Serlingfest X

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Okay.
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Are we going?
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We're going.
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We're going.
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Picture, if you will, Binghamton, New York.
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To the casual eye, an ordinary upstate town of carousel
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tunes and bandstands. But this weekend, the boundary between reality
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and imagination wears thin. You've arrived at Sailing Fest X,
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where the echoes of one man's vision come home. Submitted
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for your approval, a special dispatch from the fifth dimension,
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You're listening to the Twilight Zone podcast from Binghamton, New York,
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Rod Serling's hometown. So here it is, Serling Fest X,
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and I am glad to be joined by a panel
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of attendees today for the Twilight Zone podcast. So we're
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doing things a little bit differently. So let's go around
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the table and introduce everybody.
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Hi, so I'm Emmy and I'm on the Aftermath Show
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with Tom. So that's where you will know me from.
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Hi, Zach Moore here, a frequent guest on the Twilight
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Zone podcast. Happy to be here again and begin time
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with you all.
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My name is Gus Holwerda, and I am from the
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Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes podcast, but I just also happen
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to be a Twilight Zone and Rod Serling fan and
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a friend of these guys, so here I am to
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join you today.
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Now, Gus, you've been kind of behind the scenes as
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a friend of the show and a friend of mine
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for many years, so it's good to get you actually
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on the show. You did as a report in your
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years ago from, um, a night gallery exhibit, which was
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pretty great. So I'm glad you're on the main show, man.
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Thanks, man.
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It's fun to be here.
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Okay.
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So we're going to do things a little differently today
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because usually when I go to sailing fest, you will have,
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you know, audio of me getting on the train, getting
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to the airport, you know, whatever part of the journey
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it might be. But, um, You know, this year I've
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done things a little bit differently and I think I
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need to explain myself a little bit in that it
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is well documented that my last sailing fest was a
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bit of a disaster. So I think this time round
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I've really just enjoyed hanging out, not really grabbing the
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interviews and all that kind of stuff because I just
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wanted to speak to people, spend time with listeners who
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came over, the friends I already know. So we're just
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going to keep this one loose and kind of run
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through the schedule. Do things that way, I think. So
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we started on Friday, the 21st of August, and our
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first keynote address was from Joseph Doherty. Now, Joe Doherty
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has been on the podcast before, did a great interview,
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massive sailing fan, met Rod Sailing back in the day.
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I love the fact that there are a lot of
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people here who've never been here before. I'd like to
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start by thanking the Foundation for putting me in this
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awkward position. It's not my fault for saying yes, it's
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their fault for asking me. My problem is that I
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was so excited at the opportunity to give this address
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that it wasn't until after I accepted it that I
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realized I was placing myself in a situation commonly referred
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to as preaching to the choir. you already know about
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Rod Serling. You wouldn't be here if you didn't. There'd
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be no reason for you giving up a perfectly good
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barbecue weekend if you didn't already feel connected to his work.
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So I'd like to apologize.
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There are no breathtaking revelations. I can offer you no
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crystalline analysis. of his work that would reveal something that
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you don't already know in your hearts. I am painfully
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aware of the fact that I am facing a room
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full of people who could ace the Rod Serling category
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in jeopardy.
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So how was breakfast? Good, yeah. Well, we're gonna be.
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Breaking for lunch in a couple of minutes. I think
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we're all looking forward to that.
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Meanwhile, I.
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Suppose we can all agree on the primary reason we're here,
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to recognize the work of an American dramatist who continues
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to have an impact on the way we look at
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the world, each other, and ourselves. Rod Serling doesn't linger
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in our culture out of nostalgia. Through an alchemy of design, fate, ambition,
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and talent, Rod Serling's words continue to speak directly to
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anyone smart enough to pay attention. But you already know that.
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I suppose we could indulge in a little smugness because
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we have a slight edge over the people outside this building.
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Out there are untold people. who carry around some fragment,
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which is smaller than a fragment.
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Weight and volume problem.
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Yes, it was a long drive here. Out there are
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untold people who carry around some fragment of Rod Serling,
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a story, a line of dialogue, a scene, an image
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that attached itself to their memories. Millions and millions of
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people who don't know the names Rod Serling or Richard Matheson,
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Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson, and Earl Hamler Jr. Or
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the other writers who wrote plays for the theater Rod
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Serling built when he created The Twilight Zone. This is
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something I really wanted to do. For the record, those
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writers are Jerry Saul, Montgomery Pittman, Martin Goldsmith, Robert Presnell, E.
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Jack Newman, William Idelson, John Farah, Richard DeRoy, Jerry McNeely,
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John Tomarin, Bernard Schoenfield, Robert Enrico, Adele Strassfield, Anthony Wilson,
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Reginald Rose, and Ray Bradbury. Thank you.
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So, of course, I know you were quite taken by
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Joseph's speech, weren't you? Opening the fest, what did you
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think of him at?
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Well, honestly, it was just, he kind of approached it
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with the same positive attitude and energy that I think
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Rod Serling would have approached opening an event of this kind.
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And I just walked away from it feeling quite good,
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feeling inspired, you know, in that rare way that substantial
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writers like the two of them can do. And yeah,
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I was really happy to meet him. I had never
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met him before and always enjoyed hearing him on your podcast,
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of course.
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It actually was quite emotional. You think after all this time,
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there's very little new things to say, very few new
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things that you can come up with. We've been talking
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about the guy for a long time, but it was,
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it was really emotional. It was really poignant.
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It was, it was personal. It was, you know, yeah,
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it was a great opening.
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It really set the scene for the rest of the weekend.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I agree.
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It was a great tone setter because, uh, he would say,
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what more can I say about Rod Serling? But he
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found a, he found a way to say some new
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things and add some levity to it, but then also
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kind of channel the you know, the weight of what
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we're talking about here this weekend. So I think it
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was a perfect introduction for the whole event.
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Yeah, definitely.
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So I'll just skim through the schedule. I won't go
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through everything, but, you know, one of the most important
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ones on that first day was at 2 p.m. we
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had the sons of two of the monumental Twilight Zone writers, R.C.
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Matheson and Chris Beaumont, and they were there virtually, and
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they had an interview– I believe it was Mark Olshaker
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who ran that one, right?
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Yes, yes. Okay, Zach, you and I sat in on
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that one. Any thoughts on that?
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Yeah, no, I definitely wanted to see that one because
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the sons of two of the four pillars of the
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Twilight Zone writers, right, Matheson and Beaumont, and it's interesting
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that I didn't know that they both, I didn't know
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the families were so intertwined. You know, they have sons
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who are around the same age and obviously we all
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know about Charles Beaumont went to an unfortunate, untimely early death.
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And after that, His wife passed away not long after.
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And so the Mathesons kind of looked after the Beaumont
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kids for a while. And their families really intertwined. And
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they were kind of like surrogate parental figures to them.
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And so just hearing that connection to them was very interesting.
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And knowing that, you know, they all met. I guess
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I assume they all met doing the show and all that.
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Rod Serling and his work brought them together closer than
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anything else. Obviously, they'd all been friends. writers doing the
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sci-fi horror beat for many years, and it all kind
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of came together in the Twilight Zone. And that's just
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another part of, like, the Rod Serling legacy. If you
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want to look at it that way, these families intertwining,
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and there are multiple children and kids of all them,
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and they all consider themselves like extended family now. And
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so I didn't know anything about that family history. As
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much as I am a fan of their work, it
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was interesting to hear that perspective from their side. So
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that was an interesting panel.
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At 5 p.m., who's this joker? Yeah.
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No, we didn't listen to that. We didn't watch that one.
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Okay, so picture, if you will, me doing the Twilight
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Zone podcast live at Sailing Fest. Now, you know, I
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felt pretty good about it. I had my presentation ready
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to go, and I had my rod sailing suit on.
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I went up to deliver the podcast, which you will
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hear on this feed. We did record it, and I
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will put that out in the future. However, when I
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got to the podium, it was like the first two
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rows of the audience were all wearing blank white masks.
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So I think there was a bit of mischief going
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on with a few people there.
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So now, time travelers, here we are in the present.
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So rest your eyes and listen here.
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I'm Paul Gallagher, and this is the Twilight Zone podcast.
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Thank you, Paul.
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Can everyone hear me all right?
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Okay, great.
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So as Paul said, my name is Tom Elliott, and
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I've been the host of the podcast for about 16
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years now. And Generally in an episode of the Twilight
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Zone podcast, what I will do is I will talk
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through an episode of the Twilight Zone itself. I'll play
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some clips, I'll talk some trivia, talk about the actors,
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the directors, the writers and so on and give a
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little review of the episode. So tonight I decided to
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cover the next episode in the podcast run live here
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in Binghamton and it goes something like this. I don't
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want to mine for comments on this particular presentation, you know,
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but I think it went okay. I think we're always
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kind of critical of ourselves when we're doing something like this.
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But it felt good, you know, it felt good to
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do the podcast proper on stage in front of people.
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You know, with hindsight, there's a couple of things I
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would change now, but I think it went fine.
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Well, as somebody who has considered doing a podcast live,
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But never having had the guts to try it, to
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see you actually do it and pull it off so
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incredibly well, it gave me hope for the future. So
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I think everybody there, everybody that watched your presentation was
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in total agreement that it was basically perfect and captured
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the magic of your podcast exactly how I think you
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hoped it would. So I know you're trying to downplay yourself.
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But for the rest of us at the table, we
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can just sing your praises now and tell you it
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went great.
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Truly a Rod Serling follower, Tom, because momentarily adequate, right?
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Right, right, yeah. Self-deprecating.
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Right, self-deprecation.
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No, it was okay.
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No, it was great. Seeing you do it live, you
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had done the Christmas special, as we can call it,
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at the last Serling Fest you attended, and that was fun,
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but to To see, as you said, do the podcast
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proper live is a different shade. And that was really
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fun to do and to hear the first broadcast. And
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then to see the clips and the weaving in and
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out of it and making the points and then walking
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through the, you know, let's meet the man who played
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them or the woman who played them. And seeing all that,
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you do it live or just seeing you do it
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at all was interesting. And, no, I think the crowd
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really responded to it. And you got a big applause
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at the end, so you did something right, right?
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Yeah.
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And I think there's a lot of ways that could
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have gone wrong. You know, this is when you're doing
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a podcast, I would imagine it's not just read a
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script once and then walk away from it and it's
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all gone perfectly. So, you know, the fact that there
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was a lot of moving parts, you had like the presentation,
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there was video things that could have happened, there was
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audio things that could have happened, but the podcasting gods
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were smiling on you.
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So, and you were organized, you know, it wasn't just
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a podcast.
