What do you think?
Rate this book
The Twilight Zone FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Fifth Dimension and Beyond
The Twilight Zone, a pioneering fantasy behemoth that bridged the cultural gap between the 1950s and 1960s with thought-provoking mystery, mind-boggling theorems and, occasionally, outright horror, is among the most beloved shows in American television history.
The Twilight Zone FAQ takes the reader back to that halcyon era, reflecting on the show and its impact as a force for societal change, via reflections on the manifold topics and controversies that the show took on -- from the space race to the Red Menace, from paranoia to madness and beyond. Dave Thompson traces the history of the show -- from its earliest flowering in the mind of then-unknown Rod Serling through its slow birth, shaky beginning and breathless five-season run -- and he shows how it became the blueprint for so much of the fantasy television that has followed.
Chapters deal with comic books, novels and many other spin-offs, including the movie, the TV revamps and even the amusement park ride. In addition, this FAQ offers a full guide to every episode, providing details on the cast and music and pinpointing both the best and worst of the series, all adding up to a brightly opinionated time machine that catapults the reader back to the true golden age of American television.
The Twilight Zone FAQ takes the reader back to that halcyon era, reflecting on the show and its impact as a force for societal change, via reflections on the manifold topics and controversies that the show took on -- from the space race to the Red Menace, from paranoia to madness and beyond. Dave Thompson traces the history of the show -- from its earliest flowering in the mind of then-unknown Rod Serling through its slow birth, shaky beginning and breathless five-season run -- and he shows how it became the blueprint for so much of the fantasy television that has followed.
Chapters deal with comic books, novels and many other spin-offs, including the movie, the TV revamps and even the amusement park ride. In addition, this FAQ offers a full guide to every episode, providing details on the cast and music and pinpointing both the best and worst of the series, all adding up to a brightly opinionated time machine that catapults the reader back to the true golden age of American television.
392 pages, Paperback
First published November 3, 2015
3 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Dave Thompson
266 books42 followersEnglish author Dave Thompson has spent his entire working life writing biographies of other people, but is notoriously reluctant to write one for himself. Unlike the subjects of some of his best known books, he was neither raised by ferrets nor stolen from gypsies. He has never appeared on reality TV (although he did reach the semi finals of a UK pop quiz when he was sixteen), plays no musical instruments and he can’t dance, either.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
However, he has written well over one hundred books in a career that is almost as old as U2’s… whom he saw in a club when they first moved to London, and memorably described as “okay, but they’ll never get any place.” Similar pronouncements published on the future prospects of Simply Red, Pearl Jam and Wang Chung (oh, and Curiosity Killed The Cat as well) probably explain why he has never been anointed a Pop Culture Nostradamus. Although the fact that he was around to pronounce gloomily on them in the first place might determine why he was recently described as “a veteran music journalist.”
Raised on rock, powered by punk, and still convinced that “American Pie” was written by Fanny Farmer and is best played with Meatloaf, Thompson lists his five favorite artists as old and obscure; his favorite album is whispered quietly and he would like to see Richard and Linda Thompson’s “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight” installed as the go-to song for the sad, sappy ending for every medical drama on TV.
Kurt Cobain, Phil Collins, Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, David Bowie, John Travolta, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Roger Waters and the guy who sang that song in the jelly commercial are numbered among the myriad artists about whom Thompson has written books; he has contributed to the magazines Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Mojo and Melody Maker; and he makes regular guest appearances on WXPN’s Highs in the Seventies show.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 29, 2020
I picked up this book hoping for some insightful history of The Twilight Zone, and while there's plenty of that here it is filled with sooooooooo many typos and factual errors. Did no one proofread this thing before setting it out for publication? Also, I could do without the author's opinion on things. You think Foo Fighters are an overrated rock band? Who cares? No one is picking up this book for your critique on modern rock music, boomer.
December 27, 2018
As a huge fan of the Twilight Zone, I was very interested in this book when I found it. For the most part, it was a very good book.
As a huge fan of the original Television series, I knew a number of the facts spelled out in the book. So for me, a lot of it felt like a refresher of the knowledge I had already attained. One of the cool thing is that the author did was organize it in an original way. For instance, some of the episodes are group together based on main actor, type of character, theme of the episode, holidays, and the major screen writers that contributed to the series. The big thing I found fault with is there were a number of times that what was written did not agree with what actually happened on the particular episode being described. It may be that the author had access to original scripts or other items that a fan such as myself did not have. However, if that is the case, it was also not annotated where that the information was different than what viewers saw on TV. Also, some of the facts described either were not mentioned or were different than what was described in "The Twilight Zone Companion" by Marc Zicree, which was heavily based on interviews the author did with various actors, producers, directors, and screenwriters. Anyway, it is up to the reader to discern what they may feel is right.
I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to all fans of the original "Twilight Zone" seasons, (1959 - 1964). Though I think there are some discrepancies in what was written, they are not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the read.
As a huge fan of the original Television series, I knew a number of the facts spelled out in the book. So for me, a lot of it felt like a refresher of the knowledge I had already attained. One of the cool thing is that the author did was organize it in an original way. For instance, some of the episodes are group together based on main actor, type of character, theme of the episode, holidays, and the major screen writers that contributed to the series. The big thing I found fault with is there were a number of times that what was written did not agree with what actually happened on the particular episode being described. It may be that the author had access to original scripts or other items that a fan such as myself did not have. However, if that is the case, it was also not annotated where that the information was different than what viewers saw on TV. Also, some of the facts described either were not mentioned or were different than what was described in "The Twilight Zone Companion" by Marc Zicree, which was heavily based on interviews the author did with various actors, producers, directors, and screenwriters. Anyway, it is up to the reader to discern what they may feel is right.
I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to all fans of the original "Twilight Zone" seasons, (1959 - 1964). Though I think there are some discrepancies in what was written, they are not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the read.
April 15, 2024
The book "The Twilight Zone FAQ" promised to cover the complete history of the Twilight Zone, not just the Rod Serling series but the various "remakes" that followed. While the book does cover the remakes briefly (not the 2020 one as this book was written in 2015) but it does so mainly by listing the acting credits of each show. It covers the 1959-1964 series in much more detail, though it would have been better if it hadn't. The author's opinions on the episodes considered classics by me and other reviewers are dismissed by this author. It makes me wonder if he actually saw the episodes or just read a review of the plot. I must admit I did not read all his reviews, after four or five I was so angry I skipped ahead. While it's nice he lists all the episodes credits he, unlike "The Twilight Zone Companion" and other TZ books, does not have his review, cast and crew credits together but rather has them in different sections of the book. He also leaves out credits for key areas, such as musical score and camera operator. He does not really cover the episodes as they aired but by the types of plots they covered. Not a bad idea, though many TZ episodes are hard to put in one area. Perhaps I didn't really give this book a chance, but the reviews of some episodes were so different from mine that I soon realized this book was not for me. I would not recommend this to people who like the Twilight Zone series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews