Synopsis:

From picking up a piano to facing world annihilation, The Twilight Zone: Multiversity Broadcast takes 10 contemporary stories from a variety of movies and shows and transforms them into 10 episodes of a new Twilight Zone season, complete with newly written opening and closing Rod Serling narration.

Intentions:

I compiled a list of stories which I thought demonstrated the strange and disturbing themes of the original show. I didn’t want to edit the most conventional examples because frankly some of those already stand on their own (such as Coherence, The Truman Show, Planet of the Apes- all terrific) or even take direct episodes from The Outer Limits or Night Gallery- I think those shows already fit right in the tapestry of The Twilight Zone. I wanted to select unconventional cases which I think I can work with and find something special about them. I looked for media that explored similar themes from the original Twilight Zone show or media that explored new ways to tell contemporary stories like the prevalence superhero comic book movies. In the case of modern anthology shows like Room 104, Electric Dreams, del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and things like that, a rule I made for myself is that I should only take 1 episode from those kinds of shows because any one of them would already be perfect. You could take any 10 from Black Mirror alone because they’re all so good. I went from around 30 concepts and ideas from a variety of movies and shows down to 10 stories which I finalized into episodes. I came down to these 10 episodes, significantly edited down to about 1 hour each and desaturated down to black and white (with some selective color throughout for dramatic and creative effect). I also wrote scripts and used ElevenLabs to assemble Rod Serling opening and closing audio narrations. I also compressed the audio of the source materials to mimic the 50’s radio feel but without sounding too walkie-talkie. I was able to come up with a good compromise from an audio modification standpoint, and I applied that effect to all the episodes. The frames for each episode were cropped, readjusted, and rescaled to 1.33:1 aspect ratio to emulate the look of the original Twilight Zone show- with the exception of Episode 4 and Episode 8. Those 2 superhero episodes retain their original wide aspect ratios, and contain a mini end-credits montage to reflect the prevalence of movie multiverses of our times.

Change List:

