Is This The Best Anti-War Episode of The Twilight Zone? 

I wonder if people even understand how amazing The Twilight Zone was. They had to come up with a new story with new characters every week and were creating sci-fi and fantasy episodes at a time when the available special effects were very limited. Yet, nearly everyone agrees that this is by far the best anthology series of it's kind and I don't think I've ever even witnessed anyone try to debate that fact. Not to mention the fact that they managed to make compelling, thought provoking episodes, that consistently surprised viewers with all kinds of twists and turns. Also, this is one of my favorite episodes.

Andrews and Weaver's back and forth in their scenes together was a masterclass. Made the episodes tension all the more palpable.

This is a great episode. There are hints throughout that it is not where you think it is. The music. The phone. The noise the car makes. Have them over for cards. Something is off but you don’t realize it until the end. Fantastic.

Fritz Weaver would also appear in "The Obsolete Man".

Considering the way things are going in the US right now, "The Obsolete Man" with Fritz Weaver and Burgess Meredith also really stands out to me.

This was Fritz Weaver’s very first time acting on camera, since he had been strictly a stage actor before doing this, and he did a really good job.

As a kid Edward Andrews scared me more in this episode than any monster could.

Serling was a deep thinker about the human condition. I saw him interviewd by Mike Wallace and it was then that I realized what a philosopher and man of action he was. I'm a bigger fan of his now than when the shows were first aired.

Twilight Zone was an exceptional series. This is one of my favorites.

*"Up, over, and whammo." One of the best lines in both The Twilight Zone and in television history.*

1:50 Edward Andrews has to be one of the best villain actors of all time. Both Serling and Hitchcock made great use of him; he always looks as if he is up to something sinister.

Edward Andrews was a fabulous character actor. He could do it all: comedy, drama, film noir. His voice and face were instantly recognizable. We don't have actors like that any more.

Maybe one of the Best Anti-Big Government episodes

My favorite Twilight Zone that is related to war is the episode where there is a report of a nuclear attack coming, one couple has a bomb shelter, and their friends all try to bust into it.

Imagine if that ship is the ship that crashes into the womans attic in the episode The Invaders.

Excellent episode. Serling was a lucky man. He was in the right time with the best sci-fi writers in a great country during a great mankind's moment of History and benefiting of a totally new and virgin mass media. And there were even more advantages to be a popular but also mass media true intellectual in the 50/60/70. Think in today's culture versus yesterday's culture... Brazil I have the entire collection in Portuguese and English.

Serling's series was highly influential to writers and TV imitators. Rod realized that if he created a scenario featuring elements of science fiction or fantasy, he could write just about anything. He cleverly cloaked themes of racism, paranoia, greed, politics and war in a way not done before.

Richard Matheson (1926 - 2013) was a prolific and very popular writer. He wrote the story, that was the premise for the Steven Spielberg movie, "Duel" (1971). The movie about a mysterious and deranged truck driver. who was obsessed with trying to kill an innocent car driver, played by Denis Weaver. The original version, was a short story published in Playboy in April of 1971.

Loved all Serlings shows. Twilight Zone was great and so was night gallery. Mr. Serling never disappointed he brought great suspense, drama and mystery. He left us wondering. Love how he made one wonder... Night Gallery didn't last long on air but I loved what I did get to see. If he had not died so early I Wonder what else he would have given to his audience. ♥️

I was 14 years old when the Twilight Zone aired its first episode. The actor in the first episode was Earl Holliman. Roughly 16 years later I stood within 20 feet of of Mr Holliman while he waited to do a scene for theTV series Police Woman with Angie Dickinson. I had the opportunity to visit Warner Bros in the mid 70's. Funny how life works.

Well done video. You captured and explained the intensity of that episode. Like so many Twilight Zone episodes it was thought provoking and intelligent. Only seconds into Andrews’s performance I despised and feared him. That episode is a Gold Standard. Too bad NOTHING on TV now can come close

Deaths-Head Revisited is the best anti-war episode.

