'Tooth Fairy' is one of the rare bad ones for the new series. It doesn't have a point, other than "Be careful what you wish for" and "Be satisfied with what you have". But Birney's character doesn't learn anything from what happens to him, and he doesn't deserve his bad end. Which is two of things Serling put into his stories.
'The Elevator's is more of a horror story than a TZ episode. Granted, some of the new episode were like that ('Gramma', anyone?), but because it isn't really a TZ episode, it's forgettable.
'Invisible Man' is the antithesis of 'Tooth Fairy', which makes their combinations oddly apparent. Cotter Smith is moving as Chapman, the man who basically learns what Birney does: "Be careful what you wish for". Smith's Chaplin was cold, aloof, and isolated, and he learns how bad it is when taken to extremes.
Unlike Birney's character, who ends up in the end as a loser, Chaplin learns from his time as "invisible" and becomes super-caring and compassionate.
The story has flaws. Couldn't anyone predict that an now-visible "invisible man" might become super-compassionate to others who are going through the same thing he did.? And you wonder what the objective of the totalitarian-esque government is? So they want people to become more compassionate? You'd think they would want cold-hearted types like Chaplin originally was. And some of the people, like the guys who hit Chaplin with their car, get away with violating the society edicts against the invisible. Not to mention apparently all the doctors who decided to violate their Hippocratic Oath, and are we supposed to believe the government doesn't care about car thieves if the witness against them is "invisible"? What if the invisible murders someone, or witnesses a murder?
And how does Chaplin pay the rent on his swanky high-rise apartment if he's invisible? For that matter, how does he eat? Does he steal food? How many invisible are there? Do non-invisibles put up up with invisibles stealing from them? Does the government reimburse the victims? I guess it does, since Chaplin has his old job waiting for him after a year of "invisibility". How did the company get by for a year with what seems to be an executive position left open for that long?
But the story is good enough that you don't catch the flaws until a rewatch or three. Which is ironic, because you'll want to rewatch it. Cotter Smith is at the center of it. His performance centers the whole thing, and it wouldn't work without him.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
'The Elevator's is more of a horror story than a TZ episode. Granted, some of the new episode were like that ('Gramma', anyone?), but because it isn't really a TZ episode, it's forgettable.
'Invisible Man' is the antithesis of 'Tooth Fairy', which makes their combinations oddly apparent. Cotter Smith is moving as Chapman, the man who basically learns what Birney does: "Be careful what you wish for". Smith's Chaplin was cold, aloof, and isolated, and he learns how bad it is when taken to extremes.
Unlike Birney's character, who ends up in the end as a loser, Chaplin learns from his time as "invisible" and becomes super-caring and compassionate.
The story has flaws. Couldn't anyone predict that an now-visible "invisible man" might become super-compassionate to others who are going through the same thing he did.? And you wonder what the objective of the totalitarian-esque government is? So they want people to become more compassionate? You'd think they would want cold-hearted types like Chaplin originally was. And some of the people, like the guys who hit Chaplin with their car, get away with violating the society edicts against the invisible. Not to mention apparently all the doctors who decided to violate their Hippocratic Oath, and are we supposed to believe the government doesn't care about car thieves if the witness against them is "invisible"? What if the invisible murders someone, or witnesses a murder?
And how does Chaplin pay the rent on his swanky high-rise apartment if he's invisible? For that matter, how does he eat? Does he steal food? How many invisible are there? Do non-invisibles put up up with invisibles stealing from them? Does the government reimburse the victims? I guess it does, since Chaplin has his old job waiting for him after a year of "invisibility". How did the company get by for a year with what seems to be an executive position left open for that long?
But the story is good enough that you don't catch the flaws until a rewatch or three. Which is ironic, because you'll want to rewatch it. Cotter Smith is at the center of it. His performance centers the whole thing, and it wouldn't work without him.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?