TV Mini-Review: THE TWILIGHT ZONE - "Nightmare as a Child" & "A Stop at Willoughby"

This time, we get to one of Rod Serling's favorite episodes, but first, we meet the creepiest little girl of all time.
00:00 Intro
00:35 Nightmare as a Child
06:05 A Stop at Willoughby
10:39 Outro
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[@thrashpondopons8348]

I could see why Mr. Serling loved this Ep. so much! The man suffered from an almost debilitating sense of Nostalgia & a longing to return to simpler times! (Fortunately, in this age consensus & contentment, the need for such sentimentality has been completely abandoned!)

[@myflock000]

hi Pons

[@thrashpondopons8348]

@@myflock000 Hey Sister sara! See ya tonight???

[@myflock000]

@@thrashpondopons8348 omg yes i can't wait 😍

[@scottmiller6495]

Two great episodes from a time that we will never ever see again Ever PERIOD!!!!!

[@myflock000]

@@scottmiller6495 #facts

[@indyspotes3310]

If the doctor from "Nightmare as a Child" looked familiar, it's probably because you've seen him also play a doctor in about a million other things. His name is Michael Fox and he's also the reason Michael J. Fox has to use a "J" for SAG purposes. James Daly was 41 at the time; fairly close. Living through the Great Depression will do that to you, TUG. He didn't live the dream of being an urbane man of leisure discussing the lasting impact of media in a swank banana shirt... BTW, I recognized the conductor as Archie Bunker's bartender. While looking up his name (Jason Wingreen, if it matters), I discovered he was also the original voice of Boba Fett. That's wacky...

[@seaninness334]

That's a hell of a rabbit hole of odd connections I love thar sort of stuff.

[@rehetbutler]

I don't think I have ever seen those two episodes. Thanks.

[@racookster]

6:10 - I can easily believe that guy was 38 years old at the time. Growing up in the Great Depression and then fighting World War II aged that generation something fierce. My father grew up at Dyess Colony, Arkansas right next door to Johnny Cash - really! My brother still has a photograph of Dad when he was twelve. He looked forty. Hard effin' life!

[@morgangallowglass8668]

Another epic winner of a shirt, good sir! For me, the best episodes were like these when TZ slipped a particularly sneaky splinter into the mind. As always. a brilliant vid, thank you!

[@verbalkint5450]

bahaha! Great link to STrek TOS' "Gideon", I think his name was, the ageless guy Kirk & Spock happen across.

[@LevitatingCups]

the horror geek would have interjected in earliest of seconds, two bangers.

[@davidgianatasio5747]

James Daly was a great character actor. Sad life though. He had a terrific turn in The Invaders. And of course he was Tyne and Tim’s dad.

[@Malvito]

I noticed the man on the penny-farthing bicycle and it dawned on me: Willoughby is actually ... THE VILLAGE!!! "I AM NOT A NUMBER, I AM A FREE MAN!!!" (AAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) So is The New Number Two his boss, his wife, or his secretary?

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Two particularly fine episodes. Enjoyable reviews! Thanks. 🙂

[@meiketorkelson4437]

All those red flags then suddenly "I just happen to have a picture of you as a child in my wallet"... I'm sure it's just that they were different times. 😅

[@mikesilva3868]

Great episodes 😊

[@RobMagill]

You’re giving me shirt envy. (Hope you’re feeling better!) “I’m much too sophisticated for that sort of thing.” Uh huh. 🤔

[@JohnWilliamNowak]

"Nightmare as a Child" absolutely seems to be suggesting the main character has developed amnesia as a result of abuse. My understanding is this is now considered unlikely, but at the time it was probably more "current." "Crush" might have had a very different meaning at the time, similar to the way "make love" very clearly meant something different in the 1940s, but I don't know that. It's also not unknown for TV writers to use obscure terms the censors were unfamiliar with, most famously when Bogart called a man a "gunsel." Perhaps "crush" was more obscure at the time. That said, it's possible though unlikely the man was miscast and should be much closer to her in age, which makes the murder a little harder to understand. I don't think the burn is all that important; it happened before she was 10 and just serves to suggest the relationship between the two of them. "Stop at Willoughby" is utterly chilling. "Choose between fantasy and reality" was not uncommon in the series. My personal favorite is "Miniature" but that's mostly because Robert Duval is amazing in it. I prefer the ending of "Willoughby" because it depicts a more likely result.

[@tommydarbe1524]

Nope, I was a kid back then and an older man having a crush on a ten yr old girl was creepy then too.😊

[@meiketorkelson4437]

An adult finding a 10 year old attractive? I didn't know George Lucas wrote for The Twilight Zone.

[@rsacchi100]

"Nightmare as a Child": "Crush" seems a poor word choice even for '60. The character apparently had manifest poor judgement. In the '60s adolescents with a nasty sense of humor liked to add inuendo into words and scenes from TV shows and movies that were innocent at the time the movie or TV show was made. James Daly was 42, give or take, at the time of "A Stop at Willoughby". Wonder if someone who looked old for the character was meant to show the wear and tear on the character. Curious as to how this one went over in the day. Mrs. Williams may be been speaking for a good percentage of the audience who had, or were married to someone, with a manual labor job and was living like the Kramdens.

[@spews1973]

I'm 38 plus 12 years old and I've never had hot chocolate with marshmallows.

[@TheUnapologeticGeek]

You have not lived. 😂

[@spews1973]

@@TheUnapologeticGeek I'll add it to my bucket list.