The best "gotcha moment" to me was the one where a woman was waiting to see the outcome of surgery to fix her face. The big moment comes. The bandages are removed and she is beautiful but doctors and nurses are horrified. Then you see them and they are grotesque which apparently is the norm in The Twilight Zone.
The gorgeous Donna Douglas, in 1960, at 28 (1962-71, was "Elly May" on The Beverly Hillbilies) was the "ugly" one! Outstanding casting, ugly faces, and reverse psychology in "Eye of the Beholder" (aired Nov. 11, 1960) making it one of the best episodes, and certainly one of the most memorable! She lived to be 82 (Sep. 26, 1932 - Jan. 1, 2015).
The unapologetic manner with which Rod closed out that episode, as with so many others with that final thought to ponder on. I can only wonder about the families who saw that air around dinner time, and the thought provoking conversations on the subject that ensued.
There was an episode where an elderly woman is so afraid that death is stalking her that she won't open her door to anyone just in case it invites death in. She sees a young man played by Robert Redford beaten and hurt in the street and lets him in. HE is death and convinces her that death is not something to fear but to embrace. The conversation between them is so brilliantly written
Absolutely loved all the episodes. And so well written that they impacted you differently at various phases of life. Like "Stop at Willoughby", "Kick the Can", and especially "Walking Distance"... all were good as a kid, but really resonated even more so as an adult in my 40s and 50s.. show is an absolute masterpiece
"Stop at Willoughby". . . . . .you know that guy’s finally enjoying the bandstand playing under a summer evening sky with a glass of ice cool lemonade right?
I saw "The Encounter" only 10 years ago on Netflix. I was blown away by that episode. George Takei and the other co-star were magnificent. The intense moments were well done and the writing was excellent. It portrayed the amount of hate of a time period that we hope to never revisit.
I also saw "The Encounter." Unfortunately the "WOKE" crowd is promoting the kind of hate you are talking about. I thought as a country we were past that, but those who want to control everyone else can do a better job of it if we are fighting with each other. I pray we all wake up and stop fighting with each other before it is too late.
I'm 64 and been watching these my whole life..never get bored with them...what a brilliant landmark in tv entertainment...it didn't get much better...thank you Rod and all the fledgling stars...tons of memories...wow
I loved it when one reviewer watching a present-day movie said, "Yes, it was a good idea, but it took him 2 hours to do what Rod Serling could have done in 22 minutes."
That's because today episodics contain two shows in one. The main show is the firemen, police, Doctors. The Secondary is their personal home lives. All the shows follow pretty much the same structure. A "soft" open with main characters talking about things cracking jokes interrupted by THE EMERGENCY! or THE CRIME! The heroes come near death as they battle the fire. The doctor shows use the old private eye trick where the police detective tolld the private eye not go near this crime. Of course he does and solves it despite pressure from on high. In the doctor shows, the doctor is told to stay off this patient for whatever reason. Of course he doesn't and saves the patient. To fill out an hour, personal lives are developed which also serves to make people identify with main characters so they will watch every episode. You could take the script of almost any of these shows and switch it to another cop/doctor/layer show with only minimal edits. Familiarity replaces creativity.
"Mirror Image" is one of the episodes that spooked me the most. Woman at a bus station sees evidence of someone who looked just like her, yet she is alone most of the time. "When The Sky Opened" is my second favorite for its creepiness. Third is "The Howling Man".
Right Sterling was an absolute genius! The executives referred to him as “the angry Young Man“ because they would upset him by interfering with his shows. That is part of the reason why he decided to stop after five years… Burn out from dealing with all the BS. Then, a few years later, he was hosting the night gallery, but it was nowhere as good as twilight zone. Sadly, we lost him in 1975 at the age of 50 as he died on the operating table while they were dealing with his heart problems from smoking three packs of cigarettes every day. Damn, sad!
@@divinewon73 Very Sad! He was a wonderful man & person. He was also so fair to all in his employ. (Other Writers.) When he won the award, he said we will all get together and carve it up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. (Thanksgiving or Christmas. I forget!) I have to say, I loved the show's "Hocus Pocus and Frisby." Too Cute!! 🛸
@@divinewon73 Based on the description of when he returned from the war, I would add PTSD to the mix of stress and burnout. It was called "Shell Shock", the predecessor of PTSD. My Dad was in WW2, survived Peal Harbor and his ship getting torpedoed later on. I recognized my symptoms when I got back from Vietnam as the same symptoms he had. RIP, Rod...
@@divinewon73 Makes you wonder that had Sterling survived into the 1980s, would he have found vindication and a second chance in the post Star Wars,post Halloween SCI-fI,horror,fantasy revival of genre films of the 1980s,the way Gene Roddenberry did with Star Trek The Motion Picture, and Star Trek The Next Generation? Imagine Sterling working Steven Spielberg,John Carpenter, John Landis, Ridley Scott, and being reunited with Richard Donner on major films, or getting to do a syndicated show with no studio interference.
That one was the most emotionally traumatizing to me. I tear up just thinking about it, it made me so sad for him! Even as a kid, I felt the weight of that cruel irony, and the tragedy of his fate. Heart wrenching, indeed... Although the one with the kid making someone's mouth disappear was kind of horrific, as an image, none of the others affected me as deeply as that one did, maybe because I was an only child who could not get enough of books! It was a pain I could relate to, both in the solitary existence and his dismay at not being able to read after so briefly feeling the joy of having so many just waiting for him alone to enjoy at last! Yes, that one might have hinted at the idea that God, if real, might just be a huge asshole...
