Walking Distance

Season 1, Episode 5, Aired
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Episode Summary

Martin Sloan, driving through the country, leaves his car and starts to walk toward his hometown, Homewood. He finds things exactly as they were when he was a child. He soon realizes he's gone back in time.
8.7
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Fan Episode Reviews (8)

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  • Excellent episode

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Brian4663, Jan 02, 2012 Report Abuse
    Martin Sloan walks back in time to his child hood town with fun and exciting results. This episode wont scare you but will still make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

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    0 0

  • You can never go home again.

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By sh811a, Nov 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    Whenever we leave home, we do it beause it's not our home anymore, everything we loved about it is now somewhere else and we have to go to it.

    This episode is another one I love because it really holds an emotionally weight to it and rings true to everyone of us that grew up and left home. It was also a partial inspiration to the underrated film "Disney's The Kid".

    We feel a sense of pathos for Martin as we see he is a man that is tired, weary, bored and unhappy with his career and life in general. He one day makes a stop at a town only to discover he's came back though time. From all his observations of his past things within him long dormant awaken within him, longtime joys he has experenced in a decade long gone.

    This episode is sort of about the common mid-life crisis dilema. We see that Martin according to his present life though not much about it is revealed, is a person that has not lived a forfilled life. Somewhere along the line he has betrayed and has forgoteen about the ideals and joys he has had as a child which has put him in the state he is in now. He is also a man in his mid thirties and is comming close to that point where he must make a choice whether he wants his life to continue the way it is now, or to make the changes needed in order to live the life he truly desires, go back to a home that has everything he loved as a child and can continue loving now.

    My favorate moment that almost put a tear in my eye would have to be the conversation with the father when the father discovers who the future Martin really is, and words that don't just ring true to Martin's soul but our own as well.

    We can never go home again because the past is gone, we can only go back home to a home of our own from the present, which holds everything we loved from the past and can live on forever in the future.moreless

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    2 0

  • …some wisp of memory…

    10
    "Perfect"
    By amazingwebhead, Nov 14, 2010 Report Abuse
    Wow, what a treat. 'Walking Distance' is just one of those Twilight Zone episodes that you finish watching and you have to sit back and wonder how exactly something so fantastic could be dreamt up. Although admittedly a little overdone at times, this is the first real shining star for the series, making testament as to how it became the success it eventually did.

    'Walking Distance' is an episode that explores the idea of leaving behind a home, whether it's a collective place, person(s) or event. Much like the previous episode, our main character Martin Sloan is caught up in the memories of his younger self, but the difference with Martin is that he didn't realise how much he missed home until he got back. Stuck in a stressful and demanding job, our troubled character goes for a drive away from the business and hustle of the big city in search for peace, and subconsciously it would seem, for his care-free childhood life.

    The whole story has a tragic melancholy tone running throughout that works very well with our main character's reminiscent adventure. Everything else in the script from the dialogue to the great time-bending plot work just as well, running at a great pace, always holding the attention and imagination. Furthermore the cast does a very good job of handling the script, which failing to do so was the downfall of the previous episode. There are noticeable weak spots here and there with some over-acting and dialogue that seems a little forced (how about those 'band-concerts'!) but taken as a whole, 'Walking Distance' has a real class to it, full of professional ideas and implementation.

    Aesthetically the episode is just as pleasing, if not more-so. Of special notice is a particular scene where Martin is left alone beside the merry-go-round; the dramatic change to spotlight lighting and cue of Herrmann's magnificent score fit perfectly with the mesmerising monologue that Young then goes on to deliver eloquently. The sets too are elaborate, being similar to that of the pilot, giving the episode a wide-open and fresh feel that is necessary when delving into the character's memories of childhood.

    Taken as a whole this is simply a wonderfully realised episode that deals with some great themes in even greater ways. With exceptional photography, music, performances and writing, 'Walking Distance' is true classic Twilight Zone in every way.moreless

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    4 2

  • A man growing tired of his present takes a walk to his old home town.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By leebrown1990, Nov 14, 2009 Report Abuse
    The series is back on form with Robert Stevens directing. His visual style really lifts the writing of the episode, when things are over acted or start to grow stale; he can ground the scene or bring a feeling of insecurity as needed.

    The episode was refreshing in it's approach to the fantasy elements, everything was very upfront, personal and aggresive. After the great scene on the merry-go-round, the preachy morales which we are spoon fed are quite annoying, but the episode was wrapped up nicely when he returned to his favourite store. Definitley a step-up from the past 3 episodes, better writing, better pacing, a better look, and just overall more entertaining.moreless

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    0 0

  • The First Classic Episode Of The Series

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Anon67683, Jul 27, 2007 Report Abuse
    A well-crafted episode with a unique twist and an emotional wallop that sneaks up on you. This one shares a lot of similarities with the pilot episode: an alternate-universe town, another interesting mirror shot, tilted camera angles, a protagonist who talks to himself quite a bit and a Bernard Herrmann score.

    This episode also dwells on the nature of time and its passing (with a melancholy sense of nostalgia), which, if you think about it, is a central concern in every single episode to date, from the tedium of space travel, to the inevitability of death and thence to nostalgia for times gone by.

    If there is one fault to this episode, it is the lead actor's tendency to overact, especially in the opening scene where he flies off the handle at the gas station attendant for no apparent reason other than he is supposed to be a stressed, over-worked executive.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • The windshield on the convertible in the opening scene at the service station, with the camera shooting from the rear of the car, is so opaque or occluded that it would have been impossible to have seen through to drive. Edit

  • Notes

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    • The music by Bernard Herrmann in this episode was used thoughout the series. Edit
    • Included on volume 3 of Image-Entertainment's DVD collection. Edit

  • Quotes

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    • (Closing Narration) Narrator: Martin Sloan, age thirty-six, vice-president in charge of media. Successful in most things but not in the one effort that all men try at some time in their lives - trying to go home again. And also like all men perhaps there'll be an occasion, maybe a summer night sometime, when he'll look up from what he's doing and listen to the distant music of a calliope, and hear the voices and the laughter of the people and the places of his past. And perhaps across his mind there'll flit a little errant wish, that a man might not have to become old, never outgrow the parks and the merry-go-rounds of his youth. And he'll smile then too because he'll know it is just an errant wish, some wisp of memory not too important really, some laughing ghosts that cross a man's mind, that are a part of the Twilight Zone. Edit
    • (Opening Narration) Narrator: Martin Sloan, age thirty-six. Occupation: vice-president, ad agency, in charge of media. This is not just a Sunday drive for Martin Sloan. He perhaps doesn't know it at the time, but it's an exodus. Somewhere up the road he's looking for sanity. And somewhere up the road, he'll find something else. Edit
    • Martin Sloan: (to his younger self) Martin, I only wanted to tell you that this is a wonderful time of life for you. Don't let any of it go by without enjoying it. There won't be any more merry-go-rounds, no more cotton candy, no more band concerts. I only wanted to tell you that this is a wonderful time for you. Now. Here. That's all, Martin. That's all I wanted to tell you. God help me. That's all I wanted to tell you. Edit

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