Mute (The Twilight Zone)

"Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was written by Richard Matheson, based on his own short story of the same name.

Opening narration

Plot

Ilse, a twelve-year-old girl, is orphaned when her parents die in a fire. She is left in the care of others unaware of her true condition. It seems that her parents raised her in ignorance, and did not even teach her to talk. In actuality, Ilse was raised (along with other children in far-away Europe) by parents who subjected her to a language deprivation experiment in which no one spoke (verbally) with her. The intent was to draw out inherent telepathic abilities that the parents believed all people once possessed, but which had been repressed after the development of spoken language.

The experiment with Ilse was particularly successful: Ilse communicated well telepathically. But after the death of her parents, Ilse lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds, and her life is turned upside down. Her teacher also possesses telepathic abilities but believes they are a corruption to be overcome and works vehemently to destroy them.

Twilight zone

Twilight zone may refer to:

Twilight Zone (pinball)

Twilight Zone is a widebody pinball machine, designed by Pat Lawlor and based on the TV series of the same name. It was first released in 1993 by Midway (under the Bally label). This game is part of WMS' SuperPin line of widebody games alongside Star Trek: The Next Generation and Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure.

Description

Following the huge success of The Addams Family pinball game, Midway gave Lawlor full creative control over the design of his next game, and the result is an unusually complex machine. Among its noted features include a working gumball machine (which deposits balls), a working analog clock (used as a timer for various modes), the Powerfield (a small separate play field where the ball is propelled by magnets rather than flippers), and the "Powerball", a white ceramic ball which is lighter than a regular steel ball and is non-magnetic.

In addition to adapting the theme music from the original TV show, the game's main background music is an interpretation of the 1982 hit "Twilight Zone", by Golden Earring. Tim Kitzrow provided the voice of Rod Serling.

The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)

The Twilight Zone is an American science-fictionanthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consists of unrelated stories depicting characters dealing with paranormal, futuristic, Kafkaesque, or otherwise disturbing or unusual events; characters who find themselves dealing with these strange, sometimes inexplicable happenings are said to have crossed over into "The Twilight Zone". Each story typically features a moral and a surprise ending.

The series is notable for featuring both established stars (Joan Blondell, Ann Blyth, Art Carney, William Demarest, Buddy Ebsen, Jack Elam, Buster Keaton, Kevin McCarthy, Burgess Meredith, Agnes Moorehead, Ed Wynn) and younger actors who would become more famous later on (Bill Bixby, Charles Bronson, Donna Douglas, Robert Duvall, Anne Francis, Mariette Hartley, Earl Holliman, Dennis Hopper, Elizabeth Montgomery, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, Don Rickles, William Shatner, Telly Savalas, Alan Sues, George Takei and Lee Van Cleef). Serling served as executive producer and head writer; he wrote or co-wrote 92 of the show's 156 episodes. He was also the show's host and narrator, delivering monologues at the beginning and end of each episode. Serling's opening and closing narrations usually summarize the episode's events encapsulating how and why the main character(s) had entered the Twilight Zone.

The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)

The Twilight Zone is a 2002 revival of Rod Serling's 1950s television series. It aired for one season on the UPN network, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host.

Series history

Broadcast in an hour format with two half-hour stories, it was canceled after one season. Reruns continue to air in syndication, and have aired on MyNetworkTV since summer 2008. The opening theme music was provided by Jonathan Davis (of the rock group Korn).

The series tended to address contemporary issues head-on; i.e. terrorism, racism, gender roles, sexuality, and stalking. Noteworthy episodes featured Jason Alexander as Death wanting to retire from harvesting souls, Lou Diamond Phillips as a swimming pool cleaner being shot repeatedly in his dreams, Susanna Thompson as a woman whose stated wish results in an "upgrading" of her family, Usher as a police officer being bothered by telephone calls from beyond the grave, and Katherine Heigl playing a woman who went back in time to do a suicide mission to kill the infant Adolf Hitler.

The Twilight Zone (radio series)

The Twilight Zone "Radio Dramas" is a nationally syndicated radio series featuring adaptations of the classic television series The Twilight Zone, launched in October 2002.

Premise

Many of the stories are based on Rod Serling's scripts from the original Twilight Zone series, and are slightly expanded and updated to reflect contemporary technology and trends (e.g., the mention of "cell phones" and "CD-ROMs" which, of course, weren't around when the television show aired in the 1960s). Taking Serling's role as narrator is Stacy Keach. A different Hollywood actor, such as Blair Underwood and James Caviezel, take the lead role in each radio drama. In addition, several stars who appeared on the original TV series, such as H.M. Wynant, Orson Bean and Morgan Brittany, appear, although purposely not in the roles they originated on television. The series features a full cast, music and sound effects and is produced in the flavor of classic radio dramas but using today's state-of-the-art digital technology.

Permaculture

Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered around simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. The term permaculture (as a systematic method) was first coined by Australians David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978. The word permaculture originally referred to "permanent agriculture", but was expanded to stand also for "permanent culture", as it was understood that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy.

It has many branches that include but are not limited to ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self-maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.

Mollison has said: "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system."