Episode 36: Dream Me a Life / Memories

Hi there, I'm Chris Stashu, I'm Mike White, and this is fund Them Alone, and we're the hosts of Dreams for Sale once a month. Look at the Twilight Zone nineteen eighty five, otherwise known as that show that we all wish would have gotten better before it got worse. But boy, maybe this is the dip. Maybe there's a maybe, there's a maybe there's a climb. Who knows.

We'll find out though on this episode when we're talking about two episodes from the show, the fifth and sixth episodes of the third season. Actually, those two episodes are titled dream Me a Life and Memories portrait of a man having a bad dream. His name Roger Simpson leads. Place of residence a retirement home. Roger Simpson leads who, since the death of his wife three years ago, has dedicated himself to living a life in which he touches no one and no one touches him.

But now contact has been made and mister Leeds is about to find himself touched by the Twilight Zone. So dream meal Life is directed by Alan King, written once again by Jay Michael Straczynski, it stars Eddie Albert as a man a man who lives in an The fuck? Who cares? God damn it? Like this show is doing a really good job of giving us no reason to care by these episodes that are once again nebulous in what are there trying to tell us?

And it takes twenty three minutes to get there. I don't want to be mister negative, but I like this one. Didn't mind this one. I was especially glad that Barrymore showed up. I thought that was really nice.

I like him a lot. Yeah, I liked him in the Changeling. I mean I remember him all the way back from the original Twilight Zone. It was was he in space in n eighteen ninety nine? Yes, he was okay, and I liked the relationship between him and Eddie Albert.

Eddie Albert probably took him a little while to wash the taste of scenery out of his mouth from like at least one of those scenes where he's just moaning so hard. But that's Eddie Albert. Yeah, it is Eddie Albert. That's this thing. Man, if he's not yelling at his gorgeous Hungarian wife for no good reason, because you know, that really good in the sack.

Yeah, but yeah, now he's screaming about how he wants to help this lady and how his wife died and now her husband's dead, and then he gets to live in her dreams but then helps her out. I guess so he was summoned by her dead husband. That's what it sounds like. Yeah, who the fuck knows. It's it's this kind of like very lazy storytelling that is just become beyond pervasive.

The show is like traf Like the show is now trafficking in it, like exclusively trafficking and lazy storytelling. And while to your point, Father Malone, I kind of like this segment more than the last two. That is so saying that is saying so little that to say that much is almost more than this episode deserves. Well, I actually thought at the end it was kind of a sweet little, you know, rumination on it is on grief. You know, like at least for the first time in a long time that we've had an episode take a stand on something that that grief can be crippling and you know, we all need to sort of help each other through it.

So I liked that. I liked that, like Nightmare Sequences, which is shot in black and white, sort of on a on a stage obviously, like I thought that was at least visually interesting, which is the first time I could say that this season. Um and uh oh. I will say, however, that seeing any Albert running around in a dream screaming and then waking up screaming, like all I could think about was the movie Dreamscape. Yes, yeah, like even like I'm watching him in the nightmare and I'm thinking, my god, this is a lot like Dreamscape, and then when he woke up, like I was like, oh my god, it's exactly like dreams Scape.

Maybe one wats Dreamscape. I didn't hate this one, ultimately, I just think it's you know, it's it was slight, but at least it was something. It's okay, Yeah it was all right, But yeah, you're right. I really loved Dreamscape. Yeah.

I wanted David Patrick Kelly, David Patrick Kelly snake Man. Yeah, or like even one of my favorite part is when they're they're on a trolley together and he's like he's got nun Chucks and he's just like a ninja. Like I walked into the Dragon one hundred and fifty three times, so I have never seen what's four Jesus christ Hey, man, what do you want to go see these movies? Man? Yeah, let me just add them during the day.

Let yo, yeah? Or is there now? Oh? Please tell me? Oh yes, all of this time, you magically all of a sudden, don't have anymore.

Right, It's not like I'm doing correct. If I were doing something other than going and fucking myself on a daily basis, I would have time to watch films like Dreamscape, along with the other multitude of films that I have yet to see, including Elvis films. Oh come on, Matt, hmm, well you're gonna have the watch. That's true. But I will say this story versus the last two, it does have somewhat of a point to Father Malone's point, which is really sad that that's something kind of worth mentioning that it actually takes a stance and something.

