Why The Set Of The Twilight Zone's First Episode Looks So Familiar
Part of what I love about filmmaking is how it is able to transform artifice into reality and truth. When two characters come together for a big climactic kiss in the rain, the reality of the situation is that these are two co-workers who barely know each other, standing on two different colored pieces of tape, as a giant mechanized sprinkler system looms over their heads. Yet when we see it on the big screen, we believe it. That's true movie magic.
One of my favorite parts of this process, when it comes to studio filmmaking, is the backlot. Movie studios have constructed city streets, town squares, and so much more on their land for productions to use and reuse for decades. Instead of going on location and dealing with permits, spacial limitations, crowd control, and more, they have these preset areas all to themselves. They appear in countless films, TV shows, and commercials, yet rarely do we ever clock the repetition.
But there are the rare occasions where these multipurpose sets become inextricably linked to one particular film or television show, and any other time that set shows up in something else, you go, "Hey, isn't that from [insert title here]?" No place is that more evident than the town square of Hill Valley from "Back to the Future." We identify the shops, the streets, the greenery, and, of course, the clocktower with Robert Zemeckis' 1985 comedy. But this set had already been around for decades and had been used countless times. In fact, it appeared in the very first episode of one of the most famous television shows of all time, "The Twilight Zone."
The range of Courthouse Square
This backlot at Universal Studios is known as Courthouse Square. Its construction goes all the way back to the 1948 film noir "An Act of Murder," starring Fredric March. Because the set is just an anonymous, everyday town, Universal didn't tear it down and instead used it for decades. Throughout the years, Courthouse Square appeared in everything from "To Kill a Mockingbird" to "Bye Bye Birdie" to "Gremlins" to "The Incredible Hulk" TV series. Even in recent years, the backlot has been used for shows like "Bel Air" and "Rutherford Falls." The malleability of the set is what makes it such a great place to shoot, and the juxtaposition between "Back to the Future" and "The Twilight Zone" perfectly captures that.
"Where Is Everybody?" is the first episode of "The Twilight Zone," which aired back in 1959. In the episode, Earl Holliman plays a man who finds himself in this town, not knowing how he got there, and it is completely empty. However, things keep happening that make it seem like others are around, but not a soul can be found. It's an eerie examination on isolation, and placing that within the setting of an artificially made idyllic small town makes it all the more terrifying.
That small town energy for "Back to the Future," on the other hand, immediately works to transport you to the movie's heightened version of 1955. It enhances the comedic tone of the picture through its stereotypical construction of a small town. Sometimes a great location is just a great location no matter the project. All "Back to the Future" had to do was put the name Hill Valley on everything and add a clock on the courthouse, which gives the town its name. The magic of filmmaking!