I remembered this episode before the narrator told about the script!!! I remember at the time (when it was first shown) exclaiming “I knew it!) right before the twist was pronounced!! What a great show The Twilight Zone was! I’m glad I was alive to see them in their first run!!

Police Squad with Leslie Neilson was also such a program except it was a comedy. You had to pay close attention or you would have missed a gag.

Rod Serling helped sooo many great writers get their best stuff on television. Contemporary fiction owes him everything.

First discovered TZ in the very early 80’s when KTLA5 would run a Thanksgiving day marathon here in the LA market..as kids we would love the scary ones, living doll, to serve man, nightmare at 20,000 feet, etc…this became our family tradition.. Most went over our heads then..This episode in particular.. What I take from it as an adult was they escaped their doomed planet to arrive on a “safe” planet that at the time was embroiled in a Cold War and uncertain fate.. pure genius…TZ has been part of mine and my brothers and sisters lives now for 40 years, and never gets old… I subscribed to your channel, keep up the great work…

- I was hoping that lovely Ann Francis was on that spaceship ... 😍 💖

I was born in 59 but I have a sister that's almost 6 years older so every Saturday we watched The Twilight Zone, then The Outer Limits then Bandstand. ❤️

This episode of The Twilight Zone, number 14 in the first season of the series, was broadcast on January 8, 1960. It was early in Fritz Weaver's career, but was not his first on-camera performance. He began work in the mid-1950's, the golden age of live television drama, with roles on The United States Steel Hour and The DuPont Show of the Month among others. He was in the 1957 live television production of Beyond This Place directed by Sidney Lumet, who a few years later would direct the film Fail Safe in which Weaver played a treasonous Air Force officer who comes dangerously close to starting a nuclear war.

This episode is so quietly tense, it almost makes me feel like I cant even breathe. Another great one cataloged! :)

Such a great episode!!

This and the original Outer Limits were some of the best Tv ever, still watch them today. This was one of the best episodes in my opinion.

This was always one of my favorite TZ episodes. I think I agree with you - it is one of its finest anti-war episodes, though I would put it neck and neck with A Quality of Mercy, where a gung ho WW2 American army lieutenant finds himself in the body of a Japanese officer at 1942 Corregidor, where he learns the other side of the coin. Richard Bare directed most of the episodes of Green Acres, and he was once asked the difference between directing something as detailed as Twilight Zone and directing Green Acres. Bare remarked, "With Green Acres, the problem was staying awake." No one had THAT problem with Twilight Zone.

I love, love, love the original TZ. Great episode, I laughed thinking to myself how the characters happen to have an American accent and know of our planet as Earth! Edward Andrews also played the villain wonderfully on another episode in season 5 'You Drive ' Only just realised that it was the same spaceship as in 'To Serve Man' 'On Thursday we leave for home' and 'People are alike all over' all subsequent TZ remakes pale badly compared to the original. Rod Serling was a brilliant man who died to soon

A great episode; I can still feel the tension as I remember seeing it as a kid. I watched it only once or twice since and felt just as anxious. Wonderful suspenseful episode. Great music and angles matching up with wonderful performances that went just far enough without being unbelievable. I wish tbe series had either lasted long enough to, or had put out a special with the same crew, Serling and writers, either revisiting an episode (though there is risk of that taking away from the original) or, especially, having a sort of duel-sequel where 2 or 3 episodes characters intertwine in some way. Though that might be more doable with Outer Limits (another great show)

This is my favorite twilight zone episode!!!

This episode is a great tale, one that most of us are familiar with, described in the old saying "Out of the frying pan . . . and into the fire." Visionary writing from an amazing human, Rod Serling lives on in our memories.

This episode is among my top 5 favorite and I always liked Edward Andrews in any roll on any show or movie he was in

I also believe that B&W helped provide a feeling of desperation. Those brought up with only color TV do not understand the work that goes into designing the sets and clothing with their colors and patterns so backgrounds and people don’t clash or appear washed out with what they’re wearing or working in.

Edward Andrews always seemed like a nervous and dangerous craven little backstabbing man.

Thank you so much for posting this. This is in my top 25 list of "Twilight Zone" episodes. The writing is brilliant (of course)! The performances are superb! I love that stock music. I was sad to see that this episode will not be airing for the Fourth of July marathon "Rod, White, & Blue" this year! AWESOME CRITIQUE!

Totally Agree. These days everyone is too scared to try something new, they keep churning out the same moneymaking, PC stuff. Today is more like written by accountants. Real writing back then, minimal effects.

Edward Andrews was a featured actor on several episodes. Usually a villain character.

Rod Sterling's Twilight zones are fantastic I have the whole collection . I'm almost 70 years old. But I watched them back in the early 60s and I watch them now. They're just as good now as they ever were in the 60s Twilight Zone was always way ahead of its time. Rod Serling was a genius.

The best anti-war Rod Serling episode was NOT a TZ episode, but a made for television movie called "Carol For Another Christmas". It plays very much like a TZ episode and was based upon the idea of "A Christmas Carol" taking place in cold-war America. Written by Serling, the ONLY television show ever produced by Joseph Mankeiwicz, with music by Henry Mancini and starring Britt Ekland, Ben Gazzara, Sterling Hayden, Pat Hingle, Steve Lawrence, Eva Marie Saint, and Robert Shaw...but the real star was Peter Sellers with one of his most bizarre characters. It was shown once in 1964 as a means of promoting the United Nations and not shown again until TCM aired it in 2012, which is where I discovered it. The full version is currently on RU-vid.

I remember the one with Elizabeth Montgomery as he enemy soldier one of my favorite

Both Twilight Zone and Hitchcock Presents offered a lot of anti-war, anti-discrimination lessons. "Third From the Sun" is one of my favorite TZ epis.

My favorite Cold War episode would be Old Man in the Cave. It’s about a dystopian future where humanity has been decimated by the atomic bomb. People are left to survive by the wisdom from an ‘old man in a cave’. It’s a great warning look at what could happen if humanity is not careful.

9:58 "...it makes you think about what you are watching". And that is why TZ is my all time favorite show.

This episode also had fantastic music that created tension and drama the music was genius in many episodes that is an often overlooked quality of how good the series was.

I think Death’s Head Revisited is better when it comes to anti-war, but this is a great episode as well. No complaints from me. Great tension and air of foreboding.

Fritz Weaver was a great actor. This was a fine performance of his. He sometimes plays villains and sometimes heroes. This time he was very sympathetic in this role.

Another great TZ episode that used props from Forbidden Planet

When I first saw this episode it was definitely a huh? moment for me. The villain, the families were all superb. I thought it was well written and remember thinking this is what sci-fi should be all about. A good compelling story that leaves you thinking about it long after the story is finished. Anyways thanks for this video and stay awesome!

This is my favorite episode, by a long shot.

I feel that the theme of most TZ episodes is this: "Watch what happens if you get what you want." BTW Andrews is great as usual.

"Deaths- Head Revisited" is also excellent and timely comment on war. And beautifully filmed in noir style black and white.

I bought the 1st season, which was all that was available at that time. This episode was in it. I thought it was GREAT! Just yesterday, I saw the whole 5 seasons, but it was more than I wanted to pay. This has made me decide to go back and get it. Thanks! It was my favorite show when I was a Teenager, and it STILL stands out as one of the best shows EVER made. The THOUGHT provoking part is what I think made it so. The CRAP put out today does its' best to tell you what to think based on their sickness, and absolutely discourages ANY thinking for yourself.

Great upload, this was one of our favorite episodes for Twilight Zone fans.

I am such a fan of this show! So before it's time and never ceases to amaze and I never ever picked those twist endings. I've watched a number of interviews about it and sure Rod wouldn't be surprised at the still loved history being shown 👍 really enjoyed this 👵🇭🇲

Many viewers note that Fritz Weaver was in the episodes “Third from the Sun” and “The Obsolete Man.” I suspect that Fritz Weaver lobbied for these parts. Weaver was always anti-war, and he spent WW II in a U.S. labor camp as a conscientious objector. The USA had 152 such penal camps during the war, and did not release its prisoners until two years after the war ended. (During the First World War, conscientious objectors were simply imprisoned.)

