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Twilight Zone (old) episode guide
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TWILIGHT ZONE EPISODE GUIDE
===========================
Revision of 9/82
===========================
Saul Jaffe
Lauren Weinstein (vortex!lauren@LBL-UNIX)
Lauren's rating system
* ugh. pretty bad.
** has merit.
*** good, solid show.
**** particularly good.
***** superlative.
_________________________________
In this document, comments by Saul Jaffe are preceded by SJ: and
comments by Lauren Weinstein are preceded by LW:.
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It
is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is
the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears, and the
summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It
is an area which we call... THE TWILIGHT ZONE."
Rod Serling
LW: Background
The Twilight Zone originally aired on the CBS Television Network.
It was heavily sponsored by the large tobacco companies. In fact
Serling did a few of the commercials himself! Serling just was
not complete without the dangling cigarette, a fact which was
later to contribute to his untimely demise...
It should be noted that there have been rumors that some of the
shows credited to Serling were actually "ghostwritten" by someone
else. There is, however, no proof of this. Chalk another one up
with Francis Bacon and Willy Shakespeare....
To an even greater extent than with "The Outer Limits", many
actors appear in these episodes who later became very big stars.
Many familiar (but younger!) faces peer out at us from this
program...
FIRST SEASON 1959-1960
WHERE IS EVERYBODY? ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
Cast: Earl Holliman, James Gregory
The pilot show for the series concerns a man who finds himself
in a completely deserted city. In the end, we learn that it was all
a test to observe how human beings will respond to extreme loneliness
during space flights. This was the only episode shot at Universal
Studios, all others were filmed at MGM.
LW: Earl Holliman later became known as Angie Dickenson's sidekick
in "Policewoman". Earl is the sole actor in this piece right up
to the last five minutes or so of the script.
ONE FOR THE ANGELS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parish
Cast: Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Dana Dillaway, Merritt Bohn
Wynn delivers a bravura performance as a sidewalk salesman
who makes the greatest pitch of his life to save a little girl
from "Mr. Death".
MR. DENTON ON DOOMSDAY **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Allen Reisner
Cast: Dan Duryea, Malcolm Atterbury, Martin Landau, Jeanne Cooper,
Ken Lynch, Doug McClure
A has-been gunslinger finds his fast draw abilities have been
restored after he drinks a magic potion.
LW: Neither Martin Landau nor Doug McClure had their careers exactly
ended by this episode, even though it was a poor one. Martin
continued on to roles in "The Outer Limits", and of course,
starred in "Mission Impossible". Doug shows up in a variety of
places.
THE SIXTEEN-MILLIMETER SHRINE **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
Cast: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, Alice Frost, Jerome Cowan
A former movie queen tries to recreate the spirit of her heyday
by screening her old movies...and living them.
WALKING DISTANCE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
Cast: Gig Young, Frank Overton, Michael Montgomery, Irene Tedrow
Young's acting and a magnificent score by Bernard Hermann
highlight this episode. Harried advertising agent Martin Sloane
visits his home town and slips thirty years into his childhood.
LW: Rather sentimental, but I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Our
hero actually meets himself as a child, and turns out to be
the cause of an old leg injury that bothered him the rest of
his life...
ESCAPE CLAUSE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
Cast: David Wayne, Virginia Christine, Wendell Holmes, Thomas Gomez
A hypochondriac makes a pact with the Devil for immortality. He
then kills someone for kicks, but instead of getting the electric
chair, he is sentenced to life imprisonment!
LW: Rather amusing, actually!
THE LONELY *****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Jack Warden, Jean Marsh, John Dehner, Ted Knight, Jim Turley
This classic episode concerns one James Corry (Warden), a man
convicted of murder and sentenced to spend forty years on a distant
asteroid. He has only one companion - a robot made in the form of
a woman. Ted Knight, later Ted Baxter on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW,
has a minor role as a nasty space crewman.
LW: I gotta tell ya' ... the closing scene of this episode gave me
nightmares for many nights as a child when I first saw it. An
excellent episode.
TIME ENOUGH AT LAST ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Jacqueline DeWit, Vaughn Taylor, Lela Bliss
In his first of several TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, Burgess Meredith
plays a nearsighted bank teller who becomes the only survivor of an
H-bomb attack. He is now able to pursue his only real interest in
life: reading.
LW: At least, he THINKS he will be able to pursue it...
PERCHANCE TO DREAM ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Robert Florey
Cast: Richard Conte, John Larch, Suzanne Lloyd, Ted Stanhope,
Eddie Marr
The first non-Serling script of the series concerns a man (Conte)
who is terrified of falling asleep. He fears that the mysterious
woman he meets in his dreams will soon murder him.
LW: To elaborate a bit: Conte has a heart condition, and fears that
the excitement (so to speak) of dying in the dream will kill him.
The last time he went to sleep, he ended up in a rollercoaster
with this mystery woman. He knows that if he goes back to sleep,
the dream will continue, she will push him out, and that will
finish him, both in the dream and in reality. This episode
involves several "layers" of reality and is a nice one.
JUDGEMENT NIGHT *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Nehemiah Persoff, Ben Wright, Patrick McNee, Hugh Sanders,
Leslie Bradley, Deirdre Owen, James Franciscus
Murky tale about a passenger aboard a wartime freighter who
is certain the ship will be sunk at 1:15 AM.
LW: Serling had a thing about ship stories, and they were almost
always rather poor. Oh well.
AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman, James Hutton, Maxine Cooper
After three astronauts return from man's first space flight,
each of them mysteriously disappears. Based on a short story by
Richard Matheson.
SJ: Serling was so impressed by Matheson's work that he was later
asked to write more episodes himself.
LW: A good episode concerning the subject of "what IS reality?"
WHAT YOU NEED ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Steve Cochran, Ernest Treux, Reed Morgan, William Edmonson,
Arline Sax
Swindler Fred Renard (Cochran) tries to profit from an amiable
fellow's talent for seeing into the future. Based on a short story
by Lewis Padgett.
THE FOUR OF US ARE DYING **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Harry Townes, Beverly Garland, Philip Pine, Ross Martin,
Don Gordon
Arch Hammer (Townes) can alter his face to make it look like
anyone else's. Based on a short story by George Johnson.
LW: Not one of the best efforts.
THIRD FROM THE SUN ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Richard Bare
Cast: Fritz Weaver, Joe Maros, Edward Andrews, Denise Alexander,
Lori March
Weird camera angles and special props left over from MGM'S
FORBIDDEN PLANET bolster this story about two families planning to
leave a war-threatened world via spaceship.
LW: Edward Andrews did at least one other "Twilight Zone", and
countless other television shows and movies over the years. A
great character actor, he usually is cast into roles involving
rather evil, devious, or just plain unlikable men.
I SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE AIR ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Edward Binns, Dewey Martin
After supposedly landing on another planet, an astronaut kills
his comrades to prolong his own life. Based on a short story by
Madeline Champion.
THE HITCH-HIKER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Inger Stevens, Leonard Strong, Adam Williams, Lew Gallo,
Dwight Townsend
Driving cross-country, a woman becomes panicky when she
continually sees the same ominous hitch-hiker on the road ahead.
Based on a story by Lucille Fletcher.
SJ: a personal favorite.
LW: "Going MY way?" ...
THE FEVER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Everett Sloane, Bibi Janiss, William Kendis, Lee Miller
A gambling-hating man named Franklin Gibbs (Sloane) battles
a Las Vegas slot machine with a malevolent mind of its own.
SJ: Another favorite of mine.
LW: Well, let's be careful now, he THINKS it has a mind of its own,
but we don't REALLY know that. Still, it might have at that...
THE LAST FLIGHT ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: William Claxton
Cast: Kenneth Haigh, Alexander Scourby, Simon Scott, Robert Warwick
A British World War I flyer lands at a modern air base in 1959.
