Bill Mumy, co-creator of SPACE CASES, occasional comic book collaborator and all around great guy, will be traveling to Vancouver next week to film the sequel to “It’s A Good Life” titled “It’s Still a Good Life” for the “Twilight Zone” TV series. Bill will be reprising the role of “Anthony Fremont,” the kid who would turn you into a jack-in-the-box or send you into the cornfield if you pìššëd him off. And in a terrific casting maneuver, his daughter Liliana (who played the kid sister in “Santa Clause II,” shows up recurring in “My Wife And Kids,” and looks like a miniature Bill Mumy) plays his daughter, Amy Fremont. Cloris Leachman is supposedly on board as well, although that can’t be confirmed as of right now. It’s 30 years later in Peakesville, Ohio… the village that was seperated from the world by Anthony all those years ago. If you thought it was tough going THEN…
There’s more nifty plot stuff that I can’t reveal. I can tell you that it’ll be airing during February sweeps. If you haven’t been watching “Twilight Zone,” admit it: You just KNOW you’ll be tuning in for that one.
PAD
• 
Look forward to seeing it.
Oh Jesus. Peter, can I ask a favor? New rule: Unless someone is recently deceased, PLEASE don’t start off a passage by naming someone famous, and then referring to multiple hats worn by that person.
When the paragraph started off, “Bill Mumy, co-creator of SPACE CASES, occasional comic book collaborator and all around great guy…” I thought OH MY GOD, Bill Mumy died!!! I mean, c’mon, doesn’t naming someone and then describing them with multiple adjectives/roles always precede the words “has died”?
Ya scared the crap outta me. 🙂
Um, did I accidentally post Peter’s post along with my own? If so, sorry. Glenn, if you could remove that and just leave my post, I’d appreciate it.
Sorry!
Maaan, that`s continuity for you: they`re using the story from the film to see what happened with the God-kid? I love the prospect of seeing this like no other, but for those who haven`t seen the original film, they better do some sort of recap.
Actually, the story from the film was first an episode on the original Twilight Zone and Billy Mumy played the boy.
Luigi Novi wrote: “When the paragraph started off, “Bill Mumy, co-creator of SPACE CASES, occasional comic book collaborator and all around great guy…” I thought OH MY GOD, Bill Mumy died!!! I mean, c’mon, doesn’t naming someone and then describing them with multiple adjectives/roles always precede the words “has died”?
Ya scared the crap outta me. :)”
– Heh… I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that exact same thing from PAD’s intro… So glad it turned out not to be the case!
Well, if we can’t reprise Will Robinson just yet…
Understand Bill Mumy also wrote an earlier episode, though I regret to say I missed it.
This ought to be interesting. Just please, no more giant jack-in-the-boxes in the cornfield, alright? That’s my grandmother’s cornfield he keeps sending them to.
Look, as long as he keeps it in the cornfield, it’s okay, but I keep worrying one of these days he’s gonna miss and take out her car or something.
I just got the TZ DVD with the “It’s a Good Life” on it. ( It also has “Prime Mover” and other TZ’s involving telekinesis…)
I remember reading the original Ray Bradbury short story in a book titled “Mutants” in junior high school in the early 80’s. I loved the story back then.
I’m really looking forward to the follow up. Does anyone know who wrote the follow-up screenplay?
It’s A GOOD Life isn’t a Ray Bradbury story. It was written by Jerome Bixby.
Ðámņ, TZ’s now up against Angel during sweeps. Have to look into cutting a deal with someone to swap tapes.
I didn’t know there was a new Twilight Zone series on the air. When, and on what channel, is it on? I’d really enjoy watching the new episode Peter mentions.
> It’s A GOOD Life isn’t a Ray
> Bradbury story. It was written
> by Jerome Bixby.
I stand corrected. ( I could
have sword it was a Bradbury,
but a quick Internet search proved me wrong. )
One of the more unforgettable moments in horror/fantasy is the stark black and white image of the human Jack-In-The-Box, eyes glazed, with the head rocking back and forth to the snare drum and harp playing in the background. In fact, so powerful is this image that The Simpsons created a “Treehouse of Horror” segment about it (Bart turns Homer into a Jack-In-The-Box, and Homer simply manages to cope with it).
Of course “It’s a Good Life” was a great episode on a thematic level as well, showing how much tyranny people will endure before sticking their neck out and taking responsibility for doing the unpleasant (in this case, killing a child). One got the impression that those folk would never rise up, and meanwhile, Anthony was only getting stronger and more sophisticated.
The movie took the situation and changed the theme a bit; focused it on the predicament of the boy as well as on his victims: the life he creates isn’t really a life at all, and will ultimately prove unsatisfying. In the end, he decides to live in our world, with the implication that any changes he makes with his powers will be less selfish.
Will this follow-up share that ironic epiphany, or will Anthony’s emotional development be so arrested by the indulgence brought by his powers that he’s still some kind of “monster”? Will he be benign or malevolent? Or will his powers make him simply transcendent? I guess time will tell.
I hope they don’t drop the ball on this. This could be great.
But then again, will Mumy ever be able to achieve the same creative zenith that he did with Barnes and Barnes? I mean come on.
That episode is the freakiest and scariest Twilight Zone ever. I remember seeing the Movie version as kid and thinking it was cool that another boy my age could control adults. Seeing the original black and white TV version later as an adult I found it much more dark and disturbing. Especially the jack-in-the-box scene.
I hope the sequel is equally as scary.
Never seen the episode, but I’ve heard enough of your stories about it to imagine it’s one of your favorites. Pass along our congrats. I love the familial aspect of this sequel! 🙂
Absolute power corrupts [humans] absolutely.
I wouldn’t be able to buy the idea this kid was able to hold back and not do selfish things with his power on his own. What was so great about the original episode is that it was so TRUE. Give us powers and we’d all be a huge mess. I may actually break my lack of interest in TV to see this episode just to see how truthfully it follows (the world would not be recognizable 30 years later if anyone had this kind of power). Superman always left me kind of cold because of his unwillingness to use his abilities to change everything. Miracleman (Marvelman to the Brits) did a fantastic job of showing what Superman should/would have done in real life (sorta). (For that matter, what David is doing with Captain Marvel is another good take on this from the single issue I’ve seen. All that power would either be totally liberating or completely paralyzing.)
I`m curious, how was the Twilight Zone episode different from the film?
That’s an interesting interpretation of the movie version (which I though stank on ice, but i am partial towards the much darker original version). I interpreted a darker ending, considering the fact that the lady who takes him away went into the segment in a constant state of impatience with the world around her. Yes, he makes flowers bloom in their wake, but how long can that little bit of bliss last, especially when he can make anything happen by concentrating?
I’ll have to keep up and watch that particular episode. After watching several weeks of the New Twilight Zone, I gave up on it, because I’ve found it to stink on ice, pavement, or any other surface that you might put forward.
I drove past the set yesterday while they were filming. I didn’t see anything, but it was kind of cool to be 100 ft away from Lennier.
WHy all these things happen?
Hello,
Please visit my website for more information:
link here.
Byebye