The Original Ending to “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?”

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If you’re a Twilight Zone fan, then you have to admire Rod Serling’s writing.  Best known for his twist endings, Serling could lead you down a path to believe one thing and then in the last scene come up with a reveal that made you understand something else.  It was often the difference between a good story and a great one.

One of the best Twilight Zone twist endings takes place in Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?.  Serling’s tale unfolds as a typical sci-fi story with a potential crashed alien space craft and a group of travelers stuck in a remote dinner during a bad snowstorm.  Serling ups the ante by dropping clues that one of the passengers is the alien!

To ratchet the tension Serling makes a case for each passenger being the alien.  Then like all really good scary stories, Serling makes us think all is well and – BAM! – he drops the twist ending on us… except in Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?, Serling follows the twist with a second twist that turns the episode into a classic.

Would you be surprised to know that wasn’t the ending that Serling had originally written?  Over at Shadow & Substance they have the lowdown on the way the story was supposed to end (it still would have been good, but without the classic double twist).  Click over and you can read Sterling’s original ending and learn more about the episode.

Neal Adams Presents “Batman vs Elmer Fudd” by Tom King and Lee Weeks

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Batman vs Elmer Fudd.

Sounds stupid, right?  No way in the world this could be an excellent comic book, right?

Wrong.  Way wrong.

Written by Tom King with art by Lee Weeks, Batman vs Elmer Fudd is an amazingly good comic.  Since it sold out of it’s initial print run, if you want to get a copy you’re probably out of luck.  However comics legend Neal Adams has created a video homage that is worth a watch.

Source: Neal Adams.

THE 40 ”JUMP THE SHARK” MOMENTS FROM 40 POPULAR CLASSIC TV SHOWS

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ME-TV recently posted their choices for THE 40 ”JUMP THE SHARK” MOMENTS FROM 40 POPULAR CLASSIC TV SHOWS.  Here are my three of my least favorite jump the shark moments (and my comments) from otherwise fun and/entertaining tv series…

  • The Andy Griffith Show – Deputy Warren Ferguson replaces Barney Fife in “The Bazaar.”  (Andy without Barney just wasn’t the same.  And sadly, Barney without Andy wasn’t either.)

  • Welcome Back, Kotter  – “Southern Sweathog” Beau De LaBarre joins the crew as Kotter becomes Vice Principal and Vinnie gets his own apartment in “Don’t Come Up and See Me Sometime.” (Travolta was moving on to movies and a new hunk was needed.)

  • Miami Vice Sonny suddenly marries Sheena Easton’s Caitlin in “Like a Hurricane.” (The jump may have actually happened before this.  In my opinion when the special guest stars became more important than the stories you could see the shark starting to warm up.)