LW: A minor time paradox is involved in this plot.
THE PURPLE TESTAMENT ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Richard Bare
Cast: William Reynolds, Dick York, Barney Phillips, William Phipps,
Warren Oates, Marc Cavell, Ron Masak, Paul Mazursky
Powerful tale about a lieutenant with the ability to predict
which men in his outfit will be killed in battle.
LW: Powerful, yes. But I never cared much for it. Dick York, by the
way, played Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) Stevens' first husband
in "Bewitched".
ELEGY ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Cecil Kellaway, Jeff Morrow, Kevin Hagen, Don Dubbins
Three astronauts land on a world where everyone is in a
trance-like state. They then encounter an eccentric old gent
named Mr. Wickwire (Kellaway), who apparently runs the planet.
MIRROR IMAGE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Joe Hamilton
In a nearly deserted bus depot, a woman finds herself haunted
by her double.
LW: One of my personal favorites. This episode has a great "creepy"
atmosphere. Martin Milner later starred in "Adam 12".
THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Claude Akins, Jack Wagner, Ben Erway, Lyn Guild
Hysteria grips a small community as residents suspect a power
failure has been caused by invaders from outer space disguised as
Earthmen.
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Howard Duff, Eileen Ryan, Gail Kobe, Frank Maxwell, Peter Walker
A business man's working world inexplicably becomes the set for a
film in which he has become a character.
LW: Another of my favorites. The poor guy suddenly discovers that he
is talking into a prop telephone!
LONG LIVE WALTER JAMESON **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Tony Leader
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Edgar Stehli, Estelle Winwood, Dody Heath
An effective horror story in the tradition of "The Man in Half
Moon Street." History professor Walter Jameson (McCarthy), an expert
on the Civil War, is actually immortal and well over 200 years old.
LW: The first of a couple of episodes on this basic theme.
PEOPLE ARE ALIKE ALL OVER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: David Orrick
Cast: Roddy McDowell, Susan Oliver, Paul Comi, Byron Morrow,
Vic Perrin
An astronaut (McDowell) is pleased to find that people on
Mars act just like people at home. Based on a short story by
Paul W. Fairman.
LW: A TZ classic.
EXECUTION ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Albert Salmi, Russel Johnson, Than Wyenn, George Mitchell,
Jon Lormer
A western outlaw (Salmi) is snatched from the hangman's noose by
a modern day scientist (Johnson) and his time machine.
LW: Russel Johnson, by the way, also had the distinction of playing
"The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island", some years later! From
the Twilight Zone to Gilligan's Island. Sigh...
THE BIG TALL WISH *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Ivan Dixon, Steve Perry, Kim Hamilton
A child's faith in miracles helps a down-and-out boxer win an
important match.
LW: Ever since "Requiem for a Heavyweight", Rod also had a thing about
boxing plots. The Twilight Zone versions of these tended to be
comparatively poor.
A NICE PLACE TO VISIT ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Larry Blyden, Sebastion Cabot, Sandra Warner
While committing a crime, a cheap hood (Blyden) gets killed and
finds an afterlife in which all wishes are granted.
LW: Sebastion is great as the, well, "helper" in the afterlife (he's
called "Pip".) Sebastion starred in many other roles both before
and after this of course.
NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Janice Rule, Terry Burnham, Shepperd Strudwick
Schoolteacher Helen Foley (Rule) is haunted by the recurring
image of herself as a child.
LW: Time paradoxes play a minor role in this episode.
A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parrish
Cast: James Daly, Howard Smith, Patricia Donahue, James Maloney
Harried by his high-pressure job, an executive falls asleep on
a train and wakes at a mysterious stop called Willoughby.
LW: Another "classic", though objectively speaking, not a truly great
episode.
THE CHASER ***
Writer: Robert Presnell, Jr.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: George Grizzard, John McIntyre, Patricia Barry
A loser in the game of love purchases a special potion from a
weird "doctor". Based on a short story by John Collier.
LW: The doctor's name was somthing like "A. Demon" by the way, to
give you some idea of what his practice was like...
PASSAGE FOR TRUMPET ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Medford
Cast: Jack Klugman, Mary Webster, John Anderson, Frank Wolff
An unsuccessful trumpet player is given a second crack at life -
after he is struck and killed by a truck, but first he has to learn
what it's like to be "dead" in a world full of life...
LW: The first of several dramatic appearances on TZ by Klugman, later
to become familiar to us all as the sloppy Oscar Madison on "The
Odd Couple".
MR. BEVIS **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parrish
Cast: Orson Bean, Henry Jones, Charles Lane, William Schallert
A kindly fellow's life is turned topsy-turvy when he receives
"help" from his guardian angel (Jones).
LW: Sigh. Poor Orson Bean (familiar to all) starred in this the first
of two almost identical (except for details) TZ episodes on the
subject of guardian angels. Neither was particularly good.
THE AFTER HOURS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Anne Francis, Elizabeth Allen, James Millholin, John Conwell
A woman (Francis) discovers that the floor of a department store
on which she bought an item doesn't exist, and that the salesgirl was,
in reality, a mannequin.
LW: Anne Francis we all know. This episode is one of the most
memorable in the TZ series.
THE MIGHTY CASEY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Jack Warden, Robert Sorrells, Don O'Kelly, Abraham Sofaer
The manager of a baseball team adds a new man to the fold - a
robot named Casey.
LW: This episode is told as a fable, and is presented in a rather
"tongue-in-cheek" manner. Fun if not taken too seriously.
A WORLD OF HIS OWN *****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Keenan Wynn, Phyliss Kirk, Mary LaRoche
Serio-comedy, as a playwright creates true-to-life characters on
his tape machine. They are so true that he can make tham appear in the
room with him!
SJ: This episode has the strangest and funniest ending of the series.
LW: An EXCELLENT episode, which indeed has the most bizarre ending of
any show in the entire TZ run. Highly recommended. Keenan Wynn
plays a truly delightful character in this comedy/drama.
SECOND SEASON 1960-1961
KING NINE WILL NOT RETURN **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Bob Cummings, Paul Lambert, Gene Lyons, Seymour Green,
Richard Lupino, Jenna MacMahon
After crashing in the desert, a bomber pilot (Cummings) is
haunted by the images of his dead crew.
LW: Basically a rather dry plot (no pun intended to those who remember
this episode in detail.) Bob Cummings has starred in many random
roles in television and movies over the years.
THE MAN IN THE BOTTLE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Medford
Cast: Luther Adler, Vivi Janiss, Lisa Golm, Joseph Ruskin, Olan Soule,
Peter Cole, Albert Szabo
A pawnbroker (Adler) is granted four wishes by a sinister genie.
LW: A favorite! The genie is a truly sinister character, who simply
exudes terror, even as he offers the poor pawnbroker and his wife
the almost limitless dreams of four wishes. They learn the hard
way that every silver lining has a cloud attached.
NERVOUS MAN IN A FOUR DOLLAR ROOM ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Joe Mantell, William D. Gordon
Unusual character study about a petty hood who literally
confronts his "conscience" in a mirror.
LW: In fact, 95% of the plot consists solely of this deep
confrontation with no other characters involved. An
interesting episode.
A THING ABOUT MACHINES ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Dave McDearmon
Cast: Richard Haydn, Barbara Stuart, Barney Phillips
A machine-hating writer is suddenly hunted by a small army of
mechanical devices.
LW: There is a classic TZ television promo which includes a cut of an
electric razor slowly loping down the stairs in an attempt to get
this guy! A very good segment.
THE HOWLING MAN ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: H. M. Wynant, John Carradine, Robin Hughes, Estelle Poule
Classic episode about a man (Wynant) who takes refuge in a
European monastery during a thunderstorm. He is told by the bearded,
saintly Brother Jerome (Carradine) that the prisoner locked in an cell
is no ordinary human being--he is the Devil himself! Atmospheric music
(by Bernard Herrmann) and a terrific transformation sequence add to
the tale's effectiveness.
SJ: This episode is my all time favorite episode and rates 6 stars.
LW: Well, I only give it 4 stars, but it still is a good one.
THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER *****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: William B. Gordon, Donna Douglas, Jennifer Howard, Joanna Heyes
Another outstanding entry in the series. Plastic surgeons
in some unknown society make one final attempt to improve a young
woman's face so that she can live among "normal people." William
Tuttle's make-ups are some of the most horrifying ever conceived
for television.
LW: Definitely in the super-classic catagory. One of the most
amazing pieces of camera work ever done for televsion. Beautifully
conceived and executed. I believe that this episode was originally
titled, "A Private World of Darkness" or "Her Private World of
Darkness".
NICK OF TIME ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Richard L. Bare
Cast: William Shatner, Patricia Breslin
A newlywed husband (Shatner) is fascinated by a fortune-telling
machine that makes uncanny predictions about his life.
LW: A rather YOUNG Shatner, in his pre-Federation days of course.
THE LATENESS OF THE HOUR ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Inger Stevens, John Hoyt
The faultless precision of robot servants invented by her father
begins to annoy a young woman (Stevens). Originally done on video
tape.
LW: Of course, John Hoyt has a long history of many appearances in
films and television. Two "SF" efforts of his that come to mind
are "The Time Travelers" and "Flesh Gordon" (Of course, I am using
the term "SF" rather loosely in the latter case...)
THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPLETON *
Writer: E. Jack Neuman
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Brian Aherne, Pippa Scott
An aging actor is given a sobering glimpse at the past he holds
so dear.
LW: Not good. Dry, boring, and basically a loser.
A MOST UNUSUAL CAMERA ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Rich
Cast: Fred Clark, Jean Carson, Adam Williams
Examining their latest haul, two-bit thieves discover a camera
that can predict the future.
LW: A memorable, and rather humorous, classic. A fine episode.
NIGHT OF THE MEEK ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Art Carney, John Fielder, Meg Wylie, Robert Lieb
Sensitive, well-acted drama about a department store Santa Claus
(Carney) who ends up being the real thing. Originally done on video
tape.
SJ: My second favorite...a 5 star episode.
LW: Well, we have a disagreement here. It is a nice episode, but
so sopping in sentimentality that even I have problems with it.
Still, Carney puts forth a first rate performance.
DUST ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Thomas Gomez, Vladimir Sokoloff, John Alonso, John Larch
On the day of his execution, a man's father is conned by a
vicious traveling salesman (Gomez) who sells him "magic dust"
capable of eliminating hate.
LW: Not terribly good, but a well done period piece.
BACK THERE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: David Orrick McDearmon
Cast: Russel Johnson, Paul Hartman
A man is catapulted backward into time to the moments preceding
the assassination of President Lincoln. The stirring score by Jerry
Goldsmith [who recently did the score for ST-TMP] was later heard as
background music for ABC'S WIDE WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT mysteries.
LW: Note that Russel Johnson (Gilligan's Island) has shown up
again, in another time travel oriented piece! A serious question
concerning the structure of time is brought forth in this episode.
THE WHOLE TRUTH ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: James Sheldon
Cast: Jack Carson, Jack Ging, Nan Peterson, George Chandler
An unsrupulous car salesman (Carson) meets his match in a haunted
auto with a mind of its own.
LW: Imagine! A used car dealer FORCED to tell the truth. Something
like that could put late night television out of business. In any
case, this is a rather amusing episode.
THE INVADERS ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Agnes Moorehead
In this classic episode, an old woman in an isolated farm
house must battle a horde of extraterrestrial invaders. In the end,
Moorehead takes an axe to their starship and demolishes, in reality,
FORBIDDEN PLANET'S famous space cruiser! No actual dialog until the
final sequence.
LW: A classic indeed!
A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS ****
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: James Sheldon
Cast: Dick York, Hayden Rourke, Dan Tobin, June Dayton
Unusual tale about a timid bank teller (York) who suddenly gains
the ability to read people's minds after a freak accident.
LW: Dick York (Bewitched) returns. This is a nice, light episode, and
I've always liked it. We learn that being able to read minds is
no picnic!
TWENTY TWO ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Barbara Nichols, Jonathan Harris, Fredd Wayne
A woman is haunted by a recurring nightmare that always ends with
her being escorted to hospital room 22 - the morgue.
LW: In fact, she is having this dream while IN the hospital! I am
told that this episode resulted in lots of nightmares when it
originally ran, and it does have some terribly creeping elements.
The nightmare sequences are excellent. We must not overlook
Jonathan Harris who plays the doctor in this episode. Good old
Jonathan later played the evil/tragic/comical Dr. Zackery Smith
in "Lost in Space"! This episode made the line "Room for one more,
honey." a TZ classic.
THE ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33 ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: J. Addiss
Cast: John Anderson, Sandy Kenyon, Paul Comi, Harp McGuire,
Wayne Heffley, Nancy Rennick, Beverly Brown
A commercial airliner becomes unstuck in time. The prehistoric
sequence, courtesy of Jack Harris, was unused footage from the movie
DINOSAURS.
MR. DINGLE, THE STRONG ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Don Rickles
Several weird-looking extraterrestrials appear in this
episode about a timid little man (Meredith) who is given superpowers
by a double-headed Martian experimenter. Don Rickles is customarily
caustic as a character named Bragg.
LW: This is a pretty funny episode.
STATIC **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Dean Jagger, Carmen Mathews, Robert Emhardt
An old radio provides a valuable link with the past for two
elderly lovers. Originally done on video tape; based on a short
story by Ocee Ritch.
THE PRIME MOVER ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Richard L. Bare
Cast: Dane Clark, Buddy Ebsen
A telekinetic gentleman (Ebsen) is used to win some big money
for a greedy man (Clark) at the gambling casinos.
LW: Sure 'nuf: Jedd Clampett, from "The Beverly Hillbillies", on a
Twilight Zone. Seriously, good acting by Ebsen.
LONG DISTANCE CALL ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont and William Idelson
Director: James Sheldon
Cast: Billy Mumy, Phillip Abbott, Patricia Smith, Lili Darvas
Powerful episode about a little boy with a toy telephone by
which he mysteriously remains in contact with his dead grandmother.
Originally done on video tape.
LW: Billy Mumy later starred as Will Robinison in "Lost in Space". In
fact, Mumy had many parts as a child over many years, including
another TZ episode we have yet to cover. He dropped out of sight
a few years ago, and I believe now plays guitar and sings rock
music in some L.A. nightclub. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
A HUNDRED YEARS OVER THE RIM ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Cliff Robertson, Miranda Jones
A western settler mysteriously enters the 20th century when he
goes off in search of medication for his dying son.
THE RIP VAN WINKLE CAPER ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Justus Addiss
Cast: Oscar Beregi, Simon Oakland, Lew Gallo, John Mitchum
Four thieves steal gold bullion and place themselves in suspended
animation for a hundred years.
LW: Robbie's car from FORBIDDEN PLANET is used in this episode.
THE SILENCE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Boris Segal
Cast: Franchot Tone, Liam Sullivan, Jonathan Harris
A man (Tone), sick of the incessant chatter of a fellow club
member (Sullivan), offers him a half million dollars if he can keep
silent for a full year.
LW: Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) has a fairly minor role in the story.
Tone manages to win the bet, but pays a dear price in the process.
SHADOW PLAY ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Dennis Weaver, Harry Townes, Wright King
An hysterical young man (Weaver) tries to persuade the judge, who
sentenced him to death, that he and the people around are just part of
a recurring nightmare.
