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Post by moviebuffbrad on Sept 21, 2018 3:30:24 GMT
A guy wakes up, he's the same, but everyone else is different.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Sept 24, 2018 17:56:23 GMT
I had a TZ type dream. It was like I was watching an episode. The idea centered on a lifesize painting of a family in a den--a portrait-with a woman, child, but standing with them is a clown (looked like the one from Five Characters in Search of an Exit). Sinister looking, and then I briefly recall Rod Serling speaking the intro, and some guy sitting in front of the painting acting hysterical.
I didn't get the plot details.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 24, 2018 18:21:59 GMT
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Sept 24, 2018 18:36:14 GMT
Good grief that is really well done. I could hear Serling's voice as I read it.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 24, 2018 18:43:04 GMT
Good grief that is really well done. I could hear Serling's voice as I read it. Thanks. I loved your dream-concept. I’ve been getting more and more story-concepts I write from dreams…
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Post by Archelaus on Sept 24, 2018 20:05:01 GMT
This idea is a slight variation of the Twilight Zone episode, "A Kind of Spotwatch".
Basically, this is a classic comeuppance episode. His ability to leap behind a second has its financial rewards, but he's also throwing off clocks and the Earth's rotation of the Sun by abusing this ability.
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Post by President Ackbar™ on Sept 24, 2018 20:13:59 GMT
Love your ideas, guys. President Ackbar™ , there was a TZ (“No Time Like the Past”) in which a man tries to assassinate Hitler, but it ends on a different twist from your concept. Do you know the Stephen King story? I tried looking it up but couldn’t find it.Sorry that I never replied! EDIT: This is obviously not about Hitler!
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Post by President Ackbar™ on Sept 24, 2018 20:29:19 GMT
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Sept 25, 2018 13:33:06 GMT
Not exactly Zoney, probably a bit too minimal/philosophical and I only have the barest bones, but something I'd like to pursue.
The Void
A man must carve his existence/world out of an infinite piece of marble.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 2, 2018 17:55:26 GMT
Back to the clown picture story. Was thinking about a plot for it. I wouldnt want it to copy an existing TZ episode.
Here's one idea (if it copies an episode let me know).
This guy brings his family to the house of his father who died recently. In the den is a lifesize picture of a clown standing behind empty chairs in the same den. The wife is creeped out by the picture and wants it removed but he is reluctant to remove it. The husband explains or learns that the clown represents either the alter ego of the father or a favorite employee of the father (or perhaps someone who exerted control over the father--a Rasputin-like figure who eventually found his way to take possession of the house and its assets). Through the course of the episode the picture causes the wife and children to get more neurotic until finally she vows to leave the house-but after hearing what sounds like laughter, she goes into the den and decides to destroy the painting.
The husband returns home and finds the wife and children gone. He goes into the den and screams-for the wife and children are now depicted in the painting.
I'll attempt my own Serling type closing narration:
"A wise man once said 'it is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who reveals himself.' A somber lesson for the observer of the canvas on display, a family portrait rendered by artist with wry sense of humor, in the Twilight Zone."
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 2, 2018 20:17:58 GMT
You didn’t like my concept, Primemovermithrax Pejorative? Seriously, I like your idea a lot, though I’d change the identity of the clown—or perhaps leave it as some unknown? That would be intriguing. I’d also have the wife and children in clown make-up, with the clown in the portrait, at the end. And don’t make the clown make-up creepy; it’s the incongruity of it that makes it more effective. And I love your Serling closing narration—spot-on!
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 2, 2018 20:34:36 GMT
You didn’t like my concept, Primemovermithrax Pejorative ? Seriously, I like your idea a lot, though I’d change the identity of the clown—or perhaps leave it as some unknown? That would be intriguing. I’d also have the wife and children in clown make-up, with the clown in the portrait, at the end. And don’t make the clown make-up creepy; it’s the incongruity of it that makes it more effective. And I love your Serling closing narration—spot-on! I thought I was honoring your concept--oh wait--I didnt see the widowed part you had in the intro!
Oh sorry, if I had, I might have factored it in. But in my dream, there was a guy sitting in a chair getting hysterical in front of the picture so that idea came to mind first. The type of show where the guy is weak or unable to make the right decision--so he loses. In this case, maybe he could be the painter? That he painted it for his father or something...
I think your intro narration sounds better. I was trying my best to match it! I found the Oscar Wilde quote from the Picture of Dorian Gray and tried to make it Serlingish.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 2, 2018 20:38:10 GMT
You didn’t like my concept, Primemovermithrax Pejorative ? Seriously, I like your idea a lot, though I’d change the identity of the clown—or perhaps leave it as some unknown? That would be intriguing. I’d also have the wife and children in clown make-up, with the clown in the portrait, at the end. And don’t make the clown make-up creepy; it’s the incongruity of it that makes it more effective. And I love your Serling closing narration—spot-on! I thought I was honoring your concept--oh wait--I didnt see the widowed part you had in the intro!
