Editorials
Sixty Years Ago, “The Twilight Zone” Pilot Became One of the Most Influential TV Episodes of All Time
Sixty years ago, on October 2, 1959, television was irrevocably changed with the airing of The Twilight Zone’s pilot episode, “Where is Everybody?” This episode, and its writer Rod Serling, blended science fiction with adult drama and fear in a way that hadn’t really existed before. In a decade dedicated to atomic monsters aimed toward kids, no less. The pilot episode heralded in an anthology series that spanned 156 episodes and multiple revivals, which paved the way for more grown-up sci-fi fare like Star Trek and The Outer Limits. Moreover, it established the blueprint for the show, and classic tropes and elements that made it one of television’s most influential episodes of all time.
In “Where is Everybody?”, Mike Ferris (Earl Holliman) finds himself alone on a road with no memory of how he got there. As he explores the nearby town, he finds signs that life was recently there – cigarette smoke, running faucets- but no actual human beings. Only mannequins. The further he investigates, the more desperate and panic-driven he becomes. Once Ferris finally snaps from loneliness and isolation, the episode’s twist is revealed; he’s an astronaut in training, confined to an isolation chamber to test his ability to withstand being alone for the length of a trip to the moon and back.
The episode established Serling’s opening and closing narration, a central mystery, and the infamous twist ending. “Where is Everybody” also happens to be one of the few episodes that don’t have any supernatural or otherworldly elements, but the lack of supernatural is only revealed in the twist ending- when the viewer ultimately discovers Ferris’ broken mind was hallucinating the empty town.
Serling, an Army vet and radio and television scriptwriter, had grown tired of corporate censorship. An activist, he purposely wrote and created a sci-fi/fantasy show, knowing he could hide his social commentary from the censors within the genre space. It worked like a charm, too. Each episode focused on psychological or emotional drama, and the critics ate it up. Serling went on to explore all sorts of mature subject matter through the morality tales in this series.
As for the pilot episode, “Where is Everybody?” helped set a standard for the Last Man on Earth trope. Ferris winds up mistaking a mannequin for a woman in the episode, and once he realizes his mistake, he strikes up a conversation with the inanimate object. How many times have we seen that before? In the Omega Man and I Am Legend, both adaptations of Richard Matheson’s novel, the lead protagonist and last man on Earth speaks to mannequins in lieu of actual human interaction. In May, the titular character is isolated despite actually being near people, and uses her doll Suzy as a stand-in for a real-life friend.
The episode opens with Ferris coping with amnesia. He’s immediately dropped into a new setting with no idea how or when he arrived. We’ve seen this in the decades since, too. In episodes of Doctor Who and The Outer Limits. The entire plot revolves around this in Dark City, and even Hancock. Then there’s Jacob’s Ladder, a movie about an Army combat medic that begins in Vietnam before suddenly waking up in New York City, where he subsequently embarks on a hallucinogenic trip that blurs the lines between reality and horror fantasy. Only in the final moments do we see the twist that clicks the truth in place. American Psycho follows a similar formula as well. The town of Oakwood that Ferris is exploring might look familiar to eagle-eyed cinephiles; The Oakwood town square is the same set used as Hill Valley in the Back to the Future films.
“Where is Everybody?” wasn’t even the initially intended pilot. Serling planned to kick off the series with “The Happy Place”, which revolved around society killing citizens once they reach the age of 60. The network, CBS, felt it was a bit too grim, so Serling gave in and wrote the pilot that came to pass. What made this series, and this episode, resonate over the past six decades was Serling’s ability to tap into the human condition in thought-provoking ways with the palatable delivery system of fantasy and sci-fi. Isolation was a recurring theme of The Twilight Zone, but also in general fiction stories and media.
Serling didn’t invent science fiction, but he did permanently alter perception of what it could be. Both his series, and the pilot, remains one of television’s most influential of all time.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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