SJ: Another of my favorites.
LW: This is a good one, and deals directly with issues of realities
within realities. Dennis Weaver does a fine job in this segment.
THE MIND AND THE MATTER ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Shelly Berman, Jack Grinnage, Jeanne Wood, Chet Stratton
A book on the power of thought enables a meek clerk (Berman) to
create a world exactly as he would want it.
LW: This is basically a comedy, and it is pretty good.
WILL THE REAL MARTIAN PLEASE STAND UP *****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Montgomery Pittman
Cast: Morgan Jones, John Archer, Bill Kendis, John Hoyt, Jean Willes,
Jack Elam, Barney Phillips
Offbeat entry about a pair of state troopers who must determine
which member of a bus trip is, in reality, a Martian invader.
LW: A real classic, this is that second effort by John Hoyt which I
alluded to above. Has a great sight gag near the beginning. The
production company that did all the TZ's was called "CAYUGA". The
bus passengers spend most of the episode off the bus and in a
diner. We get a glimpse of the writing on the side of the bus,
and it says, "CAYUGA BUS"!
THE OBSOLETE MAN ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Eliot Silverstein
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Fritz Weaver
Meredith delivers an emotion-packed performance in this symbolic
tale about a librarian judged "obsolete" by a totalitarian society of
the future.
LW: An excellent episode.
THIRD SEASON 1961-1962
TWO ***
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
Cast: Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, Sharon Lucas
In this contemporary Adam and Eve story, the two lone, frightened
survivors of a nuclear holocaust must start the world afresh.
LW: Golly, we got the other half of "Bewitched", Elizabeth Montgomery
(Samantha) herself. Strange how so many people from TZ episodes
went on to work together in the late 60's. Or maybe not so strange
when you consider the relationships built up with MGM and other
studios over this period.
THE ARRIVAL ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Boris Segal
Cast: Harold J. Stone, Bing Russell, Robert Karnes, Noah Keen,
Jim Boles, Robert Brubaker, Fredd Wayne
The aviation administration is completely baffled by the
appearance of a mysterious empty airliner - until an examiner poses
the unlikely but apparently sound theory that the craft is imaginary.
THE SHELTER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Lamount Johnson
Cast: Larry Gates, Peggy Stewart, Michael Burne, Jack Albertson,
Jo Helton, Joseph Bernard, Moria Turner, Sandy Kenyon,
Mary Gregory, John McLiam
When a possible nuclear attack is announced, several suburban
friends and neighbors are reduced to selfish, vicious animals in a
struggle over one family's bomb shelter.
LW: A strong cast (including Jack Albertson) lend power to this
dramatic story of emotions and fears running wild during a
yellow alert.
THE PASSERBY **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Eliot Silverstein
Cast: Joanne Linville, James Gregory, Rex Holman, David Garcia,
Warren Kammering, Austin Green
A company of Civil War soldiers who believe they are marching
home from battle soon come to realize that they are actually dead.
A GAME OF POOL ****
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: A. E. Houghton
Cast: Jonathan Winters, Jack Klugman
A young pool player finds himself playing against a long-dead
master pool shark. The stakes: his life.
LW: A good one. Klugman and Winters are the only actors onstage at
any time during this powerful and well acted episode.
THE MIRROR **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Medford
Cast: Peter Falk, Tony Carbone, Richard Karlan, Arthur Batanides,
Rodolfo Hoyos, Will Kuluva, Vladimir Sokoloff, Val Ruffino
In the state offices of an overthrown government, a revolutionary
leader uses a mirror reported to possess strange powers - it can show
the viewer the face of the person who will kill him.
LW: An interesting role for Faulk. The segment is really not terribly
good. The country is obviously a thinly obscured representation of
Castro's Cuba.
THE GRAVE ***
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
Cast: Lee Marvin, James Best, Strother Martin, Ellen Willrad,
Lee VanCleef, William Challee, Stafford Repp, Larry Johns,
Richard Geary
When a gunman scornfully defiles an outlaw's grave, he sees the
man's dying threats come true.
LW: Not a bad cast for a TZ! Not a terribly good story, but well done
nevertheless.
ITS A GOOD LIFE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jim Sheldon
Cast: Billy Mumy, John Larch, Cloris Leachman, Tom Hatcher,
Alice Frost, Don Keefer, Jeanne Bates, Lenore Kingston,
Casey Adams
A rural community is held terrorized by the unearthly powers of
a young boy. Based on a short story by Jerome Bixby.
LW: Billy Mumy and (a relatively young) Cloris Leachman playing on
TZ. Will wonders never cease? This is an interesting episode,
particularly since Serling had to spend the first five minutes
setting up the basic premise of the story by using a U.S. map
and individually introducing us to the main characters! If you
have ever read the classic story of the same name by Bixby, you
will know why this was necessary.
DEATHS-HEAD REVISITED **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Medford
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Oscar Beregi, Chuck Fox, Karen Verne,
Robert Boone, Ben Wright
A visit to a concentration camp at Dachau forces a former Nazi
to confront the horrifying ghosts of his ghastly wartime crimes.
LW: A well-meaning episode, but rather poor in overall quality.
THE MIDNIGHT SUN ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Anton Leader
Cast: Lois Nettleton, Betty Garde, Jason Wingreen, Juney Ellis,
Ned Glass, Robert J. Stevenson, John McLiam, Tom Reese,
William Keene
The Earth is being slowly drawn into the sun, causing
drought, devastating heat waves - and panic. This episode
features an outstanding musical score by Van Cleave.
LW: A fine episode.
STILL VALLEY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jim Sheldon
Cast: Gary Merrill, Ben Cooper, Vaughn Taylor, Addison Myers,
Mark Tapscott, Jack Mann
A strange book presents the Confederate Army with a difficult
choice: they can win the Civil War - but they must make a pact with
the Devil. Based on a short story by Manley Wade Wellman.
THE JUNGLE **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: William Claxton
Cast: John Dehner, Emily McLaughlin, Walter Brooks, Hugh Sanders,
Howard Wright, Donald Foster, Jay Overholts, Jay Adler
A contractor who has violated certain African lands must deal
with the fury of the African tribal wizard, even back home in the
United States.
ONCE UPON A TIME ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Buster Keaton, Stanley Adams, Gil Lamb, James Flavin,
Michael Ross, Milton Parsons, George E. Stone, Warren Parker
A janitor in the late 1800s finds himself in the next century
when he innocently fiddles with his inventor-employer's contraption.
LW: Boy, is THIS a strange one! Note the presence of Buster Keaton
as the main character in the cast. The whole beginning and ending
segments of the show (whenever we are in 1880) are done as a
SILENT FILM! We get the usual slightly sped up effect, piano
music, and dialog cards. When we go into the future (or rather,
OUR present), we suddenly go from silent mode to regular sound,
regular speed photography! This is one of the class of Twilight
Zone comedies, and is a very good one indeed.
FIVE CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN EXIT ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: William Windom, Murray Matheson, Susan Harrison, Kelton Garwood,
Clark Allen, Mona Houghton, Carol Hill
Five people trying to escape from some sort of large cylindrical
container have no memory of who they are or how they came to be there.
One is a soldier, one a clown, one a dancer, and one a bagpiper. At
least I think there was a bagpiper. Hmm. There was also one other
character (total must equal five for the title to work!) Based on a
short story by Marvin Petal.
LW: A good cast, and what has to be about the simplest set ever used
in a TZ, or almost any other television show for that matter.
A QUALITY OF MERCY **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Albert Salmi, Rayford Barnes, Ralph Votrian,
Leonard Nimoy, Dale Ishimoto, Jerry Fujikawa, Michael Pataki
A soldier gets a fresh, frightening perspective on his
militaristic ways when he suddenly experiences a war situation
from the enemy's point of view.