Oh sorry, if I had, I might have factored it in. But in my dream, there was a guy sitting in a chair getting hysterical in front of the picture so that idea came to mind first. The type of show where the guy is weak or unable to make the right decision--so he loses. In this case, maybe he could be the painter? That he painted it for his father or something...
I think your intro narration sounds better. I was trying my best to match it! I found the Oscar Wilde quote from the Picture of Dorian Gray and tried to make it Serlingish. Oh, no worries, I was just being silly. Got it, that’s fine, we can work in the father. I think it’d be interesting to have the family grieving about someone, though—at their weakest point, of which the supernatural entity takes advantage. Thanks for the kind words about my intro; your closing expertly puts in the quote, which is pure Serling Zone. This new Jordan Peele remake/reboot/whatchyamacallit ought to hire us as writers.
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 2, 2018 20:49:48 GMT
That's the thing--one can go in a million directions. The clown can be evil or good. An avenging angel or symbolizing conscience.
I was trying to justify why the clown would be in the painting with the family (although the husband could have been in it too--vague as it is).
But the real motivation was that I wanted to take a stab at a concluding narration.
haha
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 2, 2018 22:04:44 GMT
The interesting thing would be to make it into a positive story. That the clown represents the main character's alter ego-or some childhood trauma--and the ending with the figures in the chairs represents unity as opposed to stealing the family. But then it would need a whole new closing narration!
"A painted carnival scarecrow of childhood fears blossomed into a guiding figurehead of hopeful tomorrows. This coming of age tale brought to you with free admission in the Twilight Zone."
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Post by mszanadu on Oct 9, 2018 18:37:06 GMT
Here Salzmank - this is an interesting yet short article I just found today
via my COMET Channel online newsletter - enjoy .
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 9, 2018 20:34:53 GMT
Thank you, mszanadu , but I know it will be good only when its producers hire you as a writer.
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Post by mszanadu on Oct 9, 2018 21:00:51 GMT
Thank you, mszanadu , but I know it will be good only when its producers hire you as a writer.
You are most welcome .
Also you're being extremely generous here Salzmank and thanks so much in your confidence of me here too .
Of course I will always remain an ardent viewer / fan of these fine
and most creative shows ( and storylines ) here also .
I do agree however we definitely need more creative writers out there
if we want more of - " the continuing storyline " to be a reality .
Again thanks so much for this excellent and fun thread of yours here too .
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 1, 2019 4:47:18 GMT
I don’t know if anyone here saw the show Brad Meltzer’s Decoded, which was on the History Channel a few years back: it was all very silly and unbelievable, but they investigated some fun unsolved mysteries. Anyway, Brad Meltzer, the host, has this deep yet staccato voice that’s not that different from Serling’s, and he might be a good host for this upcoming TZ reboot if they really do want to make it Serlingesque.
And two more ideas:
The first is inspired from the D.B. Cooper case (which was covered on the Meltzer show): the first few minutes are the Cooper hijacking as it actually played out. (Obviously, the concept is for a modern reboot of TZ; the show was already long off the air when the Cooper hijacking took place.) About halfway through, Cooper jumps from the plane, into a swirling vortex (it was stormy when he jumped)—and he ends up in another world, thus explaining why no one’s been able to find him (but some of the money escapes the vortex, explaining why only some of it was found). Not sure what the other world should be like or what the final twist should be, but it ends with his trying to repeat the hijacking in the other world so that he can return to this one.
The second is for a variation on “Little Girl Lost,” halfway between sci-fi and horror. It’s Christmastime and everyone’s waiting for Santa to come down the chimney, but there’s one house in the neighborhood that’s been boarded up because, years earlier, everyone in the house was sucked up the chimney but an unknown force (we could say it’s aliens at the end, which I’d originally planned, or leave it ambiguous). A family buys the home and the children are waiting up on Christmas Eve, near the fireplace, for Santa to come… This is a little more horror-y than most TZs, but we could always scrap the backstory and Christmas setting and make it more about the psychological drama.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 2, 2020 1:20:12 GMT
The annual Twilight Zone marathon is on, so… Anyone have any new ideas?
I had an idea for one where a bunch of kids are at the beach, and their parents tell them they’re going to dig to China—and the kids start digging, and keep digging, and the digging seems like it will go on forever. When the parents aren’t looking, the kids jump down the hole and into “China”—but, of course, it isn’t really China…
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