Hello, glad you could make it to my first Lost / Twilight Zone comparison for season six. As promised several years ago, we are going to discuss the correlation between Rod Serling’s science fiction television program, The Twilight Zone, (1959-1964) and the current ABC network hit, Lost. You can find the previous updates here.
Lost In The Twilight Zone.
Tonight's offering is from season five, episode number 142, original air date, February 28, 1964, titled, An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
As you read the opening monologue, plot synopsis, and epilogue, think about Lost and the season six premiere. As usual, I will explain the tie in below.
Monologue:
Tonight a presentation so special and unique that, for the first time in the five years we’ve been presenting The Twilight Zone, we’re offering a film shot in France by others. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival of 1962, as well as other international awards, here is a haunting study of the incredible, from the past master of the incredible, Ambrose Bierce.
Plot Synopsis:
Here is the French production of An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge.
A Confederate spy is about to be hung by Union soldiers. The hanging is going to take place on a bridge above Owl Creek. The soldiers fix the noose around the spy’s neck and step off of the plank sending the spy toward the water. Just as the soldier reaches the bottom the rope snaps and the spy falls into the water. He struggles to get the noose off of his neck and swims to the surface. He makes his way down the river managing to avoid the Union gunfire.
As he is floating down the river he notices all the small things he had never noticed before. He realizes how great it is to be alive. Once he makes it to shore he starts to head home. He runs through what seems to be an endless forest until he finally sees his house. His wife is waiting there for him. He is filled with delight.
Just as he is about to embrace his wife his head snaps back. He is back at Owl Creek Bridge, swinging from his neck on a rope that didn’t break.
Epilogue:
An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge – in two forms, as it was dreamed, and as it was lived and died. This is the stuff of fantasy, the thread of imagination, the ingredients of The Twilight Zone.
Lost Tie In:
The season six Lost premiere is spot on to what happened in this Twilight Zone episode. The prisoner is escorted out to the bridge, prepared to be hanged. The Lost castaways board Oceanic Flight 815 bound for Los Angeles, California.
The prisoner's hang rope snaps affording him a second chance. Luck would be on his side even more as he escapes the guards and their gunfire. The Lost castaways flight is typical until turbulence occurs shaking the passengers. In an instant, the plane tears apart and crashes on the island.
The prisoner in his journey to escape and go home to be with his wife and family becomes more aware of his surroundings and has a greater appreciation for the life he led and his family. On Lost the castaways during their journey on the island, become very aware of their surroundings in their struggle to escape the others and go home.
The prisoner, just at the moment he made it home to his house and family, was yanked back to reality as he found himself hanging from the bridge. On Lost, after battling smoke monsters, seeing loved ones die, and running and hiding from the evil Others, they find themselves back on the plane and after a little turbulence, land safely in California and go about their normal lives.
Submitted for your approval, respectfully, in the Lost Twilight Zone.
LURKING ON THE GRASSY KNOLL