Because this is a show that, like, this show regularly has something to say. It was almost expected that the show has, I mean, like the Monsters are Due on Maple Street has a lot to say. Sure, and yet this show is just like what storytelling with a purpose? You know, homilies and you know stories that people can learn from. No stories where you spin your Wheels for twenty minutes about a dead lover on the radio, much more important.

Yeah, you know night flight or night drive or night song or whatever the hell that one was called nights on Night Song. Yeah. I mean a lot of a lot of these episodes have a lot of like grief. They're talking about grief. Yeah right, these writers, they watched a lot of people die, many especially I was not on the zay for you in the Nang.

I mean that's this show. This show is like it oscillates between I lost my wife, I lost a kid or I lost it all in Vietnam or all at one. Ye oh boy, dream me a life something, yeah, dreat me to sale man. You know, uh, this is a weird coincidence. Barry Morris and Robin Aidman, who's now the narrator for this season of the Twilight Zone, we're both in a series called The Star Lost.

You guys ever seen that show? Harlan Ellison created the show right now, That is not surprising that you have seen it? Yeah? Oh wait, yes I did, because oh god, Doug Trumble did the special facts, wasn't He's sure dead? And then and if you go back and watch it, which is really hard to find.

It's I managed to track it down and yeah, yeah, but it's rough because it looked like it was shot on video. Yes, and I believe it was. And the series was created by Cordwayne or Bird. Yeah, which was Harlan Ellison's numb to plume when when when things weren't going his way and like, evidently whatever the plot of it is. Basically like, right before they started shooting and he had written every episode, they were like, why don't they get to the end of this season plot point at the end of the first episode, and he was like, the whole series is about that thing, Like if we do that in that pilot, then there's nothing.

And then then he took his name off there. Anyway, this episode made me think about a lot better entertainment, I guess, and lesser. Yeah. So on that note, let's talk about the next episode. Memories.

Mary McNeill dealer in dreams and memories, to whom the uncovering of past lives is the greatest good she can render to a forgetful humanity. Your name is Mary McNeill, that you've had other names before this eight fifty seven The Piano and Mary McNeil makes another attempt to discover a previous life. However, the journey she is about to take is to a different place, a land whose borders are defined by the region we call the Twilight Zone. Some Memories is the sixth episode of the third season. It is directed by Risgard Bujaski and it stars I don't know if I feel like I got close.

Um. It stars barbara's Stock as Mary McNeil, a woman, a dealer in dreams and memories. As the show likes to say, I believe she's a hypnotherapist, and she's she helps people do dream or a past life regressions is what it would be called. And she helps she gets so so explain to me what un she passed life regresses herself. She unregresses herself, she unregresses herself into another timeline.

Yes, and all these things. Shirley mcclean's book came out because that was the first time, um that I remember anybody talking about past lives. And it was just like I remember, everybody was just like Sharley McClain, she's a kook, right nine and the three right there, and this is eighty eight, which is when as far as like my perception of things. New Age started to become a real thing, just not not just for burned out hippies anymore or disease. Man.

Yeah, people in the suburbs started started playing DONU, We're all going I got like crystals in my hand. Yeah exactly. Yeah. I mean this was around when like new age music started really taken off. And you've got your George Winston's and your Yannies and all these people.

Don't forget Johnson. How could I ever forget? Yeah, So my take on it is that somehow she slips out of our universe into another universe where everybody knows their past lives except for her. And I was very happy to see Nigel Bennett show up as the agent that she's talking to. I know him as Michelle O'Shea from the film Top of the Food Chain, where he is a banjo and banjo accessory salesman.

I love that guy, and he shows up all the time. He's got tons of credits, but he plays dastardly and sinister really well. I love his voice. Yeah, I remember him from Forever Night, that vampire cop television Sarah. Yeah, that's ridiculous premise of all time, Like you can only go to night Cord to get these guys convicted.

He just showed up in Jupiter's Legacy, that one and done show from Netflix, which I think, Chris, I think Netflix loves your podcast, the one Season Show, because they are just about doing shows and canceling them after one season. Just for you, buddy. You know what the funny thing is, I don't want to cover any Netflix shows. You know why because if I ever go to my Netflix app, I'm like, play something for me. It's like you like Netflix content, right, maybe something else?

No? No, no, no, Netflix Hunted. Maybe something else for a change. No no, no, see we have this movie that we made. It's a Netflix exclusive, but maybe I'd like to No Netflix, Well have you seen MANK yet?

Well? Why didn't you watch it again? Do you're telling me you see The House of Cards three times? Already? Watching here?