This episode was a definite reflection of the times in which it was created. During the late 1950s/early 1960s, humanity was anxious and fear-ridden over the prospect of all-out nuclear war. Rod Serling's use of twist endings would be carried on with, "The Planet of the Apes." (1968).

Great episode I love the ending EARTH!. When I first watched it as kid I thought WOW!! Don't come here we may not be better off.

Fantastic episode. One of my favorite episode with good acting; special effects, for its time; excellent n writing. Watching it every so often to this day. Was a big fan during its original broadcast n watching it every week. Kudos for ur commentary n upload. New subscriber because of this vid. Anticipating ur next one. Aloha from Hawaii

I don't know why, but for some reason this episode always reminds me of the origin of the Fantastic Four.

The Twlight Zone was 1 of the best Si Fi shows on TV at that time. There were also these shows too-Way Out & The Outter Limits.

One of my favorite episodes for the mood and acting as you have well illustrated. Really love the musical score. Have loved this one since my youth…

So many great Twilight Zone episodes it’s hard to choose a favorite but I think Third from the Sun is my favorite if I had to choose one.

The Last Flight showed the impact one person could have. It inspired a plot for a Star Trek TNG episode.

Edward Andrews: just one of the excellent actors to appear on this program. Nowadays, with all the technology available for filming, I seriously doubt they could even come close to the quality of the scripts and the fabulous acting of the ‘60’s Twilight Zone.

I love this episode, but I was a kid when I saw it and it scared the crap out of me. It seemed so real, eventhough I knew it was the Twilight Zone.

Too bad nobody can come close to this today. It would never be allowed.

This was a very good episode. And yes, Edward Andrews was excellent as the villain. It's funny, but in a lot of shows, it's really the bad guy who makes the show work. I see in the sitcom McHale's Navy with Joe Flynn doing a marvelous job as Captain Binghamton. A lot of shows would just not be the same without these characters. Edward Andrews was also in the Twilight Zone episode You Drive, which he did an excellent job as the tormented driver who ran away after hitting a kid in a hit and run accident. The best anti-war episode - I don't know. Some others come to mind. A Quality of Mercy with Dean Stockwell as the gung ho young lt. changing places with the Japanese that he wanted to eliminate was pretty good. There was the Purple Testament was also good. William Reynolds plays a lt. who can gets the ability to see who's going to die in a battle. However my favorite has to be Death's Head Revisited from season 3. It takes place at Dachau concentration camp after the war. Oscar Beregi comes back to reminisce of his days there as the sadistic SS Captain who ran the camp. He gets confronted by one of the Jews he killed now the keeper of the camp played by Joseph Schildkraut and he goes insane. I wouldn't say this is necessarily an anti-war episode. Maybe around antisemitism and evil.

This episode aired in January 1960, near the height of the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race here on Earth. That's what Serling was referring to in the closing narration. That's what made the twist ending so cool: This family risked everything to flee nuclear war on their own planet--only to land on Earth which was also risking nuclear war at the time!

I recently found your channel and im binge watching all your videos. Please make more The twilight zone videos i really love this show!!

Edward Andrews also did a fine job as a sleazebucket in "Bullitt," especially with the car chase scene, Steve McQueen in the famous green Mustang, Andrews and another bad guy in a gorgeous black Dodge Charger (which of course doesn't stay gorgeous for long)....he also plays, against type, a small part in 'Tora, Tora, Tora' as a good guy, a United States State Department officer who makes the fateful decision to inform FDR about the pending Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, rather than Admiral Kimmel at Pearl Harbor, thereby leaving Kimmel with no warning... an honest but fateful error...

This has been my favorite episode forever. Next would be "the shelter". I have the futuristic phone Sturka uses in this episode.

One of my favorites; I remember when it was first televised.

When I first saw this episode, I could not help but wonder about the Hi-Fi or stereo console in the living room playing the music. When he goes to turn off the music, he pushes in on something that you can not see, and you hear a click. It suggests to me that it was some sort of a cartridge tape machine but not a phonograph. That combined with the telephone made the room seem very futuristic.

