Twilight Zone | What are your favorite episodes?

Perfect for Halloween–or, really, whenever.

We’ve been watching the original “Twilight Zones” in chronological order. The half-hour length works well for our schedule, plus I just enjoy the format: a strong, fairly streamlined narrative showcasing new characters, all wrapped up with a lesson or twist waiting in the distance. 

Some might seem a little clichéd today (“To Serve Man” is a cookbook?!?!) but, usually, this is the genesis of that cliché. Know your roots and all that. 

The other night we watched “Judgment Night” (s1 e10), an old favorite. 

The opening narration:

Her name is the SS Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: Indeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on the ship's log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading... For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

It’s dark and otherworldly without involving space aliens. Plus you get to watch justice meted out.

So, personal favorites?

Judgement Night is a great one.

I haven't watched as many as I probably should have, but a few favorites come to mind in no particular order:

• Time Enough at Last
• One for the Angels
• Eye of the Beholder
• A Game of Pool (mainly because I always thought Johnathan Winters was a spitting image of my grandfather. See also: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World)

So many good ones. "Time Enough at Last" is maybe the quintessential episode, though I also love another Burgess Meredith one, "The Printer's Devil". The two Shatner episodes - "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Nick of Time" - are fun. There are so many good ones, but probably my all-time favorite is "A Stop at Willoughby".

Nothing In The Dark is a pretty good one.  Robert Redford in a very early appearance is certainly notable.

....There was an old woman who lived in a room. And, like all of us, was frightened of the dark. But who discovered in a minute last fragment of her life that there was nothing in the dark that wasn't there when the lights were on. Object lesson for the more frightened amongst us in or out, of the Twilight Zone.

It's a Good Life is a pretty freaky one.

....No comment here, no comment at all. We only wanted to introduce you to one of our very special citizens, little Anthony Fremont, age six, who lives in a village called Peaksville, in a place that used to be Ohio. And, if by some strange chance, you should run across him, you had best think only good thoughts. Anything less than that is handled at your own risk, because if you do meet Anthony, you can be sure of one thing: you have entered The Twilight Zone.

Five Characters in Search of an Exit is certainly a classic, with a classic twist.  Likely an inspiration for M Night... and maybe someone at Pixar!

..Just a barrel, a dark depository where are kept the counterfeit, make-believe pieces of plaster and cloth, wrought in a distorted image of human life. But this added hopeful note: perhaps they are unloved only for the moment. In the arms of children, there can be nothing but love. A clown, a tramp, a bagpipe player, a ballet dancer, and a Major. Tonight's cast of players on the odd stage—known as—The Twilight Zone.

The Hunt - Season 3, Episode 19

Important life lesson that I carry with me always.

Social commentary that's still relevant:

"I Am the Night—Color Me Black"

"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

"A Quality of Mercy"

Good sci-fi:

"Steel" - robot boxers, was also the basis for the movie Real Steel

"Two"

"The Old Man in the Cave"

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" - the robots are taking ALL of our jobs

Personal favs:

"A Game of Pool" 

"Walking Distance"

“Two” and “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” also personal favorites. 

Another: “Deaths-Head Revisited.” The plot is similar to “Judgment Night” and I’m okay with that. 

I don't remember the name, but one that sticks with me is where this guy keeps having nightmares about being killed by a plane crashing into his bedroom on a certain night. Finally he makes sure that he's staying in a hotel that night - the hotel that the plane hits and takes him out.

David S. Wallens said:

Perfect for Halloween–or, really, whenever.

We’ve been watching the original “Twilight Zones” in chronological order. The half-hour length works well for our schedule, plus I just enjoy the format: a strong, fairly streamlined narrative showcasing new characters, all wrapped up with a lesson or twist waiting in the distance. 

Some might seem a little clichéd today (“To Serve Man” is a cookbook?!?!) but, usually, this is the genesis of that cliché. Know your roots and all that. 

The other night we watched “Judgment Night” (s1 e10), an old favorite. 

The opening narration:

Her name is the SS Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: Indeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on the ship's log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading... For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

It’s dark and otherworldly without involving space aliens. Plus you get to watch justice meted out.

So, personal favorites?

 

Rod Serling did not like Nazis. First with the u-boat commander, then with Adoph himself...

He's Alive

In reply to Kreb (Forum Supporter) :

Twelve o'clock noon. An ordinary scene, an ordinary city. Lunchtime for thousands of ordinary people. To most of them, this hour will be a rest, a pleasant break in a day's routine. To most, but not all. To Edward Hall, time is an enemy, and the hour to come is a matter of life and death...

Perchance to Dream.  

...They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who's to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in the dreams, between heaven, the sky, the earth - in the Twilight Zone.

Night of the Meek.

After derelict Santa Claus Henry Corwin is fired from his department store on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents and fulfills his wish to help the less fortunate...

I don't know the title but the premise is a couple moves forward in time about five minutes to find the world being built by contractors. Ever put something down, look away, look back and can't find it, look away and look back and it's right where you thought it was? Yeah, that was our mistake. 

I used to stay up watching WPIX after the news to watch The Honeymooners, the Twilight Zone, and Star Trek. It's what got me through high school. I didn't sleep much! I'm not a morning person. I blame this regimen.

So many quality episodes to choose from, but pretty much all of season 5 absolutely slaps. The show had already been canceled or nearly canceled at least twice, and Serling just sort of seemed out of Berkeleys to give, so he was just pushing the wildest most experimental stuff out as a middle finger to the tv establishment that he increasingly saw as the enemy of artistic creativity and storytelling.

I'm really fond of S5E22, which is, uniquely, a non-Serling gem that had wan the Oscar for best short film a full three years prior. I first saw "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in elementary school (!!!) where we had an art teacher who would just expose us to truly awesome, subversive stuff and ideas, and had a copy of it on Super 8 or some grainy format which made it all the more awesome. 

In reply to aircooled :

People have already mentioned many of my favorites, like "Time Enough At Last" and "Maple Street".

I like "Long Distance Call" with Billy Mumy.

As must be obvious, this is a house hovered over by Mr. Death, an omnipresent player to the third and final act of every life. And it's been said, and probably rightfully so, that what follows this life is one of the unfathomable mysteries, an area of darkness which we, the living, reserve for the dead—or so it is said. For in a moment, a child will try to cross that bridge which separates light and shadow, and, of course, he must take the only known route, that indistinct highway through the region we call The Twilight Zone.

For some reason, I like "A Hundred Yards Over The Rim", too.

The year is 1847, the place is the territory of New Mexico, the people are a tiny handful of men and women with a dream. Eleven months ago, they started out from Ohio and headed west. Someone told them about a place called California, about a warm sun and a blue sky, about rich land and fresh air, and at this moment, almost a year later, they've seen nothing but cold, heat, exhaustion, hunger, and sickness. This man's name is Christian Horn. He has a dying eight-year-old son and a heartsick wife, and he's the only one remaining who has even a fragment of the dream left. Mr. Chris Horn, who's going over the top of a rim to look for water and sustenance and in a moment will move into the Twilight Zone.

Ready for a hot take?

I’m not a fan of “Time Enough at Last” even though, according to the internet, it’s one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes.

I think the premise is very clever, but why penalize Mr. Bemis like that? Was his love of reading really so bad? If anyone’s going to tortured for eternity, it should be Captain Lanser from “Judgment Night.” Mr. Bemis simply enjoyed reading. Anyway, just my 2c. 

Twilight Zone feels like a fever dream. I remember watching it in high school for media class but for the life of me I can't remember what it was about. May take some of these comments and do an end of spooky season marathon.  

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I don't think it's intended to be punishment; it just seems to be irony.

Not every TZ episode is about bad people getting their just deserts.

In reply to Duke :

Maybe that’s it. I do wonder what happened to him. Did he find some large-print books to read? Did he find a lens that worked? 

I just feel sorry for Mr. Bemis. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I hear where you are coming from, but it's that sort of (very) cruel irony that I often enjoy in stories.

Nothing could make you feel more vulnerable, more alone than losing the ability to do what makes you truly happy.

Appleseed said:

Night of the Meek.

After derelict Santa Claus Henry Corwin is fired from his department store on Christmas Eve, he finds a mysterious bag that gives out presents and fulfills his wish to help the less fortunate...

I play this every Christmas. Ed Norton does a fabulous job playing Santa. Don't tell Ralph Cramden I said that.

j_tso said:

Social commentary that's still relevant:

"I Am the Night—Color Me Black"

"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

"A Quality of Mercy"

 

Good sci-fi:

"Steel" - robot boxers, was also the basis for the movie Real Steel

"Two"

"The Old Man in the Cave"

"The Brain Center at Whipple's" - the robots are taking ALL of our jobs

 

Personal favs:

"A Game of Pool" 

"Walking Distance"

I second "Walking Distance," too.

I've seen the actual carousel in Binghamton, New York, where Rod Serling grew up, that inspired this episode.

David S. Wallens said:

Ready for a hot take?

I’m not a fan of “Time Enough at Last” even though, according to the internet, it’s one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes.

I think the premise is very clever, but why penalize Mr. Bemis like that? Was his love of reading really so bad? If anyone’s going to tortured for eternity, it should be Captain Lanser from “Judgment Night.” Mr. Bemis simply enjoyed reading. Anyway, just my 2c. 

I agree, it's highly memorable but overrated, a clever premise packed with irony but it gets stretched pretty thin and then throws Mr. Bemis under the bus.

I have the whole series and started watching it in sequence many years ago but got distracted somewhere around season 2~3, I should get back to it...

Some similar series to TZ worth checking out are The Outer Limits and Black Mirror.

David S. Wallens said:

Ready for a hot take?

I’m not a fan of “Time Enough at Last” even though, according to the internet, it’s one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes.

I think the premise is very clever, but why penalize Mr. Bemis like that? Was his love of reading really so bad? If anyone’s going to tortured for eternity, it should be Captain Lanser from “Judgment Night.” Mr. Bemis simply enjoyed reading. Anyway, just my 2c. 

Concur.

It's an uncharacteristically lazy "twist" barely worthy of an Alanis Morisette song, let alone a TZ episode.