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The Twilight Zone Scripts
Richard Matheson's The Twilight Zone Scripts
Apart from Rod Serling, screenwriter Richard Matheson wrote more teleplays for the cult classic The Twilight Zone than any other writer. Many of these episodes became the series' most acclaimed and most frequently aired. Published here for the first time are eight original scripts. Each is preceded by an introduction and commentary that lends insight into Matheson's creative process, how he felt about the adaptation of his scripts, and his relationship with Rod Serling. Information about the fate of two "lost" scripts and suggestions for further reading and viewing are also included. Volume Two includes the final six complete Twilight Zone scripts Matheson wrote for the show.
392 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Richard Matheson
739 books4,701 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 7, 2020
Volume Two of RICHARD MATHESON’S THE TWILIGHT ZONE SCRIPTS is not quite up to the quality of Volume One, but is still well-worth reading. Although “The Twilight Zone” wasn’t a runaway hit in its original incarnation, it had a loyal following and has since entered the hallowed halls of “The Greatest Television Shows Ever Made.” Overall, the quality of writing is uniformly top-notch, causing the series not to suffer the “aging syndrome” of most shows from the same time.
The Richard Matheson scripts were often my favorites. He was not asked to write any of the teleplays for the final season (when a new Producer arrived), but he generally considered these later scripts to be among his best. My reaction was mixed.
Volume Two contains the following six teleplays:
* “Mute” - This is one of his two scripts when the series expanded to one hour. It is one of the episodes that I have only seen twice. The concept of a closed group that raises its children to be telepaths seems good on paper. In delivery, it drags.
* “Death Ship” - This is the other one hour length script. I have seen this show many times, and it still sends chills through me. An exploration spaceship surveying a planet investigates a flicker of light seen from orbit. What they find has haunted me since I first saw it.
* “Steel” - Everyone I know who loves “The Twilight Zone” cites this script as one of the great ones. Since I have very limited interest in sports, this boxing script has never really involved me. Matheson called it his script that he wanted to write “in the Hemingway style.”
* “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” - Here it is ... the teleplay that many people think of first when they hear the name “The Twilight Zone.” Starring William Shatner in a wonderfully nuanced performance, this is the one in which a passenger believes he sees a gremlin on the passenger plane wing. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this one, yet I’m always smiling in pleasure when I think of watching it again!
* “Night Call” - I was really freaked out the first time I saw this one! An elderly recluse starts receiving eerie telephone calls on a dark and stormy night. Whenever I watch this episode, I am reminded of the old EC comics.
* “Spur Of The Moment” - This final teleplay is another that left me feeling rather empty. Granted, I didn’t know nearly so much about human relationships when I first saw it. And I do remember being unnerved by the opening. Still, this one feels more like a gimmick-driven plot to me.
“The Twilight Zone” has been brought back to television three additional times (as of this writing), and in a film version that I very much enjoyed despite the tragic deaths connected with an on-set helicopter accident. (There is also the Tower of a Terror, a Disney theme park ride with connections to “The Twilight Zone” ... and a “ride attraction” movie made from it.) With every new version, I’m there hoping that it will recapture the magic of the original series. Sometimes, they come very close. Meanwhile, I’m still looking for that “signpost up ahead.”
The Richard Matheson scripts were often my favorites. He was not asked to write any of the teleplays for the final season (when a new Producer arrived), but he generally considered these later scripts to be among his best. My reaction was mixed.
Volume Two contains the following six teleplays:
* “Mute” - This is one of his two scripts when the series expanded to one hour. It is one of the episodes that I have only seen twice. The concept of a closed group that raises its children to be telepaths seems good on paper. In delivery, it drags.
* “Death Ship” - This is the other one hour length script. I have seen this show many times, and it still sends chills through me. An exploration spaceship surveying a planet investigates a flicker of light seen from orbit. What they find has haunted me since I first saw it.
* “Steel” - Everyone I know who loves “The Twilight Zone” cites this script as one of the great ones. Since I have very limited interest in sports, this boxing script has never really involved me. Matheson called it his script that he wanted to write “in the Hemingway style.”
* “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” - Here it is ... the teleplay that many people think of first when they hear the name “The Twilight Zone.” Starring William Shatner in a wonderfully nuanced performance, this is the one in which a passenger believes he sees a gremlin on the passenger plane wing. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen this one, yet I’m always smiling in pleasure when I think of watching it again!
* “Night Call” - I was really freaked out the first time I saw this one! An elderly recluse starts receiving eerie telephone calls on a dark and stormy night. Whenever I watch this episode, I am reminded of the old EC comics.
* “Spur Of The Moment” - This final teleplay is another that left me feeling rather empty. Granted, I didn’t know nearly so much about human relationships when I first saw it. And I do remember being unnerved by the opening. Still, this one feels more like a gimmick-driven plot to me.
“The Twilight Zone” has been brought back to television three additional times (as of this writing), and in a film version that I very much enjoyed despite the tragic deaths connected with an on-set helicopter accident. (There is also the Tower of a Terror, a Disney theme park ride with connections to “The Twilight Zone” ... and a “ride attraction” movie made from it.) With every new version, I’m there hoping that it will recapture the magic of the original series. Sometimes, they come very close. Meanwhile, I’m still looking for that “signpost up ahead.”
April 15, 2020
Volume 2 contains 6 of Matheson’s 14 scripts written for The Twilight Zone. Two of the scripts are from the show’s 4th season, which ran hour-long episodes instead of the half-hour ones of other seasons.
All my critiques and praises concerning volume 1 hold true for volume 2, with one additional critique. Both volumes have a prologue and epilogue by Stanley Wiater, the editor of the books. I enjoyed both essays in the first volume and looked forward to hear what different stories were shared in the second volume. I was disappointed to find that both volumes contain the exact same material, which feels like a waste and a loss to me. Surely, you have more to say about Matheson and his experience on The Twilight zone than 6 pages. Alas, apparently Mr. Wiater does not.
For the rest of my thoughts about the series, see my post for volume 1.
Now I’m deciding whether or not to read any of Serling’s scripts for the series.
All my critiques and praises concerning volume 1 hold true for volume 2, with one additional critique. Both volumes have a prologue and epilogue by Stanley Wiater, the editor of the books. I enjoyed both essays in the first volume and looked forward to hear what different stories were shared in the second volume. I was disappointed to find that both volumes contain the exact same material, which feels like a waste and a loss to me. Surely, you have more to say about Matheson and his experience on The Twilight zone than 6 pages. Alas, apparently Mr. Wiater does not.
For the rest of my thoughts about the series, see my post for volume 1.
Now I’m deciding whether or not to read any of Serling’s scripts for the series.
November 1, 2012
Some legendary Richard Matheson Twilight Zone scripts, including the one where William Shatner keeps seeing the gremlin on the wing of the plane...classics!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews