The basic idea behind this episode is so out there that the first five minutes could already be a full-fledged episode. Arthur Curtiss is a businessman looking forward to a well-deserved vacation with his family. He is doing some last-minute work in his office when someone yells, "Cut!"... and he is now actually Gerry Raigan, an actor playing Curtiss in a movie.
As usual for TTZ, the main character is the only one to realize that something is horribly wrong. All the other characters agree that Raigan either suffered a mental breakdown (his life is currently hell) or is trying to delay the consequence of a painful divorce (his ex-wife is a harpy), or both. Everything Raigan knows about "Curtiss" is in the script of the movie. Even the office is only a set-the doors leading to backstages. The only real world is the one existing outside the movie studio.
This is a great episode that, like many others in TTZ, is incredibly influential. Just think of the contemporary idea of "The Backrooms," which portrays the idea that "life is a stage" in a different but adjacent way. The only flaw I can find is the fact that it is Curtiss the real character is never put in doubt, his problem being how to return to his world. Yet, a stage as a liminal space is another incredibly forward-looking idea, and the ending is really fun. Fun, of course, as something can be fun... in The Twilight Zone.
As usual for TTZ, the main character is the only one to realize that something is horribly wrong. All the other characters agree that Raigan either suffered a mental breakdown (his life is currently hell) or is trying to delay the consequence of a painful divorce (his ex-wife is a harpy), or both. Everything Raigan knows about "Curtiss" is in the script of the movie. Even the office is only a set-the doors leading to backstages. The only real world is the one existing outside the movie studio.
This is a great episode that, like many others in TTZ, is incredibly influential. Just think of the contemporary idea of "The Backrooms," which portrays the idea that "life is a stage" in a different but adjacent way. The only flaw I can find is the fact that it is Curtiss the real character is never put in doubt, his problem being how to return to his world. Yet, a stage as a liminal space is another incredibly forward-looking idea, and the ending is really fun. Fun, of course, as something can be fun... in The Twilight Zone.