Episode 1: Free Piano (33 min.) This edit is based on Season 2, Episode 6 of Atlanta which finds Darius visiting a mansion and encountering a strange man. Atlanta is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. This episode stood out to me as such a strange, left-turn compared to the rest of the season. It’s perfect, surprisingly tragic, and leaves a lingering bitterness that I found similar to many episodes of The Twilight Zone. I thought this might work was a short, proper introduction to the rest of the fanedit episodes. Episode2: The Noise (59 min.) Out of all the ten episodes, the source of this episode’s edit embodied The Twilight Zone show the most. The original movie, The Vast of Night (1 hr, 31 min), even started off with a voice-over that mimicked Rod Serling's introduction. I removed the opening scenes and went straight to the sound interference in the radio broadcast. I edited for pacing along the way. The low budget movie was quite impressive, but I think it would’ve worked better as a teleplay or a radio drama than a full-blown feature film. So that was my approach, and it resulted down to this episode called The Noise. Episode 3: Mr. Midnight (59 min.) I took the Cairnes Brothers’ Late Night with the Devil (1 hr, 29 min) and edited out the behind the scenes footage and consolidated the story into mostly just the events on the television broadcast. I rewrote the exposition-dump narration from the original and replaced the opening music with a jazz version of the Twilight Zone theme. Episode 4: Final Destination (1 hr, 9 min) A big swing. This was probably one of the most ridiculous things I ever edited. I took Madame Web (1 hr, 56 min.) and focused it down to the essentials- which were the protagonists, the only truly enjoyable aspect of the movie. I remember the first time seeing this movie, and I decided to just ignore anytime the villain was on screen. He wasn’t good. I just elected to not even let those scenes register- as if they never existed- and I found myself enjoying the movie as it went on. I don’t think this film was successful, but my favorite parts of it were scenes of Cassie just hanging out and freaking out along with her adopted teenagers. In the edit, I dialed back all the scenes with Ezekiel Sims, and it made a huge difference for me. I had such an insane time editing this. I added this low-opacity Uncle Ben jump scare somewhere in the beginning and it makes me laugh every time. I know this edit may not work for most people, but I really wanted to see a version of this come alive, and now I can live with myself knowing that I attempted it. I also created a tribute montage in the end credits for spiderlings who aren’t Peter Parker. Episode 5: Sam I Am (1 hr, 4 min) I love this movie. Moon (1 hr, 37 min) is the perfect kind of modern movie that feels like an expanded Twilight Zone episode. I edited the film down to its core which its strong Twilight Zone-esque premise and emphasized the singular performance from Sam Rockwell. I had kill some darlings such as that fun table tennis scene. I just couldn’t physically fit it on the frame. I mean, I could've cut back and forth to either Sam A or B, but it wouldn’t be the same. It was originally presented as a two-shot. That was a very impressive scene, but unfortunately I had to remove it. Nonetheless, I thought the film was such a faithful candidate of a Twilight Zone episode brimming with similar sci-fi and philosophical themes. Episode 6: Behold… the Coagula (1 hr, 3 min) Already a classic. I mean, Jordan Peele literally made two seasons of The Twilight Zone, which I think were very good. I think his continuation of the show was underrated. Get Out (1 hr, 44 min) is brilliant, funny, and weaves the social critiques and subtext in such entertaining, clever ways. I made sure that my edit did not betray any of that. I went ahead and removed most of Rod’s (Lil Rel Howery) scenes and kept his two pivotal scenes over the phone with Chris- one scene regarding Andre’s identity to push the urgency towards the last act- and the final scene of the movie. The final scene of this edit is an alternate ending to the original Get Out. This edit replaces the triumphant, comedic scene of the original with the more depressing take. Rod never gets there in time to save Chris. Instead, the cops arrest Chris and take him to prison. This edit ends with Chris and Rod talking over a glass barrier with Chris then taken back to his cell. It’s a darker version and one that I think relates with many of Rod Serling’s political and social commentary in most of Twilight Zone endings. Episode 7: Twilight Town (56 min) San Junipero is my favorite Black Mirror episode, one that doesn’t feel like a Twilight Zone, at first, but after multiple viewings, it very much operates in the same way. The ending can be construed as either a happy or a sad, one and I think that’s why I chose it. Living forever with the one you love is considered the best version of an afterlife. But what is life if it never ends? Is it not what makes life special is that it’s finite? This was a no-brainer selection. I kept most of it in color, only the scenes back in reality I turned into black and white. As a follow up from Episodes 1-6, I think this story offers a necessary palate cleanser. Episode 8: The Sleepwalker (1 hr, 4 min) What if superman was actually bad? This is a story that’s been told and retold many times in our media in recent years, and I wanted to pay homage to that with a fanedit of Brightburn (1 hr, 30 min). This is a very straightforward edit that leans very much into horror compared to other episodes of this fanedit series. I wanted to do this edit because I felt like the original premise of the movie overstayed its welcome- it went on a little too long with its idea, so I wanted to see if abbreviating the story elements while keeping the scares and tension in tact would make it a more concentrated, entertaining experience. As with Episode 4 Final Destination, this episode retains its original aspect ratio. This edit has a montage at the end credits showing how prevalent the Ubermensch concept has saturated our popular culture. Episode 9: Public Relations (59 min) This is an edit of an A24 movie called Dream Scenario (1 hr, 40 min) that came out last year. I think the premise is on brand for a modern Twilight Zone episode. But it ran into the same issues I had with Brightburn in that the gimmick went on a little too long. My focus was Nic Cage’s character Paul’s steady descent toward paranoia and isolation. I mean, what’s a good Nic Cage movie without a good Nic Cage meltdown? There are few here, and they’re amazing. I had to edit out a few, interesting narrative threads to keep the primary story focused for this edit. I removed the thesis paper subplot, the home invasion scene, and the sex fantasy scene in the apartment. Those were all fantastic scenes from the original film, but I didn’t have time for them, and they didn’t really push the central story forward in more meaningful ways. I think the dreams and his reaction to the people who are having them are more applicable threads that led him to his downfall- a proper sendoff that belongs in The Twilight Zone. Episode 10: The End (1 hr, 12 min) I was looking for a finale that ended in a bang. The movie Don’t Look Up (2 hr, 25 min) leaned heavily on the satire side than anything Rod Serling would have written. The structure and aesthetics of this film presented itself as probably the least similar to a Twilight Zone episode out of the ten here. But having said that, I think its strangeness, its societal commentary, and certainly its political directness can be appreciated in the same discussion with the most pointed themes of the Twilight Zone series. The movie formed a direct line to the real-world about our collective action/inaction on climate change, and the growing apathy, profiteering, and disinformation which often paralyzed any form of forward momentum in society. I removed the film’s opening discovery of the comet and instead added an opening animation I found from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) as the background to Serling’s narration. After that, I edited the film even further by removing some of Adam McKay’s more quirky tendencies in his satire (such as the plot threads with Ariana Grande an Kid Cudi characters). I focused instead on the scientists as they try to communicate to the world its impending doom. With Brightburn, Dream Scenario, and now this movie, the purpose of my edit was to ensure that its premise wasn't bogged down by the narrative’s runtime, and instead allow the experience to concentrate on the characters and their relation and reaction to the disturbing nature of their setting- which I think feels in line with the protagonists of many Twilight Zone episodes.