LW: The only notable element of this episode is Leonard Nimoy in a
relatively minor role.
NOTHING IN THE DARK ***
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Robert Redford, R. G. Armstrong
A frightened old woman who has sealed herself off from the world
to avoid confronting death, admits a wounded policeman and soon learns
that she may have made a big mistake.
ONE MORE PALLBEARER ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Joseph Wiseman, Trevor Bardette, Gage Clark, Katherine Squire,
Josip Elic, Robert Snyder, Ray Galvin
A rich man schemes to wreak revenge on three people who humiliated
him at various points in his life. How? By staging a fake nuclear war,
just for their benefit.
DEAD MAN'S SHOES **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Montgomery Pittman
Cast: Warren Stevens, Harry Swoger, Ben Wright, Joan Marshall,
Eugene Borden, Richard Devon, Florence Marly, Ron Haggerthy,
Joe Mell
When a derelict dons the shoes of a dead gangster, he finds
himself following the course of the dead man's life.
LW: Not very good really, but it has a couple of fair moments.
SHOWDOWN WITH RANCE McGREW ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: C. Nyby
Cast: Larry Blyden, William McLean, Troy Melton, Jay Overholts,
Robert J. Stevenson, Robert Cornwaithe, Arch Johnson,
Robert Kline, Hal K. Dawson
An obnoxious cowboy star gets his comeuppance whan he suddenly
finds himself confronting one of the outlaws who has been poorly
presented in his television show.
LW: Tongue-in-cheek. Fairly humorous.
THE HUNT ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Harold Schuster
Cast: Arthur Hunnicutt, Jeanette Nolan, Titus Moede, Orville Sherman,
Charles Seel, Robert Foulk, Dexter DuPont
When a hunter and his dog are killed while stalking their prey,
they go to the Gates of Heaven, where they must deal with St. Peter.
Or IS it really St. Peter?
KICK THE CAN *
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Ernest Treux, Russell Collins, Hank Patterson, Earle Hodgins,
Burt Mustin, Gregory McCabe, Marjorie Bennett, Lenore Shanewise,
Anne O'Neal, John Marley, Barry Treux, Eve McVeagh, Marc Stevens
A children's game somehow offers rejuvenative powers to an old man.
LW: Blech. Sopping sentimentality again. A number of these crept into
the series.
A PIANO IN THE HOUSE **
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: David Greene
Cast: Barry Morse, Joan Jackett, Don Durant, Phil Coolidge,
Cyril Delevanti, Muriel Landers
The right tune played on a mysterious player piano will reveal
the listener's true nature.
LW: Note the presence of Barry Morse (later of "Space: 1999" among
other shows).
TO SERVE MAN *****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Richard Bare
Cast: Richard Kiel, Hardie Albright, Robert Tafur, Lomax Study,
Theodore Marcuse, Susan Cummings, Nelson Olmstead,
Lloyd Bochner
When aliens come to Earth bearing promises of a utopian
existence, the military's suspicions and skepticism eventually
prove justified. But too late. The alien "Canamits" were executed
by make-up artist William Tuttle. Based on a short story by Damon
Knight.
LW: This is a "super-classic". Probably the most popular TZ episode of
all time, and one of my personal top favorites as well. EXCELLENT.
THE LAST RITES OF JEFF MYRTLEBANK **
Writer/Director: Montgomery Pittman
Cast: James Best, Ralph Moody, Ezelle Pouley, Vickie Barnes,
Sherry Jackson, Helen Wallace, Lance Fuller, Bill Fawcett,
Edgar Buchanan, Mabel Forrest, Dub Taylor, Jon Lormer,
Pat Hector
Because a young man has seemingly awakened from the dead, the
superstitious townspeople assume he is possessed by the Devil.
THE FUGITIVE **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Richard L. Bare
Cast: J. Pat O'Malley, Susan Gordon, Nancy Kulp, Wesley Lau,
Paul Tripp, Stephen Talbot, Johnny Eiman, Russ Bender
A magical old gentleman uses his powers to help a sick little
girl, thus risking being returned to his home planet if agents of
his planet locate him.
LITTLE GIRL LOST *****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Paul Stewart
Cast: Sarah Marshall, Robert Sampson, Charles Aidman, Tracy Stratford
A couple can hear their daughter's desperate cries, yet she is
nowhere to be found - she's fallen through an invisible "hole" in her
wall, and is lost in the fourth dimension.
LW: Another classic. Another excellent episode.
PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Richard Long, Frank Silvera, Shirley Ballard, Julie Van Zandt,
Betty Harford, Ed Glover, Michael Kelp, Joe Higgins, John Newton
A man's day gets off to a bizarre start when he awakens to
discover that no one knows who he is.
LW: Richard Long also starred in several other TZ's over the years.
THE GIFT **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Allen Parker
Cast: Geoffrey Horne, Nico Minardos, Cliff Osmond, Edmund Vargas,
Carmen D'Antonio, Paul Mazursky, Vladimir Sokoloff, Vito Scotti,
Henry Corden
A group of Mexican villagers are convinced that a downed flyer
is, in fact, an extraterrestrial.
THE LITTLE PEOPLE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Bill Claxton
Cast: Joe Maross, Claude Akins, Michael Ford
Everything is relative, as a space traveler soon learns when he
proceeds to lord his size over the tiny folk who inhabit a planetoid.
FOUR O'CLOCK **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Theodore Bikel, Phyllis Love, Linden Chiles, Moyna MacGill
Based on a short story by Price Day.
Theodore Bikel is cast as demented Oliver Crangle, a man dedicated to the
expulsion of evil... at all costs. His plan: reduce all the evil people in the
world to 2 feet tall, at 4 o'clock.
THE TRADE-INS ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Joseph Schildkraut, Noah Keen, Alma Platt, Ted Marcuse,
Edson Stroll, Terrene De Marney, Billy Vincent, Mary McMahon,
David Armstrong
Youth isn't all it's cracked up to be, as an old man learns when
a mind and personality transplant gives him a lonely new life in a
young new body.
LW: Actually, he doesn't get the body until near the end of the show.
The primary focus of the episode is that he and his wife only have
enough money for ONE of them to be transplanted. A good show.
HOCUS POCUS AND FRISBY ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Andy Devine, Milton Selzer, Howard McNear, Dabbs Greer,
Clem Bevans, Larry Breitman, Peter Brocco
The town windbag so impresses a visiting group of aliens (who are
masquerading as humans) with his tall tale stories that they attempt
to take him back to their planet for study as a prime Earth specimen.
Based on a short story by Frederic Louis Fox.
LW: Crusty-voiced Andy is perfect in his role. Very humorous.
THE DUMMY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Abner Bibberman
Cast: Cliff Robertson, Frank Sutton, George Murdock, John Harmon,
Sandra Warner, Ralph Manza, Rudy Dolan, Bethelynn Grey
A cut-rate ventriloquist starts believing that his dummy actually
has a mind - and a will - of its own. Based on a story by Leon Polk.
THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Ellis Miller
Cast: Donald Pleasance, Liam Sullivan, Phillippa Bevans, Kevin O'Neal,
Jimmy Baird, Kevin Jones, Tom Lowell, Russ Horton, Buddy Hart,
Darryl Richard, James Browning, Bob Biheller, Dennis Kerlee,
Pat Close
A popular teacher faces the prospect of a life without purpose
when he is asked to retire from his post.
LW: Very little socially redeeming value to this one.
YOUNG MAN'S FANCY **
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Phyllis Thaxter, Alex Nicol, Wallace Rooney, Ricky Kelman,
Helen Brown
A young man yearns so desperately for the days of his youth that
the past does, in fact, reappear.
