most of you are used to seeing all of these folks as character actors at one time or another in the 60's. I'm sure almost all of them made at least one appearance in Gunsmoke.

Leen

"The 4-Disc DVD with Cast Commentary and Other Great Extras Shrine"

Conelrad. I bet if you asked 10 people what that was, 8 of them wouldn't know.

Door-to-door salesmen. You don't see them very often anymore.

Doctors making housecalls.

Ventriloquist acts. Never see them anymore.

Not to mention tap dancers! Remember Arthur Duncan from the Lawrence Welk show? No? I was afraid not.

Well, except for Otto and George.

Sometimes it takes a visual to answer the question of the thread

http://img200.echo.cx/img200/4136/hitchhiker9bc.jpg

Just check out those gas prices

I remember these prices. Ahhh! The good old days! Nickel candy bars. Dime Cokes. 10/12 cent comic books. 35/50 cent paperbacks. How do you get to Homewood from here?

Minimum wage of $1.25 an hour.

Starting teacher's salary of $7000 a year.

Color TV costing $700.

VHS blank tape costing $20.

And I could go on.

In other words, in the end, I'd say we're able to buy more and better with the bucks we earn today.

That may be true. A kid, though, would need to get a mighty big allowance these days.

The price printed on my copy of New Stories From The Twilight Zone is 35 cents.

Same here. I got my copy when I was in junior high and the episodes had all premiered within the previous two years.

Perchance to Dream

Along the lines of smoking you know TZ wasn't filmed in the 21st century when a man with a heart condition can smoke a cigarette in front of his psychiatrist in the doctor's office.

Edward is able to raise the window in the high rise building. Unless the building is old it's my understanding this is a thing of the past.

Folks wear nice dress to a carnival/amusement park to ride the rides. (c'mon Maya, put your dungarees on!)

The Chicago Cubs, who haven't won it since.

And if you didn't know who won the 1960 World Series, you were a Martian.

Oooh, I'm a martian. That explains quite a lot...

Here's one from today's viewpoint. How about the larger role pop culture (or nostalgia) now plays in our everyday lives?

Young Man's Fancy
The Incredible World of Horace Ford
Time Enough at Last
Mr. Bevis*
Miniature**
etc.

A man obsessed with his past (or fantasy) was usually portrayed as someone who was "an oddball*", "sick**", or unable to function in 'normal' society. Yet each week, how many buy tv shows from their youth on dvd? (Or what about staring into a small screen on your desk, in order to devote time to a show that is nearly 50 years old? The internet can be 16 Millimeter Shrine and Bewitchin' Pool all in one!)

It's also not unusual to see things like action figures, animation, or videogames marketed to people in their 20's, 30's, or even 40's- but what kind of outcast would that have made you back in the 50's?! The market didn't exist then because, apparently, everyone was married by 30- or even 21!

That sounds like Horace to me! Good points.

Anybody remember food counter service at the drug stores?

Sure, Leen.
And do you remember when the doors to those drug stores all had door closers that looked like this?


http://imagehost.epier.com/53285/Door_closer_1.jpg

Now wait a minute Crown. Some things are best left between you and me.

...after watching WTRMPSU how many folks nowadays can get away with leaving their wallet, with their i.d., in their suitcase and ship it on ahead??

Twenty-Two

A woman can break another womans vase and the other woman wouldn't care. This was odd in the 60's and even moreso now.

A Stop at Willoughby

A man can get out of his seat and walk out of the train while it is still running.

The Incredible World of Horace Ford

It is too expensive to make a toy robot with eyes that light up.