The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Father & Son Game (1989) User Reviews

And so the series ends on a strong note

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 23 March 2015]

The final-ever episode of the 1980s TV series THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE, FATHER & SON GAME is probably the best episode I've watched yet. That's because it eschews the dumb comedy of other episodes to deliver a thoughtful, thought-provoking tale of brain transplants, business legacies and father/son relationships in a sci-fi context.

The story sees a dead businessman having his brain transplanted into a younger body, leaving his son naturally peeved because he was waiting to take over the business. Of course, things don't go according to plan, and what transpires is relatively intelligent: well acted, with an effective script to bring out the disturbing nature of the scenario. Hardly a masterpiece, but better than those that came before...

Father and Son Game

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 20 August 2011]

Darius Stephens died in his 70s but a microdisc/brain implant containing "everything that is Darius Stephens" is surgically "installed" into a younger body, much to the chagrin of son Michael (Eugene Robert Glazer) who wants to take over the company, filing a suit which says that his father died and that he deserves to be in charge. Anita (Patricia Phillips), Darius' beloved wife of 6 years, will stand by her husband and dutifully help him in his fight to keep son Michael from taking the company out from under him. Unfortunately, Darius' microdisc starts to "malfunction" as he begins to repeat words, perhaps returning to work so soon and devoting so much of his time to the case against him has taken a toll the body couldn't afford. George Touliatos is Darius' attorney, Dave, who wears the weariness of this case against his client, not completely convinced they can win because there might not be a precedent or law to help them. I have to say that I found this science fiction story rather fascinating and original as it questions "when does someone really die?" Is Darius really dead because the body itself quit working, or does he have an argument that only when nothing is left can the man be considered deceased? The ending insists the fight is long yet over even if the second body failed to survive; Michael may think he has won, but "there's plenty of fight still left in ole Darius". This was the final episode of the 80s Twilight Zone series. Good work from Ed Marinaro as Darius, showing someone who is not a quitter, a hard worker who gives everything he has in order to keep what he feels is rightfully his.

A Clever Conclusion

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 6 July 2017]

The joke goes, "Does life end when the brain stops functioning or when the heart stops beating?" Congress chose the latter because they knew if it was the brain, most of Congress would have been declared dead. Ed Marinaro, formerly of Hill Street Blues and the Minnesota Vikings plays a new incarnation of an elderly man who has been given an artificial brain and several other organs. He and his son nearly come to blows. They are going to face a law suit to determine whether the man is alive. Of course, there is a time when some things start to break down and the episode ends up in the air. I recall the movie "Transcendence" where Johnny Depp, a great genius, takes on non-corporeal being, existing in a computer. That might a owe a bit of homage to this episode. This version of the Twilight Zone had a decent run. This is how it ended.