LW: In fact, he becomes a little boy again, and goes back to his
mother (deserting his fiance). There is a scene in the episode
where the fiance sees the elements of the man's youth, right up
to his mother, start to appear around them.
I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC *
Writer: Ray Bradbury
Director: James Sheldon
Cast: Josephine Hutchinson, David White, June Vincent, Vaughn Taylor,
Charles Herbert, Dana Dillaway, Paul Nesbitt, Susan Crane,
Veronica Cartwright, Judy Morton
A girl comes to understand that a grandmother can be a tender,
thoughtful, caring, loving woman. Even if she is a robot.
LW: To all the Bradbury fans out there, I'm sorry, but this episode
is TERRIBLE. Probably one of the five worst TZ's ever made. Is
dripping in sentimentality, has rather poor acting, and is
generally a lose.
CAVENDER IS COMING ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Chris Nyby
Cast: Carol Burnett, Jesse White, Howard Smith, William O'Connell,
Pitt Herbert, John Fielder, Stanley Jones, Frank Behrens,
Albert Carrier, Roy Sickner, Norma Shattuc, Rory O'Brien,
Sandra Gould, Adrienne Marden, Jack Younger, Danny Kulick,
Donna Douglas, Maurice Dallimore, Barbara Morrison
In this pilot for a never-launched series, a klutzy guardian
angel's attempts to make a bumbling woman happy don't work out quite
as expected.
LW: If it weren't for the presence of Carol Burnett and Jesse White,
I would only give this TWO stars. Another guardian angel plot.
Obviously, it was a comedy. Carol tries hard despite a horrid
script. Jesse White has played many character roles, but perhaps
is best known as the lonely Maytag repairman! The basic plot is
VERY similar to the "Mr. Bemis" episode above. By the way, this
episode had one very unusual aspect, it was the only TZ with a
LAUGHTRACK!
FOURTH SEASON Jan-May 1963
SJ: These episodes are one hour in length. They WERE sold into
syndication but none of the networks air the episodes since
they only allow half-hour slots for the show.
LW: Further investigation on my part seems to indicate that they were
indeed made available for syndication at one time, but apparently
nobody picked them up. Two things should be noted. First of all,
the "networks" never buy syndicated programs. Local stations (be
they independents, network affiliates, or network owned and
operated) are the entities that buy syndicated programming. Oddly
enough, at least two major markets (L.A., and apparently N.Y.)
have independent stations which run the half hour shows back to
back in a one hour slot. Clearly they COULD in theory run the one
hour shows if they wanted to, but either nobody wants to or else
there are some sort of legal/logistic complications in doing so,
even assuming they are still available for syndication.
IN HIS IMAGE ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Perry Lafferty
Cast: George Grizzard, Gail Kobe, Katherine Squire, Wallace Rooney,
Sherry Granato, James Seay, Joseph Sargent, Jamie Forster
The first hour installment of THE TWILIGHT ZONE concerns a young
man who murders an old woman for no apparent reason. He also discovers
all sorts of discrepencies in his memories of the town where he
THOUGHT he was currently living. In the end he discovers a horrible
truth about himself.
LW: I like this one. It does a good job of portraying fear and
confusion as our hero finds himself deeper and deeper within a
nightmarish situation. By the way, the opening scene of this
episode is a REAL winner, something to gladden the heart of many
of us.
THE THIRTY-FATHOM GRAVE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Paul Lafferty
Cast: Mike Kellin, Simon Oakland, David Shiener, Bill Bixby, Tony Call,
John Considine, Conlan Carter, Derrick Lewis, Charles Kuenstle
The crew of a Navy destroyer hear strange tapping noises coming
from a submarine that sank 20 years before.
LW: This was another famous nightmare producing episode. Bill Bixby?
He was later of "My Favorite Martian" and several more recent
programs, such as "The Magician" and "The Incredible Hulk".
THE MUTE ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Frank Overton, Barbara Baxley, Ann Jilliann, Irene Dailey,
Hal Riddle, Percy Helton, Oscar Beregi, Eva Soreny
A little girl raised on telepathic communication must adjust to
the spoken word after her parents are killed in a fire.
JESS-BELLE ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: Anne Francis, James Best, Laura Devon, Jeanette Nolan,
Virginia Gregg, George Mitchell, Helen Kleeb, Jim Boles,
Jon Lormer
Thrilleresque occult yarn about a woman (Francis) who sells her
soul to the Devil to recapture the love of a former suitor (Best).
Rural witchery from the creator of THE WALTONS.
DEATH SHIP ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Dan Medford
Cast: Jack Klugman, Ross Martin, Fredrick Beir, Sara Taft,
Ross Elliot, Mary Webster
Sets, props, costumes and stock footage from FORBIDDEN PLANET
enhance this tale about three space travelers who discover their
own crashed ship and dead bodies when they investigate a strange
reflection on a planet surface.
LW: This is really a good episode. It has true recursion, and is one
of the more memorable episodes. Klugman we know from previous
TZ's. Ross Martin played James West's "sidekick" Artemis Gordon
in "The Wild Wild West".
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Perry Lafferty
Cast: Ed Nelson, Natalie Trundy, David Opatoshu, James Doohan,
Suzanne Capito, Dabbs Greer
A reporter (Nelson) wanders into a backwoods town and discovers
an incredible secret that might cause the end of the world.
HE'S ALIVE **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Ludwig Donath, Curt Conway, Howard Caine,
Barnaby Hale, Paul Mazursky, Bernard Pein, Jay Adler
The "he" of this title refers to Adolf Hitler. A young
reactionary (Hopper) is guided by a shadowy figure on methods
to control and mesmerize the populace.
LW: Not too good.
MINIATURE **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Ralph Senesky
Cast: Robert Duvall, Pert Kelton, Barbara Barrie, Len Weinrib,
William Windom, Claire Griswold, Nina Roman, John McLiam
An unhinged man (Duvall) escapes into a fantasy world by visiting
a museum's miniature replica of life in the 1890's.
PRINTER'S DEVIL ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Ralph Senesky
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Robert Serling, Patricia Crowley,
Charles Thompson, Ray Teal, Ryan Hayes, Doris Kemper
A dying newspaper is rescued from oblivion by a mysterious fellow
(Meredith) whose Linotype machine predicts tomorrow's news.
LW: This is a pretty good episode. In fact, most of the episodes that
Burgess had anything to do with turned out well. He can really be
a sinister fellow in this one ...
NO TIME LIKE THE PAST **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Justus Addiss
Cast: Dana Andrews, Patricia Breslin, Robert F. Simon, Violet Rensing,
James Yagi, Tudor Owen, Lindsay Workman, Reta Shaw
A moody scientist (Andrews) travels into the past to prevent the
major catastrophes of history.
LW: One of the problems with the third season was that plot elements
of previous shows began to repeat, and the one hour format was
really too long. This show is an example of both problems.
THE PARALLEL ???
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland
Cast: Steve Forrest, Jacqueline Scott, Frank Aletter,
Shari Lee Bernath, Phillip Abbott, Pete Madsen,
Robert Johnson, Morgan Jones
Following a routine seven-day space flight, an astronaut is
catapulted into a strange parallel universe.
LW: The brain cells in charge of remembering this episode seem to be
on the blink, I cannot remember enough details to rate it. Oh well.
I DREAM OF GENIE ***
Writer: John Furia
Director: Robert Gist
Cast: Howard Morris, Patricia Barry, Loring Smith, Mark Miller,
Robert Ball, Jack Albertson, Joyce Jameson, Bon Hastings
A genie pops out of an old brass lamp and offers one magic wish
to his unwitting liberator.
LW: The bulk of the show consists of our hero visualizing the various
things he could wish for and what the outcome of each wish might
be. Eventually he finds the perfect wish... You may notice a
surface similarity with a previous episode ("The Man in the
Bottle"), but unlike that episode, this one is tongue-in-cheek
and rather humorous.
