The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Living Doll (1963) User Reviews

Marvelous Chiller

[chrstphrtully · 9/10 · 5 July 2007]

When his wife and stepdaughter bring home a talking doll, Erich Streator (Telly Savalas) takes an instant dislike to the toy -- a sentiment reciprocated and expressed by the doll. Although many of the episodes from the series' final season were clunkers, this one easily ranks with the series' best, mixing a chilling Twilight Zone plot, with extremely well-drawn characters and superb acting.

What raises this above the level of many remakes of the same story (Child's Play, in particular) is the depth of the lead character, whose actions are not motivated by simple hatred, but deeply rooted in his own feelings of inadequacy. As the doll becomes more vehement in its dislike, Savalas' character's actions become more understandable and -- strangely, more sympathetic. In conveying this, Savalas makes no effort to soften his character, having real confidence in the character as developed in Jerry Sohl's (who ghostwrote the script for Charles Beaumont) script. Mary LaRoche is equally up to the task as a woman struggling on the one hand to protect her daughter from emotional cruelty, and desperately trying to understand the man she married on the other.

If you want to see how a horror story can be made without gore and cheap shocks, watch this....

You'd Better Be Nice to Me!

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 11 December 2008]

This entry has stayed with me my entire life. I think it's the cute little doll face, expressing venom without a change in expression. Telly Savales is a mean man who has married a woman with a little girl. They make the girl so darned cute that when Telly goes ballistic, it seems even more cruel. The doll has some great lines and the expressions on Savales's face are priceless. No kindly, old lady loving Kojak here. We just know that this doll has an agenda and she's not going to stop. When Telly can't cut the things head off with his table saw, he knows that something just isn't right. The die has been cast and there's no going back. The concluding line is great and it sets up all kinds of possibilities.

Creepy...An Absolute Fave Episode!

[scott88-4 · 10/10 · 8 June 2006]

Best TZ episode? For me..yes! I found dolls and mannequins creepy throughout my life, and apparently others did as well, hence the other episodes in TZ and "Night Gallery" that dealt with the subject.

The story begins with a young girl coming home to her father (Telly Savalas) with a new play thing: the "Talky Tina" doll. Father isn't overly impressed and kind of hard on the kid. But while the doll spews such sap as, "I love you" when you pull her string, when father is alone in the room with "Tina", she says, "I am going to kill you". Of course Mom and daughter don't hear this side of "Tina", and Telly has a problem! What follows is father trying in vain to get rid of the accursed doll, but it doesn't go away that easily! It doesn't end nicely! A very creepy episode with a dark feel throughout. Any fans of the doll genre in horror films must see this episode. It's a classic in my eyes and one of the scariest of all the TZ episodes.

Fans of the Simpsons will remember the Halloween Special a few years back with the talking "Krusty" doll that kept trying to kill Homer. Obviously a direct takeoff of the "Talky Tina" doll from this great TZ moment....to a T! "Krusty and Homer ended up buddies in that story....."Tina" and Telly certainly do NOT!

Another Brilliant Episode

[blandiefam · 10/10 · 5 July 2012]

The parallel between the names of the doll, Tina, and the little step daughter, Christie, both short for Christina presents a psychological paradox which the writer so cleverly included. You wonder if the doll was a psychic extension of the little girls hate for her new step Daddy and any doll would have served it's ultimate purpose. The tense atmosphere in the fractured household plays up the intervention of fate by introducing a scary magical doll which speaks mean words to the protagonist alone. We eventually become almost sympathetic to his plight as we realize the anger expressed by the smiling plastic doll exceeds the meanness of the Step Father. We reach a point where we have to decide between two evils and when the step dad wins out, we regret even have to choose sides in the first place. This episode pioneered the evil doll concept which Serling visited in his later series, Night Gallery as well. The only uniquely disturbing part of this story is that the doll doesn't move around in our sight nor does she change her plastic expression making the title of the episode a paradox in itself. One of the most memorable episode with a timeless innovative method of using a harmless object to scare the crap out of us. Casting June Foray as the creepy voice was a masterful move.