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I also think the timing was very well with the
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masks because it's, you know, it's not in the exact
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order of right now where you are, but it's close
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enough where this is the heavy hitter to talk about.
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It's not like, you know, come wander with me or something.
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I don't know.
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How dare you? We're going to come back to that.
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What a waste that would be to talk about in
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front of a live studio audience.
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Well, I'll tell you one observation I made during his,
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during your presentation, Tom, is, uh, A lot of these talks,
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people are very interested. They're paying attention. They're focused on
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the speaker. They're focused on what's going on on stage.
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And they have a face on. When I looked around
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that room as you were giving your presentation, it was
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mostly all smiles. Everyone was just happy to be seeing
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you do the podcast. So I think it was just
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a very different moment than anything else this weekend. So
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I thought it was great.
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I thought it was great. Thank you. Thank you.
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I think my hope for the people that were there,
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and I said this to several people, at sailing fest
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is if you go to a, like a, a music concert,
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00:14:53.059 --> 00:14:55.759
a rock concert or something to see a band. And
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then that band end up putting that show out as
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their live album or like their live movie or whatever.
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And you were there, then I think it's always going
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to be that little bit more special to you. So
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I hope for the people who were there, you know,
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maybe it's a kind of keepsake for them, but also
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a little bit of sailing fest for the people who
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couldn't go. So it'll, fulfill those two things, hopefully. So
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we'll see how it all cuts together. But thank you
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for your comments on that. Now, after that, it's kind
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of like I'd done my thing. So I was a
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little bit wired. I couldn't really sit down and watch
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any of the stuff that came up next. But something
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00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:39.389
that you and I talked about, Emmy, recently was A
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Storm in Summer. And we both liked it, didn't we?
285
00:15:41.730 --> 00:15:46.409
It was a pretty good Rod Serling scripted TV movie.
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Yeah, it was the adaptation that we watched as well,
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because we tried really hard to find the original and
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came up short. However, the original was shown that.
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Evening, so we didn't watch it.
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It's just because things happened that meant that we couldn't
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stay around and watch it. But it was a shame,
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because actually we would have quite liked to have seen
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00:16:06.350 --> 00:16:08.049
it and compared it to the Peter Falk version. I
294
00:16:09.590 --> 00:16:11.330
did speak to a couple of people who stayed and
295
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watched it, said it was really good, said it was
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00:16:13.230 --> 00:16:16.539
really faithful. You could definitely hear the Serling in it, so...
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00:16:17.100 --> 00:16:18.299
We still have to source that somehow.
298
00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:20.799
Yeah, we'll try and get hold of it. But Gus,
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have you seen both now?
300
00:16:22.340 --> 00:16:26.220
Yeah, I had seen the Peter Falk version numerous times.
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00:16:26.580 --> 00:16:28.820
And I have been wanting to see this version for,
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00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:32.340
my gosh, I don't know, 25 years. And so I
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had to stay, even though I was kind of getting
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sleepy by that point in the evening. But it was
305
00:16:38.179 --> 00:16:41.250
such a great experience because the place was packed. I mean,
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00:16:41.289 --> 00:16:43.649
most people hung around to watch it. And there's so
307
00:16:43.669 --> 00:16:46.309
much humor there. There's so much dry humor, you know.
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in the script, you couldn't even hear for half of
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00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:53.309
it because people were laughing. People were so taken by
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00:16:53.350 --> 00:16:57.129
the script. And it is pure Serling. Every minute of
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00:16:57.169 --> 00:17:00.620
it just feels like Rod Serling. It's just magic. I
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00:17:00.629 --> 00:17:03.509
don't know. It makes me very sad that it's not
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available to see. And I just really hope that the
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00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:09.900
Foundation people or Antioch College, whoever has it, can figure
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00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:12.900
out a way to share it. Because... I want to
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00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:16.220
see it again already. And comparing the two, it's very
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00:17:16.259 --> 00:17:20.279
hard because Peter Falk is amazing. And, oh my God,
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I just spaced on his name.
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Peter Ustinov?
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Yeah.
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00:17:23.089 --> 00:17:25.589
Peter Ustinov won the Emmy, right, for this role?
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He did?
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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00:17:27.230 --> 00:17:28.990
He was either nominated or he won. I believe he won.
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00:17:29.549 --> 00:17:32.690
And he, again, amazing British actor playing a New York
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Jewish delicatessen owner. The one comparison I would say that
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00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:39.279
really stuck out was the young boy, I don't want
329
00:17:39.299 --> 00:17:43.069
to be dismissive, but the Peter Falk version, I think
330
00:17:43.089 --> 00:17:45.900
one of the biggest criticisms is the young actor in it.
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00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:50.950
This kid in this version, amazing. I mean, I thought
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00:17:50.970 --> 00:17:53.599
he was just great. I thought he was perfect. So
333
00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:56.380
I really hope someday the world can see it because
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00:17:56.579 --> 00:17:58.119
it's great. It's magical. It's Rod Serling.
335
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So I would say the remake is worth a watch,
336
00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:03.359
isn't it? But you think the original is maybe a
337
00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.180
cut above? Yeah.
338
00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:09.140
I mean, it just has a different energy. It's hard
339
00:18:09.180 --> 00:18:12.150
to explain. It just feels more more like a play.
340
00:18:12.170 --> 00:18:14.390
It feels like you're on stage with them and you're
341
00:18:14.430 --> 00:18:15.369
right there with the actors.
342
00:18:15.450 --> 00:18:16.529
It's very, very neat.
343
00:18:17.130 --> 00:18:17.369
Okay.
344
00:18:17.390 --> 00:18:17.470
Yeah.
345
00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:21.779
So that night we basically hit the town, you know,
346
00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:23.799
we went for drinks and I'm not sure there's much
347
00:18:23.859 --> 00:18:26.700
to be said about that really. It's just, everyone had
348
00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:28.779
a good time. I think we had a, you know,
349
00:18:28.839 --> 00:18:31.059
one of the great things about doing this is the
350
00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:34.359
group that we have now that just sort of slots
351
00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:38.440
into place every time that we're together at sailing fest.
352
00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:43.049
And yeah, There's new faces and people just kind of
353
00:18:43.740 --> 00:18:47.609
join up with the group without any issues. And it's
354
00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:51.430
something that I really am appreciative of with this whole thing.
355
00:18:51.490 --> 00:18:53.609
So I think we had a pretty good.
356
00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:53.990
Night, right?
357
00:18:54.190 --> 00:18:54.529
We did.
358
00:18:54.549 --> 00:18:56.930
The venue was in a slightly different place this year.
359
00:18:57.130 --> 00:18:58.759
I don't know if you've mentioned this. It was in
360
00:18:58.779 --> 00:19:01.380
the Doubletree Hotel rather than the theatre, which is where
361
00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:04.519
it normally is. So, you know, but it was still
362
00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:05.940
very much in the same area. So a lot of
363
00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.319
the places that have kind of become regular haunts for
364
00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:10.480
us when we do Serling Fest, we were able to
365
00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:11.240
still go to.
366
00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.519
There wasn't a big distance.
367
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:13.579
Walking distance.
368
00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:15.940
You're so smart.
369
00:19:15.980 --> 00:19:17.299
Thank you.
370
00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:19.440
So, yeah, that was really nice as well because there
371
00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:22.400
is that lovely familiarity of going to the same places,
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00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:24.480
having the same drinks, you know, speaking to the people
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in the same sort of places.
374
00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:29.400
So, yeah, it was lovely on the Friday night. We
375
00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:33.589
were obviously really tired. We were really jet lagged. But yeah,
376
00:19:33.609 --> 00:19:34.910
we got over it. We got over it quick.
377
00:19:35.410 --> 00:19:39.200
So the next morning, Saturday, August 22nd, things kicked off
378
00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:43.039
at 10am. And that was with Make That Magic Live
379
00:19:43.079 --> 00:19:46.940
with Mikaela. And so there's several people covering the Twilight
380
00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.720
Zone in different ways now, podcasts and so on. And,
381
00:19:51.880 --> 00:19:54.140
you know, what I like about what she's doing is
382
00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:57.779
she's bringing a kind of fun, high energy to it,
383
00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:03.339
bringing a bit of humor to things. And it was–
384
00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.880
it's a tough slot probably the first day after– Sorry,
385
00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:10.539
the second day after the previous day when everyone's probably
386
00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.640
been out the night before. Maybe people are a bit
387
00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:18.049
low energy, but it was probably the perfect spot for
388
00:20:18.109 --> 00:20:21.130
her because, you know, she got that crowd going. So
389
00:20:21.150 --> 00:20:21.950
what did you think of that?
390
00:20:23.079 --> 00:20:27.640
Well, well, well, they gave me a platform, y'all.
391
00:20:28.390 --> 00:20:32.690
This is and this is y'all's 10 a.m. wake up call. OK,
392
00:20:33.049 --> 00:20:35.299
so we're going to have some fun in here again.
393
00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:37.599
For those of you that might not be familiar with me,
394
00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:41.079
I'm Mikaela. I'm the voice behind Make That Magic, and
395
00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:43.599
I talk about all things, but a lot of you
396
00:20:43.700 --> 00:20:46.619
are here for Twilight Zone, and that is the reason
397
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.279
that I was able to go full time. So I
398
00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:52.220
appreciate every person in this room that follows me. And
399
00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:54.950
that came out just for me. I've received a couple
400
00:20:54.970 --> 00:20:58.210
of emails, okay? And I have this thing where I
401
00:20:58.250 --> 00:21:00.450
tell people, if you want me to break something down,
402
00:21:01.009 --> 00:21:04.089
I have a request line. As y'all know, the people
403
00:21:04.109 --> 00:21:07.730
who follow me, I really do watch that request line closely, okay?
404
00:21:08.089 --> 00:21:11.099
We're going to have to cue the song because the
405
00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:13.660
episode I'm breaking down today is from the request line.
406
00:21:13.740 --> 00:21:14.480
Cue the song, girl.
407
00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:18.279
The request line is to make that magic request.
408
00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:20.880
And requests, you did.
409
00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:24.890
Okay, so I go through my email and I'm like...
410
00:21:25.150 --> 00:21:29.069
I am seeing 16, 17 entries for this one breakdown,
411
00:21:29.109 --> 00:21:31.490
and I'd never seen it before. Ladies and gentlemen, we're
412
00:21:31.509 --> 00:21:32.910
going to break down the invaders today.
413
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:40.480
I think that what's interesting was because of her target audience,
414
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:42.559
because she's doing it online, you would expect them to
415
00:21:42.599 --> 00:21:47.039
be younger. And so I wondered, because obviously the audience
416
00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:49.240
that was at Serling Fest is not necessarily who I
417
00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:51.799
would have expected her target one to be. But it
418
00:21:51.859 --> 00:21:55.119
landed really well. Like everybody loved it. There was no
419
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.799
kind of awkwardness or anything like that.
