F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

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Twilight Zone—My 25 Favorite Episodes!

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1959 Series Logo
1959 Series Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well, I’ve been putting this off for years, but after visiting some recent Twilight Zone-related blogs (here and here) and being asked the question–and seeing an actual list from one of the sites—I decided, okay, I really should put down a list of my favorite episodes. So, here they are—in no particular order (except the top 4 really are my top four):

  1. And When the Sky was Opened
  2. Judgment Day
  3. The Arrival
  4. The After Hours
  5. Mirror Image
  6. King 9 Will Not Return
  7. The 7th is Made Up Of Phantoms
  8. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
  9. The Thirty-Fathom Grave
  10. Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up
  11. A Game Of Pool
  12. Long Live Walter Jameson
  13. Death Ship
  14. The Passage of the Lady Anne
  15. Nothing In The Dark
  16. A Passage For Trumpet
  17. Ring-A-Ding Girl
  18. Perchance To Dream
  19. The Last Flight
  20. The Changing of the Guard
  21. A Stop at Willoughby
  22. A World Of His Own
  23. Trouble With Templeton
  24. The Passersby
  25. The Hunt

I’m a fan of ATMOSPHERE, which can clearly be seen in some of my selections, like Judgment Day, Lady Anne, Martian, etc., and there are some others missing, like I Am The Night, Color Me Black. And in my review of episodes, I think I actually found one I have never seen:  An Occurrence At Owl Creek. How did I miss this? Must also be another rare episode. I mean, thanks to Shadow & Substance, but I even caught the rare George Takei episode, The Encounter, a powerful and polarizing episode rarely aired. But you can also see the ex-military side of me, and my love of ships, subs, and aircraft. But I also love the reincarnational and paranormally weird. But, hey, I’m a Twilight Zone fan, right?

Will this list change? Just like the Twilight Zone is a state of mind, so this list is a result of my state of mind at any one moment in time….

But, oh, how these bring back such wonderful images, emotion, and atmosphere!

Related Article:  John-Boy Wrote For The Twilight Zone

X-Files Third Movie? Maybe a Millennium Flick, Too?

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Cover of "The X-Files: Fight the Future"
Cover of The X-Files: Fight the Future

Click this link for a short interview with Frank Spotnitz about pushing for a third X-Files movie to put an end to the conspiracy! He’s also talking what we all want to see: ALIENS!

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A Return to the Straight and Arrow—Traditional Archery, Day 2

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Still All Over, Still Pulling Left, But Grouping Better!

Ouch.

Turns out my right ring finger is still quite, well…”annoyed.” I talked with my soon-to-be instructor about it and he recommended the “tab” (archers use “tabs” or “gloves” to pull back the bow string, it’s much easier on the flesh, since we’re all not superheros nor nineteenth century woodspeople…) I use should be at least two, preferably three layers in thickness. I believe mine is considered “two,” with one felt and one plastic layer. But my concern with the numb finger is to get the most “twang for my buck (heh-heh, like that!), come instruction time. I don’t want to be focusing on pain and improper physical ability if I’m paying money to learn how to do this right, and I can’t do “the right” if my body ain’t cooperatin’. I can muscle through it, sure, did so for an hour yesterday and through half of my first session, Monday (and you can see how well those went…), but I don’t want to waste my time and money, nor my instructor’s time, if my body isn’t “working right” to properly follow instruction. So, no more range until I see him late next week, and I’ll be looking at a thicker tab.

So…went out to the range yesterday to see if I could do any better with the replaced arrow rest (see comments from Day 1), and I kinda did, though it may not look all that different from my first target, but around 4 or 5 “ends” in (Lune, a commenter, was kind enough to point out [pardon the pun] that a “sessions with arrows,” when you run out and put down the bow to retrieve them, is called an “end”–thanks, again, Lune!), among a couple other groupings, I actually had a grouping of THREE arrows in the center yellow (the inverted “L” at the bottom center of the yellow). I must have been doing something right. And, BTW, I never once hit the backstop, this go-around.

Overall, I felt much more confident and feel I did a heckuva a lot better shooting this time—and I was actually grouping arrows, though am still somewhat pulling to the left.

I really have to say, I love the feeling of the bow.

It has been so long, but I love the feel of it all—nocking arrows, drawing the string, targeting. Watching the arrows as they fly through the air and head for the target. That thump! as they strike the target.

Nothing like it.

A Return to the Straight and Arrow–Day 1.

A Return to the Straight and Arrow–Day 3.

Can You? Can You REALLY?

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In the September 2012 issue of Writer’s Digest, there’s a great 5-Minute Memoir (page 12), by Candy Schulman about her experience trying to wrangle an interview out of Andy Rooney. And in true, inimitable Andy Rooney fashion, he delivered what I think is a great line.

“Where do I get my ideas? Well, you damn well sit down and decide to have an idea.”

So, can you handle the truth?

Can you?

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