And When The Sky Was Opened - Twilight Zone Episode REVIEW 

One of my very favourite episodes of the Zone..goosebumps everytime I see it.And I'm 64. I've seen it a lot..gooosebumps!

Thanks for covering this one, honestly one of the most terrifying eps ever. Perfect for Spooky Season!

Rod Taylor was an Australian like myself. Yes wish he'd been in more TZ episodes. Loved The Time Machine. A solid story with great characters

Rod Taylor is an amazing actor. I remember him mostly from The Birds. This is a great episode, I remember watching this one. Such an uneasy episode. Especially your parents not acknowledging you as their son. Great breakdown Anthony

Richard Matheson is one of the best horror writers this side of Ramsey Campbell. Any excellent review by the master of The Twilight Zone.

Excellent review and analysis. I remember being creeped out by this one, because these characters slowly start to realize they're facing a slow, inevitable death/erasure, so there was a theme almost like an incurable disease, and since it was so completely unknown what was happening, there's absolutely nothing that can be done about it but wait for it to end you. This was one of those episodes that sticks with you and makes you think, wondering what you'd do in this same situation. Anyhow, great job with this!

Your reviews are top notch as always Anthony. I was so happy to cover this one when we worked together. I think horror wise this has got to be one of the most haunting zones. You’re so right Douglas Hayes is the key this, Howling man, and After Hours are all 5/5s imo. Keep up the fantastic work my brother!

Loved this episode when I saw it and I think it was due to Rod Taylor’s incredibly unhinged performance. I just love TZ where folk are losing their sh…. Never knew that was him as Churchill in Inglourius Basterds. Brilliant video Anthony. Editing was just delicious.

Classic TZ! I love this style of story telling, it leaves you guessing. It sits with you awhile after you watch. To me that’s creative. It’s funny to me nowadays how this sort of thing causes so much frustration with the viewers, most seem to need to know and be right or it’s stupid lol. Another great choice Anthony!!

As soon as I see your newest videos uploaded, I watch as soon as possible. This definitely is a classic and one of my personal favorites. The fear of the unknown is truly frightening. Sometimes not knowing what's real makes you question your sanity.

Fascinating stuff, dude! Rod Taylor was such a great actor, but I never realised that was him as Churchill in Inglourious! I was reminded of BTTF with the newspapers altering so was glad to see Marty pop up before the end. Another great video, Anthony. Keep up the great work bud!

As a dedicated fan of both Serling and his anthology series, I applaud your take on the most terrifying episode of the Twilight Zone. Serling won awards for his screenplays of Patterns, ( this teleplay changed his career, ) Requiem for a Heavyweight, Seven Days in May and Planet of the Apes. ( Co-written with Michael Wilson. ) Taylor's performance was superb. This was before The Time Machine and The Birds. Leonard Rosenman's eerie music evoked the bizarre feeling of obsessive dread. A truly unsettling experience all told.

Thanks once again for the top notch TZ content friend, this one haunted me terribly as a kid, the fear of not being believed and having your reality questioned is harrowing.

This is one of my FAVORITE episodes. Imagine the fear of someone youve known for years just DISAPPEARING!

I'm surprised they didn't use Rod Taylor again on this show. His acting is flawless. Probably the best in the entire series, which is saying a lot.

That guy looks and has mannerisms so much like Robin Williams it is striking.

This was an eerie one for sure. But I never really quite understood the whole concept, of why they were disappearing.

Great review Anthony! This is a really solid episode. What a strange coincidence - I just watched the original Don’t be Afraid of the Dark with Jim Hutton last night. I never knew that was Timothy Hutton’s father!