420
00:21:57.819 --> 00:21:59.960
It was really funny. Everybody was laughing.
421
00:21:59.980 --> 00:22:03.049
And it was just, you're right, it was pure energy.
422
00:22:03.069 --> 00:22:04.869
It was the best thing for first thing in the morning.
423
00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:08.119
And it just started the day off so well.
424
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.440
She's so funny. She's so, so funny. And like genuinely funny.
425
00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:13.519
Like it was, you know, there was obviously it was like,
426
00:22:13.539 --> 00:22:17.390
there's a script involved, but ultimately just, just a really funny,
427
00:22:17.569 --> 00:22:20.450
genuinely joyful person who obviously loves the Twilight Zone.
428
00:22:20.470 --> 00:22:21.259
That's a good way to put it.
429
00:22:21.269 --> 00:22:21.390
Yeah.
430
00:22:21.670 --> 00:22:23.750
No, I had never heard of her before seeing her
431
00:22:23.769 --> 00:22:25.849
on the lineup for Darling Fest. I was like, oh, this,
432
00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:26.730
this will be interesting.
433
00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:26.930
Right.
434
00:22:27.430 --> 00:22:30.150
And I enjoyed it. Because it starts out and she has,
435
00:22:30.670 --> 00:22:33.259
she's not as reverent as you are about the material, Tom.
436
00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:34.839
But as you said, that's fine. There's many ways to
437
00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:36.839
cover the material. And, you know, we've all enjoyed different
438
00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:39.819
takes on it. And, you know, much like you, like
439
00:22:39.859 --> 00:22:42.759
showing some clips, responding to them, doing some commentary. And
440
00:22:42.779 --> 00:22:44.660
then really tying it all together at the end. Because, yeah,
441
00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:47.779
she's going to high energy, lighthearted about certain things. But
442
00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:50.329
then there's six to landing of, okay, so this is
443
00:22:50.349 --> 00:22:53.230
the message here, people. And I thought it was great.
444
00:22:53.269 --> 00:22:56.410
I really enjoyed it. And I'll be checking out her channel. uh,
445
00:22:56.430 --> 00:22:58.309
for now on it. And, you know, to your point
446
00:22:58.329 --> 00:23:01.809
about the, the age demographics, uh, Amy, I will say like,
447
00:23:01.890 --> 00:23:04.369
we've been here, this is our third time now. And, uh,
448
00:23:04.910 --> 00:23:08.579
I'm encouraged to see the, the age demographics, the gender demographics,
449
00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:10.819
the ethnicity demographics, they're all expanding.
450
00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:11.700
Yeah, for sure.
451
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:13.619
We're divorced here, right? So that's great. And the numbers
452
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:15.299
are growing. This is the biggest Sterling Fest yet.
453
00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:16.400
For sure. Yeah.
454
00:23:16.819 --> 00:23:17.680
Great across the board there.
455
00:23:17.980 --> 00:23:21.859
I had only seen a few of her videos and, uh, Again,
456
00:23:21.900 --> 00:23:23.599
like you guys, I was just blown away by her energy.
457
00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:26.279
I mean, I feel like she forced, through sheer force
458
00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:29.460
of will, like woke up the entire hotel. It was great.
459
00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:31.720
But she's also, I mean, I was a little bit surprised.
460
00:23:31.740 --> 00:23:33.880
I had a conversation with her after the fact. And
461
00:23:33.940 --> 00:23:38.190
she's actually, you know, it's not just a routine. She's very,
462
00:23:38.269 --> 00:23:40.170
very interested in these episodes. And she has a very
463
00:23:40.269 --> 00:23:42.690
deep love and understanding of them. I mean, one of
464
00:23:42.710 --> 00:23:44.750
the ones that I had seen her cover was Big
465
00:23:44.769 --> 00:23:46.549
Tall Wish, which is one of my favorite episodes, if
466
00:23:46.609 --> 00:23:50.240
not my favorite episode. And we disagreed, and so we
467
00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:53.720
had a little conversation about the young boy. And she
468
00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:56.019
kind of criticized his acting a little bit. And I
469
00:23:56.059 --> 00:23:58.119
drilled down on her, and I was like, I thought
470
00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:01.720
the kid was great. The kid makes me burst into tears.
471
00:24:02.299 --> 00:24:04.920
But she was like, wow, there was just some affect
472
00:24:04.940 --> 00:24:07.450
to some of his vocal deliveries that she felt might
473
00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:10.789
have been forced upon him because of the ethnic angle
474
00:24:10.849 --> 00:24:14.950
that he was playing. But legitimate. She had a legitimate
475
00:24:15.849 --> 00:24:18.200
criticism about that. I just thought it was very interesting,
476
00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:21.059
you know, and it frankly made me, I will look
477
00:24:21.079 --> 00:24:24.259
at that episode slightly different now because of her commentary.
478
00:24:24.299 --> 00:24:26.700
So I thought that was great. I mean, it's exactly
479
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.440
what you want from someone commentating on the show.
480
00:24:29.789 --> 00:24:33.630
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Really, really great start to the day.
481
00:24:34.549 --> 00:24:36.849
So this year at Sailing Fest, we actually had a
482
00:24:37.130 --> 00:24:43.650
genuine Twilight Zone actor signing autographs, doing an interview on
483
00:24:43.710 --> 00:24:46.119
stage and so on. And you actually... Spent a bit
484
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.119
of time talking with her, didn't you, Gus? This is
485
00:24:48.140 --> 00:24:50.920
Mary Badham, who was in the final episode of The
486
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:51.690
Twilight Zone, W.
487
00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:52.900
Hitchinpool.
488
00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:53.180
Right.
489
00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:56.680
And also famously in To Kill a Mockingbird, where she
490
00:24:56.720 --> 00:24:59.309
played Scout and was nominated for an Academy Award for that.
491
00:24:59.430 --> 00:24:59.730
Wow.
492
00:24:59.809 --> 00:25:01.490
Am I wrong about that? I think that's right.
493
00:25:01.509 --> 00:25:01.750
I don't know.
494
00:25:02.109 --> 00:25:02.309
Yeah.
495
00:25:02.869 --> 00:25:03.630
We'll take your word for it.
496
00:25:03.670 --> 00:25:03.930
Okay.
497
00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:07.490
But we talked mainly about that because I was just
498
00:25:07.509 --> 00:25:09.390
very curious, you know, did you keep in touch with
499
00:25:09.470 --> 00:25:12.019
the folks from To Kill a Mockingbird over the years?
500
00:25:12.059 --> 00:25:14.539
And she said, Gregory Peck and I remained close until
501
00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.400
the day he died. She's like, I was at his
502
00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:19.579
house two days before he passed. She stayed close with
503
00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.200
the family and everything. So, I mean, she's just, I mean,
504
00:25:22.220 --> 00:25:24.730
she's a lifelong veteran of the industry. And I'll tell
505
00:25:24.750 --> 00:25:28.230
you what's funny about that is that I'm a filmmaker
506
00:25:28.250 --> 00:25:31.049
in a small way. And when I let her know that,
507
00:25:31.509 --> 00:25:33.150
she said, write your name and number down for me.
508
00:25:34.309 --> 00:25:35.910
I'm going to text you if you have any roles.
509
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:37.140
Give me a call.
510
00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:38.420
And I was like, she's working.
511
00:25:38.180 --> 00:25:38.880
It even now.
512
00:25:38.940 --> 00:25:39.880
That's very cool.
513
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:40.680
I like that.
514
00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.799
It was pretty neat. How cool. How cool.
515
00:25:43.630 --> 00:25:45.730
Now, one of the great things about Sailing Fest is
516
00:25:45.789 --> 00:25:49.950
how present the sailing family is. And there was a
517
00:25:50.049 --> 00:25:55.880
number of presentations where the sailing family were interviewed. They
518
00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:00.440
were pretty much always in the vendor room at a table.
519
00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:02.400
You could go and approach them and speak to them.
520
00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.619
So I think maybe we'll just talk generally about that
521
00:26:05.640 --> 00:26:10.470
instead of going through presentation by presentation because... I think
522
00:26:10.569 --> 00:26:12.849
one of the things that I've always been so grateful
523
00:26:12.910 --> 00:26:17.230
for is that they have been so gracious about what
524
00:26:17.329 --> 00:26:20.490
I do. Now that started off with Anne many, many
525
00:26:20.529 --> 00:26:22.990
years ago. She was one of the first guests that
526
00:26:23.009 --> 00:26:26.069
I had on the podcast, but every time I go,
527
00:26:26.289 --> 00:26:29.470
she remembers who I am. You know, she's says she's
528
00:26:29.490 --> 00:26:31.880
happy to see me and so on. And last time
529
00:26:31.890 --> 00:26:34.720
I was here, even though I was really sick, I'm
530
00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.019
not sure whether I mentioned that.
531
00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:36.380
Were you?
532
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:41.720
Um, You know, I struck up a good relationship with
533
00:26:41.740 --> 00:26:44.019
Jodie as well. I've spoken to her on the phone
534
00:26:44.059 --> 00:26:46.390
and so on, and she was very present at this one.
535
00:26:46.970 --> 00:26:51.009
It was some great recollections about her dad. But also
536
00:26:51.769 --> 00:26:57.710
Jeff Serling, who is Rod Serling's nephew, Robert Serling's son,
537
00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:01.680
has become a real kind of part of making this
538
00:27:01.740 --> 00:27:05.299
thing happen and really kind of pushing it and making
539
00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:08.930
it grow. And, you know, I had some great conversations
540
00:27:08.950 --> 00:27:11.650
with Jeff as well. Really, really cool to see him
541
00:27:11.690 --> 00:27:14.920
around and, you know, just check in with him every
542
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.440
now and again. So how about you guys? You know,
543
00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.039
any kind of interactions you had with the sailings while
544
00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:20.539
you were there?
545
00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:23.220
I didn't speak to any of them directly, but I
546
00:27:23.220 --> 00:27:26.420
totally agree with you. They're so generous with their time
547
00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:29.380
for all of this stuff, you know. And it isn't
548
00:27:29.529 --> 00:27:32.369
just sort of from a distance saying, oh, I will
549
00:27:32.410 --> 00:27:33.849
allow you to do this and I will allow you
550
00:27:33.890 --> 00:27:34.289
to do that.
551
00:27:34.769 --> 00:27:39.289
They talk so lovingly. about Rod Serling and it shows.