Just Excellent

[stalinsrepublic · 9/10 · 6 June 2007]

For me its easy to see how people got along with 7 channels or so in the 60's. T.V. was much better then in many ways. This episode of Twilight Zone is a perfect example. I think the acting, directing, writing and musical score are all top rate. I really enjoy when Erich takes "Talky Tina" to the basement and is unable to destroy/harm Tina. Especially as he puts her head in the vice and Tina tells him, "I can take it if you can!" I just saw this episode again last night (for the 30th time or so) and it is as great as ever. Also as Erich dies in the end, as much as you expect him to say something as he is dying, he just quietly checks out at the foot of the stairs. Love it! Love it! Gary

Horror from simplicity.

[TOMNEL · 10/10 · 22 April 2008]

Before the evil Zuni fetish doll from Trilogy of Terror, and before Chuckie the murderous doll, was Talky Tina. Unlike the other two dolls, which run around and stab at people and seem almost humorous, Talky Tina does very little. She can talk, but has no mouth movement, she can move her arms, and can blink and wink. Doesn't seem like much of a threat, but Talky Tina is a much scarier doll than either of the other two.

Erich Strader's wife has bought his step-daughter a new doll, Talky Tina. Erich is just a downright bitter man, and doesn't want his wife spending money on that stuff. When his step-daughter picks up Tina, it says, "I'm Talky Tina and I love you very much!". When he picks it up, it says, "I'm Talky Tina and I think I hate you." He begins to talk to the doll, and the doll talks back threatening him, but his wife doesn't believe this. The doll, voiced by June Foray is really threatening, and actually kind of scary in a simple sort of way. Just a look from this little piece of plastic is enough to make you pause the set at night and finish the episode in the morning. Telly Savalas plays Erich and he's great at being a jerk. The wife, played by Mary LaRoche, is good with her false British accent of the time period, and the daughter's pretty good. This is really a classic episode of this classic show, and I suggest you check it out.

My rating: **** out of ****. 30 mins. TVPG

Tina Vs. Erich

[AaronCapenBanner · 9/10 · 5 November 2014]

Telly Savalas stars as Erich Streator, a most unpleasant man who has recently married a woman(played by Mary La Roche) who has a little girl named Christie(played by Tracy Stratford) whom she has just bought another doll for, angering Erich, who takes an instant dislike to it, eventually plotting to destroy it, though all attempts prove futile, as somehow the doll(named Talky Tina, voiced memorably by June Foray) is alive, and more than ready, willing, and able to defend itself, and tell Erich how much she dislikes him, and plot his death... Most effective episode may seem a bit dated today, but Savalas is excellent portraying a real jerk, and Talky Tina itself is a memorable creation, right down to the chilling final scene.

Man vs Doll!

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 27 July 2017]

A classic. Living Doll has been copied with Chucky etc because the episode is a classic. Charles Beaumont wrote a classic story of a evil doll from the demonic aisle of the toy department! Telly Savalas before being a cop was an evil step dad. The nasty bully meets Talky Tina "I'm going kill you doll." I became captivated with the concept. Richard C. Sarafian (director) slowly tortures the viewer. Savalas gets threats from the plastic doll, and throws Tina in the garbage! It does not work as she comes back. Hey let's tablesaw Tina, Telly watching the blade sparks and break as Tina the terminator made me laugh. Mail Tina away! Yeah cool!!! Phone rings Telly answers Tina tells step dad he's going down! Just love it!! Tension builds.. builds.. and builds! I wonder how Tina is going to off Savalas. Next scene Savalas takes a tumble down the stairs! Surprise it's Tina who makes step dad fall over and becomes a statistic for death by fall for 1963! Just Classic. Great ending with Tina suddenly leans on mom! Eight out of ten stars...

Barbie She Ain't

[dougdoepke · 19 June 2006]

Talking Tina does say the darndest things for a cute little play thing. But then she doesn't know she's messing with Kojak-- tough-talking Telly Savalas as the stepdad. But then stepdad doesn't know this sweet little curly-head was a Demons R' Us purchase from the Twilight Zone. The face-off between one mean stepdad and one infernal doll is an epic one and not without moments of deliciously wry humor. It's not an episode you're likely to forget, perhaps because there's something of a role reversal near the end. Anyhow, some folks might take this as an exercise in abnormal psychology since stepdad does seem to have a problem in, uh, 'relating'. Except for the clumsy final scene, the episode works, and it works well. Charles Beaumont may not have been Serling's artistic equal, but he could come up with some good gimmicky scripts. This is one of them.