Additional Notes:

Background: Before editing, I compiled a list of stories that I think demonstrate the strange and disturbing themes of the original show. I didn’t want to edit the most conventional examples because frankly some of those already stand on their own (such as Coherence, The Truman Show, Planet of the Apes- all terrific) or even episodes of The Outer Limits or Night Gallery (obviously)- I think those shows already fit right in the tapestry of The Twilight Zone. In the case of modern anthology shows like Room 104, Electric Dreams, del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, and things like that, a rule I made for myself is that I should only take 1 episode from those kinds of shows because any one of them would already be perfect. You could take any 10 from Black Mirror alone because they’re all so good. I also wanted to find stories that involve superheroes, but reimagined as something retold by Rod Serling. From there I came down to 10 new episodes, edited down to about 1 hour each, black and white (with some selective color throughout for dramatic and creative effect), added new Rod Serling opening and closing narration using ElevenLabs, and then cropped, readjusted and rescaled the frame to 1.33:1 aspect ratio to emulate the look of the original Twilight Zone show- with the exception of Episode 4 and Episode 8. Those 2 superhero episodes retain their original wide aspect ratios, and contain end-credits montage to reflect the times. Final thoughts This was easily my most experimental and time-consuming project. The most difficult part was choosing what to edit. The most TEDIOUS part of this whole project wasframe adjustment. So when you crop a footage down to a square-like 1.33:1, obviously you’ll lose some information on the sides. For most of these episodes, after I crop, I had to reframe the shot by positioning further laterally so that we’re not just looking at half of someone’s face or anything like that. In doing this, you maintain the subject and intent of the image, and I had to do this for every episode, and every shot because they used rule of thirds to frame their characters, etc. So that was probably the most annoying thing, but also important. Again, the selection of which stories to do was difficult, because there are so many possibilities and stories that may better fit the Twilight Zone world. But I think for the most part, I’ve put together roster of episodes that is unconventional fit but can belong to that long lineage of other episodes in the Twilight Zone. The first thing I did was make the animation intro which is a modified version of the 2019 Twilight Zone and replaced the music John Williams’ version of the Twilight Zone theme. I also redid Serling’s narration. This project kept me busy, and I had a lot of fun putting this together for the end of the year, so I’m glad I did it. If you’re interested in any or all of these episodes, please DM me for a request. All episodes are available.

Special Thanks:

The Scribbling Man