It is? What is your favorite Netflix category for the malon? Oh watch again? Watch oh oh? Watch MANK again?

Yeah? Yeah, there's like, you know, an entire list of things I've already watched, like watch this again? Are you Pauline Kale? Would you like to watch MANK again? It's it's it's funny that this like, look I have my own feelings on past life regression.

I frankly kind of put a lot of stock in it. Don't laugh me out of the room for that. It's fine, it's whatever. It's my beliefs. I like this episode's treatment of it because this episode's treatment is not what I was expecting.

However, it's still kind of spun its wheels. Yeah, I thought that. I actually think the episode was too ambitious for its own good. Yeah. I think like there was a world here that was clearly well thought out, but they do not have time in twenty two minutes to to sort of get to that.

So I mean, oh, this is an hour long episode, it shouldn't Yeah, yeah, exactly, Like right, you know, two ambitious is better than no ambition, So like I appreciated it on that level, but uh, you know it, it wheel spinning is a good sort of description, like nothing really happens, like they only kind of focus on this premise. This woman who believes in past lives and nobody else does ends up in a world we already remember. We did this with the There was an episode with them was a woman was like an account an accountant or something or no a secretary and everyone's like, oh, why you're a secretary episode? Yeah, he does the Reiker maneuver in that one. Oh yeah, yeah that was Pam Dauber, Right, that's the secretary.

Yeah yeah, but can she but can she type? But she can shee? Yeah, there we go. It's look this show. What's weird about this show is it like it's repeated itself so many times now with like the same themes, and it's gotten to the point now where they've repeated it so many times that there's no way that this is going to land.

There's no way that this is going to be entertaining. There's no way that we're going to watch this segment and go, man, this is really good. We're just gonna go, man, I wish it was this or I wish it was that. And if it's a show that's not this one, that's one thing the show can't control that. But the fact that we're talking about literal episodes of this own show about how it did it better, that's a problem.

That's actually a real problem. Yeah. You know, you look back at the writers in the first two seasons, and if you look at their credits, it always seems like the Twilight Zone was the exception to their career, Like you know, they just like, let me do I can do some Twilight Zones, whereas this season feels a lot like journeyman typewriters who like, if you go look at their credits, they did one episode of this, in one episode of that episode of this other thing. They're just like you know, television people. So they're probably not the best people to bring to the Twilight Zone.

You know, like if they're ready to write an episode of full House and Baretta and this like men, maybe they don't. Maybe they're not this ain't there genre. Well that was the thing I think we talked about, even when we talked about the Jordan Peel version of the Twilight Zone, was like you guys had all this time to like call great short stories and you know, get really good sci fi writers, maybe people that have written for television before. Maybe not. Maybe stories that you want to adapt, maybe not.

But like you know, we started off with Harlan Allison. We had some real luminaries. We had luminaries behind the camera, in front of the camera, behind the typewriter. And I'm not seeing those this season. I'm not seeing adaptations of stuff.

Even I want to say. The last episode that we really liked the the one with Shelley duval. I mean that was an adaptation for loneliness. Yeah, that was a short story adaptation serves. So yeah it was you and you go back to the original Twins on plenty of those episodes are based on previously written work.

A lot of the times by this, you know the author like adapted it, but but you know there was a wellspring that they recognized and went to as opposed to this and like the Jordan Peel one, like, well, now we got a series, we got to write some episodes. Let's think of some Twilight Zony type stuff. What's weird is who directed this episode? Two has like a pedigree of working on like really well known stuff too. Like I was curious because like Raizard Boujaski is the last name you expect to see involved in a Twilight Zone product, given how I don't know polish his name sounds, and given that you know this is an American made product and Canadian Maide Keen directed A Bunch of Stuff is one of his films was nominated for the Palm Door, Like why are you working on this show?

And why is it this episode, Like, why bizarre episode? This does seem the first episode in a while where I noticed the direction and that there was some thought behind it. Yeah. Yeah, although although when they finally like grab her and her like in barrogating her stuff, like I kept noticing the camera would just sort of slowly moved to in between slats to look at this this one bespectacled actor, Like they just did that same shot over and over again from different angles out of Palm Door nominated. Yeah, right, shoot your subject through a mish, right, And meanwhile the writer like, to you, guys, point one episode of the Facts of Life, one episode of Charles and Charge, and then he goes onto the Twilight Zone, and then he goes to night Court for I don't know how I'm at thirteen episodes, so it's like you found his niche.

