Season Two awards

Due to the fact that season 2 only had 21 episode (season 1 had a whopping 59), I opted to present the awards as a one-off post at the end of the season. Sadly, the overall feeling is that season two never really rose to the high standards set by its predecessor, save for a few occasions which I celebrated in those past few months of reviewing. But, worry not - I set myself a task to finish the blog (well, the 80s part of it - the crowd wants me to do UPN as well, so I'll oblige once I find those discs) by the end of 2006. ... and that I shall do. But, enough with this, on to the awards ceremony ! The Golden Rod award for Twilight Zone excellence goes to : The Once and Future King, The Toys of Caliban, The Road Less Traveled, The Card, Shelter Skelter, Time and Theresa Golowitz and Voices in the Earth. The Silver Rod award for valuable addition to the Twilight Zone canon goes to : A Saucer of Loneliness, What are Friends For ?, Aqua Vita, The Storyteller, The After Hours, Lost and Found, The World Next Door, The Convict's Piano, The Junction, Private Channel and Song of the Younger World. The Bronze Rod award for good effort goes to : Nightsong, Joy Ride and The Girl I Married. As you can see, season 2 wasn't all-out bad (though Nightsong is probably the worst Twilight Zone episode I've seen, period) - just consistently average. Among the pile of Silver Rods, some were nearer to Gold (Aqua Vita, The After Hours, The Convict's Piano), some were nearer to Bronze (What Are Friends For?, The Storyteller, The World Next Door), and some were just plain average (The Junction, Private Channel). What has to be pointed out though is that the good ones - especially The Toys of Caliban, The Card, Shelter Skelter and Time and Theresa Golowitz are real good, so this wasn't a massive waste of time after all. As many of you are aware, CBS froze the Zone after the season 2 fiasco, and revived it only when in dire need of syndication package. The third season was produced and shot in its entirety in Canada, and due to labour laws all directors and majority of actors were Canadian, with all the writers being American. Also, a lot of old friends from the first two season left the production at this stage - most notably, story/creative consultants Rockne S. O'Bannon and Alan Brennert, along with the executive producer Phil DeGuere and narrator Charles Aidman, who were replaced by Robin Ward, J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Shelmerdine, amongst others. Amazingly, despite all the tumbling up and down, season 3 turned out quite proper, and some of my favourite episodes are here (most notably The Hellgramite Method). Do bear in mind I'm writing this purely from my childhood memories, so don't be disappointed if I start dishing out Bronze for those entries. At any rate...we're off to another 30 episodes of science fiction and fantasy. And a big thanks to my loyal readers, who stuck with my irregular summer posting. You're the best.