This Mystic Seer Predicts a Lack of Royalties for Bill Shatner
Poor William Shatner! He creates the character of Captain Kirk and doesn’t even get a damn cameo in the upcoming Star Trek film which will no doubt generate millions of dollars worth of merchandise. But if that isn’t enough now they’re cashing in on his Twilight Zone work as well! Shown above is the Twilight Zone Mystic Seer Bobble Head which is based on the classic 1960 Twilight Zone episode Nick of Time which featured a ‘mystic seer’ fortune-telling device. The episode opens with this stunning narration by Rod Serling:
“The hand belongs to Mr. Don S. Carter, male member of a honeymoon team on route across the Ohio countryside to New York City. In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime. For one penny, they will be able to look into the future. The time is now, the place is a little diner in Ridgeview, Ohio, and what this young couple doesn’t realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.”
By the way I should point out that there have been fans who have created their own plans in the past for making their own mystic seer machines, but this seems to be based more on a love of the show rather than trying to make a quick buck on the “misfortune of others”:
Getting back to our official bobble head for some odd reason the Twilight Zone seer also includes a set of fortune telling cards, even though none that I recall were featured in that episode! Sadly in this case I think I already know what the answer to the question “Will I get rich?”
By the way a bit of interesting trivia about Nick of Time: Twilight Zone writer Richard Matheson claimed that they wanted to cast Pat Breslin, who played Pat Carter (the wife of Don Carter, Shatner’s character in this episode) to reprise her role in the episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet which also featured Shatner in the main role:
And lastly to add my final insult in injury I should mention that the gremlin from that Twilight Zone episode was also turned into a toy at one time which I bet Shatner didn’t get anything for either:
Ah yes — we’re traveling to another, a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of cash! A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of hucksters…