The Twilight Zone : The Hunt

This is one of the episodes that hit me and make me tear up. I think it's the dog. Nothing like a good dog.

Yep, definitely a fave TZ eppy. Good ol' Rip sure saved the day!

Yeah it makes me wonder if I'll be going to Hell because I don't have a dog (and don't want to hunt raccoons).

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don't want to hunt raccoons

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There is a school of thought that suggests everyone experiences heaven differently. For example, Hyder loved hunting raccoons and square dancing, so that's what it was like. Someone from the city might like more "refined" things, so that's how it would be for them. Actually, that wouldn't make a bad TZ episode - people in the same place experiencing it completely different from one another.

There was a so-so Night Gallery episode about that very topic. It was called Hell's Bells.

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Never say never...

The Hunt is my favorite episode. It has everything! A love story. A dog. Heaven. A happy ending. Love it.
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Never say never...

I saw it recently and loved it. Felt sorry for the defenseless raccoons though...

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Felt sorry for the defenseless raccoons though...

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Yup.
That's why I don't like this episode.
If he wasn't out there murdering racoons then I would like it.
I love it that the scum animal killer drowned.
So WTF is it with heaven allowing animals to be murdered there?

Humans are not the only species on earth.
We just act like it.

As usual, I agree with you! Definitely in my top ten - maybe even top five.

Just something that struck me with repeated viewings - I'm glad Heaven gladly admitted someone we saw was not a church-going man (as his widow said to the preacher), seeing as there are some schools of thought that would consider him damned outright. Points to him as well for readily accepting a place he might have doubted the existence of in life, though he would have passed on it if he couldn't go with his dog.

Speaking of, very glad to see the real Heaven welcomed dogs - again, there are schools of thought that maintain animals have no soul - no offense, but I have to wonder if these folks even have a dog in their life.

If animals can dream, why shouldn't they also have souls?

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Heaven welcomed dogs

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Not to mention raccoons. Which begs the question, if dog heaven includes chasing raccoons, what is raccoon heaven like?

Maybe dog heaven is raccoon hell - punishment for their thieving nature!

...sorry, couldn't help it. Once when I was camping I left for a while and when I came back I saw a raccoon had opened the tent zipper and ate up all my dry oatmeal - left his little footy prints all over my air mattress! I don't begrudge them though - another time while camping I was eating a pear for breakfast and threw my core to the raccoon who was impatiently waiting for me to finish it.

In the hunter's defense, he's living in a tough, hardscrabble land. Pretty much everything he does is essential to basic survival, and that includes hunting raccoons (a quick Google search shows quite a number of recipes for raccoon).

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...schools of thought that maintain animals have no soul - no offense, but I have to wonder if these folks even have a dog in their life.

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I agree. I am mystified that anyone could believe a dog doesn't have a soul.

And I like the fact that Hyder was not a "church going man." I hate when people use the term "church going" as synonymous with being good. You can be a saintly atheist as compared to a sanctimonious "believer."

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Never say never...

Do you believe that we have a soul? I do, and I also believe that there is at least a chance of there being an afterlife. It seems like now I'm one of the only ones left that does. I pray that even one person will respond to this message and say they believe in an afterlife too. And if someone doesn't, they should at least say 'I don't believe in afterlife " instead of straight out saying "there's no afterlife" like it's already a 100% proven fact. It's not 100% proven. I wish there were at least a few others left that believe. It'll help my faith get stronger. I need that faith. I have kidney problems and a maligment skin condition that could have fatal complications.

Yes, I do believe that there is a world to come. But I don't think that any religion holds the keys to the afterlife. In fact, I would run from any religion that teaches the elaborate fiction of a hell.

And I do hope that you feel better. You are not alone.

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Never say never...

Thanks Jennie. That's a good answer. That could be it, that there is an afterlife but not in the way it's portrayed in, for example, Christianity, or any of the traditional religions. I knew there had to be something. Cause anything's better than what I've been reading all over the internet lately, nothingness forever. Experiencing nothingness forever does not even make any sense when you think about it deeply. Not when you really think about it happening to you. I guess that no one is ever gonna really know until they're irriverssbly passed on. Science is never gonna be able to 100% prove or disprove the afterlife. I'm sure it's better that way. For those of you who don't believe, can you please just be decent enough to say " I believe there's no afterlife", instead of saying "there's no afterlife" like it's already a concrete proven fact? And please don't be insulting to the believers. There are people out there that are ill and/or elderly that may not have long to go. Think of them. When someone is very ill with like cancer or something, faith is all that helps give them the strength to get through it. But to Jennie portrait, your response was nice. Thank you.

A dog lovers episode for sure. I always watch it during the marathons. It is always on at odd times, too. I recall in July it was on at like three in the morning. I think it is a delight. I'll probably watch it Sunday because of this thread.
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"Get the cheese to sickbay."

As I posted earlier, if animals can dream why shouldn't they also have souls? Obviously that includes racoons. We all have brains, so why not souls? Just because modern science can't confirm it officially doesn't make it so. It's bad enough that our universe is so vast and unexplored, that we as humans can't even explain how our minds, bodies and souls work!

I think the genteel nature of the episode produces a pleasurable afterlife where a family doesn't have to be separated and everything is still warm and cozy.
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"Get the cheese to sickbay."

Just finished it moments ago for the upteenth time. Just as delightful as ever. I love its message about the dog, and even if the South is laid on a bit thick, its intentions are in the right place, I thought. I think what is maybe missing from syfy's presentation of the episode is some extra dialogue. I enjoy the dialogue even if it is spoken through the voice of rural mountainfolk and might seem laughable to those (not me, because I'm from the South) who aren't familiar. That said, the dog interfering with the gatekeeper's persistent desire to move Hyder into the eternal domain he stands at the open made my heart smile. It remains firmly in its rural outdoorsy setting, even after Hyder and Rip have awoken in the "beyond", with further talks of coon hunting and square dancing giving the hunter and his dog reassurance that Heaven won't be such a bad place. I think the music just really goes well with the material and reaches the heart. When I read "grab the Kleenex", I totally understand why. I guess because it romanticizes the walk to where eternity awaits within a mountains-aesthetic and the melody accompanying it gives The Hunt this magic that continues to earn it a lot of love and good will.

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"Get the cheese to sickbay."

This heaven was a specially designed paradise for Hyder.
An urbanite who went to heaven is not going to get square dancing in a barn, and coon hunts.

Yup. The Hunt is very well done, though when they aired it last time I couldn't watch it. There's a melancholy undercurrent which, despite its heartfelt qualities, its beauty, brings me down to where I don't always want to go. I have to be in just the right mood for this one. In this it's sort of like One For The Angels and The Changing Of The Guard.

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In this it's sort of like One For The Angels and The Changing Of The Guard.

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Meh on One For The Angels but The Changing Of The Guard is one of my all times favorites!

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Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

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I like "The Changing of the Guard", too. It has a "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and "A Christmas Carol" feel about it. And Donald Pleasence was a very likeable actor.

One For The Angels is a TZ time has not been kind to. It worked once, or appeared to; while now it seems from another time, and very corny. The Changing Of The Guard is one of the most moving episodes of the Zone, arguably the most moving, though The Hunt is up there, too.

I think it's heart is in the right place. But it isn't necessarily any closer towards the top of my favorites than the actor's grandfather clock one.

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"Get the cheese to sickbay."

I'm not sure I'd sit through either episode if it weren't for the presence of Ed Wynn - he's just one of those rare people who brightens my mood whatever he's in.