The Twilight Streets

There's a part of the city that no one much goes to, a collection of rundown old houses and gloomy streets. No one stays there long, and no one can explain why - something's not quite right there. Now the Council is renovating the district, and a new company is overseeing the work. There will be street parties and events to show off the newly gentrified neighbourhood: clowns and face-painters for the kids, magicians for the adults - the street entertainers of Cardiff, out in force. None of this is Torchwood's problem. Until Toshiko recognises the sponsor of the street parties: Bilis Manger. Now there is something for Torchwood to investigate. But Captain Jack Harkness has never been able to get into the area; it makes him physically ill to go near it. Without Jack's help, Torchwood must face the darker side of urban Cardiff alone... Featuring Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman, with Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones as played by Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoki Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd, in the hit series created by Russell T Davies for BBC Television.

Science fiction-roman.

CBS’s The Twilight Zone (1959–1964) remains a benchmark of serious telefantasy and one of the most iconic series in the history of American television. Barry Keith Grant carefully situates The Twilight Zone within the history of broadcast television and American culture, both of which were changing dramatically during the five seasons the series originally aired. At the same time, the genres of science fiction, horror, and fantasy were moving from marginal to mainstream, a cultural shift that The Twilight Zone was both part of and largely responsible for. Grant begins by considering The Twilight Zone’s use of genre conventions and iconography to craft its pithy parables. The show shared visual shorthand that addressed both older audiences familiar with Hollywood movies but unfamiliar with fantasy and science fiction as well as younger audiences more attuned to these genres. Rod Serling looms large in the book as the main creative force of The Twilight Zone, and Grant explains how he provided the show’s artistic vision and its place within the various traditions of the fantastic. Tracing motifs and themes in numerous episodes, Grant demonstrates how The Twilight Zone functioned as an ideal example of collective authorship that powerfully expressed both timeless terrors and the anxieties of the age, such as the Cold War, in thought-provoking fantasy. Grant argues that the imaginary worlds offered by the show ultimately endorse the Americanism it simultaneously critiques. The striking blending of the fantastic and the familiar that Grant identifies in The Twilight Zone reflected Serling’s goal of offering serious stories in a genre that had previously been targeted only to juvenile television audiences. Longtime fans of the show and new viewers of Jordan Peele’s 2019 reboot alike will enjoy this deep dive into the original series’ history, style, and significance.

“You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension—a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.” There are a lot of compendiums on The Twilight Zone out there, most offering a backstage peek at the ins and outs of producing this seminal genre series. The Binge Watcher’s Guide to The Twilight Zone will offer you something these other books do not: a microscopic look into the themes and ideas that Rod Serling weaved into his landmark show to give you a deeper understanding of why The Twilight Zone still resonates with audiences over 60 years later. This guide will examine how the socio-political turmoil of the early 1960s, the global anxiety over nuclear power, and the looming specter of trauma in post-war America influenced Serling to use The Twilight Zone as a bully pulpit, pushing back against social ills, from racism and censorship to McCarthyism and totalitarianism. Whether this is your first trip to the Zone or you’re an old fan returning for one more round, this retrospective is an opportunity to engage with the timeless classic in a way that can help you make sense of our here and now. “You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.”

THE TWILIGHT ZONE FAQ:ALL THAT'S LEFT TO KNOW ABOUT THE FIFTH DIMENSION AND BEYOND

In the year 2410, so-called clonies have become controversial issue. Originally revered as miracles of science, these test-tube humans have become feared and ostracized. True, they are useful; they are stronger than regular humans and can perform dangerous tasks that normal people could not withstand. Even so, politics is turning against them. They are considered abominations by many, and their survival is in peril. Jordan Andrews is one such clonie. A private detective and occasional bodyguard, he is hesitant when asked to hunt down one of his own. A clonie assassin has been killing politicians, police, and just about anyone else threatening the clonie population. The killer even took out two innocents, merely because they witnessed one of his vicious attacks. Jordan does not want to hunt his own kind, but he does want to stop the perpetuation of fear among humans. He makes the acquaintance of Linda St. John, who just lost her family to the assassins bloody cause. Due to his investigation, Jordan soon becomes a target, as does Linda. Together, they must avoid a powerful assassin and find a way to make him stop. But is there method behind this killers madness? Navigating government policy and science, a clonie and human must work together in a fight for survival in an unforgiving, futuristic world.