'That doll said things no doll should say'.

[darrenpearce111 · 8/10 · 13 January 2014]

Alright, if you think about it, the story is pretty silly and has had the disservice of many worse imitators. However, Telly Savalas gives a strong performance as Erich, the mean step-father of a little girl with a very special doll. Watched nowadays I don't think it retains the scary quality that people tend to remember, but it is well executed. Mary La Roche (from A World Of His Own, series one) is the gentle mother living under her cold husband's thumb. The great voice actress of Looney Tunes and hundreds of other cartoons, June Foray speaks the lines of Talky Tina. The doll is intent on making the little girl happy whatever it takes and states her homicidal intention early on in her cheerful voice.

Attributed to Charles Beaumont this is a story ghost written by Jerry Sohl as Beaumont was suffering from Alzheimers disease by then.

Fun from the fabulous Miss Foray and Telly Savalas at a stage in his career when he made lots of good stuff as a character actor ('Cape Fear', 'The Birdman Of Alcatraz',etc).

An early, subtle look at domestic abuse

[rbecker28 · 9/10 · 11 September 2008]

The main thing to note about this episode is that Erich (Telly Savalas) is quite obviously an abuser, even though the extent of his abuse is likely understated because of the sensitivity of the subject at the time. One sees that his wife and stepdaughter live in terror of him, yet also are too fearful of what he may do to try to leave him or tell anyone else. As such, Talking Tina is not just an evil doll like Chucky, but the only hope for escape that this mother and daughter have. Talking Tina sees Erich for the abuser that he is and is not afraid of him, and realizing this, he sets out to destroy her.

The one thing that disappoints me is the ending, which seems a bit rushed and could have been handled more dramatically. (I have an idea for a different ending with the same basic result, but I'll hold it for now). I feel that the writers chickened out a little there. For overall effect, however, this is one of the true classics of the original Twilight Zone.

"My name is Talking Tina, and you'll be sorry".

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 21 July 2010]

It would have been too easy to use the 'I'm going to kill you' line to summarize this story. Coming out of the fifth and final season of The Twilight Zone, this entry offers up a classic exercise in psychological terror, where the horror is implied and you're challenged to guess the punch line. It has some of the qualities of the third season TZ episode 'The Dummy', and it's twist ending is just as satisfying. That has a lot to do with the character of pre-Kojak Telly Savalas, definitely not the lovable lollipop sucking TV police detective of a decade later. Here he's a mean spirited husband and father who takes his frustrations out on the woman he married (Mary LaRoche) and her daughter Christie (Tracy Stratford). They can't win with Eric Streator, and Talking Tina's intrusion into the family as a surrogate baby sister to Christie is the set up to the nightmare that follows.

I didn't notice while watching this episode as a kid back in the day, but you had here a rare look at a woman with a child who remarried, a rarity for TV of the Sixties. In this and many other respects, Rod Serling was a pioneer, exploring ideas and themes that tended to cross the line of acceptable behavior for the era. Notice that Eric and Annabelle slept in separate beds, a full decade already since 'I Love Lucy' first aired, and back then you never even made it into the Ricardo bedroom. One doesn't generally think about it, but you can trace the pattern of societal norms while watching the shows of successive eras. It wouldn't be long before dysfunctional families would take over the sit-com landscape altogether, but gradually. By the time 'Married With Children' came around in 1987, TV families were a veritable free-for-all.

But back to Talking Tina. A single viewing of this one and you're not likely to forget it. And that's coming from someone who saw it back when it originally aired. The Twilight Zone seemed to have that kind of way of leaving it's imprint. Maybe not all the episodes, but certainly enough of them to invite lengthy conversation among one's close circle of friends whenever the subject came up. This one had the classic ingredients, a malevolent talking doll and a future celebrity who managed to leave his indelible mark in The Twilight Zone.

