"King Nine Will Not Return", Poll and discussion thread

A bomber pilot (Robert Cummings) wakes up alone in the desert after a crash.
Originally aired September 30, 1960.

List of musical cues

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Let the discussion begin!

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My second-favorite episode, and the one that got me hooked on the Zone. I absolutely love it!

James B. W. Bevis wrote: "The way he pronounces 'Jimenez' wrong for the whole episode fractures me."

I, too, have noticed that, but I don't think it's a mispronunciation. Mr. Jimenez may have been a US native whose family Anglicized the pronunciation of their surname before he was born.

Of course, he's a fictional dead character, so there are at least two reasons why we'll never know for sure. Nevertheless, I'll give an analogous example within the series (twice): Sheriff Koch. That's a German name that sounds more like "Coke" in its original language, except that the final consonant is an aspirate not found in native English words that's a cross between H and K.

I knew a Koch who pronounced his name "Coke." On the other hand, the former New York City mayor Ed Koch pronounces it as the TZ characters, rhyming it with "botch." It's particularly believable that a Jimenez in 1943 who was a member of the US Armed Forces wanted his name to sound "American" -- as "American" was more likely to mean in 1943.

This one was an odd one - but in a good way... I'll give it a 9.

The ending was just, 'Woah.' for me.

King 9 is a cool weird episode, I like it alot.

Love the Bob Cummings narration. All around neat episode.

"8"

Leen

Similar to WIE, but I like it better. Great acting and a classic Zone.

10/10

"King Nine Will Not Return" is a semi-engaging story of a man haunted by a mystery. The performance by Bob Cummings is a good one, and his decline into insanity is powerful at times, but also a bit over the top. The conclusion is quite a stretch and leaves too big of a question mark for me to highly recommend this one. The DVD transfer of this episode, available on the new Definitive Edition DVD set, looks fantastic.

i agree.. with the over the top part. the way he laughs.. sounded too fake to me.

i did not like the ending..and not to give anything away but i think it would have been better if rod serling was allowed to use this twist ending for 'where is everybody?" instead.

-ag

He was -- when he converted WIE? into a short story. As Mike Ferris is being taken away at the end, he finds a ticket stub from a movie theater in his pocket.

i agree.. with the over the top part. the way he laughs.. sounded too fake to me.

i did not like the ending..and not to give anything away but i think it would have been better if rod serling was allowed to use this twist ending for 'where is everybody?" instead.

-ag

Agree 100%. That laugh got on my nerves even more than Henry Temple did. It was a good episode though and , for the most part, Cummings was good.

^^Thank you, brave souls, for expressing reservations about this ep. The frantic voiceover narration gets on my nerves. I have the same complaint about "The Hitch-Hiker."

Yep, I'm not crazy about the voice-over here either, even less than in "The Hitch-Hiker." This is about a 5 for me.

according to buzz kulik in the marc zicree interview on the definitive edition dvd, it was not a mispronounciation. kulik wanted it pronounced with a hard 'j' because that is how a non-hispanic would probably pronounce it.

according to buzz kulik in the marc zicree interview on the definitive edition dvd, it was not a mispronounciation. kulik wanted it pronounced with a hard 'j' because that is how a non-hispanic would probably pronounce it.

Great info, Adam. It still seems as if the character, Captain James Embry, could have been mispronouncing the name, though.

i don't like this episode

I really like this episode! Did you know the nurse ,Jenna McMahon, was the creator of The Facts Of Life?

No, I didn't! Cool Fact, TZFAN!

I didn't know that specifically, but I did know that she was the creative partner of the late Dick Clair, whose name usually appears with hers in any TV credits, including the creation of The Facts of Life and several other series. I vaguely recall that they were a comedy team of the 1960s who frequented the TV variety show circuit. IMDb gives no background about McMahon except for her credits, though, and all it additionally tells us about Clair is his birth name of Richard C. Jones and that he's cryogenically preserved (plus that he's really dead and not hiding in Death Valley, waiting to spend stolen gold bullion in the latter part of this century).

man this episode was not good

9 gets a 10.

ZR

Apparently, Rod tried another WIE? for the season two opener but couldn't quite pull it off. Bob Cummings does a pretty good job as Embry, but the presentation as a whole is really, really dry, in more ways than one.

