check out website: www.gauntletpress.com
Matheson’s name is synonymous with the
original TV anthology series ‘The Twilight Zone’ despite the fact
that he only wrote 14 scripts for the series.
This was no doubt because they struck such a sympathetic
chord with the viewers and were a sharp contrast to Rod Serling’s
own material.
 This
book presents the last six episode scripts that Matheson wrote for
the series and includes gems such as ‘Nightmare At 20,000 Feet’,
‘Steel’ and ‘Night Call’ - the latter having a slightly less menacing
ending to how it was presented on screen (wasn’t it done again in
the new Twilight Zone series?).
In many respects, episodes like ‘Mute’, ‘Spur Of
The Moment’ and even ‘Death Ship’ appear dated these days. With
the first two, it is more to do and illustrates how the American
health and care services have changed in the past 40 years.
The best way to learn how to become a scriptwriter
is to study successful scripts. With two hour and four half-hour
stories here, the astute reader should be able to grasp some of
Matheson’s artistry as to how they were done.
The visuals come across quite strongly here. Between
each episode, there are footnotes by Matheson plus information as
to the original cast. I quite forgotten that Lee Marvin was the
boxer in ‘Steel’ although everyone remembers it was Bill Shatner
seeing a gremlin attacking the aircraft engine in ‘Nightmare’.
Although the book hasn’t been given a UK release,
the ardent readers amongst you should know how to pull the book
from the States.
The promotion I was given with the book also indicates
this publisher is going to be releasing a lot more of Matheson’s
work so worth adding a ‘Favourites’ link to keep up to date.
GF Willmetts
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