tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post2639198120556145300..comments2024-03-13T23:42:41.022-07:00Comments on We Are Controlling Transmission: Cry of SilenceJohn Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-90786923279429670692023-07-07T18:31:56.876-07:002023-07-07T18:31:56.876-07:003 1/2 Zantis. Just terrific. Arguably the best e...3 1/2 Zantis. Just terrific. Arguably the best episode of the season. I really like Eddie Albee's committed performance- I like it when big-time actors seem to take sci-fi seriously.. I think Havoc is very sexy- for once I'm being age-appropiate, runner-up best babe of the season. Arthur Honeycutt offers good support- he was Oscar-nominated for The Big Sky and was in a memorable Twilight Zone episode - he always seems to be playing the same character but he's always good. Nice cinematography by Kenneth Peach, good score. I really like the way the tumbleweeds move, I don't know how they did it, but it's really creepy and I wish they around till the end. Nice stunt work by the stunt woman who falls down the hill, a really good sci-fi mystery along the level of the mysteries in Soldier and The Inheritors and -yes I said it Probe. <br /><br />I usually get impatient with these stories were aliens come to earth and we just can't seem to communicate for them or vice-versa, for example Ted Chiang's Sort of Your Life and the subsequent movie Arrival, Cobbie Willis's All Seated on the Ground, etc. I just never buy that these more intelligent beings can't figure out how to communicate with us. But this is an exception - it was early enough and the mystery is so satisfying that I accept it for that. I seen to remember a Frederic Brown novel where aliens try to communicate with earth people, can't, and then just leaves. That's usually how these things end including this one. Still, I find this episode pretty faultless. When the tumbleweeds are burned in the fire does that mean alien beings are killed? Same thing with the frog that dissolves in water. It reminds me of the story that frogs will die in boiling water if you bring it to a slow boil. Which appears to not be true thankfully. As I was saying this episode is both really creepy and fun. A classic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-11560102374957117112021-06-28T20:27:27.946-07:002021-06-28T20:27:27.946-07:00Along with the other Green Acres reminders, it'...Along with the other Green Acres reminders, it's funny at 42:30 to see that foul-up that Eddie Albert has with that tractor.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-74931014851108326662019-02-23T15:50:43.055-08:002019-02-23T15:50:43.055-08:00IN A VALLEY WHERE TUMBLEWEEDS ROLL,ON YOUR ...IN A VALLEY WHERE TUMBLEWEEDS ROLL,ON YOUR NERVES THEY TAKE A TOLL,A ALIEN MIND,WANT TO RULE ALL MANKIND,JUST BURN THEM ALL IN A HOLEStar Birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-75328039651740041942018-09-05T21:50:39.368-07:002018-09-05T21:50:39.368-07:00Creepy Tumbleweeds i have seen this episode...Creepy Tumbleweeds i have seen this episode and i have been to a area where i have seen them things piled up against a fence all i could think about after seeing these freaking tumbleweeds against a fence was this episodeFlu-Birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-14068985147686940982017-09-26T14:56:32.386-07:002017-09-26T14:56:32.386-07:00I originally saw this episode when I was eight yea...I originally saw this episode when I was eight years old. It scared the shit out of me. It doesn't now - of course (I can't get Baby June's screeches/whines out of my head) - but even though the years have made it less immediately relatable, I still remember and get a bit of the shivers from those memories...which is a good thing and makes it a classic for me, and a go-to when I'm in the mood for it.Robert Seth Vorisekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07784980859128956509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-3937856783043437152017-09-26T14:55:50.400-07:002017-09-26T14:55:50.400-07:00I originally saw this episode when I was eight yea...I originally saw this episode when I was eight years old. It scared the shit out of me. It doesn't now - of course (I can't get Baby June's screeches/whines out of my head) - but even though the years have made it less immediately relatable, I still remember and get a bit of the shivers from those memories...which is