Twilight Zone

Mommy and Daddy have been slightly addicted to watching Twilight Zone episodes from 1958.  There are a lot of these, and it is taking quite a bit of time to get through them.  We might be done with the first year by October or so, but sometimes it is easy to just watch a few each night, sort of as an odd habit before bedtime.  There's a bit of fun and creativity, and spotting actors just starting their careers, or in certain cases, watching older actors do their thing.  Inspired by the series, we wrote this fun little script for KPTV below - Madison will be watching a bit of the Twilight Zone herself on KPTV soon:

KidPak Adventures: Time Travelers

The Twilight Zone

HARRY is seen seated at table, eating a small meal. 

ROD:  “Meet Harry Sterling, an everyday sort of guy leading an everyday sort of life, and making every day sort of choices.  Yet today is different sort of everyday.  Because today is the everyday that Harry Sterling as stepped into… the Twlight Zone.”

TOM walks in.

TOM:  “Hey Harry, what’s up?”

HARRY:  “Just sitting here finishing breakfast.  How’s it going?”

TOM:  “Just heard that Charlotte is in the hospital.”

HARRY:  “That’s too bad.”

TOM: “Hey whatcha’ doing now?  You want to go do something?”

HARRY: “Yeah, sure!  Let’s go back to my place and play that new LEGO game!”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST

HARRY is at table again, slightly stunned because TOM is gone.

TOM walks in.

TOM:  “Hey Harry, what’s up?”

HARRY:  “Didn’t we… didn’t we just do this?”

TOM:  “Just heard that Charlotte is in the hospital.”

HARRY:  “That’s too bad?”

TOM: “Hey whatcha’ doing now?  You want to go do something?”

HARRY: “Yeah – I think I just told you.  Let’s go to my place and play some games?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST

HARRY is at table again, really stunned and slightly worried.

TOM walks in.

TOM:  “Hey Harry, what’s up?”

HARRY:  (confused) “What is going on?”

TOM:  “Well, I’ll tell you.  I just heard that Charlotte is in the hospital.”

HARRY:  “Yes.  I know that.”

TOM: “Hey whatcha’ doing now?  You want to go do something?”

HARRY: “Play… some games?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST

HARRY is at table again, scared.

TOM walks in.

TOM:  “Hey Harry, what’s up?”

HARRY:  “I don’t know, okay!?  What’s going on!?”

TOM:  “I just heard that Charlotte is in the hospital.”

HARRY:  “I know!  You just told me!”

TOM: “Hey whatcha’ doing now?  You want to go do something?”

HARRY: “Maybe we should just stay here a moment.”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST

Here we cut to Harry’s wrong answer each time, so each cut is of a different angle of HARRY giving his reply, each time more frustrated.

HARRY:  “Shoot some hoops?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST

HARRY:  “Watch the football game?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

HARRY:  “Make origami puppets?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

HARRY:  “Go to the ballet?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

HARRY:  “Build a time machine?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

HARRY screams!

TOM: “ What’s going on?  Are you okay?”

HARRY:  “I keep living the same moment over and over again.  And each time that happens, there’s this loud noise and it all starts all over again!  I don’t know what to do!”

TOM stares at HARRY a moment, as if this is the strangest thing.  And yet suddenly breaks down, smiling.

TOM:  “Oh – that happened to me once.  It was because I wasn’t using God’s time wisely.  It was the craziest thing!”

HARRY:  “What should I do?”

TOM:  “Aw, just forget about it!”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

TOM looks around a moment, slightly confused.

HARRY:  “What should I do?”

TOM: “Do an interpretive dance?”

CUE SOUND EFFECT:  TWILIGHT ZONE BURST, PROGRESSIVELY LOUDER

TOM rolls his eyes.

HARRY:  “What should I do?”

TOM: “Okay, okay!  You should use His time wisely!”

HARRY:  “Oh.  So …maybe you think we should go visit Charlotte in the hospital?”

TOM dramatically turns to camera.

TOM:  (with a little too much drama) “I thought you’d never ask.”

HARRY: “ Come on, let’s go!”

HARRY rises joining TOM as the two walk away – camera swings to ROD, who is standing there talking at camera.

ROD:  “Time is relentless.  It erodes away all things – sometimes including our discipline.  But there’s a better way to use your time.  We must control ourselves and do what is right, leading godly lives in today’s world.   Otherwise, we just might find ourselves in… the Twilight Zone.”

* * *** * *

As a bonus:  here's a picture of Daddy and his two friends, plummeting down in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  They take a picture of you, and we knew this ahead of time, so we thought we'd try a fun pose.  We're at the bottom right of the picture:

Notice how long ago this was - it says "Disney - MGM Studios" at the top there.  This was right when they started doing the multiple drops. Daddy went on this before, when it was only one drop.  It's a fun ride, although I don't think Madison cares for it much!

Leaving the Twilight Zone... today was Thursday, which accounts for speech therapy, a bit of piano practice, but no homework.  This might be the first time that Madison actually used a no homework pass.  She earned it when Mommy and Daddy signed up for their appointment with meeting the teacher, as all the students should do.  And surprising to us, she actually used it!  Though she didn't use the reading part of it - she loves reading too much to give that up.

So we spent some time together today, reading again at night, and reading about Lydia, the girl who sold purple fabric.  We read about Jack Sparrow as well, although he isn't in any scriptures I know of.  Unless you count that one about a God knowing when a sparrow falls.  Which… you probably shouldn't!

In any event, it was early-to-bed tonight, as she's been a little sleepy getting up each morning.  In fact, she was quite ready for bed early tonight, which was a good sign that she is in fact needing a bit more sleep.  Perhaps she's not falling asleep right away when going to bed.  Whatever the reason may be, we were happy to accommodate her.

The routine before bedtime is always fun.  Daddy has to find Madison first.  She is hiding somewhere.  One time, she was hiding under the sink.  Another, in the clothes hamper.  Sometimes she's down the hall in the hall closet.  Or in her own closet.  Or in her bathroom, or under the bed.  One time, she was under the crib.  And even if Daddy has a good idea of where she is, he still has to look in the other places first, including those false leads - like the pile of clothing under the covers on the bed, all shaped like Madison hiding underneath.

But prayers are a part of the bedtime routine as well, of course.  We're starting to put her on the spot a bit, asking her to pray for whoever she feels led to.  Sometimes that is Uncle Dave, and others her grandparents.  Always praying for Mommy though, which is sweet.

And Mommy is in fact getting better!