Day 13 of the Twilight Zone podcast Advent Calendar, and the God has been changed.

Emmy has went to do her Christmas preparation and now I'm joined by the fifth beetle of the Twilight Zone

podcast, Mr. Zach Moore. Zach, welcome back. Hey, happy to be here. Happy to have that title. And

yeah, this has become a holiday tradition for me. So thanks for having me on again for the Advent

calendar. I know, I mean, I really both look forward to this every year.

So little did we know it was going to be an annual event, and I'm happy to be here to close out the year. Good, good. Well, I'm glad to have you. So our first question is a bit of a meaty one. So let's see how we get on with it. It's from my old friend Steve Badger. and he says, my question isn't really a question more a discussion points.

What are your thoughts on? from my old friend Steve Badger, and he says, my question isn't really a question more

a discussion point. What are your thoughts on controversial episodes, such as the band

episode, the encounter, the gift, the chaser, death's head revisited, etc. All of which,

plus a few more were criticized in their time for racial stereotyping,

trivializing issues, being insensitive to mental issues, etc., etc. So yeah, it's a big old

question to ease you in, Zach. I thought I would hit you with that one.

Well, thank you.

You know, just overall as a flyover, I think any fiction that makes attempts at addressing controversial issues, you're going to have hits and misses.

And I always appreciate social commentary when it's in parable form.

And when subtext becomes text, that's when it starts

to get kind of messy and loses its potential power as a story. And you don't want to feel like

you're being like lectured to as an audience. And I feel like that's a trap. A lot of less talented

writers fall into. I think people like Rod Serling and Star Trek's Gene Roddenberry,

they saw issues they wanted to talk about and more than just getting it by the censors,

which was a huge factor, as they've both talked about over the years, right? I think they understood

how a well-told story might be able to challenge someone's preconceived notions. It's far more

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