THE NEW EXHIBIT ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Martin Balsam, Will Kuluva, Maggie Mahoney, William Mims,
Billy Beck, Robert L. McCord, Bob Mitchell
Another episode reminiscent of TV's THRILLER. Much to the
bewilderment of a museum custodian (Balsam), wax figures of five
notorious murderers come to life and begin a series of killings.
OF LATE I THINK OF CLIFFORDVILLE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: David Rich
Cast: Albert Salmi, Julie Newmar, John Anderson, Mary Jackson,
Wright King, Jamie Foster, Guy Raymond
A heartless, very rich man (Salmi) desires to return to the small
town where he was born and start life again. He figures he will end
up even RICHER this time, since he already knows where all the big oil
fields will be, which stocks will go up, etc. A demon (Newmar) obliges
him.
LW: This is the TZ adaptation of the classic story "Blind Alley", by
Malcolm Jameson. It is very well done.
THE INCREDIBLE WORLD OF HORACE FORD **
Writer: Reginald Rose
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Pat Hingle, Nan Martin, Phillip Pine, Ruth White, Vaughn Taylor,
Mary Carver, George Spicer, Bella Bruck
Toy manufacturer (Hingle) literally becomes a child again when he
visits his old neighborhood.
ON THURSDAY WE LEAVE FOR HOME ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Buzz Kulik
Cast: James Whitmore, Tim O'Conner, James Broderick, Russ Bender,
Paul Langton, Jo Helton, Mercedes Shirley, John Ward,
Daniel Kulik
Space settlers on a barren world finally get the chance to return
to Earth, but the group's leader (Whitmore) protests. Episode plusses:
strong performances and FORBIDDEN PLANET hardware.
PASSAGE ON THE LADY ANN *
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Lamont Johnson
Cast: Joyce Van Patten, Lee Phillips, Wilfred Hyde-White,
Gladys Cooper, Cecil Kellaway, Alan Napier
Disillusioned young couple (Patten, Phillips) book passage on the
final voyage of an ancient cruise ship inhabited by elderly folks.
LW: Another ship story ... poor, as usual.
THE BARD ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: David Butler
Cast: Jack Weston, Henry Lascoe, John Williams, Marge Redmond,
Doro Merande, Clegg Hoyt, Judy Strangis, Claude Stroud
On-target satire. Hack writer Julius Moomer (Weston) conjures up
William Shakespeare (Williams) to help him write a television script,
but network and sponsor representatives suggest a few changes.
LW: This is a funny one! Willy writing TV scripts. Alot of familiar
character actors in this episode, and a bit part is played by a
young (and relatively unknown) Burt Reynolds!
FIFTH AND FINAL SEASON 1963-1964
LW: The one hour format almost killed the show... it was just too long
and plots tended to really drag. Still, the show returned for one
more season. Things still continued downhill though; much of the
magic of the series was gone forever.
IN PRAISE OF PIP **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Joseph M. Newman
Cast: Jack Klugman, Connie Gilchrist, Billy Mumy, Bob Diamond,
John Launer, Ross Elliot, Gerald Gordon, Stuart Nesbet
Jack Klugman is outstanding as a soul-searching bookie who tries
to make up for the way he raised his son when he learns that the boy
has been seriously wounded in Vietnam. Both Billy Mumy and Bob Diamond
play the kid.
LW: Klugman's performance is the only really positive aspect of this
episode.
STEEL **
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Don Weiss
Cast: Lee Marvin, Joe Mantell, Merritt Bohn, Frank London,
Tipp McClure
In the early 1970's boxing was ruled too violent a sport for
human beings, so sophisticated androids took their place in the ring.
A small time promoter (Marvin) is forced to enter the bout when his
robot protege gets damaged.
NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: William Shatner, Christine White, Edward Kemmer, Asa Maynor,
Nick Cravat
A newly-recovered mental patient (Shatner) on an airplane flying
home peers out the window and sees a bestial creature on the wing,
tampering with one of the engines. Naturally, nobody believes his
story. Tale is enhanced by the marvelous William Tuttle monster
make-up, especially in one shocking close-up.
LW: A classic.
A KIND OF STOP WATCH ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Rich
Cast: Richard Erdman, Herbie Faye, Leon Belasco, Doris Singleton,
Roy Roberts
A talkative and rather unpopular fellow (Erdman) stumbles upon a
watch that can stop all action in the world.
LW: Another classic. Very humorous. Nice effects too.
THE LAST NIGHT OF A JOCKEY *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Mickey Rooney
Rooney is the sole star of this predictable yarn about a jockey
who thinks that being tall will solve all of his personal problems.
LW: I never liked this one at all.
LIVING DOLL ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Richard Sarifian
Cast: Telly Savalas, Tracy Stratford, Mary La Roche
A child's new doll has a most unusual vocabulary. It says things
like "Momma," "Papa" and "I'm going to kill you!".
LW: Alot of people remember this one! Telly in an interesting role.
THE OLD MAN IN THE CAVE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: James Coburn, John Anderson, Josie Lloyd, John Craven,
Natalie Masters, John Marley, Frank Watkins
A group of survivors from a nuclear holocaust continue to survive
through the help of a mysterious "old man in the cave". From a short
story by Henry Slesar.
LW: This was Coburn's only appearance in the series, and he does a
good job.
UNCLE SIMON ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Siegal
Cast: Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Ford, Ian Wolfe, John McLiam
Robby the Robot is featured in this episode. The spirit of an
old inventor avenges himself on his greedy niece when he dies at her
hands.
NIGHT CALL ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Jacques Tourneau
Cast: Gladys Cooper, Nora Marlowe, Martine Bartlett
The ladies are great in this tale about a lonely spinster
(Cooper) who suddenly starts receiving mysterious phone calls.
LW: A really good one which really manipulates your emotions.
PROBE 7 - OVER AND OUT **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Richard Basehart, Antoinette Bower, Frank Cooper, Barton Heyman
The lone survivors (Basehart, Bower) of two annihilated planets
must begin new lives together on a new world.
LW: Ho Hum type episode.
THE 7TH IS MADE UP OF PHANTOMS **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: Ron Foster, Warren Oates, Randy Boone, Robert Bray,
Wayne Mallory, Greg Morris, Jeffrey Morris, Lew Brown
Modern-day soldiers on the site of Custer's Last Stand encounter
the warring spirits of the 7th Cavalry and the Sioux nation.
LW: There is a funny story behind this episode that I will have to
relate some time. It involves a personal friend of mine. In any
case, the episode itself is largely a loser.
NINETY YEARS WITHOUT SLUMBERING **
Writer: George C. Johnson
Director: Roger Kay
Cast: Ed Wynn, Carolyn Kearney, James Callahan, Carol Byron,
John Pickard, Dick Wilson, William Sargent
An old codger (Wynn) is convinced that his life will end the
moment his grandfather's clock breaks down.
LW: Even Wynn can't help this poor plot.
RING-A-DING GIRL **
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Cast: Maggie McNamara, Mary Munday, David Macklin, George Mitchell,
Bing Russell, Betty Lou Gerson, Hank Patterson, Bill Hickman,
Vic Perrin
Movie star Bunny Blake (McNamara) saves her home town from
tragedy by heeding a weird ring of hers that predicts the future.
YOU DRIVE ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Edward Andrews, Hellena Westcott, Kevin Hagen, Totty Ames,
John Hanek
A hit-and-run driver (Andrews) is harassed by his own car.
LW: Andrews returns to the TZ, and somehow makes this plot work
pretty well.
NUMBER 12 LOOKS JUST LIKE YOU ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Suzy Parker, Richard Long, Pamela Austin, Collin Wilcox
The actors play multiple roles in this futuristic drama about the
loss of individuality. A young woman (Wilcox) rejects treatments that
will make her physically flawless like the rest of the people in the
drab society she lives in.