a good thing and makes it a classic for me, and a go-to when I'm in the mood for it.Robert Seth Vorisekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07784980859128956509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-52638856161370436582016-06-27T19:04:17.602-07:002016-06-27T19:04:17.602-07:00Speaking of "beverage spewing" (which Pe...Speaking of "beverage spewing" (which Peter does at the beginning), my moment of that kind isn't in the episode itself. Thanks to DJS and Jeffrey Frentsen, it's that behind the scenes story of how they lost the live frogs, not in a dark way but from having them go AWOL when no one was looking. That story always gets to me.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-55905521137202407852014-09-29T02:02:19.076-07:002014-09-29T02:02:19.076-07:00Thanks, Grant. Season II takes some getting used t...Thanks, Grant. Season II takes some getting used to. I vastly prefer the first season, but the show just plain changed, and not for the better. They probably wouldn't have done Cry Of Silence in the first season. It's too Saturday Afternoon At the Bijou or like a drive-in feature for the classy first season; but those cheap flicks, especially the ones Roger Corman directed, had charms of their own; nor should we forget the 50 Foot Woman or the Colossal Man or the Astounding She-Monster (just for starters). Good clean fun, each and every one of them.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-89077777686512853012013-06-14T20:54:33.368-07:002013-06-14T20:54:33.368-07:00I agree with everything John Kenrick says.
In the...I agree with everything John Kenrick says. <br />In the companion, Schow and Frentzen mention that many people do just the opposite of embellishing when it comes to this one - they remember it as the goofy episode with the killer tumbleweeds, when it really has so much more going for it.Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-66497352537947014772013-04-25T02:02:37.001-07:002013-04-25T02:02:37.001-07:00I thought Cry Of Silence was one of the wretchedes...I thought Cry Of Silence was one of the wretchedest of the TOL's I'd ever seen the first time around but as time has gone by I've revisited it a coulple of time and those tumblin' tumblewoods don't look so bad now. <br /><br />The plot is absurd, but then most sci-fi stories are; and the set-up is cheesey, closer to a 50's era B exploitation quickie than a prime time TV series from 1964, but no matter. I fid the juxtaposition of Albert and Havoc on the one hand, the drive-n fodder plot on the other, plus Arthur Hunnicut's refreshingly rustic character of Lamont, creates a unique sci-fi world of its own.<br /><br />This is clearly not a Stefano-Stevens type TOL. It's a second season ep, and with a vengeance. Taken on its own terms, it works. No philosphical ramblings here, just malicious tumbleweeds and leaping frogs. This one was for me at first tough to take as a TOL, spoiled as I was by the first season, but once I got into the spirit of it, yielded to its charms, it worked well on its own terms. <br /><br />The aforementioned reminds me once again that TOL, while on the surface one TV series, was in fact two, TOL I and TOL II. The first is, of course, the first season; the second, the revamped second sason. I'm trying to get myself out of the habit of thinking of it as one show that went downhill but rather as, more accuarely, I believe, two different series that just happened to have the same title.john kenrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00710666533854296630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-32214112057357242422012-05-02T16:11:40.489-07:002012-05-02T16:11:40.489-07:00I'll round up to 3 Zantis. The floating tumbl...I'll round up to 3 Zantis. The floating tumbleweeds are a pretty good war, I didn't notice any wires, their movement is pretty effective, although its funny when they pull the weeds up to their faces, it reminded me of Bela Lugosi throwing the octopus around his neck in that Ed Wood movie. Its obvious from the start its not photographed by Conrad Hall. I laughed when Eddie Albert said " If we get out of town I'll give up living on a farm". This may be the most unintentionally funny episode I've seen, my vhs box called it quirky. Its a good idea, imperfectly executed. Eddie seems too figure out everything way too quickly, he's just so fascinated by everything that's happening- if his wife got killed, he's say "fascinating, my wife just got killed". Actually, I kind of wish she did. she's just way too hysterical. I didn't notice any mention of what Albert's job is. Whats up with that spoon? The payoff is both satisfying in its consistency and unsatisfying in its lack of resolution.Cmacnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-32300863283573835962011-03-08T14:14:31.914-08:002011-03-08T14:14:31.914-08:00I wanted to re-watch this one before I commented, ...I wanted to re-watch this one before I commented, and I still like this one as I did from way back. It's held together by the sane presence of Eddie Albert, always ready with an idea and ready to act, and saddled with a screen wife who comes unglued too frequently and yet is smart and insightful.<br /><br />I love Arthur Hunnicutt as Lamont. Sort of funny, sort of crazy, and then just creepy and sad as the reanimated corpse. I always loved the "Thousands of mad frogs!" breakdown he has...a great mad scene for him!<br /><br />This episode has both the appeal of an eerie story and the giddy humor when the frogs start cascading into the picture. Frogs are funny in the first place, and the balletic leap en masse across the screen is so great and nutty that you almost can't believe HOW great it is. So in addition to the sheer magnificence of the flying frog brigade, you also get to contemplate Eddie and June's mad dash back to the house, undoubtedly squishing frogs as they go. Also fun to see Lamont clinging to the side of the barn!<br /><br />And then it gets scary with the whole possession/automatic writing scene and Eddie going under and channeling the aliens. Their plight is lamentable, June does try to reach out and isn't as freaked out as other wives might be under the same circumstances, and Eddie Albert really sells that scene. <br /><br />The episode is full of menace and energetic performances and thousands of mad frogs! Perfect!Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00345830456539347899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-71797644580221190142011-03-05T12:10:36.735-08:002011-03-05T12:10:36.735-08:00No problem, AWC---I've seen both PLAN 9 and B...No problem, AWC---I've seen both PLAN 9 and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER numerous times and should have immediately caught it. But your reference was too funny, and the humor overwhelmed the precise memory. So I grabbed the image and dragged it into my own comment thread about "grave-shucking zombies," which DO appear in PLAN 9. Yeah, that hilarious business with the rubber octopus in ED WOOD represents the shooting of BRIDE.<br /><br />Last I saw them, your car keys were buried under a mass of curiously congregating tumbleweeds.Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-73535805964162504882011-03-05T10:49:13.483-08:002011-03-05T10:49:13.483-08:00Mea culpa on the "Plan 9" Bela Lugosi mi...Mea culpa on the "Plan 9" Bela Lugosi mix up, but in my defense (or probably shame considering the B-sci-fi-movie lovers here), I've never scene "Plan 9" all the way through, just the Tim Burton "Ed Wood" movie where they recreate a scene with Bela (Landau) wrestling the tentacles. I knew Bela was in "Plan 9," so I assumed it was from that movie. <br /><br />Hey, I'm lucky I remember where I put my car keys at this point. The mind is like a huge iceberg, where the more it accumulates over age, the larger the portion pulled underwater and inaccessible (except through hypnosis, EST, and the rock star from Mars drug Charlie Sheen).AWC (Hollywoodaholic)http://www.hollywoodaholic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-27525502363443424022011-03-04T22:21:59.533-08:002011-03-04T22:21:59.533-08:00It is a pretty interesting concept that maybe we W...It is a pretty interesting concept that maybe we WON'T be up to understanding alien contact if it came. Did anyone ever read a book called How To Contact Space People by Ted Owens? It terrified me as a kid; maybe I'd laugh at it now?Jim Barwisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06621993116774388708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-78970090970125197262011-03-04T21:34:04.212-08:002011-03-04T21:34:04.212-08:00Sorry, Larry---I win the Angora Award. Someone na...Sorry, Larry---I win the Angora Award. Someone name-dropped poor inoffensive PLAN 9 as the tentacle-twister and I scooped it up with a mind-blocking guffaw and lumbered toward the wrong end zone. Major brain-freeze. Like forgetting MIGHTY JOE YOUNG falling off that Empire State Building, eh?Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-40648039791262137392011-03-04T20:28:32.748-08:002011-03-04T20:28:32.748-08:00--AWC: Your imaginary Eva Gabor quote had me chort...--AWC: Your imaginary Eva Gabor quote had me chortling and guffawing for two minutes straight. Good one.<br /><br />--"Cry of Silence" not to be confused with "A Silent Cry", a fine character study-episode from season 2 of COMBAT, starring Richard Anderson and young Robert Crawford.<br /><br />---Uh oh...let's watch our Ed Woodiana, guys; Bela wrestling with the rubbery Octopus was in "Bride of the Monster", not Plan 9. We gotta keep 'em straight: "Bride" was the one where Tor Johnson played the hulking Igor-like LOBO; in "Plan 9", he played the hulking Inspector Clay ("Inspector Clay's dead--Murdered--and somebody's responsible!")<br /><br />RE: Eddie Albert. It's a shame he will largely be remembered for "Green Acres" and some miscellania like this OL episode. He was a very talented and appealing actor: check his winning performance as Gregory Peck's photographer pal in 1953's "Roman Holiday".<br /><br />ALSO-- Eddie was an excellent song & dance man on Broadway, playing the lead in Rodgers & Hart's 1938 hit "The Boys from Syracuse", prior to his war service in the US Navy.<br /><br />Want to hear some damn nice singing? Go to Amazon (MUSIC), check out the original 1949 cast recording of Irving Berlin's "Miss Liberty", and click on track #5 ("Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk") and experience 30 seconds of Eddie at his charming, melodious best. You won't believe it.<br /><br />LRLarry Rapchaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-70215196851233132332011-03-04T16:37:10.826-08:002011-03-04T16:37:10.826-08:00I traded the wife in years ago for the Outer Limit...I traded the wife in years ago for the Outer Limits box sets. I'd have done it even if the deal didn't include Season One.Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-25978846027404229902011-03-04T15:48:37.035-08:002011-03-04T15:48:37.035-08:00I don't know Peter, the last time I had a girl...I don't know Peter, the last time I had a girlfriend over for shits and giggles, my wife kicked her out of the house and then tried to kick me out also, but I wouldn't leave because of my book and pulp collection. <br /><br />I guess your wife is more understanding or perhaps you managed to escape the horror that all collectors fear: marriage to a non-collector!Walker Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16089880902426182100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-59421296813259385702011-03-04T15:47:27.666-08:002011-03-04T15:47:27.666-08:00Well, Larry, I don't like to air dirty laundry...Well, Larry, I don't like to air dirty laundry but I woke up this morning and all my matching gloves and white Keds are missing. Now I've got tumbleweeds in the front yard. Well, I live in Arizona, so I guess I'd have them anyway but that's beside the point.Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-43910965222568175922011-03-04T15:42:50.897-08:002011-03-04T15:42:50.897-08:00First of all my wife would be pissed.
Were people...First of all my wife would be pissed.<br /><br />Were people upset, seriously? I like "Demon" a lot but for me it doesn't have nearly the re-watchability of my S1 faves.<br /><br />As for "Cry of Silence", the re-watch factor for me is unfortunately not based on its promising premise/concept but on the fact it's...well...a hoot, i.e. unintentionally hilarious.Larry Blamirenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-87170209556013255252011-03-04T14:50:26.031-08:002011-03-04T14:50:26.031-08:00As John said, I think my three Zanti rating (very ...As John said, I think my three Zanti rating (very rare for a Season Two ep) comes down to enjoyability and rewatchability. I know I upset you old-timers out there when I tell you that making it all the way through "Demon With a Glass in His Hand" was work that I should have been paid for and I don't foresee watching it ever again. On the other hand, "Cry of Silence" literally made me laugh out loud several times (none louder than the classic Siege of the Frogs --oh, for The Flight of the Valkyrie to be playing on the soundtrack) and I ended up enjoying the hell out of it. Aint that what it's all about? Seriously, if you had your girlfriend over and popped in "Demon," for shits and giggles, how long til she'd be telling you she has to be to work early in the morning?Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-47410303706931987292011-03-04T14:35:44.727-08:002011-03-04T14:35:44.727-08:00I enjoyed in a low key, "we're under sieg...I enjoyed in a low key, "we're under siege", way when i forst saw it 30 years ago. But watching it last night, it didn't do it for me. The director was missing in action and as usual allowed his cast to go over the top. June Havoc wrecked many a scene and the diary was too obviously set up to convey information.<br /><br />I would have loved a audio download from our hosts.bobby jossonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-41201109939695679422011-03-04T13:46:58.024-08:002011-03-04T13:46:58.024-08:00Ted, my guess is that they realized the connection...Ted, my guess is that they realized the connection couldn't be made with the sentient species they "sensed" on Earth, at least not at the current time... not until that our species evolved to a degree where a common joining of minds was possible. Havoc may have been on to this with her "it can transmit, but not receive" observation. We may have read the Entity's comments in symbol form as dead Lamont wrote them, but It probably had no idea if it was getting through. An awareness of intelligence on both sides, but no actual communication... "What a tragedy," as the Eddie Albert character points out. Still, the valiant efforts of all concerned made me proud of being a human... and an alien, at least from a certain perspective. Thanks to Robert C. Dennis, that's one bit of communication that did get through: curiosity and the visceral need to "find each other" is a universal trait that can span a billion light years. As I'll say very shortly in my Spotlight, Hope ultimately trumps fear... one of the reason "Cry of Silence" rocks (and tumbles, and leaps)...Gary Geraninoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-34601563499517312702011-03-04T13:30:45.112-08:002011-03-04T13:30:45.112-08:00Great point, MARK HOLCOMB, about the unlikely expr...Great point, MARK HOLCOMB, about the unlikely expressive tone of Lamont's diary entries, which also bothered me, in about the same measure as "Mrs." Thorne's facile apprehension of directed intelligence, in the beginning, and her wild suspicions of Lamont's unmasculine cleanliness later. <br /><br />Even better, Mark, is your pointing out the clever overlap of the CV commentary and the "cave painting"! Umm---me like!<br /><br />At least we know Arnold Ziffel couldn't have been the missing pig, since it was a sow.<br /><br />The rolling rocks that leveled stunt-folk Helen Thurston and Richard Farnsworth always remind me of the most spectacular rock-a-thon ever staged---Keaton's SEVEN CHANCES. Don't miss it.<br /><br />The "automatic writing" scene interestingly moves the phenomenon from spiritualism to science-fiction before achieving...nothing. And immediately thereafter, the Thornes are both notably devoid of the instinct to flee. The alien presence is apparently confined to dead Lamont. All thought has been of escape. Andy might be persuaded to ponder the momentous scientific possibilities of the situation...maybe. But now would seem to be the time to at least CONSIDER high-tailin' it, at least for the hysterical Mrs., no? <br /><br />What does Andy mean by "Lamont resisted" (possession by the alien)? Is that assumption valid? Supported by anything Lamont said while alive? And the spoon-hypnosis idea is just silly. I suppose a "focusing point" might occur to you, if you were in a curious circumstance that encouraged your becoming a home-schooled hypnotist. But I'd have been more credulous if Andy had produced one of those "hypnotic coins" they used to sell on the back covers of comics for mesmerizing babes.<br /><br />Oh, those innocent, values-embracing '50s...<br /><br />Credible cast. Solidly worthy sf premise, bowled over by the unavoidable hysterics built into its staging. Sense of tragedy emanating not only from Andy's failure to establish communication but also from the episode's inability to tread the rocky ground it gamely tackled.<br /><br />One-and-a-half frogs, gyroscopically rolling by in a tumbleweed.Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.com