Richard Burton Matheson was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.
"Time Enough at Last" is the eighth episode of the American anthology series The Twilight Zone, first airing on November 20, 1959. The episode was adapted from a short story by Lynn Venable, which appeared in the January 1953 edition of If: Worlds of Science Fiction.
"Shadow Play" is episode 62 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on May 5, 1961 on CBS.
"Button, Button" is the second segment of the 20th episode of the first season of the revival of the television series The Twilight Zone. The segment is based on the 1970 short story of the same name by Richard Matheson; the same short story forms the basis of the 2009 film The Box. It poses the question of whether an ordinary person would be willing to cause a total stranger to die in exchange for $200,000 by simply pushing a button. In a documentary on the making of the movie The Box, Matheson states the inspiration for the story came from his wife, whose college professor had asked a similar question as a way of promoting a class discussion.
"A Message From Charity" is the second segment of the sixth episode of the first season from the television series The Twilight Zone. In this segment, a pair of teenagers–one from 1700, and one from 1985–share a mental link across time.
"The Misfortune Cookie" is the third segment of the fourteenth episode of the first season of the television series The Twilight Zone. In this segment, a restaurant critic discovers a Chinese restaurant where the fortune cookies have fortunes which come true.
"Shatterday" is the first segment of the premiere episode of the first season of the television series The Twilight Zone. The story follows a man who finds that a double of himself has moved into his apartment and is taking over his life. The segment is nearly a one-man show for featured actor Bruce Willis; all the other significant characters appear only offscreen.
"He's Alive" is episode four of the fourth season of The Twilight Zone. It tells of an American neo-Nazi who is visited by the ghost of Adolf Hitler. Writer Rod Serling scripted a longer version of the teleplay to be made into a feature-length film, but it was never produced. This episode is notable for Dennis Hopper's breakout performance as Peter Vollmer.
"A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a scientist gives his brother an experimental youth serum in order to save his marriage to a much younger woman. The episode's title refers to the mythical Fountain of Youth.
"Night Call" is a 1964 episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone directed by Jacques Tourneur. The story follows an elderly woman, played by Gladys Cooper, who receives persistent disturbing phone calls from an anonymous caller. The episode is based on Richard Matheson's short story "Sorry, Right Number" which appeared in the November 1953 issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction. The title was changed to "Long Distance Call" when the story was anthologized. The story ends differently than the TV episode.
The Twilight Zone is an anthology television series which aired from September 27, 1985, to April 15, 1989. It is the first of three revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1959–64 television series, and like the original it featured a variety of speculative fiction, commonly containing characters from a seemingly normal world stumbling into paranormal circumstances. Unlike the original, however, most episodes contained multiple self-contained stories instead of just one. The voice-over narrations were still present, but were not a regular feature as they were in the original series; some episodes had only an opening narration, some had only a closing narration, and some had no narration at all. The multi-segment format liberated the series from the usual time constraints of episodic television, allowing stories ranging in length from 8-minutes to 40-minute mini-movies. The series ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.
"Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" is the sixty-third episode, and the twenty-eighth episode of the third season (1988–89), of the television series The Twilight Zone. The episode was written by author Harlan Ellison. In the episode, a mob boss contends with a demon. The episode's script was adapted into a segment of the NOW Comics Twilight Zone comic book in the 1990s.
"The Jungle" is episode 77 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, and is the twelfth episode of the third season. It first aired on December 1, 1961. This teleplay was written by Charles Beaumont, based on his short story of the same name, and was directed by recurring director William F. Claxton.
"The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode, a man finds he has the ability to trade anything, even personal traits and conditions, with whoever agrees to the swap.
Brian Tochi is an American actor. During the late 1960s through much of the 1970s and 1980's, he was one of the most widely seen East Asian child actors working in U.S. television, appearing in various TV series and nearly a hundred advertisements. He is best known for his characters Toshiro Takashi from the Revenge of the Nerds film franchise, Cadet Tomoko Nogata from the third and fourth films in the Police Academy film series, and as the voice of Leonardo in the first three live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films. He is also known as Brian Keith Tochi.
William F. Wu is a Chinese-American science fiction, fantasy, and crime author.
Alan Brennert is an American author, television producer, and screenwriter. Brennert has lived in Southern California since 1973 and completed graduate work in screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Paladin of the Lost Hour" is the second segment of the seventh episode of the first season of the first revival of the television series The Twilight Zone, adapted from a novelette by scriptwriter Harlan Ellison. The story follows the friendship between a Vietnam veteran and an old man entrusted with forestalling the end of the universe. The television episode starred Danny Kaye in one of his final screen appearances.
Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary is an anthology of short stories written by various authors and edited by Carol Serling, the widow of series creator Rod Serling. Each story was written with themes or styles similar to The Twilight Zone episodes, including a narrated introduction and conclusion. Authors who contributed stories include Twilight Zone veterans Earl Hamner Jr., Alan Brennert, William F. Wu, and Rod Serling. Reviewers listed some of the better stories as being Kelley Armstrong's "A Haunted House of Her Own", Alan Brennert's "Puowaina" and Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn's "Benchwarmer".