Talky Telly will talk no more after screwing around with Talky Tina

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 17 April 2019]

Telly Savalas was sometimes cast as a mean S.O.B. in his film and TV appearances, and in the case of this 1963, season 5, episode 6, of the original Twilight Zone series he plays a disgruntled stepfather of a nine (9) year old girl named Christie. When Christie comes home with a brand new Talking Tina doll compliments of her shopping alone with her mommy Annabelle, her stepdad Erich is none to pleased about the purchase.

It is not quite clear why Erich is so upset about the Talking Tina doll, other than he has some issues with his manly ability in fathering his own child with his wife Annabelle, so anything seems to set him off. Erich tries several different means of getting rid of little Christie's new doll, but to no avail. Eventually we see who gets in the last word and the last laugh. It's a predictable ending from the Twilight Zone series, and Telly Savalas's acting is superbly portrayed as a vindictive stepdad Erich in this episode.

The Twilight Zone - Living Doll

[Scarecrow-88 · 9/10 · 2 January 2016]

Classic episode of the Twilight Zone, "Living Doll" is like "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Time Enough at Last" in regards to its status as one of the all-time most popular episodes. Telly Savalas, in his lone episode of TZ, stars as a bit of a prick, Erich, the stepfather of cute Christie (Tracy Stratford), who just got a new doll named Talky Tina (voiced by June Foray, of Rocky & Bullwinkle fame). Mary LaRoche is Annabelle, the soft-spoken wife of Erich.

Erich has a rather short fuse and there's a bit of a devious twinkle and mischief about him. Look at how he eyes to get rid of the doll almost immediately after seeing Christie with it. When alone with the doll, he talks with wicked glee about how he plans to throw it away. Erich puts Tina on notice and the doll *does* as well. Tina warns Erich, claiming that he will be killed by it! The episode is a contest between doll and daddy. Well, Erich seems torn betwixt two. He loves the wife yet has this noticeable contempt he can't hide for a little girl who hasn't done a damn thing to him. It is subtle and careful in the dialogue, but Erich can't produce a child with Annabelle. That failure eats away at him. Christie looks at Erich as daddy while he can't seem to altogether accept her as his daughter. That rift is exploited by Tina who works as a kind of *protector* for Christie. Annabelle is soon accused of being the *voice* of Tina as Erich believes it has to be her trying to get back at him for his often snarly attitude. Soon he has to come to terms with Tina actually being the one he's up against.

The conflict is rather creepy as a doll, this inanimate object with a sweet face and seemingly innocuous looks, is targeting a grown man and he never knows where it might be. He soon finds out the hard way. Tina's deliberate method to get even with Erich (she tells him she doesn't forgive him for tossing her in a garbage barrel in his garage): (1) The sound Erich hears while in bed. (2) The stairs where the sound seems to come from. (3) Tina with a warning to mom, "You better be nice to me."

Savalas sure isn't a nice character in this episode so his fate I can imagine over all these years wasn't exactly mourned. That scheming mind that seems to be looking for ways to cause discomfort and unease in his family, with the relish he takes in trying to dispose of Tina behind his wife and stepdaughter's back, Erich doesn't exactly ingratiate himself to us. The rub: the little doll, which does appear to be the least threatening weapon of destruction ever, is dangerous. One scene that is a bit too much: Tina contacts Erich on the phone. Perhaps this one moment goes a bit over the top. Still, job well done by all.

Hey Talky Tina, who loves ya baby?

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 9/10 · 30 March 2017]