552
00:27:39.569 --> 00:27:42.029
And it kind of comes back to what I mentioned
553
00:27:42.069 --> 00:27:44.589
about the opening speech as well. There's always something new
554
00:27:44.910 --> 00:27:49.130
to say. It could very easily become the same old
555
00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:52.910
rehashed stories every single time and it doesn't. They're very
556
00:27:52.970 --> 00:27:56.190
genuine in their affection and so they're always coming up
557
00:27:56.380 --> 00:27:58.440
with lovely new things to tell us and we're always
558
00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:01.339
learning new things about him. And that's my favourite part
559
00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:03.980
of them attending and really being involved in Serling Fest
560
00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:06.009
because That's what we want to know. You know, we
561
00:28:06.029 --> 00:28:08.309
want to know all these nice things that made him
562
00:28:08.329 --> 00:28:08.750
who he was.
563
00:28:09.609 --> 00:28:12.450
Yeah, I met Anne back in 2019 when we came
564
00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:14.190
the first time and got a picture with her and
565
00:28:14.490 --> 00:28:17.170
very gracious. And I think I briefly talked to Jody
566
00:28:17.190 --> 00:28:19.250
last time when you did, Tom. I'm always like hanging
567
00:28:19.269 --> 00:28:23.200
around Tom and writing off his coattails and stuff. But actually,
568
00:28:23.279 --> 00:28:25.279
I met Jeff this year for the first time. And
569
00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:28.940
I actually bought one of the facsimiles of the statue,
570
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:32.029
the Roger Ling statue, because I had wanted to buy one.
571
00:28:32.819 --> 00:28:35.390
a version of the statue uh last time but they
572
00:28:35.410 --> 00:28:38.349
only had the very large one which was just just
573
00:28:38.410 --> 00:28:40.690
too big for i have way too much collectible stuff
574
00:28:40.710 --> 00:28:42.130
in my office as it is and i was like
575
00:28:42.210 --> 00:28:43.230
oh i was kind of hoping they have like a
576
00:28:43.329 --> 00:28:45.500
smaller one uh and they did this year so i
577
00:28:45.539 --> 00:28:47.119
got one and talked to jeff we talked about he's
578
00:28:47.140 --> 00:28:48.779
like hey okay showed you how to put it together
579
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:50.619
and all that stuff so yeah just a real nice
580
00:28:50.660 --> 00:28:52.720
guy and i hadn't interacted with him until now and
581
00:28:53.019 --> 00:28:55.009
it's just a great impression there and and then yeah
582
00:28:55.069 --> 00:28:57.250
in in the course of the panels because they were
583
00:28:57.269 --> 00:29:00.220
all on on different panels I really enjoyed the, really
584
00:29:00.259 --> 00:29:02.759
just the slice of life, you know, snapshot of their
585
00:29:02.819 --> 00:29:04.640
family life back in the day, like pictures and then
586
00:29:04.660 --> 00:29:05.700
especially the home movies.
587
00:29:05.900 --> 00:29:06.079
Yeah.
588
00:29:06.299 --> 00:29:08.940
I'm a big Disneyland fan, so there's a lot of
589
00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:11.089
footage of them from like a, I don't know, a
590
00:29:11.089 --> 00:29:13.130
16 millimeter camera of them at Disneyland on like the
591
00:29:13.170 --> 00:29:13.730
Jungle Cruise.
592
00:29:13.750 --> 00:29:13.829
Yeah.
593
00:29:13.849 --> 00:29:15.390
And so I'm like, is it Rod Serling and his
594
00:29:15.430 --> 00:29:18.049
kids on the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland? So just stuff
595
00:29:18.069 --> 00:29:20.690
you never really consider or think you see and. And
596
00:29:20.710 --> 00:29:23.450
they always make sure they mention, hey, look, I know
597
00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:25.799
in the Twilight Zone our dad's like a serious guy.
598
00:29:26.500 --> 00:29:28.559
But he was a jokester and he had a sense
599
00:29:28.599 --> 00:29:31.900
of humor. And that comes through when he's on camera
600
00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.569
but he's offstage, so to speak, in these family movies.
601
00:29:34.619 --> 00:29:37.910
And that's always just precious stuff to see. So I
602
00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:38.809
appreciate them sharing that.
603
00:29:38.849 --> 00:29:40.819
Totally agree with you on that. I thought the videos
604
00:29:40.900 --> 00:29:43.750
were I mean, Jody and Anne have been to I
605
00:29:44.069 --> 00:29:46.089
don't know how many Serling Fest, but I've only been
606
00:29:46.130 --> 00:29:48.289
to the two. I was here at the unveiling of
607
00:29:48.329 --> 00:29:50.289
the statue two years ago, and this is my second one.
608
00:29:51.140 --> 00:29:53.009
But I've been to a lot of these kinds of things.
609
00:29:53.089 --> 00:29:56.250
And when people like that attend a lot, you feel
610
00:29:56.269 --> 00:29:58.490
like they're going to run out of stories. Somehow they
611
00:29:58.529 --> 00:30:01.049
haven't run out of stories. And seeing all these videos
612
00:30:01.069 --> 00:30:02.569
that they brought this time, I was like, I was
613
00:30:02.890 --> 00:30:04.730
blown away. I mean, that Disneyland video, I got my
614
00:30:04.769 --> 00:30:06.329
phone out and I'm like, I know I'm not supposed to,
615
00:30:06.349 --> 00:30:09.599
but I'm recording this. This is really cool. And yeah.
616
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:12.140
And frankly, so here's something I really wanted to ask them.
617
00:30:12.180 --> 00:30:14.859
I never got a chance to is what was Rod's
618
00:30:14.940 --> 00:30:18.559
workout routine? Because he is like ripped. He had his
619
00:30:18.660 --> 00:30:21.450
shirt off in almost all these videos. And he just
620
00:30:21.470 --> 00:30:24.279
looked like a male model. Absolutely. It was incredible.
621
00:30:24.579 --> 00:30:25.839
I mean, if you look like him, you wouldn't wear
622
00:30:25.859 --> 00:30:26.299
a shirt either.
623
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:27.339
I know. I know.
624
00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:28.099
It's my goal.
625
00:30:28.359 --> 00:30:29.460
My goal is to look like Rod.
626
00:30:31.140 --> 00:30:31.400
Yeah.
627
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:35.819
So grateful for all of the presence there. And both
628
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:40.259
times I've done this now, where I've presented a couple
629
00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:43.299
of years ago at the theater, and then this time
630
00:30:44.140 --> 00:30:47.769
at the hotel, the first person to come over and
631
00:30:47.829 --> 00:30:51.339
speak to me after each presentation has been Jody sailing,
632
00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:54.259
you know? So the fact that she takes the time
633
00:30:54.279 --> 00:30:57.079
to do that, I think I can't really place a
634
00:30:57.119 --> 00:30:57.839
value on that.
635
00:30:57.920 --> 00:30:59.339
So I appreciate that.
636
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.259
Well, and I have to interject and let you know
637
00:31:01.359 --> 00:31:03.960
that I was rolling a little camera when she came
638
00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:04.819
and said hello to you.
639
00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:05.400
Oh really?
640
00:31:05.519 --> 00:31:07.769
And you still had your mic on and I could
641
00:31:07.829 --> 00:31:11.910
hear the genuine appreciation and love that she had when
642
00:31:11.930 --> 00:31:13.490
she said hello to you. It wasn't like she was
643
00:31:13.509 --> 00:31:17.049
just being nice. She was really, really taken by your presentation.
644
00:31:17.549 --> 00:31:19.990
So I thought it was neat, and I'm glad the
645
00:31:20.009 --> 00:31:22.099
camera was rolling. So you'll have to watch that soon.
646
00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:22.880
Oh, my.
647
00:31:23.460 --> 00:31:26.339
I had no idea about that. How cool is that?
648
00:31:26.359 --> 00:31:27.720
We'll cut to that here shortly.
649
00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:34.130
We may do. We may do. Wow. That's made my day.
650
00:31:34.170 --> 00:31:37.150
Thank you, Gus. Thank you, man. Thank you.
651
00:31:37.630 --> 00:31:38.990
Jodie. How are you?
652
00:31:39.769 --> 00:31:41.970
What a great podcast.
653
00:31:42.190 --> 00:31:42.529
Thank you.
654
00:31:42.589 --> 00:31:44.319
I have the original mask at home.
655
00:31:44.730 --> 00:31:45.319
No way.
656
00:31:45.410 --> 00:31:45.730
I do.
657
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:47.119
This is my cousin Jen.
658
00:31:47.259 --> 00:31:48.279
Hi, how are you doing?
659
00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:50.059
Nice to meet you.
660
00:31:50.140 --> 00:31:51.200
That was terrific.
661
00:31:51.220 --> 00:31:51.559
Thank you.
662
00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:53.920
Isn't his voice perfect for him?
663
00:31:53.980 --> 00:31:56.819
Beautiful voice. Oh, thank you, Jodie. I need someone to
664
00:31:56.859 --> 00:31:57.720
get a picture of us.
665
00:31:58.039 --> 00:31:59.680
Oh, yeah, I have that other one we took.
666
00:31:59.859 --> 00:32:00.740
Yeah.
667
00:32:01.099 --> 00:32:03.259
Gus, would you mind getting a picture of me and Jodie? Okay,
668
00:32:03.559 --> 00:32:07.500
so let's move on to this documentary, Sailing. I think
669
00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:11.420
they presented maybe the trailer or something last year. It's
670
00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:14.789
made by Jonah Tulis. And this time he actually came
671
00:32:14.809 --> 00:32:18.869
with the first five minutes of the thing. And also
672
00:32:18.910 --> 00:32:22.680
a few clips later on. So anyone with some thoughts
673
00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:25.220
on what they saw of the documentary?
674
00:32:26.119 --> 00:32:30.559
Well, as a filmmaker, I've been waiting for this for
675
00:32:30.640 --> 00:32:33.279
years now. And I was very excited to see the footage.
676
00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:35.539
I thought it looked great. I mean, I don't know
677
00:32:35.559 --> 00:32:37.700
if we're spoiling anything to talk about what we saw.
678
00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:39.180
Is that okay to do? I'm not sure.
679
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:39.740
Yeah.
680
00:32:39.900 --> 00:32:42.240
I mean, you know, we can talk about it for sure.
681
00:32:42.259 --> 00:32:42.460
Okay.
682
00:32:42.779 --> 00:32:46.160
Well, I think the way they've approached this is to
683
00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:49.240
kind of have an actor in place of Rod Serling,
684
00:32:49.289 --> 00:32:52.210
but not to shoot his face at all. So creative,
685
00:32:52.589 --> 00:32:55.890
you know, artistic angles from behind, a lot of cigarette smoke, obviously.