Awesome ! I This is a treat for me Ive loved watched the TwilightZone ever since I was 8 when I saw Next stop Willoughby in 1976. I thought I knew about and saw every episode and now heres one Twilight Zone episode I never saw !

Excellent video on this classic TZ episode! I agree the acting was just superb!

This one was brilliant a great twist but viewers who knew astronomy were aware earth is the third planet from our sun so they could have guessed the twist early on. Audiences in Holland knew Darth Vader was Luke's father since Darth Vader is Dutch for Dark Father.

Edward Andrews was in his element in this role. He was a master of the smug, officious persona.

The acting is taut, tense, and well-played in "Third From the Sun," in the classic Twilight Zone series. Rod Serling had a knack for adding social comment to the episodes, making it look believable, and adding a twist ending. The remade TZ series of years later absolutely suck. Except for Night Gallery, which had some evocative programs, though not nearly as subtle as the TZ.

Great analysis. I saw these all when they first hit the air. The moral and ethical what ifs made me think. It is THE big reason Star Trek had such big success. Every story made you think. Is love stronger than hate?

Weaver here....also played the 'State Executioner'...in, 'The Obsolete Man'.... with Burgess Merrideth.

Wow! I'll have to go look this one up! I don't remember seeing it in reruns or as part of one of the marathons over the years and there aren't many episodes I've missed!

As a baby boomer, I seem to remember like every third episode of TZ was about World War III !

I've never seen this episode. I'm going to have to buy a DVD collection. The quality of this show overall is so good, so much better than most shows then or now. It was driven by great writing first and excellent acting second. I don't think the actors cared too much about what they were paid, it was a chance to flex their acting muscles and really give a great performance.

One my 15 fave episodes! I've watch them all so often

I never saw this episode, nor any of the “banned” episodes. However, my favorite “Eve of Destruction “ episode is where a man makes a bomb shelter just big enough for his family in case of nuclear war. None of his neighbors prepare for the same eventuality, and as a nuclear war becomes imminent, all his neighbors start bargaining for spots in the cellar and end up almost killing each other in the process. The war is called off,but it shows the true nature of man… willing to kill friends to save themselves. I’ll have to look up the name of that episode. One episode, which I saw only once, has a young Dennis Hopper starting a group who worship Hitler and his warped ideas. Hopper’s acting is the best and most passionate of any I have seen by any other actor on The Twilight Zone.I have a question for someone: I read that there was an episode that was canned for being too politically motivated.Serling liked to inject his own personal ideas into movies but this was deemed to be beyond the pale. Did anyone else ever hear of this? I’m going to Google it. I post again if I find the answer. It was supposed to be a superb episode but “too racy”.( not racist).

The Twilight Zone that most influenced my late blooming nuclear disarmament interest is The Old Man in the Cave, set in a post nuclear apocalypse. It made me wonder, when I watched it a couple years ago, if there would ever be anybody saying afterward, "I'm glad we did that."

Brilliant!

little "clues" that begin to present themselves.....the exotic/futuristic telephones and the strange music Jody wanted to dance to.....and finally the car......it sounded like a gas turbine engine.....in this society,possibly the idea of piston internal combustion engines had simply never entered anybody,s head and all their engine technology had been based on the turbine instead.

After decades of watching this show I can’t remember ever seeing this episode.

For some reason I always think of the Far Side cartoon of the flying saucer landing in the back of a KFC with a group of chickens disembarking the craft . We're doomed.

I was barely old enough to watch back then and now recognize so much of what happens currently as life in the Twilight Zone. The irrational paranoid fantasy we live in is like episodes from this show. Morality plays circumventing the censorship of the times. Human behavior at it's core.

7:04 Agent Carling does not have to turn over the score card from the card game to see the escape plans on the reverse. These are reflected on the glass playing table as he peers down.

Watched Twilight Zone as a kid when they first aired. It was a very interesting and entertaining.

One of my favorites with "time enough at last" with Burgess Meredith and "The Obsolete Man" again with Burgess Meredith