As a seasoned gamer and connoisseur of sci-fi, I must confess that “Third from the Sun” left me feeling as if I’d just played a round of Space Invaders on a tilted arcade machine. Initially, I thought the director of photography had been caught napping during production, but upon further reflection, I realized it was a masterful move by Richard L. Bare to convey the unease and tension felt by the characters.
While immersed in “Third from the Sun” – the 14th episode of the inaugural season of The Twilight Zone – a thought occurred to me: Could it be that cinematographer Harry Wild was perhaps momentarily dozing off during filming?
The reason for this is that the episode is packed with unusual perspectives, many of them slanted. Upon closer examination, though, it turns out that the unconventional visual style wasn’t due to a careless camera operator, but rather the creative vision of director Richard L. Bare, who ultimately directed seven individual stories for Rod Serling’s cherished anthology series (often broadcast on SYFY)).
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Why The Twilight Zone‘s “Third from the Sun” looks so crooked
In “Third from the Sun,” a story penned by sci-fi legend Richard Matheson and adapted by Serling, we find ourselves on a world facing imminent destruction due to internal conflicts – or in simpler terms, geopolitical disputes. This tale serves as a metaphor for Cold War tensions, mirroring real-life events of the 1960s. The narrative seems set in the United States, but don’t be fooled; it’s meant to resonate with our present circumstances. Two dedicated scientists, William Sturka (played by Fritz Weaver) and Jerry Riden (Joe Maross), decide to steal an experimental aircraft and flee their dying planet, hoping to find a new home in the cosmos and thereby outsmart both nuclear apocalypse and the Great Filter.
At the end of the episode, Serling serves up a classic twist from The Twilight Zone: The Sturkas and Ridens were searching for shelter on a planet much like their original home, which turned out to be “Earth.” It seemed that our familiar blue planet was merely a backdrop, but it was actually their destination. The twist, hinted at throughout the episode, was cleverly presented in plain sight. To build suspense and anticipate the surprise, Bare employed unusual camera angles and extremely wide-angle lenses, as he notes in Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion. Instead of using the usual 75mm or 100mm lens for close-ups, he opted for a 28mm lens.
Producer Buck Houghton commented that director Dick frequently employed wide-angle lenses because if the intention was to mislead viewers about Earth, a sense of unease or discomfort should be instilled. He added that while Dick was straightforward in general, opting often for eye-level cameras, he also shot from low angles such as under tables and towards people’s faces using flashlights, which Houghton found clever. This creative approach, Houghton admired.
The unease that you feel, similar to the apprehension and tension experienced by William and Jerry prior to their potentially treasonous act, is also reflected in those restless moments that seem out of place on a warm summer evening. However, this anxiety escalates when their meticulous colleague, Carling (the charmingly slick Edward Andrews), senses the scheme and comes dangerously close to revealing it to the authorities.
Later, there’s a quote from Sturka expressing concern about humanity’s tendency to corrupt “every remarkable discovery, every brilliant thought, every wonderful invention. They twist it… they make it deceitful and distorted.” The skewed camera perspective emphasizes this sobering statement, suggesting that the unnamed world depicted is spiraling out of control in a way that seems irreversible.
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2024-11-06 20:01