I like the fact there was no science fiction or fantasy element. It shows how strange events can still happen even when everything is grounded in reality
Exactly! I thought the same thing. Especially since it wasn’t his idea and he (the assistant) never thought he would be in jeopardy, it definitely was believable that he would reflexively pick up the phone.
Honestly the ending and the explosion effect does it for me. I'm sure Boris picked it up by reflex but it still funny. The real Twilight Zone twist was how we started with a suspense thriller but it turned into comedic gold.
I dunno, i kinda feel like it’s hard to forget something like there being a bomb in the phone. I guess if it were his own house he was in then the impulse to answer the phone would make more sense, but even without a bomb i wouldn’t answer a phone in some random room lol
They should have had him pick it up, than panic and drop the phone the moment he realized what he'd done. That would have sold the impulsive, thoughtless nature of it more.
@@RikoZerame Another thing they could have done is had Boris ask "Where'd you put the bomb?" but the Commissar refuses to give him an answer saying something along the lines of "It'll ruin the surprise" or "a Dullard like yourself will give it away", making it the Commissar's arrogance and need for drama being his own down fall as well as Boris.
No Boris!!! (Boom) Other endings: 1.Trumpet: "Waah Waaaah." 2. Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme 3. Jelly Spotter from Spongebob: "Wah Wah Waaaah." 4. Boom interrupted, Eric Andre show song plays: "We'll be right back."
Good morning, Mr Landau, your mission if you choose to accept it, is to escape from the Twillight Zone with your life, if killed or captured the Zone Master will disavow any knowledge of your mission . Good luck, Martin !
I'd forgotten that Martin Landau guest starred in the classic and 80's iterations of TZ, until my recent rewatch. He kept on acting until his death in 2017, at 89, one of the Hollywood legends.
I ALMOST fell out of my chair when you ended the idiot scene with the Three Stooges ending. It's BRILLIANT comedy and you're right. What were you thinking Boris! You could also treat it as a Get Smart moment. I can also see Maxwell Smart saying "if only he would use his phone for good - instead of evil!" Either way, you did impressive work and once again a polished review of the episode. I did subscribe to your other channel and turned on notifications. So, I am glad I get to watch your videos. Great work sir!
With Boris getting him and the Major killed with a hare-brained move, I kept waiting for a BULLWINKLE reference to be made. Oh, well...the snark regarding this conclusion is good as is 😅 2:15 -- Between Landau and the tape recorder message, it makes me imagine that this was an off-camera epilogue to a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE story, one where Rollin Hand got separated from the rest of the team and had to make his way back to a friendly country while maintaining his false identity. Just a thought.
Kuchenko successfully invaded his two adversies in the most epic way, and Boris is clearly not the brightest bulb to forget that the phone was the bomb.
I have never seen this episode before and I could already tell Ivan would escape and the agents would end up triggering the bomb. 🤣 Predictable, but still fun.
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a really good film called Phone Booth, with a similar scenario where a sniper has a man in his view and will kill him if he moves out of his spot. Joel Schumacher made it and it stars Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, and Kiefer Sutherland
A phone rings, you answer it. Intelligence doesn't factor in. It's a conditioned reflex that anyone could fall victim to. How many times have you reached for your cellphone even when you're in a swimsuit or something?
This. I think the scene wanted to show that the two guys are so laid back in their routine that Boris simply didn't focus, and (without watching it) I assume their targets usually don't escape either. The way he acts taking up the phone is so mind-absent, he just reacted casually.
Eh, but when the episode is building up the bad guy's intelligence it comes off as out of character. I could see this being less "dumb", if maybe they had a time leap in there, where they were watching the major for several days and it faded from Boris's mind. They should have had it where the major triggers the phone to come off the hook from afar or bobby traps the room himself.
@@broodwarjc1517 A lack of time is usually the issue but I wouldn't make a huge deal out of how stupid it is. I've seen worse in movies which people consider masterpieces these days. But its true... the trapper shouldn't have told Boris where the bomb is. That dialogue was merely for the audience to know, anyway.
Agreed. It's no more stupid than the guy in the joke about the horse (the one that trots when you say "Praise" gallops when you say "Halleluiah" and stops when you say "Amen"). In most moments, we tend to do what is normal to us reflexively.
This twist actually works perfectly for me. Answering a phone is so ingrained into us. It rings you answer and theyn you say...damn, I forgot it was under my tub of rancid mayonnaise. Cheers all and don't answer that phone!
Although we may disagree about 1960s telephone answering proclivities, I simply cannot argue with your deft application of Stooge finality to the debate hehehe. Thanks for the unexpected laughs.
6:26 Actually, it makes sense given Vassiloff's plan. Most people would answer a phone like that without thinking, even Ivan had to restrain himself and he had only a guess as to the bomb's location. So Boris, dumb but believably so.
One of the few I remember my teacher having us watch. Very interesting episode even now Edit: absolutely forgot about the ending, and that brought back memories of us going “OH MY GOD IS HE DUMB?!” Its so true it comes off as comedic
I think what would've helped the ironic end is to show that Vasiloff enjoys games and toying with others so much that he never outright tells Boris where the bomb is and instead makes puns and gives him hints that he just never gets (maybe for the language barrier or for being too dense), and to drill the answer to the audience they then pan a shot to the phone. It also would've helped to make Vasiloff guilty of his own demise for being unnecessarily complicated on his job.
Frankly: He was unnecessarily complicated on his job. Had they been direct, they'd have won. But they would not have been outsmarted that way, and it would be less entertaining..
This was actually my very first episode into the Twilight Zone--and to be honest, it's an odd one for that because it doesn't contain any of the usual elements one would expect from an episode of the Twilight Zone. There are no aliens, no trips to outerspace, no devils, spells or fantastic objects. In fact, it comes off more like something Hitchcock would make. Yet, I would be lying if I said that this episode didn't have me on pins and needles. I actually kept telling the main character not to answer the phone. 🤣 Let's be honest though, the part where the henchman forgets there's a bomb in the phone and answers it only for the mastermind to cry out "No!" killed me! 🤣🤣
Having not actually seen this one, I thought the twist would be that he disarms the bomb and is indeed allowed to "leave the room alive", but with no promises made as to what happens after that. I couldn't help but notice Walter's specific wording at 1:39 and assumed it was relevant.
Another possible twist would be that since Boris and Commissar Vasilof are in the appartment after a crime (shots fired), when the phone rings, Boris could be so nervous that when the phone rings, given his position, he could have knocked over the phone. It would have needed to establish Boris was a nervous wreck. This unintentional funny ending is most likely due to a rushed writer.
I genuinely wasn’t expecting that twist. I thought for sure Ivan was going to get killed in some surreal way. I didn’t think he had a chance at surviving.
This is very different for a Zone episode, but works very well I think especially with the Cold War atmosphere surrounding the episode. Martin Landau is as excellent as ever.
I love this episode. Sure Martin Landau had a fake accent. But it definitely had a suspenseful element to it and in topnotch Twilight Zone fashion, it had the ultimate twist ending. A very satisfying ending I might add. Went out with a blast in fact.😆
I think it could have worked if it was shot differently. Boris angrily snatches up the phone reflexively, we cut to his horrified face, and then the explosion.
With the spies, hidden bomb, working against the clock, and the villains getting taken out by their own weapon (plus Martin Landau), this almost feels like a rehearsal for the original Mission Impossible series.
While slightly different from many TZ episodes, it does fit into the Cold War themes found in a handful of them. Gotta love "Boris." Channeling Rocky and Bullwinkle.
Am I the only one who thought the dimwitted henchmen setting off the bomb at the end felt like something out of Looney Tunes? EDIT: or I suppose The Three Stooges works, too 😂
This episode delves into the psychological thriller genre rather than the Sci Fi, Horror, or Fantasy genres. This was actually the true series finale of The Twilight Zone.
0:54 AH, just like what the actual Stasi (East German Secret Police) did: trolling, gaslighting, slowly drive suspects insane. 5:47 Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk! 6:29 This Boris needed a Natasha. Fearless Leader would not be pleased.
Another way around it would be for Vasiloff to hold the weapon in his armpit, stand with his back to the phone, and turn around when it rings, thereby causing the phone to fall off the table and the receiver to lift once it hits the floor.
My guess for the twist was that the bomb gets defused and then he is shot after walking out the door. Holding true to the I will let you leave alive promise. Could have been followed up with I didn't promise for far.