Leave it to the Twilight Zone to take something as innocuous and innocent as a toy doll and turn it into a genuinely intimidating and chilling presence. When cold hearted stepfather Eric Streator scorns his stepdaughter's new doll, to his amusement and then increasing confusion and aggravation, "Talky Tina" talks back and engages the disgruntled parent in increasingly hostile verbal exchanges until she decides that Streator needs to be put in his place for good. The writing is fantastic, and it only gets stranger as the story goes along and Eric slowly begins to grow more afraid and lose his grip as he faces something beyond his understanding. Is Tina really doing all this? Or is someone playing an elaborate trick on him? Or is it all happening only in his demented mind? Whatever the case, I find it hard not to get the creeps every time Tina opens her freaky eyes... This episode always stuck with me after I first saw it, it was my big favourite of the series, I was always looking out for it when the show would be on. By golly is it still good, the story at face-value is a simple and straightforward one but it's very engaging, and the mood is so tense and spooky. Telly Savalas was terrific in his role. Even though he's obviously a creep from he start, he isn't just a one-note mean stepfather and nothing else. He's an angry man who tries for his wife's sake to have a relationship with his stepdaughter, but possibly because he can't have kids of his own he isn't really capable of showing her love, and so he turns all his frustrations against an innocent toy that he is clearly jealous of every time it says to the child "I love you." And he's not completely hopeless, he does at least try to make things right by returning the doll to little Christina but it's too little too late as far as Tina is concerned, to her he doesn't deserve forgiveness or to have such a sweet girl in his life. And Tina herself is a wonderfully quaint object of fear, what a great voice, her famous inflections sound both innocent and ominous at once. You don't need to see her walk for her to be eerie. As intriguing as the metaphorical aspects are, it certainly throws a wrench in that angle when Tina reveals to the mother that her husband had not been so crazy after all... It's a very enduring episode indeed, besides being one of the best ever examples put on film, the idea of the living doll was realised and executed tremendously well and was undoubtedly a big influence on puppet, doll and dummy nightmares in movies for years to come. Metaphors are fine, but I prefer to take it as a good old-fashioned honest tale of some manner of supernatural justice against a cruel man. Such a gem, it's one of the true legends of the series.

Be careful of a talking doll that doesn't like you!

[blanbrn · 8/10 · 24 February 2018]

This "TZ" episode from 1963 called "Living Doll" is one that's well remembered and it's entertaining and takes a twist and proves be careful and be nice don't be mean or disrespect a doll. The late Telly Savalas is Erich a tough ball his fists up dad who's little stepdaughter has just gotten a new doll called "Talking Tiny". This just isn't any doll at least she's nice with talk and actions around nice people that is. Yet with the tone and anger expressed by Erich he becomes fair game on little Tina's list to be punished and perhaps become a departed one! Overall this episode is well remembered as it takes a twist and proves the old adage be careful and be nice as a little doll can have it's own magic and powers in "The Twilight Zone". Really a well done creepy and strange episode with a scary tone.

Where can I get one of those dolls?!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 9 September 2007]

This episode gets very high marks for its "cool factor", as this is one of the spookier and more memorable episodes. Plus, it features a talking homicidal doll--a definite plus!

Telly Savalas plays a brutal and cruel husband and father. When his wife returns home with the daughter, Savalas nags and berates them--running the house like he's a dictator. What really sets him off this time is that his wife bought the kid a new Talking Tina doll--something the skinflint Savalas can't stand.

Oddly, while the girl loves her new doll, every time the father pulls the string to make the doll talk, it says things that seem deliberately pointed towards him. Eventually, the doll even tells him it's going to kill him--something the audience is rooting for since he is a terrible person.

This is a very well-acted episode and what really helps is that Savalas managed to play such an unlikable person so very well. The malevolence he exudes really helps make this an enjoyable episode--one where you find yourself rooting for the doll to do him in once and for all!

Before Chucky, there was Talky Tina.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 15 April 2022]

Unable to father a child of his own, Erich Streator (Telly Savalas) resents his stepdaughter Christie (Tracy Stratford), acting angrily whenever his wife Annabelle (Mary LaRoche) spends money on the girl. The latest gift to upset Erich is a doll named Talky Tina, a plastic playmate for Christie that Erich perceives to be the surrogate sister that he cannot give her. His surly attitude towards his stepdaughter causes Talky Tina, clearly a resident of The Twilight Zone, to react: 'My name is Talky Tina', says the doll, 'And I'm going to kill you!'.

Dolls, especially scary ones, have been a staple of The Twilight Zone since the beginning, whether they be mannequins, ventriloquist dummies, or just plain old toys. Living Doll is routine stuff: we know very well that Erich is going to die before the end credits roll, it's just 'how' that is the mystery. After plenty of predictable creepiness, Talky Tina making threats and somehow escaping from the trash after an unsuccessful attempt by Erich to decapitate the doll, the inevitable happens: Erich buys the farm. The way he dies, however is unexpected: Tina doesn't get stabby with a carving knife, a la Chucky... she has a far more subtle method for getting rid of undesirables.

