"The Bewitchin' Pool"

I liked the concept-- the idea of unloved kids being able to swim their way through a hole in the pool of their bickering parents into a dream world full of other unloved kids, presided over by a wizened Granny who bakes cakes and dispenses unconditional love-- but it wasn't handled particularly well. The acting was pretty mediocre (although the dubbed voices didn't help) and the 2 kids kept swimming back and forth from one world to the next so many times that I thought the old lady, her patience at an end, was finally going to scream, "AH'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YER DAD-BLAMED NONSENSE!!! MAKE UP YER GAH-DAMN MINDS!!!" Mary Badham was in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and one or 2 other shows before retiring. It's hard to tell whether she can act or not based on her performance here, but talking with the voice of Rocky the Squirrel, as I've mentioned, sure didn't help. Then again, no one else comes out looking any better, dubbed voices or no dubbed voices. The parents spend so much time bitching an... Read more

I liked this episode. I thought it was interesting from a psychological standpoint. It's an episode about how if you block something out and ignore it, your fantasy can become real.

Nice story about two kids unfortunately stuck with self-absorbed idiot parents...

Average story, bogged down by the obvious and bad overdubbing of Mary Badham's voice. Solenoid DH: To answer your question, the reason why the kids sound southern as opposed to the parents was because this episode was written by Earl Hamner Jr., who was southern and favored southerners (I read this in the Twilight Zone Companion.) In fact, pretty much all of Earl's TZ offerings find southerners getting rewards (The Hunt) and northerners getting their come-uppance (Ring-A-Ding girl) This is why Earl is my least favorite TZ writer

I know the professional TZ watchers will disagree with me, because nearly all of them criticize this episode. But I always liked it very much. It's a great fantasy for children (and the Twilight Zone appealed to children at times). Mary Badham was a thoroughly likable child actress, and it's a shame she didn't appear on the screen more often. There are some curious things about the way people speak, though. Both children have thick southern accents, totally different from the way their parents talk. It would be interesting to know why this was done. Also, the girl's voice (and I suspect the boy's voice too) was dubbed by June Foray, known for doing the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel, among others. You can tell that Sport's voice is lower during the indoor scenes. For some reason, this oddity doesn't bother me at all. Rod Serling showed us more than once that he had some child-like fantasies, and this one wasn't bad at all. Besides, I like to see those creepy parents get their co... Read more

One of my favorites when I was a kid. I wish I had had an Aunt Tine who would look after me. This is one of Mary Badham of To Kill A Mockinbird's few acting parts and she is wonderful, although her performance is marred by (as noted previously) some bad dubbing which clearly isn't her voice.

only a so so episode. Two young children who are tired of hearing their parents fight find an exit through their swimming pool. this leads them to a land where a nice old lady takes care of all the children and there is happiness and peace there. Now they must decide if they want to go back and stay with the bickering parents or in this paradise.too bad that the plot is weak. it is also odd that Mary Badham who was in Too Kill A Mockingbird had her voice dubbed for part of the show by June Foray. you can tell when one is talking, and then the voice changes.

Pretty corny story, exploring themes that the series did far, far better in many other episodes.