Everybody saying picking up the phone was instinct... OK. I don't remember the time before cell phones very well, but would it really have been instinct to pick up a phone that wasn't yours? Like, if you're in a store and you hear a phone ringing, you're not going to instinctively pick it up. Boris was in a hotel room that wasn't his, so you'd think the fleeting thought of, "Should I get that?" would be enough to make him pause and be like, "Oh yeah, there's a bomb in there."
This was a wonderful episode ... except for the ending, which I thought was very ill-thought-out. Boris may be an idiot, but the Commissar is the one who went into Kuchenko's room at the end without disarming the bomb! Admittedly, good last line from Martin Landau. The mouse finally turns on the cat, and it worked perfectly. Landau and Van Dreelan worked well together as adversaries. Yes, it was too easy for Kuchenko to escape, and this is probably one of the few half-hour episodes that would have benefited by an hour length. And you're right - it would have been better if Kuchenko had figured it out without the Commissar telling US beforehand where the bomb is. That Kuchenko DID figure it out is very well done, however. Bob Kelljan (Boris) is probably best known as Count Yorga, Vampire! And I wish he made a third film....
"There is a bomb in the room." Is it inside the guy they are killing? No? Shocking! This is one of the rare Zone episodes that I don't largely guess the twist for *as soon* as enough information is available. Literally my first guess is usually about 80-90% accurate. I don't know if this is better or not, but it was a little unexpected.
In hindsight, how many episodes of the twilight zone have very little to no sci fi or super natural elements? the shelter, the first episode, and the silence (the one where the character destroys his vocal chords to win a bet), this one and which one else? 4:08 rare comment about how much rod serling changed since the beginning of the twilight zone 4:29 it feels like walter is having fun teasing us about an 80s twilight zone rundown that will NEVER happen and just mention this for completition sake
Could you please do these as part of FanScription • What if Ursula raised Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989movie) • What if Disney’s Mulan didn’t know that Shan Yu was still alive (Disney’s Mulan 1998movie) • What if Jack Skellington discovered Easter instead of Christmas (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Easter) • Simba vs Shere Khan • What if Disney’s Treasure Planet 2 happened? • What if Disney’s Hercules 2 happened? • What if Disney’s The Darlings returned to Neverland (Disney’s Peter Pan 2) • Batman vs The Lizard • Spider-man vs Two-Face • What if Cruella de Vil (from Disney’s 101 Dalmatians 1961movie) had won? • What if James Cameron directed Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
That moment you realize that there's just 1 week left of The Twilight Tober Zone.
Yeah.....😢
Come on 2025 and 85 series!
Time to rewatch from beginning again lol
I'll certainly miss this series, but fingers crossed that Walter will eventually review Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark? in full.
And the start of something amazing just like The Twilight Zone : Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Yeah?
I like the fact there was no science fiction or fantasy element. It shows how strange events can still happen even when everything is grounded in reality
I agree, one of the best twists was "The Silence," which was definitely one of the cruelest in TZ history.
Very true.
@@trinaq Love that episode! It's one of my favorites!!
Time Enough at Last, Knick of Time, The Silence, The Shelter, Shot an Arrow into the Air, Even the very pilot itself.
I always thought the phone was clever, since it’s such a reflex to pick it up when it rings; it can bypass your conscious awareness
Exactly! I thought the same thing. Especially since it wasn’t his idea and he (the assistant) never thought he would be in jeopardy, it definitely was believable that he would reflexively pick up the phone.
His demise remind em of that guy in play test in black mirror . Not the same but alike and similar aspects in their fate
Honestly the ending and the explosion effect does it for me. I'm sure Boris picked it up by reflex but it still funny. The real Twilight Zone twist was how we started with a suspense thriller but it turned into comedic gold.
Even in the Twilight Zone, Martin Landau has to deal with tape recorders giving him impossible missions to do.
Greatly underappreciated comment, sir! Please accept my thumbs-up.
The name’s Zone. Twilight Zone. Good to see TZ get into the ‘60s espionage craze just before the show ended.
I think we can excuse Boris's actions at the end as more of an impulse rather than a conscious decision
That's what I thought. I mean, your first thought when a phone rings is to answer it.
I dunno, i kinda feel like it’s hard to forget something like there being a bomb in the phone. I guess if it were his own house he was in then the impulse to answer the phone would make more sense, but even without a bomb i wouldn’t answer a phone in some random room lol
Hard disagree. A guy in his position wouldn't do that. We have to just accept that the character is incredibly stupid.
They should have had him pick it up, than panic and drop the phone the moment he realized what he'd done. That would have sold the impulsive, thoughtless nature of it more.
@@RikoZerame
Another thing they could have done is had Boris ask "Where'd you put the bomb?" but the Commissar refuses to give him an answer saying something along the lines of "It'll ruin the surprise" or "a Dullard like yourself will give it away", making it the Commissar's arrogance and need for drama being his own down fall as well as Boris.
Hahahah the three stooges ending was great >
No Boris!!!
(Boom)
Other endings:
1.Trumpet: "Waah Waaaah."
2. Curb Your Enthusiasm Theme
3. Jelly Spotter from Spongebob: "Wah Wah Waaaah."
4. Boom interrupted, Eric Andre show song plays: "We'll be right back."
Good morning, Mr Landau, your mission if you choose to accept it, is to escape from the Twillight Zone with your life, if killed or captured the Zone Master will disavow any knowledge of your mission .
Good luck, Martin !
*insert mission impossible theme music here*
This Twilight Zone Episode is a Jigsaw, before Jigsaw.
Very true!
Not quite: Saw was trying to make people make the sacrifice to become better people. It’s not his fault they people playing the game were idiots
I loved how you edited that ending description into the ending of a Three Stooges short.
Lmao the studio audience at the end 😂😂😂
Eh I liked the three stooges ending much better.
@@Sonicandlaytonfan it needs the wah wah machine music from the old nostalgia critic reviews.
I'll always appreciate Martin Landau for his role in Ed Wood. He was a perfect Bela Lugosi. Maybe Tim Burton also liked The Twilight Zone.
Pull the string, PULL THE STRING!!!
@@Smacgregor88 *insert bela lugosi swearing here* 😂😂
I needed a win lol so I'll take it as the guy wasn't paying attention and just instinctively grabbed the phone.
That's what I thought too. What's your first thought when a phone rings? Even if there's a bomb in it?
@@glowworm2 you pick it up! 🤣
@@mmem4264 It's still funny as hell though!
@@glowworm2 NO BORIS!!!
I'd forgotten that Martin Landau guest starred in the classic and 80's iterations of TZ, until my recent rewatch. He kept on acting until his death in 2017, at 89, one of the Hollywood legends.
RIP Martin Landau.
@@racheljackson4428 he was such a good actor!
Host: A show about creepy stories and alternate versions of the world
Contestant: What is the Twilight-Tober Zone?
Martin Landau was such a great actor.
He's great in some Tim Burton movies that feature him!
@@kdusel1991 I believe he played Bela Lugosi in that movie.
@@kimkelly5512 Ed Wood? He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for that.
This is a fantastic episode. It reminds me of the short story "A Most Dangerous Game".
I ALMOST fell out of my chair when you ended the idiot scene with the Three Stooges ending. It's BRILLIANT comedy and you're right. What were you thinking Boris! You could also treat it as a Get Smart moment. I can also see Maxwell Smart saying "if only he would use his phone for good - instead of evil!"
Either way, you did impressive work and once again a polished review of the episode. I did subscribe to your other channel and turned on notifications. So, I am glad I get to watch your videos. Great work sir!
With Boris getting him and the Major killed with a hare-brained move, I kept waiting for a BULLWINKLE reference to be made. Oh, well...the snark regarding this conclusion is good as is 😅
2:15 -- Between Landau and the tape recorder message, it makes me imagine that this was an off-camera epilogue to a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE story, one where Rollin Hand got separated from the rest of the team and had to make his way back to a friendly country while maintaining his false identity. Just a thought.
Came here for “NO, BORIS!” and was not disappointed. If you want to just replay it: 5:37
ED HARRINGTON! What is it with this show and people screaming names in a funny way in scenes involving a phone?
@@ThePkmnYPerson Dunno, but I’m glad I got some way to keep playing thst scene.
It was total justice for the major
Kuchenko successfully invaded his two adversies in the most epic way, and Boris is clearly not the brightest bulb to forget that the phone was the bomb.
Yes thats exactly what happens in the video, thanks for nothing.
