A Thing About Machines

Richard Haydn plays Bartlett Finchley, an acid-tongued but unhappy man who lives alone in his mansion, and constantly complains about evil machines that not only won't work for him, but are conspiring to kill him. Barney Philips is most amusing as his long-suffering TV repairman who has grown tired of constantly repairing perfectly good televisions that Finchley has kicked in. Turns out the machines are out to get him after all... Heavy-handed yet still entertaining episode has a singularly unpleasant lead character that it is difficult to build any sympathy for, but of course it's possible he doesn't warrant any; in any case, it is a memorable effort.

I raised this point after various "Twilight Zone" episodes already, but it always remains relevant: many, many of cinema's greatest and most famous film concepts featured here first in this magnificent TV- Show, albeit in short and more modest versions. The story of "A Thing about Machines" can easily be considered as a blueprint for James Cameron's awesome "The Terminator"; as it's centered on a man – Bartlett Finchley – who painfully experiences how all types of machinery in his house, including his car television set and even his electrical shaving device, violently turn against him. Of course, it might just be his imagination, as Mr. Finchley is an obnoxious and self-indulgent individual who's against all forms of technological progress and also leads a very secluded life without friends or family. It starts with the television switching on and off and alarm clocks continuing to ring even though they lie broken on the floor, but pretty soon the typewriter sends him messages to get out of the house and his car is chasing him up and down the driveway. This is only the fourth episode of the second season, but I can already safely claim that it's one of the most suspenseful and unsettling ones of the whole franchise. There's something genuinely disturbing and petrifying about machines operating themselves and attacking their proprietors. James Cameron knows it, and various other movies also used this idea already like "Killdozer" and "Maximum Overdrive". But remember, it featured first … in "The Twilight Zone". "A Thing about Machines" features a few very powerful sequences, like when the typewriter delivers an unfriendly message. Also, as silly as it may sound, there's something very scary about a shaving machine slithering down the stairs like a snake.

While watching this tale, I could not prevent myself to think about the future Stephen Kigng's work, such as CHRISTINE or even his only film MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE. The rise, revolt of the machines against the hate and bitterness that a man had against those same machines, any electrical device actually: TV set, electric shaver, car...I think this is a social and bitter drama, but I don't get where the TWILIGHT ZONE. The moral of this short story seems too obvious, it concerns the modern way of life that may contribute to the loss of humanity. I felt empathy for this poor lead character, a man who lived in the wrong period. A period not made for him.

With the legendary Richard Haydn as the lead in this episode, I expected better things. But a weak script, poorly executed, pretty much sinks this episode entirely. It always takes some suspension of disbelief to watch the Twilight Zone now, given how slickly produced movies and TV shows are now, with incredible special effects, but with good episodes, I can see past the low-budget production values. Not with this one. I actually laughed out loud over the electric shaver attack, not only because of the visible string but also because it was so absurd. This is an episode that could have been made much more effectively, even with the budget restraints. Oh, well, given the brilliance of the other episodes, it's hard to criticize... just don't let this be the first Twilight Zone you ever watch (or it will be the only one).

I should explain that when I say "overused," I don't quite mean that it has been done to death, because even though there have been countless examples of sci fi TV show and movies about machines coming to life, they are not necessarily all the same or rip-offs of each other. Besides, if any TV show ever had the right to do a show on the topic of machines coming to life, the Twilight Zone is it.

The main characters in the show are Richard Haydn as Bartlett Finchley and Barney Phillips as a TV repairman who, I have to say, must certainly act in a certain way that no TV repairman has ever acted toward a customer. Of course, I wasn't exactly spending much time hiring repairmen back in the 1960s, nearly 20 years before I was born, but I would think that, even if he was called repeatedly to Finchley's house to fix the most mysterious and suspicious damages, it's probably generally not such a good idea to openly criticize and insult one of your best repeat customers!

At any rate, it sets up the situation that we need to know about. Finchley has to call repeatedly to have his various machines and appliances fixed because, for example, he is provided with reason to put his foot through his TV set. I've heard about that being done in several movies and TV shows, and it always strikes me as something that would be exceedingly difficult to do. Have you ever imagined how much force would be needed to drive a foot through a TV set? This man's foot certainly had some momentum behind it!

And the question, of course, is what could possibly have led him to such a state as to cause him to make such a vicious kick? Babara Stuart shows up briefly to angrily quit her job as his secretary, once again hinting toward the reality of his state of mind. Once she threatens to quit because of his ill treatment, he panics at the thought of being left alone in his house, and we begin to understand what is really going on. Well, we already knew what was going on because we know the title of the episode, but you get the idea.

Sadly, the second half of the episode is where the show starts to falter. The main reason, I think, that the threat of the machines becomes a problem is because the threat is just never made realistic enough. At the time of this writing, there is only one other IMDb reviewer who has reviewed this episode, jcravens42, and he (or she) notes the hilarity that may ensue at things like the attack of the killer electric shaver.

And on this point Craven is exactly right. I didn't quite laugh out loud, but I did smirk a bit, and not just because it's so ludicrous that you have to laugh, but because such a thing could never be a real threat. What could it do? Give Finchley razor burn? Why not just grab it out of the air and toss it into the tub? Or out the window? But then again, imagining yourself in the situation of the characters in many Twilight Zone episodes is a great way to ruin the experience.

But it's the same thing with the climax of the show, the car chasing him around outside. It's not just placing yourself in his situation that could ruin the suspense, but I have never been able to feel any sympathy for people in movies being chased by cars (manned or otherwise) when all they do is run right up the middle of the road or, in this case, back and forth. Avoiding a car at close range would be FAR too easy for it to ever be able to generate any suspense.

But in the show's defense, it is also an illustration of Finchley's state of mind, which is not exactly allowing for rational thought. You could call this one of the Twilight Zone's weaker episodes and probably be right, but it's also an almost required theme for the show and is well made enough, I should think...