7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Very Creepy!!

[CherCee · 24 February 2018]

This is a very eerie TZ. Savalas is a total jerk in this ep. He is cold and nasty to his wife and stepdaughter. But he gets his comeuppance via Talky Tina! This is a comment to @scott88-4 about the post you published here on June 8, 2006. I know this is twelve years later (almost), and I hope you see my reply, but when you mention spooky dolls, don't forget the doll in the last segment of Trilogy Of Terror!!

"I don't like what it says"

[nickenchuggets · 10/10 · 21 September 2021]

Every once in a while, I like to write about Twilight Zone episodes because they are short (except for season 4) and fairly easy to explain. This particular one ranks among the most iconic and recognizable in the whole series, so there is actually a lot to say about it. I feel like everybody has seen it at least once. The episode itself is an excellent showcase of how the Twilight Zone was not really a campy kid's show with no disturbing endings like many seem to think. It centers around a young girl named Christie and her frustrated stepfather Erich (Telly Savalas). Erich's wife Annabelle (Mary LaRoche) comes home with an excited Christie one afternoon, who has just purchased a brand new doll called "Talky Tina" who is capable of speech. At first, Erich just sees the doll as an annoyance, knowing that its speech capabilities are only due to the inclusion of a device inside the doll. Eventually though, the doll actually deviates from its prerecorded, normal responses and tells Erich it hates him. After calling in his wife to show her why he thinks the doll has such a "colorful vocabulary", Tina only speaks her normal, upbeat responses, so obviously his wife thinks he's out of his mind. Later, Erich receives a threatening phone call with the doll's voice on the other end, saying how it's going to kill him. He lets his wife know, and insists he cannot tell a lie. Erich eventually takes the doll away from his sleeping daughter and tries to decapitate it with a circular saw, but it just sends sparks flying everywhere. Even lighting it with a blowtorch does absolutely nothing. After Annabelle tells Erich she wants a divorce because of his apparent insanity, he makes a compromise and returns the doll to Christie. That night, Erich leaves his bed after hearing a strange mechanical noise that sounds like a wind-up toy operating, and upon making it to the stairwell, he trips over the doll and falls to his death. Annabelle finds him laying lifelessly at the foot of the steps, rushes down there, and the doll tells her she better be nice from now on. Despite it appearing in the often maligned and weak final season, Living Doll is a thoroughly disturbing episode that is so well made that I'm surprised it wasn't shown earlier in the series. By season 5, Twilight Zone was admittedly looking long in the tooth. The show would find itself ensnared in its own rehashed plot twists, and many episodes from the final season are just repeats of older episodes with some slight changes made. Living Doll isn't like this at all. An original and creepy idea with a well known actor playing the main part, not to mention June Foray's voice acting for the doll. Over 50 years later, this episode is still one of the best the show has to offer, and will be remembered as one of the creepiest things ever aired on the Twilight Zone.

Ha ha, Kojak can't handle a doll!

[Coventry · 9/10 · 23 September 2022]

Out of the 156 episodes included in the original "The Twilight Zone" series, this "Living Doll" has always been the one I've been looking forward to seeing the most! I mean, who doesn't want to witness a showdown between the almighty Telly Savalas (one of the most robust and testosterone-pumped male performers in history) versus a seemingly cherubic but menacing and downright petrifying little play doll?

Savalas delightfully portrays - like he did so often in his career - a horribly mean and loathsome person, namely a stepfather so frustrated about his inability to father a child of his own, that he interprets his stepdaughter's new and fancy talking doll as an insult to his manliness. The doll, however, quickly turns out to be Chucky's great-aunt, and whenever nobody else is around to hear it, she says stuff like "My name is Talking Tina and you'll be sorry", or even "My name is Talking Tina and I'm going to kill you".

Even though I'm biased, "Living Doll" truly is one of the best entries in the series! The suspense is incredibly well-mounted. The doll's lines are genuinely creepy, and Savalas is excellent in illustrating his character's downwards spiral of madness. Great team behind the cameras as well, with director Richard C. Sarafian ("Vaninshing Point") and the fabulous writer Charles Beaumont. They also made the wise choice not to show the Tina doll moving around the house. She escapes from garbage cans and pops up in bed, but we don't see how. Many horror films about murderous dolls, even the "Child Play" series, are often almost ruined because a running doll is a clumsy sight.

Talky Tina!

[thatsweetbird · 10/10 · 1 January 2019]

When I did my list of my dozen favorite episodes of TZ I forgot to include this one. Ouch! How could I forget Talky Tina ?! Don't tell me the makers of "Child's Play" hadn't seen this episode of TZ .

The Story is successful in being scary, Yes, But also in being funny on some level, And also in delivering the undercurrent family drama of the back-then somewhat different situation Of a step-father perhaps not really being accepted by his new family.

Has to be in my top ten :)

My Name Is Tiny Tina And Yours Is Not.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 1 January 2012]

Telly Savalas is the step father of a little girl who gets a little doll for a present. He doesn't like the little girl and he likes the doll even less because it costs money and because he's got so much anger bottled up inside him that he's like a pustule ready to pop.

"My name is Tiny Tina and I love you," the doll says when it's wound up, except that, when Tina and Telly are alone, the doll tells him all sorts of nasty things, amounting to a suggestion that he go perform an anatomical impossibility on himself.

Finally the little doll tells Savalas that she's going to kill him and Savalas goes berserk with outrage. He tries to squeeze the doll's head in a vice; he tries to saw it's head off. Nothing works. And in the end, the doll wins.

Telly Savalas always made a good heavy. Bald, greasy, and thick-lipped, he seemed made to be the murderer of a plastic doll. The other performers are ancillary. It's Tavalas's movie and he handles it with perfunctory skill. But suppose his step daughter had been a boy instead of a girl?

One of my favorites

[donbanf · 23 September 2013]

**Possible spoilers** I own the entire original Twilight Zone series on DVD and still, I haven't watched them all. This one is definitely one of my favorites of a very favorite series and that's saying something. There is delicious dark humor in the sentiments voiced by the doll, an incongruity coming from something so seemingly innocent. It's one of the TZ episodes that generates a lot of discussion among those I know who have seen it and those who have seen some of it. The fact that the doll only voices its animosity when it's alone with the father. But it does other things that are even more impossible, such as answering him in entirely original sentences that aren't in its "program". It even winks at him at the dinner table. The doll is an ally, a friend to a poor little girl who wants so much to be loved by her stepfather who just can't show her much love. It seems like the doll is channeling what the little girl is too young to express--and it's not the little girl's fault that she can't defend herself. The voice over work of June Foray is brilliant and the tone is perfect. You really feel like that doll is alive.

Twilight Zone, Sci-fi and the Dark Side of Dolls

[space_patroller · 10/10 · 16 June 2008]

There was also another malevolent doll To-to from the X Minus 1 tale "Perigi's (sp?) Wonderful Dolls" in the mid '50's. This diminutive daemon had a much bigger agenda than our Little Miss Wonderful.

I believe that Bob Cummings also had a "Living Doll" that was nowhere near malevolent: Rhoda the Robot was an android trying to make it as a person in this sitcom from the middle 1960's

Along these lines was another "doll", an episode of Twilight Zone, the title of which I forget features a man who is sentenced to live a solitary life on some habitable planetoid. As an act of kindness, the fellow who brought him supplies brought him a kit to build a robot girl, with unsettling results...

So it seems that there were quite a few dolls before Chucky came to torment up. In fact, it seems that Chucky was a Johnny-Come-Lately.

As recently as 2007, I heard June Foray, being interviewed on WBZ 1030-AM being interviewed, do a but of Talky Tina

I also found interesting in the reference to the names Christie and Tina, the idea that the doll was acting out the little girl's thoughts, I thought I was the only one who got that notion

I wonder what became of the doll that was Talky Tina

For those of you wondering what became of Talky Tina: she turned up in the Thirtieth Century

HTTP://spacepatrol.us/wantedtina.html

where she is still cause persons a good deal of consternation.Or, maybe she came from then.

Enjoy