I can be pretty forgetful, so it’s likely I would answer the phone and realize too late
It's like Saw meets James Bond.
What do you think inspired that overrated franchise?
I have never seen this episode before and I could already tell Ivan would escape and the agents would end up triggering the bomb. 🤣
Predictable, but still fun.
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a really good film called Phone Booth, with a similar scenario where a sniper has a man in his view and will kill him if he moves out of his spot. Joel Schumacher made it and it stars Colin Farrell, Forest Whitaker, Katie Holmes, and Kiefer Sutherland
I love that film.
Reminds me of Saw.
They originally offered it to Michael Bay, but after he said, "okay, first we have to get him out of that phone booth," at which point they moved on.
@@anubusx is it worth watching? I've always wanted to see it!
@@kdusel1991
Yes it is.
A phone rings, you answer it. Intelligence doesn't factor in. It's a conditioned reflex that anyone could fall victim to. How many times have you reached for your cellphone even when you're in a swimsuit or something?
THE CALLER: ...but a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it?
This. I think the scene wanted to show that the two guys are so laid back in their routine that Boris simply didn't focus, and (without watching it) I assume their targets usually don't escape either. The way he acts taking up the phone is so mind-absent, he just reacted casually.
Eh, but when the episode is building up the bad guy's intelligence it comes off as out of character. I could see this being less "dumb", if maybe they had a time leap in there, where they were watching the major for several days and it faded from Boris's mind.
They should have had it where the major triggers the phone to come off the hook from afar or bobby traps the room himself.
@@broodwarjc1517 A lack of time is usually the issue but I wouldn't make a huge deal out of how stupid it is. I've seen worse in movies which people consider masterpieces these days. But its true... the trapper shouldn't have told Boris where the bomb is. That dialogue was merely for the audience to know, anyway.
Agreed. It's no more stupid than the guy in the joke about the horse (the one that trots when you say "Praise" gallops when you say "Halleluiah" and stops when you say "Amen"). In most moments, we tend to do what is normal to us reflexively.
*Insert Jeopardy music here* XD
I’ll take twilight zone episodes for 200 Alex
@@youyo2205 the day is mine! I'll take Analbum cover for $200! 😂😂
@@youyo2205 the day is mine! I'll take Analbum cover for $200!! 😂😂😂😂
5:39 - 5:42 Took me out!!🤣💀🤣💀🤣💀🤣 Like bruh he more or less told you the bonb was is the phone
"Yo, somebody's blowing up my phone" has a slightly different meaning...😂
This dude would've LOVED Hitman!
This twist actually works perfectly for me. Answering a phone is so ingrained into us. It rings you answer and theyn you say...damn, I forgot it was under my tub of rancid mayonnaise. Cheers all and don't answer that phone!
Although we may disagree about 1960s telephone answering proclivities, I simply cannot argue with your deft application of Stooge finality to the debate hehehe. Thanks for the unexpected laughs.
Finally my all time favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone! I loved this episode ever since seeing it on the New Year's marathon on SciFi Channel.
*phone rings*
*picks up phone*
"NO, BORIS-"
We'll Be Right Back
*insert wah wah machine music from nostalgia critic here*
6:26 Actually, it makes sense given Vassiloff's plan. Most people would answer a phone like that without thinking, even Ivan had to restrain himself and he had only a guess as to the bomb's location. So Boris, dumb but believably so.
Nah, man. I gotta push back against all this Boris defense. Haha
Happy nostalgiaween guys! This series is amazing 😊😊😊
Gotta admit that I enjoyed the laugh track at the end of the review.
Now that you've done Disneycember, Dreamworksuary, Bat May, and this, you should do Nickuly/Aprilodeon
I have to admit, I love this episode, but the best part of the video was that spoof ending
One of the few I remember my teacher having us watch. Very interesting episode even now
Edit: absolutely forgot about the ending, and that brought back memories of us going “OH MY GOD IS HE DUMB?!” Its so true it comes off as comedic
I remembered cracking up when I saw that part. It was such a compelling thriller-then that happened!
I think what would've helped the ironic end is to show that Vasiloff enjoys games and toying with others so much that he never outright tells Boris where the bomb is and instead makes puns and gives him hints that he just never gets (maybe for the language barrier or for being too dense), and to drill the answer to the audience they then pan a shot to the phone. It also would've helped to make Vasiloff guilty of his own demise for being unnecessarily complicated on his job.
