This is the transcript of The Twilight Zone Podcast for deaf or hard of hearing fans of The Twilight Zone. I hope it will be of some. Please bear in mind that these notes are made for me to riff on and read from, so the style and cadence may be different from if they were written for an article, and much as I've tried to clean them up they may be rough round the edges in places. Best Wishes – Tom Elliot The audio version of this podcast can be downloaded HERE Nothing in the Dark Introduction: In the multiverse that is The Twilight Zone, I often try to make sense of why it does what it does. Why some are punished while others aren't. It's easy to see why the cosmic justice dished out to some is “deserved” but then every now and then something happens seemingly for no reason at all. It's in our nature as humans to try to make order out of chaos, and in our nature as fans, to try to join the dots – to create continuity where there perhaps is none. In this show, the only true constant is our host Rod Serling. And you could argue that Rod Serling isn't a character in the show but I would argue differently. There is Rod Serling the writer who comes on-screen after the story has finished and tells you what's coming next week. But then there's The Rod Serling who introduces and closes out our episode with beautifully phrased insight and poetry. That Rod Serling for me, IS part of The Twilight Zone. Be he God or guide or something completely beyond our understanding, he is the constant in this crazy multiverse. But is he the only one? In a manner of speaking, no. In the Howling Man we meet The Devil, and when he is spoke of he's described as appearing throughout history in various forms but always war and death would follow him. And in The Twilight Zone, we see several of those forms. We've met him in Escape Clause, A Nice Place to Visit and of course The Howling man. His presence was felt in Still valley and we'll meet him again before this journey is over. But tonight's Twilight Zone wraps up a trilogy of stories concerning another recurring character, and he too wears different faces. We met him first in One For the Angels and then again in The Hitchiker and he was mentioned, but didn't appear in the opening of Long Distance Call. That character is Death – or as he is sometimes known in The Twilight Zone, Mr Death. Wanda Dunn lives alone in a dilapidated building. She daren't venture outside for fear of bumping into Mr Death. But tonight we come face to face with Mr Death yet again in, Nothing in the Dark. CLIP 03:21 Wanda Dunn: You're lying, you're no Policeman, why can't you leave me alone? I know who you are. I know what you are... OPENING NARRATION – “An old woman living in a nightmare, an old woman who has fought a thousand battles with death and always won. Now she’s faced with a grim decision – whether or not to open a door. And in some strange and frightening way she knows that this seemingly ordinary door leads to the Twilight Zone." First Broadcast January 5th 1962 Written by George Clayton Johnson Directed by Lamont Johnson Before we get into the story I have to comment on how good I think this pre narration opening is. This apartment was a set on MGM and it's dressed beautifully. The ragged belongings of a woman who is using the same things she's used for decades. Then we have this slow shot steadily moving across the room until we see Wanda in Bed. Then, just a glimpse of the outside world as we see the policeman just before being shot. What a great opening. A very short opening narration this time from Rod Serling. As I said in my opening and I've said many times before, I see this Rod Serling as some kind of entity from The Twilight Zone. The only one who really knows what is going on. But, if there is another entity who can stand shoulder to shoulder with this deific version of Serling it is of course Mr Death. So probably by accident more than design, it's almost as if there isn't room for two celestial beings in the show, so Serling quickly says his piece and moves aside. Now it seems that we have Lamont Johnson back in the director's chair rather quickly after his triumph with Five Characters in Search of an Exit, but actually that's not really the case. I don't really go into this because it's a tad confusing, but the order of The Twilight Zone as broadcast is not always necessarily the order as filmed. For example, we have already met Lamont Johnson when we visited The Shelter and Five Characters in Search of an Exit. But, The Shelter was filmed in May 1961, Five Characters in June 1961 but Nothing in the Dark was filmed in April 1961 – so this is actually the first episode he helmed. In The Twilight Zone Companion he said: “The whole mystique of The Twilight Zone appealed to me as a tremendous, drenching relief from the Dr Kildares and Have Gun Will Travels and things that I was doing. These were wonderfully theatrical games for me, and it was a joy to do them”. - Credit: The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Zicree It was actually supposed to be the last episode in season two, but according to Martin Grams Junior in Unlocking the Door To a Television classic, it was kept back to give them a bit of a head start with Season three, so they would know they had a couple of good episodes in hand. After a conversation with the police officer Harold Beldon, Wanda Dunn, against her better judgement gives in and brings Harold in. She believes him to be Mr Death, but she can't be absolutely sure. But after helping him in, her worries are put to rest, for the moment at least... CLIP - 07:38 Harold: Now Listen, you should try and get some rest. Really I feel much better. When the doctor gets here, he'll take me off your hands.... You didn't call the Doctor. Wanda: Shakes Head Harold: Why not? Wanda: I haven't got a telephone. Harold: But couldn't you go to one of the neighbours? Wanda: There aren't any, they've all moved away. Trucks came and took away their furniture. First one and then another. And evein if I could call a doctor somehow, I couldn't take a chance and let him in. Don't you see? He might be him Harold: Him? Wanda: Mr Death. I know he's out there, he's trying to get in. He comes to the door and knocks. He begs me to let him in. last week he said he came from the gas company. Ooh he's clever. After that he claimed to be a contractor hired by the city. I knew who he was. He said this building was condemned, that I'd have to leave. I kept the door locked and he went away. He knows I'm onto him... The ramblings of a crazy old lady? Or is she onto something? A bit of both? Her old neighbourhood is being torn down, the people she knows going away her body becoming more frail. I think she does see death around every corner, but it's not necessarily THE death. It's that building up of things that we see happening to others as they age – friends and loved ones dying, becoming more and more isolated and alone – gradually beginning to happen to us, or in this case Wanda. And it's this speech that really illustrates that: CLIP – 10:02 Wanda: At first I couldn't be sure. It was a long time ago, I was on a bus. There was an old woman sitting in front of me knitting – socks I think. There was something about her face, I thought I knew her. Then this young man got on. There were empty seats, but he sat down beside her. He didn't say anything but his being there upset her. He seemed a nice young man, when she dropped her yarn, he picked it up. Right in fornt of me, he held it out to her, I saw their fingers touch. He got out at the next stop when. When the bus reached the end of the line, she was dead. She then goes on to describe other brushes with death. She saw the signs of death when it happened to others, and now she recognises those signs when they happen to her. She talks about when she was younger, the carefree attitude she had and how she loved to be in the sun – she didn't recognise death when she was younger but the older she gets the more she does. I find that when Wanda Dunn, or rather when Gladys Cooper speaks I'm just spellbound by her. The dialogue is poetry, but she speaks it so well. The looks off into the distance as she remembers, the certainty in her voice. So let's take a moment to meet Gladys Cooper..