Haven’t seen a better review of The Twilight Zone episodes than yours! TTZ is such a well done, classic show. Looking forward to your next episode ✌️💀

Awesome vid! Great thoughts and edits! That’s great that they didn’t explain it. Very unnerving. I’m gonna rewatch this ep. Wow I didn’t know that was him as Churchill. Awesome glass door scene! I enjoyed this vid very much. Cheers 🎥🎥🎥📽️📽️📽️👍✨✨✨✨✨

Great to see a new Twilight Zone video just in time for Halloween! Love the ending of this one! Rod Taylor is good in anything in my book! Hope you're getting a chance to watch quite a few episodes to celebrate the season. Be well man!

This is an episode I actually remember Fein way back in the day. An ever welcome visit down memory lane (when tv was great!)

Great vid and analysis as always! The unknown truly is the greatest fear, and I love how ambiguous TZ can be.

A darn fine episode and some darn fine coverage of said darn fine episode. As someone that this has happened to, twice, I really relate. I'd as well rate it five out of five missing astronauts...but darn it....they're missing. And Rod Taylor is indeed great. The Time Machine being one of my favorites. A highwater mark for sci-fi.

This amazing epiaode was in the vein of a psychological riddle, a bit like Schrodingers cat. Sure we saw the Colonel suffer a kind of mental breakdown at the complete erasing of his friend Harrington, and lashing out in frustration, and yes he was going through hell, so there's a horror edge to it, but it's the conundrum of what the hell happened that takes it into a psychological dimension. Were we the ones, the viewers, duped, it was all a ruse, an illusion we were watching, how very meta that would be, or were they actually taken, by a force, by God, by an alien, and why in stages, like they weren't taken all at once, it's like the something was toying with them psychologically, feeding off their distress. The Colonel was an incredible actor, never seen him before, the other two were good but he had a presence which made him more intense and watchable somehow. I love the open endedness of these TZ productions, like you are never really sure what happened. Thanks for your review, great stuff BTW.

I imagine The Void from Amazing World of Gumball took them.

Howdy! That's all I have to say this time...because you I love your channel and your videos are always awesome! 😁😂

Great review man perfect timing for Halloween 🎃

This also is reflected in the Final Destination movies.

Ok, Anthony, bear with me on this one. I hate this episode, because it scares me, because it hits home. Because I have come to realize that most of us are destined to be forgotten, erased from the memories of Man and history. Think about Pixar and Coco, one of their best (which is saying a lot). The Mexican people celebrate the Day of the Dead, and offer prayers and food and other offerings, putting photographs of lost loved ones, so they will not be forgotten. But in the land of the Dead, the one thing the Dead fear is to be forgotten, so that is the final death. My mother died when I was ten; for 40 years, there were others that knew her in life, and could also keep her memory green. But in the last decade plus, I've lost all my elderly family on my mother's side, as well as my father. Some of my cousins remember her, and some of my friends but we are all in our fifties, sixties and even seventies. How soon will I be the only one to remember her? My husband and children never knew her. I try to work in occasional anecdotes, but it's tough. Her mother, my grandmother, died at 108 and 11 months, so my husband, my kids and plenty of people still remember her well. Even so, the memories of her friends, relatives and the world that she lived in, live on mostly in me, because I asked about the past so often. But again, my children and my husband (their father) cannot speak French. Their memories are their own, but imperfect, because they could only interact through me, the interpreter. So I too am watching in real time as people that I loved are fading away. There won't be much left to pass on, nothing that will mean much to the younger generation and that drives me nuts. Anthony, as someone who is old enough to be your mother, do yourself a favor. Bust out a tape recorder, or a video camera, or maybe the dumb smartphone in your pocket. Sit down with your oldest relative, and start interviewing them. Get everything and everyone they knew who was important to them, as well as practical medical history and lines of decent. Do the whole family, but especially your parents. They will be gone all too soon, and these interviews will be all that is all left. Heck, for all you know, your grandparents may have witnessed the Hindenburg disaster, or liberated Bergen Belsen or shook Lucky Lindy's hand at the ticker tape parade. You won't understand who you are, until you know who they are/were. Well, more than you wanted to know, I'm sure, but love the review as always. See ya soon.