Exactly!👏👏👏
Frankly: He was unnecessarily complicated on his job. Had they been direct, they'd have won.
But they would not have been outsmarted that way, and it would be less entertaining..
My God, ya'll love Boris! Hahahaha!
NO BORIS!!
That's all, folks!
Awesome The Twilight Zone video!
The explosion put them in severe jeopardy
This was actually my very first episode into the Twilight Zone--and to be honest, it's an odd one for that because it doesn't contain any of the usual elements one would expect from an episode of the Twilight Zone. There are no aliens, no trips to outerspace, no devils, spells or fantastic objects. In fact, it comes off more like something Hitchcock would make. Yet, I would be lying if I said that this episode didn't have me on pins and needles. I actually kept telling the main character not to answer the phone. 🤣 Let's be honest though, the part where the henchman forgets there's a bomb in the phone and answers it only for the mastermind to cry out "No!" killed me! 🤣🤣
Having not actually seen this one, I thought the twist would be that he disarms the bomb and is indeed allowed to "leave the room alive", but with no promises made as to what happens after that. I couldn't help but notice Walter's specific wording at 1:39 and assumed it was relevant.
4:35
Twist
5:36 the ending makes me laugh every time
Another possible twist would be that since Boris and Commissar Vasilof are in the appartment after a crime (shots fired), when the phone rings, Boris could be so nervous that when the phone rings, given his position, he could have knocked over the phone. It would have needed to establish Boris was a nervous wreck.
This unintentional funny ending is most likely due to a rushed writer.
I genuinely wasn’t expecting that twist. I thought for sure Ivan was going to get killed in some surreal way. I didn’t think he had a chance at surviving.
Hey look! Back to back episodes with Columbo heavies! If the man could carry a dual role as twins then no wonder he could be so compelling here.
This is very different for a Zone episode, but works very well I think especially with the Cold War atmosphere surrounding the episode. Martin Landau is as excellent as ever.
Bomb, James Bomb
I love this episode. Sure Martin Landau had a fake accent. But it definitely had a suspenseful element to it and in topnotch Twilight Zone fashion, it had the ultimate twist ending. A very satisfying ending I might add. Went out with a blast in fact.😆
TBF, I’d also absentmindedly pick up the phone even after being told it was connected to a bomb.
You've mentioned it so many times at this, I think new year should begin a drive into the 1980s series.
Or alternatively, The Night-tober Gallery.
I think it could have worked if it was shot differently. Boris angrily snatches up the phone reflexively, we cut to his horrified face, and then the explosion.
Sounds like a mission impossible episode
With the spies, hidden bomb, working against the clock, and the villains getting taken out by their own weapon (plus Martin Landau), this almost feels like a rehearsal for the original Mission Impossible series.
While slightly different from many TZ episodes, it does fit into the Cold War themes found in a handful of them.
Gotta love "Boris." Channeling Rocky and Bullwinkle.
From "Saw -1"
To "MST3k should riff this"
Seems like this episode has serious whiplash. Probably better off without the ending.
He built up an immunity over several years? Inconceivable!
He probably just picked up the phone by habit. It didn't look like he meant to do it.
Did they even say they couldn’t , oh I don’t know, just unplug the phone?
It’s not like he was going to answer it anyways after figuring it out.
My First Episode Ever
I was in Love
I always assumed it was less Boris being stupid, and more he wasn't paying attention and answered the phone out of habit.
"I'll take SWORDS for $200."
*insert jeopardy music here*
Am I the only one who thought the dimwitted henchmen setting off the bomb at the end felt like something out of Looney Tunes?
EDIT: or I suppose The Three Stooges works, too 😂
Alfred Hitchcock Presents when you finish please.
One of my favorite episodes. Fair criticism
After TwilightTober, my recommendations would either be Alfred Hitchcock, which you've alluded to multiple times, or The Three Stooges.
This episode delves into the psychological thriller genre rather than the Sci Fi, Horror, or Fantasy genres.
This was actually the true series finale of The Twilight Zone.
This episode foreshadows the Escape Room phenomena in the future.
0:54 AH, just like what the actual Stasi (East German Secret Police) did: trolling, gaslighting, slowly drive suspects insane.
