Why Robert Duvall Twilight Zone Was Only Episode of Rod Serling's Anthology To Be Colorized
The late Robert Duvall guest starred in The Twilight Zone's fourth season as Charley Parks in "Miniature." Written by Charles Beaumont ("Perchance to Dream," "The Howling Man"), the episode follows an awkward young man obsessed with a dollhouse at his local history museum.
In 1984, a full two decades after The Twilight Zone concluded on CBS, an hour-long episode from the anthology's fourth season finally saw the light of day.
That episode would be "Miniature," which starred the late Robert Duvall as Charley Parkes, an eccentric, asocial, emotionally stunted young man who doesn't quite belong in the modern-day world.
All of that suddenly changes when he becomes obsessed with a Victorian dollhouse exhibit at his local history museum. Inside the small-scale recreation is the effigy of a young woman (Claire Griswold), whom Charley believes is not only alive, but the only person on Earth truly capable of understanding him.
While his loved ones believe he's broken from reality, we ultimately learn that what Charley saw was no delusion brought on by some kind of nervous breakdown. What's more, he's found a way to enter the dollhouse reality. This odd turn of events is witnessed by the museum security guard (John McLiam) who smiles, clearly happy for Charley finally discovering contentment, but wisely keeps his mouth shut for fear of being sent the asylum himself.
A rumination on societal norms that also flirts with the period's sexual taboos, "Miniature" is quite bold in its thematic execution, especially for a mainstream TV program in 1963. The piece is further elevated by Duvall's convincingly awkward and understated performance as an individual yearning to find some sense of quiet belonging away from a life full of other people's expectations.
Written by series standby Charles Beaumont ("Perchance to Dream," "The Howling Man") and directed by Walter Grauman, the episode was barred from possible syndication when it became the focus of a lengthy plagiarism lawsuit. When the legal battle finally died down 20 years later, CBS aired "Miniature" for the second time with a little twist—part of it was colorized.
Why Robert Duvall's Twilight Zone episode was colorized for its second airing
Per Martin Grams Jr.'s 2008 book The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic, all of the scenes within the dollhouse were presented in color as part of a "fad many film studios assumed would catch on, and give a younger audience a willing exposure to view files they disregarded in black and white."
Clearly, it didn't catch on.
Rod Serling would harken back to the idea of a person becoming fixated on a museum piece that becomes a literal escape from reality seven years later for the Richard Kiley segment in the Night Gallery pilot episode.
Classic episodes of The Twilight Zone air regularly on SYFY. Click here for complete scheduling info!