This is one of my all-time favorites: what is it about watching a grown man slowly breakdown?🤔

another episode of ttz i caught a couple weeks ago on city-tv. Very interesting story. Enjoyed it. I could grasp the part of getting wiped from existence because they were supposed to die.... But the part about getting completely wiped from History and Memory was lost on me. lol

Nice episode 👏 😅👌

This is very trippy. Great review!

Great video. This episode is soooooooo good.

Hi Anthony, as always, I hope all is well on your end. When I saw this review/analysis, I knew it was one that I wanted to comment on ASAP, but, unfortunately, me moving brought about a couple of false starts to my reply, until I finally decided it best to wait until I was settled into my new home. Your video parallel my thoughts on "And When The Sky Was Opened"; it's about as near perfection as it gets. Is this my absolute favorite episode? It's top tier for my money, but there are some others that likewise share that rarified air, so I'm a little hesitant to single out any single one for the ultimate honor, though I will say this: There is none that I am willing to place above "AWTSWO", none that I like better, none that I would rate as exuding a more quintessentially _Twilight Zone_ vibe . So maybe, if I were forced to pick just one episode as my fav, this well ma Your video parallel my thoughts on "And When The Sky Was Opened"; it's about as near perfection as it gets. Is this my absolute favorite episode? It's top tier for my money, but there are some others that share that rarified air, so I'm a little hesitant to single out any single one for the ultimate honor, though I will say this: There is none that I am willing to place above "AWTSWO", none that I like better. So maybe, if I were forced to pick just one episode as my fav, this well might be it, the proceeding caveat not withstanding. In any case, you've covered all of the main points, but here are a few details that have stayed with me through multiple viewings (this is one of the most rewatchable episodes for me--it never gets boring): *The ever-changing newspaper headline* The shock value at first viewing was stunning, but its significance has continued to stay with me down through the years. My interpretation is that this is part of the same mechanism that's responsible for removing them from existence, and, for me, this isn't anything as prosaic as time travel, but some unknown cosmic terror--very Lovecraftian in a sense. It almost becomes another character. *The bar scene* I like how an act so normally inconsequential as Harrington dropping his beer takes on a disturbing turn in this context. His losing control of his motor function is a result of him beginning to lose tangible connection with reality as we know it. The bartender, happy to have the heroes at this establishment, makes light of the event, pouring him another glass, but by now we're starting to sense that a major change is coming over Harrington, one that won't end well for him. *Rod Serling's Closing Narration* To my thinking this is one of his best, most memorable. There's no preaching, no purple prose; just a stark, simple, succinct recap of the inexplicable, horrific action we just witnessed, beginning: _“Once upon a time, there was a man named Harrington, a man named Forbes, a man named Gart. They used to exist, but don’t any longer. Someone-or something-took them somewhere. At least they are no longer a part of the memory of man..."_ *Odds & Ends and Trivia* The description I've heard a fair number of times about "AWTSWO" is that it was a "product of its time", to which I answer, yes and no. Sure, space exploration was new at the time, and therefore, an unknown element necessarily crept into fiction of the day, however, when viewed as an outlier occurrence in a Lovecraftian universe (multiverse?), it could take place just as readily here in 2023 as back in 1959. Rod's masterful reworking of Richard Matheson's "Disappearing Act" is all for the better, and to top Matheson at his own game is some feat. It's been pointed out a number of times that at certain angles Rod Taylor--whose performance here is nothing short of amazing (HARRINGTON!)--bore a resemblance to Robin Williams, and I can see it. *A FIVE OUT OF FIVE way-out-there practical joke* Thank you as always, Anthony, for another insightful video. Stay well & safe, my friend, and keep up with your excellent reviews!

Enjoy the accent as much as the content. Nice composition.

Great movie reviews..

You should take a look at Blood Diner

For me my favorite episode even if Taylor says Harrington like 100 times.