686
00:32:55.910 --> 00:32:56.529
Focus.
687
00:32:56.849 --> 00:33:01.210
Yeah, soft focuses and things like that. So it was
688
00:33:01.230 --> 00:33:03.470
very stylistic. And I was frankly happy to see that.
689
00:33:03.539 --> 00:33:05.779
And obviously it's all black and white. So that's the
690
00:33:06.059 --> 00:33:09.109
right choice. But everything we saw looked like it's going
691
00:33:09.130 --> 00:33:12.339
to be, it's very promising. You know, I'm just so excited.
692
00:33:12.359 --> 00:33:14.779
My only, like, regret, frankly, was when he said how
693
00:33:14.819 --> 00:33:16.880
long it was, which is like, I forgot what he.
694
00:33:16.819 --> 00:33:18.119
Said, 90 minutes? 100 minutes, maybe?
695
00:33:18.140 --> 00:33:19.799
Yeah, I think it was 100 minutes. I was like,
696
00:33:19.859 --> 00:33:21.299
I want this to be four hours.
697
00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:24.380
Yeah.
698
00:33:24.460 --> 00:33:26.869
I like what he said about those scenes as well.
699
00:33:26.890 --> 00:33:31.150
He's not recreating things that happened before. It's more of
700
00:33:31.190 --> 00:33:33.869
a tone thing, isn't it? It's more to just give
701
00:33:33.910 --> 00:33:36.670
you a bit of a sense of what was going
702
00:33:36.809 --> 00:33:40.210
on rather than saying, look, we're recreating this exactly.
703
00:33:40.349 --> 00:33:42.630
More like a fly on the wall. And we should
704
00:33:42.650 --> 00:33:44.650
probably also say that the thing that's going to make
705
00:33:44.690 --> 00:33:47.619
this documentary stand out and frankly unique in the annals
706
00:33:47.670 --> 00:33:50.220
of I think any documentary of this kind is that
707
00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:52.299
he was able to get access to all of his
708
00:33:52.420 --> 00:33:55.920
Dictabelt tapes. And so the entire movie is told with
709
00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:59.640
Rod Serling's voice, which I mean, even if we've all
710
00:33:59.700 --> 00:34:01.859
heard all the stories before, even if we all know
711
00:34:02.019 --> 00:34:04.779
everything that's ever happened in Rod's life, it's going to
712
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:07.079
be a unique experience hearing it from his own point
713
00:34:07.099 --> 00:34:09.030
of view. So I'm really looking forward to it.
714
00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:09.480
Yeah.
715
00:34:09.619 --> 00:34:11.320
I'm very excited for it. I think that's a, such
716
00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:13.889
a unique situation where you have so much of him
717
00:34:14.230 --> 00:34:16.489
in his own voice, as you said, like narrating everything
718
00:34:16.550 --> 00:34:18.849
instead of a, and you know, a traditional documentary would
719
00:34:18.869 --> 00:34:20.610
be like, you know, a talking head, an expert here,
720
00:34:20.650 --> 00:34:21.989
an expert there. And that would be, I would watch
721
00:34:22.010 --> 00:34:22.329
that too.
722
00:34:22.489 --> 00:34:22.670
Sure.
723
00:34:22.889 --> 00:34:23.010
Right.
724
00:34:23.110 --> 00:34:25.369
But it's just so unique that he's recorded, you know,
725
00:34:25.389 --> 00:34:27.219
he used that dictaphone, that famous dictaphone. We have so
726
00:34:27.239 --> 00:34:29.150
much of his voice and, It reminds me of, you know,
727
00:34:29.170 --> 00:34:33.579
recently that documentary Super Slash Man by Christopher Reeve. And
728
00:34:33.599 --> 00:34:37.039
they used the audio book that he did about his autobiography,
729
00:34:37.059 --> 00:34:39.400
Still Me. They used the audio of him. So there's
730
00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:42.570
just an extra layer to that, like a powerful emotional
731
00:34:42.590 --> 00:34:45.869
layer of hearing the person talk about their life themselves there.
732
00:34:46.030 --> 00:34:47.510
Always the right choice if you can do it.
733
00:34:47.530 --> 00:34:49.929
If you can, yeah. And I totally agree about the
734
00:34:50.010 --> 00:34:53.010
actor choice, too. Like, because, you know, there's audio only. Like,
735
00:34:53.030 --> 00:34:54.590
what are you going to show, right? What are you
736
00:34:54.610 --> 00:34:55.010
going to show?
737
00:34:55.030 --> 00:34:55.179
Mm-hmm.
738
00:34:55.610 --> 00:34:58.050
And just showing these, like a guy behind a typewriter
739
00:34:58.070 --> 00:35:01.989
or a guy in a smoky set somewhere, or, you know, uh,
740
00:35:02.489 --> 00:35:05.190
that's a real good choice. And to their point, he's
741
00:35:05.210 --> 00:35:07.510
such a recognizable face. Like it would kind of take
742
00:35:07.550 --> 00:35:09.230
you out of it to hear his real voice and
743
00:35:09.269 --> 00:35:12.070
see someone else up there. So like, you know, it's creatively, I'm,
744
00:35:12.210 --> 00:35:14.510
I'm very impressed with their approach and I'm, I'm really
745
00:35:14.530 --> 00:35:15.849
looking forward to seeing the whole documentary.
746
00:35:16.070 --> 00:35:16.250
Yeah.
747
00:35:16.409 --> 00:35:16.670
Agreed.
748
00:35:16.690 --> 00:35:18.929
And I think that using the dictaphone stuff means that
749
00:35:19.070 --> 00:35:21.449
it feels like he's taking us through it. Like it
750
00:35:21.570 --> 00:35:24.369
absolutely feels like he is taking, taking us through that journey.
751
00:35:24.989 --> 00:35:27.269
And that's what I wanted to see. I mean, you're right.
752
00:35:27.329 --> 00:35:29.409
I would have watched Talking Heads and things as well.
753
00:35:29.730 --> 00:35:32.650
But ultimately, you want to watch something that feels like
754
00:35:32.869 --> 00:35:34.590
sort of an episode. You don't want it to be
755
00:35:34.630 --> 00:35:36.980
constantly taking you in and out by having different people
756
00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:38.579
speaking and their names at the bottom of the screen
757
00:35:38.599 --> 00:35:41.039
and all this sort of thing. Ultimately, what you want
758
00:35:41.079 --> 00:35:43.539
is a little sneak peek into his life and how
759
00:35:43.579 --> 00:35:46.889
he did his work and how he was creative. And
760
00:35:46.969 --> 00:35:48.929
from what we saw, it's going to cover all those things.
761
00:35:49.090 --> 00:35:51.429
You know, it is not just Twilight Zone. It is
762
00:35:51.449 --> 00:35:53.380
going to be a lot of... And it blows my
763
00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:54.559
mind that it's taken this long.
764
00:35:54.599 --> 00:35:57.340
To get this. Movies take a long time. But he
765
00:35:57.360 --> 00:35:59.199
played some snippets for us, which I don't... I wasn't...
766
00:35:59.280 --> 00:36:00.530
I can't remember if he said they were going to
767
00:36:00.570 --> 00:36:01.929
make it into the movie or they were.
768
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:04.260
Those outtakes of the Indy, I wouldn't mention that.
769
00:36:04.280 --> 00:36:07.199
There was an outtake where he was dictating a complaint
770
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:08.219
to his auto mechanic.
771
00:36:08.260 --> 00:36:09.780
That was amazing.
772
00:36:09.820 --> 00:36:10.820
Just jammed.
773
00:36:10.860 --> 00:36:12.579
Just absolutely beautiful.
774
00:36:12.300 --> 00:36:14.280
To have that. It's him just writing a complaint to
775
00:36:14.300 --> 00:36:16.909
a car that doesn't work, but he's so eloquent.
776
00:36:17.010 --> 00:36:18.829
He doesn't hit his voice, for sure.
777
00:36:18.849 --> 00:36:22.969
He's like, the operative word is not moving. He's insulting
778
00:36:23.010 --> 00:36:25.230
this guy in such an elegant way. I could listen
779
00:36:25.250 --> 00:36:26.190
to hours and.
780
00:36:26.389 --> 00:36:27.260
Hours of that.
781
00:36:27.889 --> 00:36:32.300
Yeah, I mean, those Dictabelt tapes... just a gold mine,
782
00:36:32.380 --> 00:36:35.059
what I wouldn't give to be able to hear those things.
783
00:36:35.719 --> 00:36:38.320
But I think as well, because, you know, I think
784
00:36:38.380 --> 00:36:41.139
all of us here are pretty well-versed in sailing now.
785
00:36:41.719 --> 00:36:43.539
You know, you and I, Emmy, have watched a lot
786
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:47.239
of the non-Twilight Zone stuff over the years.
787
00:36:47.460 --> 00:36:48.320
Over on Patreon.
788
00:36:48.389 --> 00:36:51.429
Gus, I know you're a big guy for anything sailing
789
00:36:51.449 --> 00:36:54.630
you can get your hands on. So I think we've
790
00:36:54.809 --> 00:36:59.630
probably seen most of what is out there. So, The
791
00:36:59.670 --> 00:37:02.570
opportunity to hear his voice say things you haven't heard
792
00:37:02.610 --> 00:37:06.659
them say is just gold, isn't it? I would love
793
00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:09.139
to hear them all, but I will settle for what
794
00:37:09.179 --> 00:37:10.219
I can get in this thing.
795
00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:13.280
I'm hopeful that someday they'll release that stuff. I mean,
796
00:37:13.900 --> 00:37:16.420
he was talking about the fact that because he wasn't
797
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:18.880
sure why, whether they taped over these things or whether
798
00:37:18.900 --> 00:37:21.619
they just were lost. What exists is more from the
799
00:37:21.659 --> 00:37:24.079
later period, more Night Gallery, more Loner related.
800
00:37:24.260 --> 00:37:24.420
Yeah.
801
00:37:25.050 --> 00:37:26.840
I'm a huge fan of night gallery and loner. I
802
00:37:26.880 --> 00:37:28.579
would love to hear that stuff. You know what I mean?
803
00:37:28.619 --> 00:37:30.219
Although I feel like it was kind of dismissed. I
804
00:37:30.579 --> 00:37:32.460
feel like night gallery doesn't get enough love at the
805
00:37:32.500 --> 00:37:36.099
Rod Serling, uh, Serling fest. Uh, sometimes it does, but
806
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:39.119
this time it was all, it was all twilight zone. Um, but, but,
807
00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:40.900
but man, what I would love to, I would love
808
00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:41.579
to hear those tapes.
