A Nice Place to Visit
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“A Nice Place to Visit” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
[edit] Details
- Episode number: 28
- Season: 1
- Production code: 173-3632
- Original air date: April 15, 1960
- Writer: Charles Beaumont
- Director: John Brahm
- Music: Stock
[edit] Cast
- Rocky Valentine: Larry Blyden
- Mr. Pip: Sebastian Cabot
[edit] Synopsis
At the start of the episode, the protagonist Rocky Valentine, played by Larry Blyden, is shot and killed by a police officer. He later wakes up to find himself seemingly unharmed by the encounter. He is in the company of a pleasant individual named “Pip”, who proceeds to grant Rocky whatever he desires. Rocky immediately assumes he has died and gone to Heaven. Later, he becomes so thoroughly bored by always having his whims satisfied and predictably winning at anything he attempts, he finally begs Pip to send him to the “other place” (referring to Hell). Pip then reveals that "this is the other place!" Valentine tries vainly to leave while Pip laughs uproariously.
[edit] Trivia
- "A Nice Place to Visit" was also singled out for its brazen sexual innuendo. Program Practices requested that Larry Blyden not refer to a girl as "a broad ... really stacked," even though the crudity was essential to establishing the unsavory qualities of Blyden’s character. Nor could the protagonist refer to a party as "a ball," since that word had more than one meaning. In another "Nice Place" sequence, a voluptuous young lady tends to Blyden’s every need, then says "is there anything else I can do for you?" CBS’s comment: "Please be certain that the girl’s third speech be delivered in a sweet manner, as described." — an excerpt from Hal Erikson’s article "Censorship: Another Dimension Behind the Twilight Zone", published in the October 1985 edition of The Twilight Zone Magazine.
- Rod Serling himself was offered the role of Rocky Valentine, but declined.
- This episode inspired the song "Hell Hotel", an unreleased track recorded by a then-unsigned They Might Be Giants for their 1985 demo tape.
- An idea similar to the one exhibited in this episode is also evident in the song "Permanent Vacation" by American rock band R.E.M.
- In one "episode", The Scary Door, a fictional TV show in Futurama that parodies The Twilight Zone, a man wakes up after a car accident to find that he is in a casino and wins the jackpot on a slot machine, causing him to think that he is in heaven. He wins a second time and, finding it boring, realizes that he is in hell. A male flight attendant then tells him that he isn't in heaven or hell, but on an aeroplane. The man then looks out the window and sees the wing is being attacked by gremlins and promptly informs the attendant. The attendant refuses to believe him for the sole fact that he is Hitler. He then proceeds to beg his new seatmate Eva Braun to believe him, who then pulls off her mask to reveal she is actually a person with the head of a fly.
[edit] Themes
The theme of "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it," is explored in this episode (in this case, be careful what you wish for, even when you're dead). The theme also explored or suggested in “The Man in the Bottle”, “The Trouble With Templeton”, “The Last Night of a Jockey”, “Escape Clause”, “The Mind and the Matter”, “Time Enough at Last,” "To Serve Man", “I Dream of Genie”, and "A Game of Pool".
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)