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ichard Matheson's The Twilight Zone Scripts (Volume One) collects the first eight teleplays that Matheson—an acknowledged master of science fiction and horror whom Stephen King cites as a primary influence—wrote for what may be the most renowned anthology series of all time.
Editor Stanley Wiater includes supplementary materials, such as a short prologue describing Matheson's initial association with The Twilight Zone, and an epilogue covering the production of two "lost" Matheson Twilight Zone scripts—"Button, Button" and "The Doll"—for the mid-'80s CBS revival of The Twilight Zone and for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories, respectively. For each script there is a short introduction and a basic cast-and-crew list for the finished episode.
"The Last Flight," the first script Matheson sold to The Twilight Zone, is the story of a pilot lost in time who must face the long-term consequences of cowardice and bravery. "A World of Difference" blurs the line between our reality and Hollywood as a typical guy discovers his world is a studio set and he is believed to be no more than a character played by an actor.
"A World of His Own" blurs reality in a comic way as a man deals with his knack for "writing" things in and out of existence. "Nick of Time" explores the darker aspects of obsessive superstition. "The Invaders" is an incredible spin on the "hostile aliens" motif. "Once Upon a Time" is a time-travel fable. "Little Girl Lost" is an SF/horror story about a dimensional portal. Finally, "Young Man's Fancy" is a psychological horror story about the darker aspects of never wanting to grow up.
Matheson is the master
How often does one get to read in screenplay format "INT. FOURTH DIMENSION--CLOSE SHOT"? Richard Matheson's The Twilight Zone Scripts (Volume One) drives home just how innovative The Twilight Zone was and how influential it continues to be for genre TV, genre fiction and pop culture in general. The Twilight Zone taught many that reality can be fragile, and introduced to the mainstream ideas SF and horror readers had been dealing with for years. Richard Matheson, one of the finest post-war writers of SF and horror, proved to be one of the finest writers to have worked on The Twilight Zone. This volume, for which Wiater is to be commended, helps secure Matheson's legacy as an innovator who moved tales of unease out of the mad scientist's laboratory and into the carpeted and Formica'ed settings with which most of us are familiar.
How do the scripts read, existing as they do between short stories and produced half-hour episodes? Very well. Matheson is a great storyteller, no matter the format or medium. This is most evident in "The Invaders," which, as a script with almost no dialogue, reads at a stunning pace even for those already familiar with the produced episode and perhaps the most ironic of all the "gotcha!" endings for which The Twilight Zone was famous.
It's unfortunate that Matheson is not a household word associated with fantastic television the way that The Twilight Zone's primary writer and host Rod Serling has become. This is most painfully evident as one reads Matheson's "A World of Difference," a script written more than 30 years before the ever-so "innovative" The Truman Show. This volume helps secure Matheson's legacy as one of the outstanding contributors to the history of SF and horror in the media.
Richard Matheson's fiction, TV and film work warped me as a kid, and I loved it. This book is a rediscovery of what I'd first found in that middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, in that area called The Twilight Zone. — Mike
Also in this issue: Terraforming Earth, by Jack Williamson
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