5:47 Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk! 6:29 This Boris needed a Natasha. Fearless Leader would not be pleased.
Another way around it would be for Vasiloff to hold the weapon in his armpit, stand with his back to the phone, and turn around when it rings, thereby causing the phone to fall off the table and the receiver to lift once it hits the floor.
I liked this episode definitely a underrated one
To think that Mel Gibson stole this wild ending for his version of Brian Helgeland's "Payback". What a laugh. I loved it.
Missed opportunity to have alex trebek do the opening narration.
Martin Landau: Mission Impossible star, Oscar Winner for his role of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, Acting teacher to many stars including Jack Nicholson.
Funny how the Two Commies blew themselves up in the end 😅
Conversations in the afterlife when talking ‘bout how you died are gonna be reeeal awkward for Boris 😬
~_~
This is Jigsaw in the Twilight Zone lol 😅
GODDAMMIT BORIS! XDDD
...I would have picked up the phone. I forget things like that and have trouble with small impulses like that lol.
My guess for the twist was that the bomb gets defused and then he is shot after walking out the door. Holding true to the I will let you leave alive promise. Could have been followed up with I didn't promise for far.
Everybody saying picking up the phone was instinct... OK. I don't remember the time before cell phones very well, but would it really have been instinct to pick up a phone that wasn't yours? Like, if you're in a store and you hear a phone ringing, you're not going to instinctively pick it up. Boris was in a hotel room that wasn't his, so you'd think the fleeting thought of, "Should I get that?" would be enough to make him pause and be like, "Oh yeah, there's a bomb in there."
You should totally do a themed month for the Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
This was a wonderful episode ... except for the ending, which I thought was very ill-thought-out. Boris may be an idiot, but the Commissar is the one who went into Kuchenko's room at the end without disarming the bomb! Admittedly, good last line from Martin Landau. The mouse finally turns on the cat, and it worked perfectly. Landau and Van Dreelan worked well together as adversaries.
Yes, it was too easy for Kuchenko to escape, and this is probably one of the few half-hour episodes that would have benefited by an hour length. And you're right - it would have been better if Kuchenko had figured it out without the Commissar telling US beforehand where the bomb is. That Kuchenko DID figure it out is very well done, however.
Bob Kelljan (Boris) is probably best known as Count Yorga, Vampire! And I wish he made a third film....
The episode already feels like Mission: Obsolete, and the presence of Martin Landau doesn't help comparisons any.
Man; I was really looking forward to this review. I’m bummed you didn’t think that highly of it.
Interesting you said Rear Window.
I was thinking Rope meets Man Who Knew Too Much.
I always said this episode felt more like an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode the a Twilight Zone episode.
Awesome 🤩
"There is a bomb in the room." Is it inside the guy they are killing? No? Shocking! This is one of the rare Zone episodes that I don't largely guess the twist for *as soon* as enough information is available. Literally my first guess is usually about 80-90% accurate. I don't know if this is better or not, but it was a little unexpected.
In hindsight, how many episodes of the twilight zone have very little to no sci fi or super natural elements?
the shelter, the first episode, and the silence (the one where the character destroys his vocal chords to win a bet), this one and which one else?
4:08 rare comment about how much rod serling changed since the beginning of the twilight zone
4:29 it feels like walter is having fun teasing us about an 80s twilight zone rundown that will NEVER happen and just mention this for completition sake
“These are the rules” It’s like an original Saw episode.
5:35 on 😁😆😅🤣😂👌🏻
Could you please do these as part of FanScription
• What if Ursula raised Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989movie)
• What if Disney’s Mulan didn’t know that Shan Yu was still alive (Disney’s Mulan 1998movie)
• What if Jack Skellington discovered Easter instead of Christmas (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Easter)
• Simba vs Shere Khan
• What if Disney’s Treasure Planet 2 happened?
• What if Disney’s Hercules 2 happened?
• What if Disney’s The Darlings returned to Neverland (Disney’s Peter Pan 2)
• Batman vs The Lizard
• Spider-man vs Two-Face
• What if Cruella de Vil (from Disney’s 101 Dalmatians 1961movie) had won?
• What if James Cameron directed Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
I hope they continue with twilight tober zone following the other versions
Speaking of the 80s twilight zone, if you're out of the original episodes to review, you should start on those for next October!