809
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:44.159
Well, and they're also going to, as I understand, incorporate,
810
00:37:44.179 --> 00:37:46.079
you know, interviews that he did over the years. So
811
00:37:46.099 --> 00:37:47.679
there's some on, there is going to be on camera,
812
00:37:47.699 --> 00:37:51.300
Rod Serling interviews to him, not an actor, just him
813
00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:53.659
on a talk show here or an interview there. And so,
814
00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:56.579
interspersing all that stuff. And again, that's why it's such
815
00:37:56.599 --> 00:37:59.239
a great choice to keep all the non-authentic stuff kind
816
00:37:59.260 --> 00:38:00.719
of hidden in light and shadow.
817
00:38:00.739 --> 00:38:03.460
Yeah, and one likes to believe that everything's out there
818
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:05.980
on the internet now, but even two years ago when
819
00:38:06.019 --> 00:38:08.440
I was here, they showed some interviews with Rod Serling
820
00:38:08.460 --> 00:38:11.519
that I had never seen. So that's why I love coming,
821
00:38:11.699 --> 00:38:13.530
is because there's going to be something I haven't seen,
822
00:38:13.619 --> 00:38:15.690
and I feel like I've seen it all. So that's
823
00:38:15.710 --> 00:38:17.369
what I love coming here.
824
00:38:17.730 --> 00:38:21.809
So Bill Mooney, Twilight Zone royalty, been on the show before.
825
00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:25.239
What else can we say? But Zach, you checked out
826
00:38:25.260 --> 00:38:26.659
that interview with Bill.
827
00:38:26.920 --> 00:38:31.099
Yeah, and I don't know if he called in, because
828
00:38:31.119 --> 00:38:33.409
he was a remote guest in 2019. I can't recall
829
00:38:33.449 --> 00:38:34.769
if he was a remote guest in 2024. I don't
830
00:38:34.809 --> 00:38:37.730
think he was.
831
00:38:38.150 --> 00:38:38.530
Okay, great.
832
00:38:38.550 --> 00:38:40.489
So I'd seen him remote that time and then remote
833
00:38:40.510 --> 00:38:42.409
this time. He just has a great energy about him.
834
00:38:42.429 --> 00:38:45.539
He totally embraces that. He is this pop culture sci-fi icon.
835
00:38:45.960 --> 00:38:47.219
And he's like, oh, I'm having a good day, a
836
00:38:47.260 --> 00:38:50.409
real good day. You know when celebrities, they say, like,
837
00:38:50.510 --> 00:38:53.750
say the thing, Bart, or whatever. They say the catchphrase.
838
00:38:53.769 --> 00:38:55.730
You're like, no, he is like, it's off the top
839
00:38:55.769 --> 00:38:58.329
of his head. He's weaving it in. Like, he just
840
00:38:58.389 --> 00:39:01.730
relishes this part. He knows that he's an iconic part.
841
00:39:01.789 --> 00:39:04.710
And he's a fan himself of this genre. And I
842
00:39:04.730 --> 00:39:06.150
think that goes a long way. And just, you know,
843
00:39:06.170 --> 00:39:08.130
having him answer questions. I'm sure he's answered a lot
844
00:39:08.150 --> 00:39:09.869
of these questions many times before. But he's such a
845
00:39:09.889 --> 00:39:11.969
pro about it every time. And he's just a delight.
846
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:14.909
I've found myself in his orbit a couple of times
847
00:39:14.969 --> 00:39:17.130
over the years, and I will say this. He actually
848
00:39:17.190 --> 00:39:19.230
says that kind of stuff even when it's not a
849
00:39:19.250 --> 00:39:20.469
Twilight Zone event.
850
00:39:20.989 --> 00:39:21.510
I love that.
851
00:39:21.210 --> 00:39:22.849
If you ask him a question, he'd be like, it'll
852
00:39:22.869 --> 00:39:23.210
be good.
853
00:39:23.329 --> 00:39:24.050
It'll be real good.
854
00:39:24.130 --> 00:39:27.010
I think it's just in his DNA at this point.
855
00:39:27.050 --> 00:39:29.920
I actually, once upon a time, I, I got him
856
00:39:29.960 --> 00:39:33.079
to sign a toy telephone for me. Oh, I bought
857
00:39:33.099 --> 00:39:35.679
the replica phone. That is the same exact one from
858
00:39:35.719 --> 00:39:37.360
the show. And I got him to sign it. And
859
00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:39.119
he was like, my God, it's so small. And I
860
00:39:39.139 --> 00:39:40.880
was like, well, you were a lot smaller than seven
861
00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:41.320
years old.
862
00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:42.619
Yeah.
863
00:39:42.659 --> 00:39:43.519
Bill Mooney is the best.
864
00:39:43.639 --> 00:39:43.860
Yep.
865
00:39:43.940 --> 00:39:45.820
Yep. Yeah. Good. Good.
866
00:39:46.539 --> 00:39:50.670
So then to cap things off, um, I'll read it
867
00:39:50.690 --> 00:39:52.989
off the schedule. It's called A Panel, Ten Years in
868
00:39:53.010 --> 00:39:56.989
the Making, A Decade of Sailing Fest, Why Does Rod
869
00:39:57.050 --> 00:40:02.079
Sailing Matter? Now, I was outside with you guys just talking.
870
00:40:03.320 --> 00:40:06.280
I'll just mention that I did have a table there.
871
00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:09.039
I wasn't selling anything. I was just giving away a few,
872
00:40:09.590 --> 00:40:12.170
you know, prints and things of the Twilight Zone podcast.
873
00:40:12.650 --> 00:40:14.329
And I thought, great, we'll go in in a few
874
00:40:14.369 --> 00:40:17.070
minutes and we'll all sit and watch this panel. And
875
00:40:17.090 --> 00:40:19.769
then all of a sudden, Gail, one of the Rod
876
00:40:19.789 --> 00:40:24.489
Serling Memorial Foundation board members comes out and says, Tom,
877
00:40:24.519 --> 00:40:25.800
you need to be on this panel.
878
00:40:26.500 --> 00:40:29.559
So I go in there. You've got a row of.
879
00:40:29.860 --> 00:40:35.099
All the guests, Chris Alexander, Joseph Doherty, Frank Spotnitz, and
880
00:40:35.159 --> 00:40:37.780
so on. And so I go up and sit on
881
00:40:37.820 --> 00:40:41.610
the end. And they kind of sprung it. I don't
882
00:40:41.650 --> 00:40:45.250
know whether they had prior warning because some people seem
883
00:40:45.269 --> 00:40:48.250
to be a little bit prepared. But it's like, okay,
884
00:40:48.349 --> 00:40:53.199
everyone's got to say, for two minutes, why rod sailing matters.
885
00:40:54.219 --> 00:40:58.070
And I was like, great. Some warning would have been nice. But,
886
00:40:58.090 --> 00:40:59.969
you know, I'll do my best. I'll do my best.
887
00:41:00.090 --> 00:41:05.710
So I will put that audio of my answer here.
888
00:41:08.389 --> 00:41:10.639
Hi, I'm Tom Elliott. I'm the host of the Twilight
889
00:41:10.659 --> 00:41:11.639
Zone podcast.
890
00:41:17.039 --> 00:41:19.860
When I ask myself why Rod Serling matters, I think
891
00:41:20.320 --> 00:41:22.880
I only need to look around this room and think
892
00:41:22.900 --> 00:41:25.889
of the experience that we've all had for the last
893
00:41:25.949 --> 00:41:27.090
couple of days because.
894
00:41:28.780 --> 00:41:30.969
You know, in a world where it seems like everything
895
00:41:31.050 --> 00:41:34.130
is just designed to push us apart and divide us
896
00:41:34.170 --> 00:41:36.849
at the moment, I think we all need this. We
897
00:41:36.909 --> 00:41:42.269
all need to be reminded that it doesn't have to
898
00:41:42.289 --> 00:41:45.769
be that way, you know? And I think, as I
899
00:41:45.809 --> 00:41:49.730
said in my presentation yesterday, if there's ever a question
900
00:41:49.750 --> 00:41:52.469
in your head about whether something is right or whether
901
00:41:52.789 --> 00:41:55.829
something is wrong, all you need to really think is,
902
00:41:55.869 --> 00:41:57.260
what would Rod Serling say?
903
00:41:58.469 --> 00:42:00.780
And that is where everything becomes clear.
904
00:42:00.880 --> 00:42:06.699
He cuts through that fog of argument and division every time.
905
00:42:06.960 --> 00:42:10.559
It never fails, so that's why I think Rod matters.
906
00:42:13.570 --> 00:42:16.550
Okay, so there was some really nice stuff coming from
907
00:42:16.570 --> 00:42:19.909
the panel members and the audience as well. Any highlights
908
00:42:19.969 --> 00:42:20.650
for you guys?
909
00:42:21.530 --> 00:42:23.710
I think what struck me most is that there was like,
910
00:42:23.730 --> 00:42:24.710
what did you say, 12 of you?
911
00:42:24.730 --> 00:42:26.269
I think so, yeah.
912
00:42:26.570 --> 00:42:30.360
And to be honest, it's kind of like an icebreaker, right,
913
00:42:30.389 --> 00:42:33.139
when somebody does this. And it's quite easy to just
914
00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:35.760
repeat what everybody else has said, you know, that sort
915
00:42:35.800 --> 00:42:39.949
of thing. 12 fresh answers, you know, where they're all
916
00:42:39.989 --> 00:42:40.789
totally relevant.
917
00:42:40.869 --> 00:42:42.130
They're all totally meaningful.
918
00:42:42.269 --> 00:42:45.170
You've seen people in the audience nodding along as people
919
00:42:45.210 --> 00:42:48.360
were saying, you know, that's quite special, you know, at
920
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:50.579
the end. And it's, it's, I guess it's easier done
921
00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:52.780
at the end because we've all spent two days thinking
922
00:42:52.840 --> 00:42:55.360
about why Rod Serling is still relevant.
923
00:42:55.460 --> 00:42:56.300
Yeah.
924
00:42:56.320 --> 00:42:59.349
Um, But yeah, to get such amazing answers and, you know,
925
00:42:59.530 --> 00:43:01.590
everybody disagreed with everything that everybody.
926
00:43:01.300 --> 00:43:01.719
Was saying there.
927
00:43:01.739 --> 00:43:05.099
I think that reflects on the quality of the speakers, frankly, overall.
928
00:43:05.139 --> 00:43:07.769
I mean, they were very, very good speakers, all of
929
00:43:07.809 --> 00:43:10.530
them well chosen. It was a great event and they
930
00:43:10.550 --> 00:43:12.889
all had good answers. I know Tom was a little
931
00:43:12.909 --> 00:43:15.030
bit afraid that maybe everyone was, Rod Serling was so
932
00:43:15.050 --> 00:43:15.730
ahead of his time.