Yeah, second time we mentioned night Court and not in the same context. Yeah, I think he was even a producer at night Court, So you really got into that. And then that show GeV Good Versus Evil, which I like, I tried doing the rewatch of it. The version that I have is so shitty looking at I think that's the same version I got. It's just dreadful when it was airing, I really liked yeah.

Yeah, oh yeah, Well I love the actors and that I really love. Um, why am I blanking on Brooks? Thank you? He's so good. Yeah.

Even Clayton Rohner, who was one of those guys who was in everything in the eighties. Uh yeah and then just sort of disappeared. Who an actor who has completely changed the way I look at the word lauper and Cindy Lauper because of his pronunciation, and just one of the guys, Cindy, Yeah, I'm Cindy Lauber. So now every time I see Cindy Lauber, I think Cindy Lauber and I just called the Lauber I have never seen. It's pretty good.

It's pretty good. Well that or guy, Yeah, no, you should see both. They're both good. Yeah. Added to the list, buddy, just one of the guys will be an episode out of the projection, both in December.

Maybe by the time this episode comes out. One GDE has Marshall Bell in it, yea yes, and everyone knows what Marshall Bell's ass looks like. If you've seen Yo, man, that's the coaches. The Coach's Ball scene and then he gets whipped on the ass with a towel A bunch. I still haven't seen that one.

It's a documentary. It's a good one. It's a homo erotic. It's a homo it's a it's a homo erotic dream slash nightmare. It's it is.

It is one of those films where I don't understand how anyone didn't know it was gay, because they all knew it was fucking gay. So yeah, yeah, stop pretending, guys. Come on, you watched the documentary about the guy I'm black. I have not screamed, and I have not scream Mark. Yeah, it's really good with It's again one of those things where it's like it's on the list.

I'll watch it before I die. How's that? Okay? Sounds good? Well I can ask Mark that.

So I'll just tell people from no one. I'll just watch it before I die. Yeah, I got a little while. I don't know who knows. Actually, you're committed without any week and a half, I better get going.

If my calendar is correct, it's less than that, but maybe the leap years were off. I you know, I think these two episodes are better than the last two but man, we're really far in one direction from where we were. It's unfortunate, you know, I don't want to let me join them. Yeah. Yeah, it's just at the end of the day.

With a show like this, similarly to Tales from the Crypt, the good stuff is remembered so positively that everybody just kind of forgets the bad stuff. And honestly, that's kind of okay in a way. Like I'm not sure a lay person would go back and watch the show all the way through. They would go and watch Shatter Day or word Play and be like, yeah, that's good, and then you're like, I don't need to watch anything else, or just watch the things that interest Like, I don't think anyone if they were reading the synopsises of the episodes and read this when they would be like, yeah, this is when I want to watch, they'd probably watch something like Shatter Day or even the Elvis episode, like those I think are more inherently interesting than this one, just based on the what the episode is talking about to begin with.

And I think that Elvis one was based on a short story as well. Are You Lonesome Tonight? The short story? But what's what's the movie called breefights the Bowl again. Uh, staywayo, stayway, Joe.

Is that what it's based off of? Yah? Wanted to say, Oh boy, so are we done talking about these two episodes? Yeah, I'm asking you, guys. I don't have anything to add.

No, all right, So the next one is the next one has a great name. So that's all I know. So that's right. On the next episode of Dreams for Sale, we're gonna be taking a look at the seventh and eighth episodes of the third season. Those episodes are titled The Hell Grow My Method.

That's a good good Actually, that's a good one. Yeah, And our Selena is Dying, which I assume is about Selena, the singer from Ois Christy. Yes has to be Yes. It's a remake remake of an original Twilight Soon episode. Oh good, it can only disappoint.

Yeah. It's also written by Jay Michael Strazinski. Right, who's the you know, who's the only one this season? I think any with any sort of pedigree who I kind of respect as a as a writer. Yeah.

It's kind of unfortunate, isn't it? But until then, where can people find you? Father Malone? You can check me out over at father Malone dot com. I get links to all the crazy should I engage in, including my monthly radio drama Dark Destination, so you can check me out over there.

What about you, Mike? Where can people find you when you're not here? You can find me at the Projection Booth which is available at Projection mooth podcast dot com. And as for me, you can find me on the Internet at Christmas Clause on Twitter. This podcast you can find it on Twitter at Dreams for Sale and twilight Zone eighty five.

Big thanks as always to Roxy Drive and Neutron Dreams for the music for the show. I will catch on the next episode.