Probably a 6 from me...maybe a 7 if I'm in a good mood.

ZZZZZzzzzzz.

You called? loooooooool

ZR

You called? loooooooool

No, actually MBO is confusing the TZ Cafe with an Outer Limits board, and he wishes to initiate a discussion about that episode in which a queen bee turns into a woman, tries to win Philip Abbott for herself, and kills Abbott's wife as part of her scheme.

You called? loooooooool

No, actually MBO is confusing the TZ Cafe with an Outer Limits board, and he wishes to initiate a discussion about that episode in which a queen bee turns into a woman, tries to win Philip Abbott for herself, and kills Abbott's wife as part of her scheme.

Wow you got all that from that little comment. Amazing.

You called? loooooooool

No, actually MBO is confusing the TZ Cafe with an Outer Limits board, and he wishes to initiate a discussion about that episode in which a queen bee turns into a woman, tries to win Philip Abbott for herself, and kills Abbott's wife as part of her scheme.

That episode had Marsha Hunt "Mrs.Henderson" "Spur Of The Moment" playing the wife to the doctor in the episode

You called? loooooooool

No, actually MBO is confusing the TZ Cafe with an Outer Limits board, and he wishes to initiate a discussion about that episode in which a queen bee turns into a woman, tries to win Philip Abbott for herself, and kills Abbott's wife as part of her scheme.

Wow you got all that from that little comment. Amazing.

How about a "Rorschach Test" thread?

You called? loooooooool

No, actually MBO is confusing the TZ Cafe with an Outer Limits board, and he wishes to initiate a discussion about that episode in which a queen bee turns into a woman, tries to win Philip Abbott for herself, and kills Abbott's wife as part of her scheme.

Wow you got all that from that little comment. Amazing.

How about a "Rorschach Test" thread?

I loved that TOL episode. Ms. Joana Frank is a fine actress, and attractive as well as the queen bee.

Actually, he may be referrring to Z, the last letter of the alphabet, Zed (the character in Pulp Fiction) Zeta ( As in Catherine Zeta Jones of Zorro fame).
The atomic number (Z) is a term used in chemistry and physics to represent the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom. In an atom of neutral charge, where the number of electrons equals the atomic number.

And of course Z as in Zone. He was creating a new Zone Greeting " ZZZZZZ".

I just prefer to believe he was calling me,

ZR

Great catch! I don't think I ever noticed that. I've always been paying too much attention to Joanna Frank.

By the way, if a master list of every episode title of every series ever to appear on TV was made, I'm confident "ZZZZZ" (that's the correct spelling: five Z's) would be dead last.

Not too bad but Bob Cummings performance really grates on my nerves.

How 'bout that laugh? It's just as annoying as Feathersmith's in "Of Late...".

That's exactly what annoys me about his performance. When he's not laughing, he's ok.

He is a little over the top but I like this episode anyway and feel it's a worthy starter for the 2nd season. Fits well with the TZ theme.

http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/2496/2003...37918343_rs.jpg

I like this one, a good way to start off Season 2. I gave it an '8'. I like the narration because it represents his thoughts, which would make sense if he was alone. It seems to fit here.

Yes I think Bob Cummings did a great job. Seems like he was hardly acting at all.

Interesting to compare this with The Invaders. I think King 9 took some good voice acting from BC to carry his emotions, thoughts, feelings over to the audience. Then we have Agnes Moorehead who had to act without words

Just my two cents on these alternative types of acting.

A 7 from me. I've said elsewhere how hard I think it must be to be the only speaking actor in a script, yet BC is a bit over the top in places here. Maybe it's great acting with a limited script. Still....great Zone.

OK, I just watched King Nine again and noticed something for the first time. There are little swastikas (yes, swastikas) painted on the side of the plane, above and to one side of the "king" card. What the...???

They should represent a count of German planes that King Nine has shot down. It's traditional. It's like making notches in a gun handle to represent the number of people it has killed, or displaying "K" cards at a baseball game to count the number of strikeouts recorded by the home team's pitcher.

Some Warner Brothers cartoons satirized the practice. For example, Tweety once had drawn cat silhouettes on his wall to show how many "Puddy Tats" he had conquered.

Whew! Thanks, Dan. I never even thought of that .