Stream of Thought - Civil War to The Twilight Zone

Maryland has gotten one blizzard and one reasonable snow fall, from which mounds of the white stuff can still be spied in small mounds strewn around the yard or street gutters.  Last week the local groundhogs recently forecast an early Spring.  Coming up this weekend are holiday celebrations for Presidents' Day and Saint Valentine's Day.  I'm not much for Saint Valentine's Day, perhaps due to some more then lackluster dating experiences.  President's Day is okay, and maybe I even have a little Lincoln on my mind as I've been following Mercy Street on PBS.

Mercy Street is a hospital drama during the Civil War era.  The production values seem top notch to me (although I'm far from a Civil War re-enactor, expert, or even enthusiast) while the writing deals sensitively with the human drama associated with those exposed to war and their efforts of recovery.  There are graphically real depictions of primitive surgery and shocks to the system range from the physical to the mental.  The hospital is a confiscated Virginia hotel.  A major subplot involves the hotel's Southern owner's attempt to remain loyal to the South while safe guarding his business enterprises.  Gary Cole, TV veteran of Crusade and Midnight Caller, plays the put upon Southern patriarch.  He's my favorite of the series.  Will he sign a loyalty oath?  The question is a divisive one amongst his family.  The issue of slavery is also explored in a subplot.  These types of questions are often in the center of some grandiose TV productions dealing with the Civil War.

Jonathan Frakes & I years ago at Garden State Comic Con. 

My favorite Civil War production is North and South, an 80's mini-series.  The epic uses a common Civil War motif - the central characters were two school chums who found themselves on opposite sides when the conflict broke out.  James Read and Patrick Swayze portrayed the once friendly duo, but the labyrinthine plot allowed for a mega cast.  Hollywood icons Robert Mitchum and Elizabeth Taylor were in North and South, as well as future stars like Jonathan Frakes, who would become famous as William Riker on Star Trek the Next Generation. 

While taking smaller roles in the 80's Frakes entered that decade's adaption of The Twilight Zone.  The episode Frakes appeared in concerned and unappreciated secretary who suddenly found herself in a place where secretaries were highly prized individuals.  I liked the 80's Twilight Zone TV version a lot and I actually saw it in prime time before being exposed to the classic black and white series with introductions by show creator Rod Serling.  Serling's opening narration and introduction are iconic and future versions of The Twilight Zone tipped their hat to that fact.   The 80's also produced a Twilight Zone movie.  I seem to remember The Twilight Zone returning as syndicated series in the 90's, when genre shows were the rage everywhere.  At the start of the millennium UPN reinstated The Twilight Zone briefly as a part of its lineup with Forest Whitaker as host.  Trying to chart The Twilight Zone's TV history might be as confusing as entering the Twilight Zone.

There are a lot of great supernatural anthologies out there - Dark Room, Hammer's House of Horror, Monsters, Night Gallery, The Twilight Zone, Ray Bradbury Theater, and Tales From the Crypt.  The later started life as a comic book, became a British film and then a TV show on HBO.  There are rumors that Tales From the Crypt may be returning with new macabre episodes.  Have a ghoul time!