Is this opening narration from The Waltons or The Twilight Zone?
Rod Serling and Earl Hamner Jr. were both master storytellers.
Warner Brothers/CBS Television Distribution
At first glance, science fiction anthology series The Twilight Zone and nostalgic family drama The Waltons don't seem to have much in common. But look closer and you'll see they share many similar attributes. Earl Hamner Jr. even wrote multiple Twilight Zone episodes before creating The Waltons!
One very specific parallel is that both classic series begin and end each episode with narration.
Here are some quotes from the openings of both shows. Can you tell which ones are from The Waltons… and which ones come from The Twilight Zone?
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“They were the kind of days made for dreaming, but being the oldest of seven children during the Depression didn’t leave much time for dreams.”
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“The place is here, the time is now and the journey into the shadows that we’re about to watch could be our journey.”
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“Sometimes the product of man’s talent and genius can walk amongst us untouched by the normal ravages of time.”
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“A mountain has no need for people, but people do need mountains. We go to them for their beauty, for the exhilaration of standing closer to mysterious skies, for the feeling of triumph that comes from having labored to reach a summit.”
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“They’ll find home — not a home that is a place to be seen, but a strange, unexplainable experience to be felt.”
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“Each of us has a secret life, private dreams and aspirations and fantasies that we are hesitant to share with others.”
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“But this can be said of our Mr. Bevis — without him, without his warmth, without his kindness, the world would be a considerably poorer place, albeit a little saner.”
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“Usually, each family has its own special folklore, stories and anecdotes polished smooth with the telling.”
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“In every town or village there used to be the hidden people, those who for one reason or another are shut away from life, or who for some strange reason shut themselves away from the world.”
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“Time for supper. Time for families. Time for a cool drink on a porch. Time for the quiet rustle of leaf-laden trees that screen out the moon.”
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“At one time or another in the course of our lives, many of us have experienced an event or occurrence which could not be explained, and at the same time was shrugged off as a coincidence or trick of the mind.”
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“Witness if you will a dungeon, made out of mountains, salt flats and sand that stretch to infinity.”
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“No one ever saw one quite like that because that’s a very special sort of radio. In its day, circa 1935, its type was one of the most elegant consoles on the market.”
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“By night, ghosts seemed to hide in every shadow and the feeling of something old and mysterious flowed downward on the cold night wind.”
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“In the telling, the story gets added to and embroidered on, so that what might have happened in the time of the Druids is told as if it took place yesterday in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Such stories are best told by an elderly grandfather on a cold winter’s night by the fireside.”
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“Sometimes life goes on in peaceful cycles like the seasons, a gradual blending of time and events that we scarcely notice, and just as we think we may have learned all there is to know about life, fate conspires to show us just how little we do know.”
Is this opening narration from The Waltons or The Twilight Zone?
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131 Comments
"You got 14 out of 16. Did you slide right through this quiz or did you hit a couple bumps?"
Earl Hamner Jr appeared on "To Tell The Truth", as soon as you hear him speak you knew he was
the real Earl. I thought the panel would all choose him but some didn't.
Earl Hamner Jr appeared on "To Tell The Truth", as soon as you hear him speak you knew he was
the real Earl. I thought the panel would all choose him but some didn't.