LW: There is a great flub in this episode. In one scene, if you know
where to look, you can see some cigarette smoke wafting in from a
stage hand standing off camera! A pretty good episode overall.
THE LONG MORROW **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Fleury
Cast: Robert Lansing, Mariette Hartley, George MacReady, Edward Binns
A scientist hopes that by refusing to use a suspended animation
apparatus on a thirty year space probe he will remain in the same age
ratio as the woman he loves.
LW: The cast is the only quality element of this segment. Otherise it
is pretty dull and boring.
THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT OF SALVATORE ROSS **
Writer: Henry Selsar and Jerry McNelley
Director: Don Siegal
Cast: Don Gordon, Gail Kobe, Vaughn Taylor, Douglass Dumbrille,
Doug Lambert, J. Pat O'Malley
A man (Gordon) tries to parlay his strange ability to trade
traits with other people into a perfect life.
LW: Not one of the better ones.
BLACK LEATHER JACKETS ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Lee Kinsolving, Shelly Fabares, Michael Forest, Tom Gilleran,
Denver Pyle, Irene Harvey, Michael Conrad
The three young motorcyclists who ride into a sleepy community
are actually invaders from space who intend to contaminate the Earth's
water supply.
LW: Somehow, this one actually comes out rather good.
FROM AGNES-WITH LOVE ***
Writer: Barney Scofield
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Wally Cox, Ralph Taeger, Sue Randall, Raymond Biley, Don Keefer
Serio-comedy, as an advanced computer falls in love with its
technician (Cox).
LW: Wally Cox is excellent in this fable for programmers.
SPUR OF THE MOMENT ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Diana Hyland, Marsha Hunt, Roger Davis, Robert Hogan,
Phillip Ober
Odd melodrama about a woman (Hyland) who confronts the
frightening vision of her future self.
LW: Time recursion plays a major role in this episode.
STOPOVER IN A QUIET TOWN ****
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Barry Nelson, Nancy Malone, Denise Lynn, Karen Norris
A married couple (Nelson, Malone) wake up one morning in
a strange town where everything is artificial, and the air is
filled with a child's laughter.
LW: A TZ classic. Very good indeed.
QUEEN OF THE NILE **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Ann Blyth, Lee Phillips, Celia Lovsky, Ruth Phillips,
Frank Ferguson
An inquisitive reporter (Phillips) tries to find the key to
the apparent immortality of a glamorous movie star (Blyth), who is
currently playing the "Queen of the Nile." Prepare yourself for an
unusually gruesome finale!
LW: The ending may be gruesome, but that doesn't save this episode,
which steals elements from other TZ episodes.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX ***
Writer: Martin Goldsmith
Director: Dick Baer
Cast: William Demerest, Sterling Holloway, Herbert Lytton,
Howard Wright
Cab driver (Demerest) sees himself killing his wife on the
television set. Later remade as the premier episode of William
Castle's GHOST STORY.
LW: Demerest (Uncle Charlie in "My Three Sons") and Holloway (a
favorite of mine, he played one of the wacky professors in the
"Superman" television show and has had many character roles),
do their best in this basically weak plot. It too stole plot
elements from various TZ episodes.
THE MASKS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Robert Keith, Milton Selzer, Virginia Gregg, Brooke Hayward,
Alan Sues
Another grisly horror tale that benefits from William Tuttle's
make-up. A dying millionaire forces his evil, greedy family into
wearing grotesque masks that match their inner selves. Alan Sues, a
few years before his LAUGH-IN success, has a minor role as the man's
sadistic nephew.
LW: Not well known, but deserving of "classic" status. A minor
favorite of mine.
I AM THE NIGHT-COLOR ME BLACK *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Abner Biberman
Cast: Michael Constatine, Paul Fix, George Lindsay, Terry Becker,
Ivan Dixon
Symbolic, talky message piece. On the day an idealistic young
man is to be executed for the willful murder of a bigot, the sun
fails to shine on a small western town.
LW: Awful. Terrible. Bad. One of the worst.
CAESAR AND ME **
Writer: A. T. Strassfield
Director: Robert Butler
Cast: Jackie Cooper, Suzanne Cupito, Stafford Repp, Sarah Selby,
Don Gazaniga, Sidney Marion, Ken Konopka
Continuing a gimmick started earlier in "Dead of Night", a
ventriloquist's dummy comes to life and offers his master some
pretty unusual advice. This was one of the first television
scripts to be written by a woman.
LW: Another "dummy" story. Sigh.
THE JEOPARDY ROOM ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Martin Landau, John VanDreelen, Robert Kelljan
A defector is captured by a hired assassin and given three hours
to earn his freedom.
LW: Landau returns in this well executed episode (no pun intended).
MR. GARRITY AND THE GRAVES **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: John Dehner, Stanley Adams, J. Pat O'Malley, Norman Leavitt
A traveling salesman (Dehner) tells the backward members of a
small community that he can raise the dead. Later remade (sort of) as
an episode of "Night Gallery" called "Dr. Stringfellow's Rejuvenator."
THE BRAIN CENTER AT WHIPPLE'S ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Richard Deacon, Paul Newlan, Ted DeCorsia, Burt Conroy
Robby the Robot makes another Twilight Zone appearance in this
story about a callous executive (Deacon) who hopes to improve his
corporation by replacing all the employees with machines.
LW: A slightly different model of Robbie appeared in each of these
episodes, by the way...
COME WANDER WITH ME **
Writer: Tony Wilson
Director: Dick Donner
Cast: Gary Crosby, Bonnie Beacher, Hank Patterson, John Bolt
Haunting tale about the doom awaiting a fraudulent folk singer
who persuades a backwoods girl to sing him an authentic folk ballad.
THE FEAR ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Hazel Court, Mark Richman
Everything is relative in this story about an unhinged woman and
a state trooper who sights a giant alien in a California park.
LW: Not bad at all.
THE BEWITCHIN' POOL ***
Writer: Earl Hamner, Jr.
Director: Joseph Newman
Cast: Mary Badham, Tim Stafford, Kim Hector, Tod Andrews, Dee Hartford
The last show of the series is about two neglected children
who escape their constantly bickering parents by diving into their
swimming pool and emerging in a mysterious, but loving, world.
NON-SYNDICATED EPISODES
-----------------------
The following episodes were originally broadcast on the network
but have been pulled out of syndication. Unfortunately, no cast or
credits are available.
SOUNDS AND SILENCE ???
A SHORT DRINK FROM A CERTAIN FOUNTAIN **
LW: A man wants to become young again, and obtains a rejuvenating
potion in the hopes of accomplishing this.
THE ENCOUNTER ???
OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE *****
This was actually an award winning French short subject picked up
by Rod Serling for one network play on the TWILIGHT ZONE. Based on a
classic tale by Ambrose Bierce, it is set during the Civil War and
concerns a man about to be hung.
LW: EXCELLENT!
LW: Epilog:
And so it ends. By the end of the series, Serling had already
lost substantial control over the production of the show, and
was rapidly becoming disgusted by the start of the fifth season.
He began having as little as possible to do with the series since
he did not have the control he wanted. He began filming several
show intros at once in front of a neutral gray backround, instead
of placing himself in the action as in earlier shows. These intros
could then be simply edited into the series as production
continued.
He had hoped that "Night Gallery" would provide the situation he
needed for his creativity, but such was not to be the case. He
ended up with even less control over this series, and the show was
quickly degenerated by management into a series of dull episodes
on ESP. Serling NEVER liked this show.
It goes to prove that television is indeed a magic medium. It can
destroy anything that crosses its path, however good that thing
was to start with. But at least we have lots of GOOD Twilight
Zone episodes to look back at and reflect on.
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