933
00:43:18.030 --> 00:43:19.650
I saw you pondering on their time, like, oh man,
934
00:43:19.670 --> 00:43:21.349
I'm like 12, I'm going to run out of stuff.
935
00:43:21.630 --> 00:43:22.849
Yeah, that's it.
936
00:43:22.869 --> 00:43:24.780
Everyone's talking away and there's me with a look of
937
00:43:24.840 --> 00:43:28.679
terror on the end of the row. Yeah, yeah.
938
00:43:28.940 --> 00:43:31.059
But no, that was a great way to cap it
939
00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:32.320
off because that's why we're all here.
940
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:33.929
Yeah, that's it.
941
00:43:33.960 --> 00:43:37.179
And some good contributions from audience members as well afterwards
942
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.000
to really close things off. So, Today, we're recording this
943
00:43:42.059 --> 00:43:45.750
on Sunday, August 23rd. You know, we went out and
944
00:43:45.789 --> 00:43:46.929
had more drinks and things.
945
00:43:46.949 --> 00:43:47.630
As we do.
946
00:43:47.630 --> 00:43:47.829
Did we?
947
00:43:47.909 --> 00:43:48.969
It was great.
948
00:43:49.030 --> 00:43:49.650
It was fun.
949
00:43:50.030 --> 00:43:51.760
It was a great turnout. I wanted to just shout
950
00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:54.300
out to everybody who came to the breakfasts and the
951
00:43:54.340 --> 00:43:57.000
lunches and the dinners and the hangouts. And, like, we've
952
00:43:57.480 --> 00:43:59.019
seen it grow over the years, Tom. Now we've gone
953
00:43:59.039 --> 00:44:01.750
three years now together. And then you guys, Emily and Tom.
954
00:44:02.179 --> 00:44:04.190
Gus have been on two in a row now, or
955
00:44:04.349 --> 00:44:05.829
in a row as far as Tom. I always count
956
00:44:05.869 --> 00:44:07.380
them as when Tom is there in a row.
957
00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:09.840
The rest of them don't matter, man. The rest of
958
00:44:09.860 --> 00:44:10.300
them don't matter.
959
00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:12.250
To me, last year was whenever Tom was here last, right?
960
00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:15.159
But we've seen not just Sterling Fest grow, but our
961
00:44:15.179 --> 00:44:17.340
group grow. We all kind of click and connect. We
962
00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:20.610
absorb other people along the way. And that's just been
963
00:44:20.630 --> 00:44:23.250
great because we're taking over whole restaurants now. We show
964
00:44:23.289 --> 00:44:25.710
up and it's great. So just so much camaraderie there
965
00:44:25.750 --> 00:44:28.550
that builds. And that's why we look forward to this
966
00:44:28.590 --> 00:44:31.610
for that as well. That fellowship and friendship and camaraderie
967
00:44:31.659 --> 00:44:33.900
outside of just the program for the festival.
968
00:44:34.300 --> 00:44:36.239
I actually heard from a number of people. I said,
969
00:44:36.260 --> 00:44:37.960
are you going to come next year? And they're like, well,
970
00:44:37.980 --> 00:44:40.599
we're going to have to see. But even if Tom
971
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:42.920
doesn't come... we're going to come hang out with each other.
972
00:44:42.940 --> 00:44:45.360
So I think you've built a community, Tom. I think
973
00:44:45.400 --> 00:44:47.570
you deserve some credit for that. It's pretty neat.
974
00:44:47.869 --> 00:44:48.489
Thank you, man.
975
00:44:48.750 --> 00:44:50.809
I think when we were at the restaurant last night
976
00:44:51.389 --> 00:44:54.090
and we just sort of commandeered the whole of the
977
00:44:54.150 --> 00:45:00.550
front of the restaurant, I did take a moment to
978
00:45:00.610 --> 00:45:03.619
kind of sit and reflect on that and just look
979
00:45:03.679 --> 00:45:06.159
at all the stuff that was going on, all the
980
00:45:06.219 --> 00:45:09.119
conversations that people were having, people who hadn't met before.
981
00:45:09.690 --> 00:45:12.690
people who, you know, I'm good friends with now because
982
00:45:12.730 --> 00:45:15.829
of this. And it was just all happening. And, you know,
983
00:45:17.010 --> 00:45:18.889
so I didn't shed a tear or anything, but I
984
00:45:18.949 --> 00:45:21.860
must admit to feeling just very kind of warm about
985
00:45:21.900 --> 00:45:24.639
the whole thing. And it was really nice to see.
986
00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:30.139
You know, I don't make any kind of apologies for
987
00:45:30.179 --> 00:45:34.650
saying this. I mean, today we went to a recreation park,
988
00:45:35.070 --> 00:45:37.820
there was some stuff going on around the statue. I
989
00:45:37.900 --> 00:45:41.420
nipped out yesterday morning, I think, early on to just
990
00:45:41.460 --> 00:45:44.920
go to the statue because we're staying quite close by.
991
00:45:44.940 --> 00:45:48.659
And I've got to say, whenever I go and see
992
00:45:48.699 --> 00:45:52.710
that thing for the first time, I do get just
993
00:45:53.909 --> 00:46:00.210
a little verklempt. I think there's a power to that.
994
00:46:00.389 --> 00:46:03.929
And because we were there when it was unveiled and everything,
995
00:46:04.289 --> 00:46:08.409
approaching it again two years later, I thought it was
996
00:46:08.449 --> 00:46:09.570
quite a special moment.
997
00:46:09.610 --> 00:46:10.570
How do you guys feel?
998
00:46:11.349 --> 00:46:11.570
Agreed.
999
00:46:11.610 --> 00:46:14.550
I mean, we've seen photos from people very kindly send
1000
00:46:14.650 --> 00:46:17.469
us photos when they have been and then they tag
1001
00:46:17.489 --> 00:46:18.969
you in it and that sort of thing. So we
1002
00:46:19.010 --> 00:46:21.639
have seen it again over the years. But yes, there's
1003
00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:24.860
something about being next to it, touching it, you know,
1004
00:46:24.920 --> 00:46:28.760
physically being there that is just really special. And like
1005
00:46:28.800 --> 00:46:31.300
you say, because we were there for the unveiling as well,
1006
00:46:31.420 --> 00:46:33.219
kind of feels like we're growing with it too.
1007
00:46:33.239 --> 00:46:33.320
Yeah.
1008
00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:39.440
Do I remember correctly that the inscribed stones were not
1009
00:46:39.619 --> 00:46:42.320
there on the unveiling, but they are now?
1010
00:46:42.739 --> 00:46:43.219
Yeah.
1011
00:46:43.300 --> 00:46:45.159
That was cool. It was nice to see our stones.
1012
00:46:45.320 --> 00:46:49.320
Yeah, because either Tom's or other individual stones that our
1013
00:46:49.360 --> 00:46:52.099
friends have and just seeing all them there, it's fun
1014
00:46:52.119 --> 00:46:54.179
to go, oh, look, there's the brick for so-and-so. There's
1015
00:46:54.219 --> 00:46:57.340
the brick for so-and-so. We are the Twilight Zone listeners
1016
00:46:57.900 --> 00:46:59.519
and family, whatever you call it, in your stone. So
1017
00:46:59.539 --> 00:47:01.960
we're included in the brick, too. Everyone listening to this
1018
00:47:02.019 --> 00:47:03.659
is included in that brick, Tom's brick.
1019
00:47:04.039 --> 00:47:04.219
Yeah.
1020
00:47:04.690 --> 00:47:09.210
So today, you know, there was people talking. Some of
1021
00:47:09.230 --> 00:47:12.130
the foundation said a few things. It was very loose
1022
00:47:12.190 --> 00:47:17.269
kind of informal end to things and just mingling and
1023
00:47:17.289 --> 00:47:19.760
getting to say goodbye. So it was, you know, just
1024
00:47:19.800 --> 00:47:22.000
a really nice way to cap things off. So I
1025
00:47:22.059 --> 00:47:24.480
think how we should cap things off is we'll just
1026
00:47:24.500 --> 00:47:27.920
go around the table and everyone, you know, it's hard
1027
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:31.179
to say favorites, but a standout moment for you at
1028
00:47:31.219 --> 00:47:31.980
Sailing Fest.
1029
00:47:32.980 --> 00:47:35.079
Honestly, I'm going to be really boring when I say
1030
00:47:35.119 --> 00:47:37.440
it was about us getting together. You know, the Serling
1031
00:47:37.480 --> 00:47:39.300
Fest thing, the panels were wonderful.
1032
00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:40.019
They always are.
1033
00:47:40.079 --> 00:47:42.469
They always come up with fresh ideas for things, for
1034
00:47:42.489 --> 00:47:44.690
the panels, for questions and people that they're going to
1035
00:47:44.730 --> 00:47:47.409
bring in here. And for a show that is as
1036
00:47:47.489 --> 00:47:50.110
old as the Twilight Zone is, you would expect that
1037
00:47:50.130 --> 00:47:51.769
to be tough, right? You would expect it to be
1038
00:47:51.789 --> 00:47:54.150
really difficult to still get people who, A, want to
1039
00:47:54.219 --> 00:47:56.300
talk about it or happy to go and do a panel.
1040
00:47:57.059 --> 00:47:59.210
And they still manage to do that every year. So
1041
00:47:59.230 --> 00:48:02.909
the panels are incredible. But us getting together, you know,
1042
00:48:03.710 --> 00:48:05.730
such a testament to what a lovely group of people
1043
00:48:05.750 --> 00:48:08.750
the podcast has created. You know, people bring their spouses
1044
00:48:08.829 --> 00:48:11.369
now and don't even think anything of it. And they
1045
00:48:11.389 --> 00:48:15.320
just get brought into the fold of friends that we've made. So, yeah,
1046
00:48:15.820 --> 00:48:18.679
us all getting together is definitely the highlight, I think,
1047
00:48:18.719 --> 00:48:19.019
for me.
