Like two previous Western themed Twilight Zone episodes, the "7th is Made Up of Phantoms" (December 6, 1963) involves time travel. Three National Guardsmen on maneuvers near Little Big Horn eventually end up back in 1876--on the day Custer and the 7th Calvary was massacred.
The entire episode, written by Rod Serling, drips with atmosphere and maintains a spooky ambiance from beginning to end. The three soldiers don't get instantly zapped back in time. Rather, they seem to be fading in and out between 1964 and 1876 before ending up permanently in the past.
It's a story that depends more on the plot than on in-depth characterization, but the three actors (Ron Foster, Warren Oates, and Randy Boone) do a fine job of giving their roles an Everyman feel. These are three normal guys, stuck in a bizarre situation in which they gradually realize that something is leading them along to eventually join Custer at the battle.
No explanation or purpose is ever given for the time travel, but this is a case in which an explanation is not needed and, in fact, would have been detrimental to the story. From beginning to end, the episode depends on being spooky and mysterious.
On a meta level, I enjoy that the troopers are riding about in a Stuart tank during an episode that sometimes feels like a ghost story. The Stuart was the original Haunted Tank in DC Comics.
But I also wonder why the troopers didn't keep their tank with them--at one point marching off on foot to join Custer. Even their commanding officer (when confronted with evidence that the troopers did travel back to 1876) remarks that it was too bad they couldn't take the tank with them. Why not? Perhaps whatever destiny was forcing them along their trans-temporal path was also urging them not to bring an armored vehicle with them? It's a point that really doesn't bother me, but one can argue this is a small plot hole.
We still have one more Wild West-themed Twilight Zone episode to go. We'll look at that one soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment