The Twilight Zone (TV Series) Shatterday/A Little Peace and Quiet (1985) User Reviews

A Little Peace and Quiet - loved it

[safenoe · 8/10 · 27 November 2016]

This nice and kind of optimistic gem (half glass kind of full optimism I guess) from the 1985 revival of the Twilight Zone is sort of a riposte to the grim trilogy of (anti-)nuclear movies from 1983- 1984...The Day After which screened on ABC (and pre-empted Hardcastle and McCormick), Testament (which had an early role of Kevin "Waterworld" Costner), and Threads from the UK (which was very grim indeed).

I can only imagine the dilemma Melinda Dillon's character is in, now that she has frozen an impending nuclear holocaust. What would you do? Imagine living on your own, with everything else frozen, with bombs just about to detonate. Which is worse?

A Little Peace and Quiet is about responsibility

[briguy_52732 · 8/10 · 24 June 2009]

I think the moral of "A Little Peace and Quiet" is about using gifts responsibility. The harried housewife in this tale unearthed a gift ... one that could stop time. With the story about the deteriorating relations between the Soviets and Americans serving as the backdrop, our heroine had perhaps been given a new responsibility with the discovery of this watch. Instead — because of her constantly being driven crazy by her family and others — she decided to misuse the stopwatch ... all for obtaining a few fleeting moments of peace and quiet, to enjoy that quiet breakfast, read a novel, do gardening, steal from the supermarket, and so forth. The turning point comes when (unknown to the viewers, the world being on the brink of nuclear war) she throws out the peace activists trying to advertise for the emergency community meeting to mobilize a last-ditch effort to stop war from breaking out. Imagine if the woman cared about the Soviet-American relations, the real possibility of war ... and went to the meeting to talk about her stopwatch and force the two leaders to meet. She could have beaten them (figuratively speaking) into submission. Instead, she views these people as annoying, stops time, and throws them out. Only at the end, with air raid sirens wailing, the radio announcer panicking as he tries to alert listeners to the approaching nuclear missiles and her family crying does she maybe realize her misused gift. Now, with her having frozen time just milliseconds before a fireball envelops her town, it's too late. A well done story about power and responsibility.

Mirror Image

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 5 October 2014]

****SPOILERS** Inaugural episode of "The Twilight Zone" has a young Bruce Willis as the arrogant and full of himself Peter Novins find out that he isn't in control of his life which is slowly ebbing away from him. While getting tanked up at his favorite watering hole Peter mistakenly calls his home phone number and to his surprise Peter, his outer self, answers! At first thinking it's a joke it soon becomes evident to him that something strange and unexplainable is happening to him. Not even trying to get to his apartment to see who's occupying it Peter spends the rest of the week in some flea bag hotel trying to make sense in what he's going through.

As the days pass while communicating by phone with his other self the truth comes out in what a low life person Peter really is both in his personal as well as professional life. It seems that Peter's other self has corrected all the mistakes that he committed which has made him redeem himself at at his own expense. Also as the days go by Peter starts to lose his will to live as he slowly disintegrates not eating or sleeping as his other self completely takes over his life.

***SPOILERS*** It when Peter is near death in his hotel-room that the other Peter shows up to wish him good-by as he explains to him the errors of his ways that put him in the mess that he now finds himself in. In fact what Peter's other self did was make Peter a better man in him doing the right thing to those that he screwed over the years when he was riding high in life. Something that the real Peter couldn't do himself which in the end caused him to forfeit his life or existence.

"A Little Peace and Quiet" makes you think--HARD.

[morgan_313 · 10/10 · 23 July 2014]

This was one of the most thought-provoking episodes of ANY show that I have ever seen, and I spent a long time considering what I would do in her place. I decided that while there was no way to save everyone, I could at least save my family. Since no vehicles would work since they are frozen, I'd get a bicycle and hook up a small flatbed trailer. Then I would load my family members and supplies on it and start peddling to a place that was far enough away from any "ground zero's" that we had the best chance of surviving in. Once all my preparations were in place, THEN I'd stop the freeze. It might take a while to do all this, but hey, time is frozen so what the hay?

Just my $.02, anyway.

An Identity Crisis will haunt if your other side makes you feel guilt. And a stop watch can stop you to live in frozen time!

[blanbrn · 10/10 · 23 May 2007]

This was the first episode of "The New Twilight Zone" and both episodes rank as the best in the series and are great morality tales of the characters identity crisis.

First up is "Shatterday" with Bruce Willis this was a couple of years just before Bruce would become a big movie star. Willis is Jay Novins a city slicker in New York, who's just not happy and seems out of place. Until one day things seem stranger, when he dials his phone number only to have a surprise when the phone is answered by guess who Jay Novins! As the viewer sees this is another side of Jay it's like a split personality that makes him feel guilty about his life and the way he's treated others. Little by little Jay goes down and down to a certain point that his other side takes over and forms the Jay Novins he always wanted to be, but the ego guilt was in the way. Really a good character tale that proves people must deal with the guilt and throw away ego to let their real side live on.

The second half was even better and maybe one of the best from the 1985 series that's "A Little Peace and Quiet" a tale that proves you can't always have things your way and it ends with the central character to have to make a big decision. It stars Melinda Dillion(from "A Christmas Story" fame) as a suburban housewife in California with four children who's over worked and just stressed out. I mean this woman has to do everything from cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, shopping, and babysitting it's just too much! She never has a moment of silence or time for herself. Then one day in the lawn she finds a golden stopwatch and puts it around her neck only to find it has special powers it can freeze time and motion! Now that finally is something she can use to her advantage. This episode really captured the times of 1985 from a political and cultural standpoint also, with the arms race between the U.S. and Russia a hot topic and the threat of missile and nuclear war this episode took from that making it a nice watch for history buffs the way it's done. So when the media tells of the missile that's headed for earth, only the mighty stopwatch can help, it came in so handy for peace. Yet as the old saying goes you can't always get what you want and things come to an end. As the episode ends it serves a good purpose but this is a moment that will stay frozen forever. It ends as the viewer thinks what decision should be made. Both episodes were well done by Wes Craven, good tales of morality and he shows that these characters let guilt and social impact overtake them. By far two of the better of the 1985 season.

Memorable episode.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 29 April 2023]

Being a fan of the Old Twilight Zone I could not wait for the re boot. The series had two installments instead of just the one like the old episode. There was no Rod look a like hiding around the street corner seeing giving an intro. There was Bruce Willis with phone answering machine of himself in a self reflective message episode. Lame, but watchable. The second was a copy of an old one this time with a house wife with an watch which cold stop time. There was a cold war message about nuclear war. I love how the two stories collide for a memorable ending. The second episode was a disturbing memorable ending. I forgot about the first instalment but never the second. Ran off to my friend Tony's after watching the reboot and we thought the same Tony said first one was lame and second what an awesome ending! I balance the two shows out and give this 7 stars.

Shadow Match and Out of Time

[hellraiser7 · 10/10 · 19 June 2019]

This is another double billing episode and fortunately it's one of the best as both are winners (in my book anyway). As both are directed by the late great Wes Craven.

The first one is great as this is one written by the late great Harlan Ellison whom is one of my favorite writers. This one is an interesting one as it's more psychological, this tale deals with duality as it's said we're both in reality two different people, two sides of the same coin which I believe is true because we always have conflicting emotions and certain decisions we make are based on what we felt at that time or which consciousness we listened to.

This was one of Bruce Willis's debut roles and this was a good start, I really liked his performance in this and bought there really were two different people. It's interesting how the conflict plays out where at first like his character whom we see outside his own apartment at first aren't sure what's going on when we see himself at the apartment. You think how that can be, is this a doppelganger that has come from an alternate dimension to take over or something.

You're not sure what to make of things at first, it's interesting how the conflict is played out as it's mainly phone conversations. But as the conversations get deeper we begin to notice how the version from the apartment seems to not just know things from the outside versions past which doesn't paint a pretty picture of the outside version and get stronger and more psychologically balanced and the version on the outside just gets more weak and pitiful. In the end it just goes to show how we can never truly be whole or live our best version unless we learn to overcome the other inside us.

The second tale is another great tale which is somewhat of remake of the episode "A Kind of Stopwatch"; surprising this is another one of those remakes done right because not just does it take some things about that tale and do it's own thing but best of all I think in my book it's actually better.

The protagonist I think is likeable and sympathetic whom of course is played well by Melinda Dillion whom we all know as Ralphie's mom from "A Christmas Story". We see her homelife is just completely in disarray as there is just constant chaos, though it may seem a little stereotypical like noisy annoying kids and a husband that seems incapable of doing a simple chore (can't turn off the Washer really), but there is truth to this as there are some people that have lived a homelife with not a moments peace which to me is more than I or anyone can bear.

I really like how there is a bit of a sense of fun for a little while, we can see how attractive the gift/power she has inherited truly is. As we see it's given her a moment to not just thing but to practically do whatever she wants and feels like for the moment. I like that grocery store scene where she pausing everything and she takes the last "Coco Puffs" like serial from one customer and exchanges it with some other in the customers arms, and she just goes past the line but before she goes out the door she does pay for the groceries. I thought that was kind of funny, granted may 'be taking that last box wasn't nice but then again the customer can always ask if their more in the back but I like the fact she doesn't steel the groceries even though her power would allow her too, it shows she still possesses morals.

But we see with this gift there is a flip side of the coin as it has though not totally made her a little too self-involved. Though the episode it's hinted at a nuclear threat becoming imminent, and we see there are a couple of people whom come to her house to ask for help in peace talks. Unfortunately, she chooses to be oblivious toward the threat and doesn't want anything to do with it.

From that point, God or Fate don't look kindly upon her decision and soon we see the threat becomes reality. We see the guilt on her face realizing too late what her gift/power was really meant to be used for. The ending I'll admit both gave me a cold chill but also tragic.

The episode has a good message about power and the dire consequences in misuse. The importance of being in touch with what happening around you. .But also never wasting time, if there is something in your life you want to do, do it but also if there is something you know or feel you have to do, do it don't wait because no one ever has all the time in the world.

Rating: 4 stars

A Little Peace and Quiet- nifty and thought provoking, but somehow blah

[whatch-17931 · 6/10 · 5 January 2021]

I saw this when it first aired, and thought about it quite a few times since, mainly what in the world does this woman do at the end? What can she do?

It seems like a solid TZ episode could have been built on her predicament. It's easy to see her growing old and dying rather than turning things back on.

The final scene is one of the most nightmarish TZ ever produced.

But there's something just blah about this segment. Which seems an odd thing to say for a story where a lady uses an amulet to freeze time a trillionth of a second before her family is killed from a Soviet nuclear warhead.

"A Little Peace & Quiet."

[ryanddowns-582-353565 · 10/10 · 15 July 2019]

I've had these thoughts about this first episode since I was nine years old and saw it the night it aired with my family.

Since she stopped time, does her aging stop? What about eating and drinking? Her body functions certainly aren't affected. I also wondered when I was little if such a time-stopping device existed, how many times I've been affected by it. Had someone messed with me while they stopped time? What if the person stopping time died and didn't restart it? What if time was stopped the equivalent of a million years and restarted again? There would be NO WAY that those of us affected by that million year time stoppage would not feel that gap! But, why would we feel it? It would be as if no time would have passed. Does time stop in the entire Universe? Just the Solar System? It had to have been the entire Universe. And knowing about and believing in God my entire life, knowing that He created the Universe and time itself, does He ever put the Universe on pause?

The only solution she could have had to save the Earth at this point is to build a scaffold to the nuclear device, and change it's trajectory. Her own manpower is all she can use.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. God bless each of you.

a decent beginning

[nebmac · 7/10 · 13 April 2016]

"Shatterday": Like the original Twilight Zone's "Where Is Everybody?", this segment seems low-key for a series opener. Unlike "Where Is Everybody?", there's no real payoff here. It was fun to see Bruce Willis in a battle of wits with Bruce Willis, but I wonder if the story itself would be enough to hold the viewer's interest if the lead actor hadn't gone on to become a big movie star.

"A Little Peace and Quiet": I remember being shocked at the end when I saw it on TV back in the 90s. The ending is no less powerful in 2016. The buildup is handled well, with subtle hints dropped in snippets of TV and radio newscasts that initially seem to be little more than background noise. The characters are kind of an enigma, though. As caricatures of a typical suburban family, they're spot on - the mom is oblivious to the world outside her immediate surroundings, the dad is a bumbling schmuck, and the kids are little brats. I'm just not sure if that was the intended effect.

Dual Personalities and Misused Gifts.

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 27 January 2017]

In "Shatterday" a very young Bruce Willis plays dual parts. He is actually the same person that has split in two. I recall an episode of "Star Trek" where Kirk splits into a compassionate, but weak, character, while his evil side manifests itself. This offering has Willis arguing with his alter ego who has all the positive qualities that the original didn't have. In "A Little Peace and Quiet" a woman who is indeed clobbered by sound, digs up a necklace that allows her to not only bring quiet, but put everything in suspended animation. She is sort of dumb and can't think of anything positive to do with this amazing gift. She is so enamored with her bit of quiet, she doesn't listen to people who would threaten the future of the world. I believe this is a variation on an episode that premiered on the original show. I have to admit that the world this woman lives in is so full of constant motion and sound, I don't really begrudge much of what she does.

Shatterday

[axlrhodes · 7/10 · 19 November 2022]

Shatterday is '7' from me. This episode is all about Bruce Willis. It's a notably intimate episode with lots of close ups of his face, which is essentially the main tool of the storytelling here. Willis is good, perhaps in his most natural state all chilled out and 'together'. Like many episodes of The Twilight Zone, there is a mirror to reflect back at ourselves, especially those of us (like me) with misanthropic tendencies. I'm a complete shut in, these days. I was bad before but I'm much worse post pandemic. This episode was a reminder to me to do better and I appreciate it for that, even if the way it plays out is a little lacking, especially considering it's the very first episode of the 80's revival of Rod Serling's show.

Intriguing premise spoilt by poor production values

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 28 March 2015]

SHATTERDAY is the first instalment of the first-ever episode of THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE, and as an added hook it contains a dual performance from Bruce Willis, pre-DIE HARD fame, playing a guy who must confront a doppelganger of himself. That's all of the story there is: any answers you're hoping for never materialise, as this is more of a mood piece than anything else, based around telephone conversations and moral quandaries.

The type of story on offer here means that the effectiveness rests entirely on the shoulders of the central actor, and Willis pulls it off. He displays a lot of the tired and stressed mannerisms familiar from his later work in the DIE HARD films, or THE SIXTH SENSE for example. It's lucky they got him on board as he's the only thing making this halfway watchable; without him it would have been a bit of a bore.

A LITTLE PEACE AND QUIET is the second instalment of the first-ever episode of THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE, and it was directed by horror maestro Wes Craven. However, this isn't a horror story at all, rather a morality story about a suburban housewife who finds herself blessed with a strange power.

The woman is digging in her garden when she finds a box containing a necklace. Unbeknownst to her, the necklace gives her the ability to silence the world, allowing her relief from noisy children and nagging husbands. The premise is amusing at first, but soon things get a lot darker with a nuclear twist.

Well, I found this a very ordinary story and probably one that would have been better on the page. The story is a serious one but handled in a jokey, cheesy, '80s kind of way, with bad acting throughout. The premise was later ripped off for the TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE episode BARTER.

Alter egos, a magic neck less, and Bruce Willis.

[b_kite · 8/10 · 3 December 2018]

In the Pilot episode for the first revival of The Twilight Zone we get two stories. The first "Shatterday" has a young pre-Moonlighting and pre-Die Hard Bruce Willis as a man who discovers he has a mysterious alter ego after accidentally calling his own phone number one night. As the episode progresses we eventually learn that fake Bruce is actually a whole lot better then the real Bruce, taking over his life and mending relationships with his mother and ex-girlfriend. Eventually what you suspect will happen happens, as the doppelganger takes over completely. The second "A Little Peace and Quiet" is a sorta remake of "A Kind of Stopwatch" from the original series, but, with some changes. A mother is drove crazy by the constant sound around her, she eventually finds a neck less in the ground which grants her the power to stop sound and freeze time. I kept thinking this was going to end like the original story did, but, no they go in a completely different direction and it still works. Both stories were also directed by Wes Craven.

Very reflective of the series – some good, some bad (even somewhat in that order)

[brainybrailler · 8/10 · 28 March 2008]

The first episode of The "New" Twilight Zone gave us a clear picture of what the show as a whole was going to be like - the first half and segment of the episode, "Shatterday", was great and remains a favorite; the other, "A Little Peace and Quiet" was not. I don't have as much to say about "A Little Peace and Quiet", nor anything else nice, so I'll get that over with. It's a little like "A Kind of Stopwatch" where somebody gets ahold of a watch that just happens to help them stop time. The difference is that instead of an obnoxious bore, the one who finds it is an overworked, stressed housewife who has to deal with the general everyday noise of life (dog included)...along with the shouting of four little kids and an incompetent but still demanding husband. The only thing that made me smile about that was I thought it was about time somebody showed a nagging HUSBAND after all those rotten-egg wives we got to see on the original Twilight Zone! Seriously, though, the concept really annoyed me - not one of the kids had an ounce of self-control, up to the point where one had the habit of tampering with an alarm clock and another ran loose in public, the husband was useless, and the wife...well, I can't say whether it was Melinda Dillon's acting since I only saw her in A Christmas STory which I also had a hard time appreciating, or the writing, but even though her character was meant to be sympathized with, I quickly grew bored with her routine sighing and gasping. Even her voice sounded a bit whiny when thinking out loud. I thought it was a little too strange that we were really expected to believe that all previous attempts at connecting her family had failed so the watch solved everything perfectly, and even what was supposed to be the humorous part of kicking out the peace-speakers with it made me roll my eyes. Only one noteworthy thing was done with it at the end...and while the scene of despair just before was beautiful enough to make me want to join the characters crying, I was stunned the writers couldn't be more creative with what else could've been done with that watch - I'm not completely convinced that their ending given won't change 5 minutes after the camera fades. I can see why they switched the show to hold half-hours later! Anyway, I was grateful this episode wasn't a complete waste of time...after all, there was "Shatterday". I've yet to read Harlan Ellison's short story, though now I'm eager to - the TV adaptation was great! A pre-fame Bruce Willis plays a bit of a Russ Duritz-type character from The Kid - but we only figure that out after he accidentally dials his own number in a bar and is answered by someone claiming to be him, Peter Jay Novins. Whoever answers tells him he can't return home since they both can't occupy the same space, so the ringer Peter Novins cancels his bank account and insults most public companies so the guy at home can't order anything....The only problem is, the one in his home, who we believe is his alter ego, has the money and phone numbers of estranged relatives and dates at home, and is determined that he will change his other self's life for the better. As one continues to press for change, the other sickens. This is an interesting concept as we only gradually saw who was good and who was evil, and it kept me wanting to know who would win. The ending was amusing and the score, with a South American flute, had to be one of the best I've ever heard on TV. I give "Shatterday" a 10 and "A Little Peace and Quiet" a 6, so this episode totals up to a nice happy 8. Not bad for this show at all.

Nice

[gianmarcoronconi · 9/10 · 24 May 2022]

Beautiful episode of introspection that manages to teach a valid but very strange morality about the alternative versions of us that we may have once certain decisions in life have been made.

Rubbish, just as I expected.

[joegarbled-79482 · 1/10 · 7 October 2023]

I lasted just a few minutes, watching the Queen Of The TV Movie, Melinda Dillon in "A Little Peace And Quiet". Now I've watched many a TV movie starring Dillon, so I know that she could act, but the trouble here was a bad story, with bratty children who ought to have had a few weeks in a strict, Dickensian orphanage where you don't even dare shout that you want some treat or other, otherwise you're going to scream until your lungs pop.

As with the re-hash of "The Outer Limits" attempting to reincarnate "The Twilight Zone" could only lead to comparison with the 60s classic, and anything modern could only come off as strictly second best, for a number of important reasons, like: the lack of good story writers, a general decline in acting talent and finally, political agendas. I won't be watching any more of this reconstituted hog fat, I'll stick with Rod Serling's original, there was no chance of beating the 60s series for its originality, great acting, and lasting class.

I give the remake zero stars.

Why copy Hitchcock copying Armstrong

[fthomas-23110 · 2/10 · 31 January 2023]

No-one seems to have noticed that Shatterday seems to be a re-write of Anthony Armstrong's 1940 short story "The Strange Case of Mr Pelham", which he re-wrote into a novel in 1957. Alfred Hitchcock redirected it with a similar title, The Case of Mr Pelham, in series 1 episode 10 of Alfred Hitchcock presents in 1955. At least Hitchcock admitted where the story originated; TTZ claims it is based on a story by Harlan Ellison. So who plagiarized who? Considering Ellison was not born until 1934, I proposed he plagiarized the story concept and TTZ were implicit! So I give it 2 stars for a good story, but am disappointed that it is so sadly unoriginal!