1048
00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:23.320
No, I second and co-sign everything you said there. I mean,
1049
00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:26.869
that is the intangibility of these. of these of these
1050
00:48:26.929 --> 00:48:29.829
festivals and conferences just all everything that exists outside the
1051
00:48:29.869 --> 00:48:32.570
margins it's great but look i'm gonna be uh i'm
1052
00:48:32.590 --> 00:48:34.650
gonna be complimentary to you tom whenever you do the
1053
00:48:34.670 --> 00:48:36.800
panel man that's my favorite thing because i know because
1054
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:38.280
i see the journey of you like you're working hard
1055
00:48:38.320 --> 00:48:40.300
to do it you know and so much so much
1056
00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:41.760
effort you put into this and then you're up on
1057
00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:45.079
stage and you know i've done podcasts too and it's
1058
00:48:45.119 --> 00:48:46.480
like i know how much work it takes and to
1059
00:48:46.500 --> 00:48:48.599
be in the hot seat there where it's live like
1060
00:48:48.619 --> 00:48:50.639
you're you're doing yeah you have notes and things you're
1061
00:48:50.659 --> 00:48:53.019
referencing but there's you know 100 people or plus whatever
1062
00:48:53.039 --> 00:48:54.780
watching you and you know you got to keep moving
1063
00:48:54.820 --> 00:48:56.679
and And, you know, you did great, and it was
1064
00:48:56.760 --> 00:49:00.800
very smooth, as always, as is your brand. But then
1065
00:49:00.820 --> 00:49:03.510
to hear the crowd reaction and everything and, you know,
1066
00:49:03.530 --> 00:49:06.210
the applause and to people just, you know, you had
1067
00:49:06.250 --> 00:49:08.289
a slight Q & A afterward and had some fun
1068
00:49:08.309 --> 00:49:10.429
back and forth with people. And it was one guy's–
1069
00:49:10.429 --> 00:49:13.679
his favorite episode was The Mass, and he didn't even
1070
00:49:13.679 --> 00:49:16.199
know that was– I mean, wow what a lucky uh
1071
00:49:16.380 --> 00:49:18.760
synchronicity for that guy right uh so anyway that that
1072
00:49:18.780 --> 00:49:20.619
was just great to see and and to have listened
1073
00:49:20.639 --> 00:49:22.079
to the podcast for so long and to see you
1074
00:49:22.099 --> 00:49:24.059
just do it live and it was very rewarding so
1075
00:49:24.099 --> 00:49:25.300
i'm gonna i'm gonna go with that i know it's
1076
00:49:25.320 --> 00:49:26.679
an easy answer here that i'm on the podcast with
1077
00:49:26.699 --> 00:49:28.369
you but that's gonna be my answer thank you man
1078
00:49:28.409 --> 00:49:28.969
so good luck.
1079
00:49:28.849 --> 00:49:32.190
Guys following well i'll agree with what everybody's saying but
1080
00:49:32.230 --> 00:49:34.530
i mean uh it's funny i was having a conversation
1081
00:49:34.590 --> 00:49:36.610
with my wife after one of the days telling her
1082
00:49:36.630 --> 00:49:39.610
about all the interactions i'd had with people and swapping
1083
00:49:39.650 --> 00:49:42.969
stories and, you know, sharing favorite things. And she's like, well, Gus,
1084
00:49:43.050 --> 00:49:45.789
you found your people. And I was like, that's great.
1085
00:49:45.809 --> 00:49:50.079
I can see them once every two years. But honestly,
1086
00:49:50.360 --> 00:49:52.340
I had a really nice moment just this morning. I
1087
00:49:52.460 --> 00:49:54.960
woke up, left the hotel, went to the park and
1088
00:49:54.980 --> 00:50:00.000
just kind of walked through alone, quiet, you know, cold, cool, nice,
1089
00:50:00.039 --> 00:50:04.019
cool air. It wasn't quite raining, but strolled up to
1090
00:50:04.059 --> 00:50:07.150
the carousel, got to see that there. And then to
1091
00:50:07.170 --> 00:50:09.130
the statue. And it was just like, just being here,
1092
00:50:09.170 --> 00:50:14.070
just being where Rod came from. And just being around
1093
00:50:14.090 --> 00:50:17.369
so many like-minded people is just wonderful. I feel like
1094
00:50:17.409 --> 00:50:21.570
the whole thing was just a really nice respite and
1095
00:50:21.590 --> 00:50:23.190
a wonderful event. I had a great time.
1096
00:50:23.469 --> 00:50:24.130
Yeah, yeah.
1097
00:50:25.260 --> 00:50:27.539
I'm not sure I can say anything massively different from
1098
00:50:27.599 --> 00:50:28.579
what anyone has said.
1099
00:50:28.599 --> 00:50:33.860
But why is Rod Sterling so relevant? Tell us. But
1100
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:35.559
I kind of.
1101
00:50:37.079 --> 00:50:41.380
It's sort of bittersweet in a way because there's, I mean,
1102
00:50:41.519 --> 00:50:44.119
I'm sat around the table with three of them here
1103
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:48.449
and we also have an observer over in the corner
1104
00:50:48.760 --> 00:50:51.670
who are people that if it were not for geography,
1105
00:50:51.769 --> 00:50:53.769
I would spend a lot more time with, you know?
1106
00:50:54.909 --> 00:50:57.170
So it's lovely to get to do it. It's kind
1107
00:50:57.210 --> 00:51:02.969
of bittersweet to leave. But I think from the perspective
1108
00:51:03.329 --> 00:51:06.739
of my last one being such a disaster, like I
1109
00:51:06.780 --> 00:51:10.739
said at the beginning of the episode, this one was
1110
00:51:10.780 --> 00:51:14.000
just about hanging out and talking with people. For me,
1111
00:51:14.559 --> 00:51:16.480
there might be times when I'll come back and be
1112
00:51:16.519 --> 00:51:19.780
like hustling for the interviews and things like that, but
1113
00:51:19.820 --> 00:51:23.239
I just wanted to enjoy being around people. And for
1114
00:51:23.300 --> 00:51:27.219
every person who came over and said, I listened to
1115
00:51:27.260 --> 00:51:30.889
the podcast or I'm going to listen to the podcast
1116
00:51:31.510 --> 00:51:34.320
from you being here. I just want to say, I, I,
1117
00:51:35.030 --> 00:51:37.510
truly appreciate that because you know that's what I do
1118
00:51:37.590 --> 00:51:41.590
it for if I have ever made someone's day better
1119
00:51:42.150 --> 00:51:44.389
from them just being able to listen to me for
1120
00:51:44.389 --> 00:51:48.590
45 minutes then what better gift to get that feedback
1121
00:51:48.630 --> 00:51:52.070
from people and for the foundation to kind of put
1122
00:51:52.110 --> 00:51:55.639
that framework in place for us all to get together
1123
00:51:55.679 --> 00:51:59.940
in this way pretty amazing so the highlight was really
1124
00:51:59.980 --> 00:52:03.829
just talking to people whether it's you guys or the
1125
00:52:03.869 --> 00:52:08.010
other friends that I've made through doing it or new friends, uh,
1126
00:52:08.050 --> 00:52:11.130
who have met, it was a great event. And, um,
1127
00:52:12.230 --> 00:52:13.869
and I'm so glad I came this year and I'm
1128
00:52:13.889 --> 00:52:15.719
glad you were all here for it as well.
1129
00:52:15.800 --> 00:52:16.099
Absolutely.
1130
00:52:16.119 --> 00:52:17.860
No, I can follow up on that as far as you,
1131
00:52:17.940 --> 00:52:20.559
you just talking to people, right? I mean, the, uh, the,
1132
00:52:20.659 --> 00:52:22.519
as we said, the venue is a little bit different, right?
1133
00:52:22.539 --> 00:52:24.440
So the double tree. So that, so the vendor room
1134
00:52:25.019 --> 00:52:27.119
was just a quantum leap of improvement from where they
1135
00:52:27.139 --> 00:52:31.369
were before. It's a theater. It's a beautiful theater. And it's, it's, uh,
1136
00:52:31.690 --> 00:52:33.530
It's a beautiful building, and we love the auditorium there,
1137
00:52:33.889 --> 00:52:36.739
but the vendor room there, it's no windows, it's small,
1138
00:52:36.760 --> 00:52:38.599
so it's not a lot of place that people wanted
1139
00:52:38.619 --> 00:52:40.320
to hang out and talk. Like, oh, okay, let me
1140
00:52:40.679 --> 00:52:42.159
check out the merch, and okay, let me talk to
1141
00:52:42.179 --> 00:52:43.469
so-and-so for a minute. Okay, then I'm going to go
1142
00:52:43.860 --> 00:52:47.340
This vendor room, right? It's five times as big. There's windows.
1143
00:52:47.400 --> 00:52:49.099
It's well lit. There's plenty of space for everyone to
1144
00:52:49.119 --> 00:52:49.599
come and congregate.
1145
00:52:49.659 --> 00:52:52.260
It's right next to the door to the event, to
1146
00:52:52.280 --> 00:52:52.679
the speakers.
1147
00:52:52.699 --> 00:52:54.380
So that is a massive improvement. I think that led
1148
00:52:54.420 --> 00:52:56.460
to a lot of the conversations. And I know for
1149
00:52:56.519 --> 00:52:58.280
all of us, it's very fulfilling to see Tom there
1150
00:52:58.300 --> 00:53:00.139
and everybody kind of swarming around him and talking, I
1151
00:53:00.159 --> 00:53:01.480
love your show and all the things you were describing.
1152
00:53:01.739 --> 00:53:03.480
That's very fulfilling for us to see because we know
1153
00:53:03.519 --> 00:53:05.099
how hard you work behind the scenes on it and
1154
00:53:05.500 --> 00:53:09.260
getting that gratification. So that's a great thing. So Sterling
1155
00:53:09.300 --> 00:53:12.940
Fest has continued to expand, improve. it's the biggest one
1156
00:53:12.960 --> 00:53:15.400
they've had yet, and hopefully greater things to come in
1157
00:53:15.420 --> 00:53:15.949
the future for it.
1158
00:53:16.119 --> 00:53:18.190
Yeah. Great. Okay.
1159
00:53:18.329 --> 00:53:21.550
Well, I think I will leave it there. And there
1160
00:53:21.570 --> 00:53:24.230
may be more Sailing Fest content coming up. I just
1161
00:53:24.269 --> 00:53:26.269
need to check whether I can use a couple of things.
1162
00:53:26.329 --> 00:53:29.250
But watch this space. We will see. We will see.
1163
00:53:29.329 --> 00:53:33.989
But in the meantime, thank you to everybody who organized
1164
00:53:34.010 --> 00:53:39.739
Sailing Fest, the Rod Sailing Memorial Foundation, the president, Nick Parisi,
1165
00:53:40.739 --> 00:53:44.809
Jeff Serling, a major driving force behind it now. And
1166
00:53:44.989 --> 00:53:46.929
everyone who had a hand in it, thank you so much.
1167
00:53:47.829 --> 00:53:49.590
And we will speak to you soon.
1168
00:53:49.969 --> 00:53:50.429
Bye for now.
1169
00:53:50.429 --> 00:54:08.780
© transcript Emily Beynon