@@amain325 Oooh, if I had thought of that, it might have minimized the legitimate trauma that ep put me through. My heart hurt for him -,such a cruel misfortune!
Burgess Meredith said he received more fan mail over that one episode than any other performance. Perhaps his character could have eventually found another pair of glasses, but the point is inescapable: in all-out nuclear war, there are no winners.
I'm in the camp of burned-bright. Nobody lives forever, and I think Rod Serling made his own choices. The dude did more great writing than 10 of his peers combined.
My father was a member of the 221 Airborne Medical Company in the 11th Airborne Division. He knew Rod personally during the war. So, when the beginning of any Twilight Zone episode started it was dead silence in the room so dad could hear what Rod had to say. Like Rod my dad had a cigarette in his hand constantly and died in his 50s of a different form of cancer then lung cancer. Many of the 11th Airborne Division were declared Nuclear Vets due to their occupation of Japan after the war and going to Hiroshima.
@@ultimateactivitiesdude2685 Do you actually hear yourself. You are thanking him for his dad in the military before he was born. You morons do not realize you say thank you to us Vets but its really a fuck you. It is quite insulting.
The Howling Man scared the heck out of me. The Lonely and The Rip VanWinkle Caper have to be my runner-up favorites. Time Enough at Last is my all-time favorite.
Twilight Zone, Night Gallery and Outer Limits have all been on the cutting edge of thrilling storytelling. As a kid, I loved to be terrified by Twilight Zone! My older brother and I were enthralled! Each episode was unique. Characters were believable and the story stretched your mind into unlikely places. The people who acted in the stories went on to become stars. It’s fun to see the younger version of these well known personalities. I remember the stories, but I can’t recall the names of the episodes. I think Rod Serling was a terrific writer and it was a sad day indeed when these awesome shows were cancelled. There has never been another series of short stories that could equal these gems. Thank you for sharing this glimpse into the past. I loved it! ❤
100% Ditto my friend. All 3 that you listed were and still are some of the best, most creative short story platforms ever brought to television. Wonderful in my youth and still a treasure today.
@@robdykejr Yeah they really need to stop trying that. There's nothing wrong with the old school 50's voice but writing over that kind of destroys American culture - his voice set the tone for the whole series. I never want to see anybody else try it in general now. The writing and directing in hollywood is too awful. Will take an avante garde writer to take it over. The irony is Serling was actually too progressive for producers. They censored a lot of his African American characters (such as based on Emmitt Till) for other fill ins (Jewish instead, etc). So it's not as if he wasn't for equality. But forcing a whole style change with a completely different host was indeed woke.
@@robdykejr I didn't watch all the eps but I disagree. The one with the cop with an itchy trigger was great,,, it is good that Jordan Peele used the platform to write intelligent shows with social commentary, That's exactly what Rod Serling did too as alluded in this video, he would have approved
"Changing of the Guard" was and is my favorite Twilight Zone episode. Donald Pleasence played a boarding schoolteacher who thought that no one he taught through so many decades learned anything from him. When the ghosts of past students who were influenced in life by him came back to let him know that he made a difference in their lives. The only episode to make me cry!
"Look, I don't belong in Heaven, see? I want to go to 'The Other Place'!" "HEAVEN? Whatever gave you the idea you were in 'Heaven', Mr. Valentine? THIS *IS* 'THE OTHER PLACE'!!!!!!!!!!"
I can’t imagine anyone else voicing The Twilight Zone other than Rod Serling. It’s hard to believe he wasn’t the first several considerations. I loved The Twilight Zone as a child growing up in the 60s. Eye Of The Beholder scared the crap out of me. They won’t ever make smart TV like this again. I also remember Serling doing a show called Night Gallery, but The Twilight Zone is the show that voice makes me quickly recall.
Changing of the Guard, one of the Christmas episodes. In which a forcibly-retired school teacher is visited by the ghosts of past students, informing him that he taught them loyalty, honour, courage, sacrifice, bravery, compassion, empathy. That their victories are also his, and sheesh, simply remembering the episode brings tears to my eyes.
@@iracordem Donald Pleasance often played a villain. He was one of the Ernst Stavro Blofelds in the James Bond franchise, and he was also the bad guy in Fantastic Voyage. But he played against type as the saintly Reverend Septimus Harding in Barchester Towers.
I had that paperback of 'Witches, Warlocks, and Werewolves' when I was in elementary school; it was one of those terrific, inexpensive mail-order Scholastic books! Such excellent time to be a kid!
@@NTJedi I hope you one day come to understand that you're the freak on this issue. I see the right-wing millenia-long obsession with other peoples' genitals continues unabated.
Fantastic presentation 😂! Being a Rochester native I was surprised to learn of Rod Serling's death here 😮. Rod Serling was a creative genius & national treasure 🤩.
The one episode that immediately sticks out in my mind, and not necessarily the scariest, but was a combination of scary, humorous, and clever, is the one where the aliens were recruiting Earth people to go back home with them. After a book they provided to the humans was decoded or translated as, "To Serve Man". As the humans were boarding the spaceship, someone came out and said, "Wait, it's a cookbook!"
This was the most memorable episode for me as well. The way it started with the scientist in a room on the spaceship, trying to imagine what awaits him when the ship arrives at who knows where and being the only person to know that he is actually on the menu. I saw it in my teens on a late night re-run. It's hard for me to imagine that I am now 8 years older than Rod Serling was when he died, I tell myself to be happy that I am getting old, when so many other people are gone before they can be old.
I loved the episode with Agnes Moorehead... a woman terrorized by small invaders who were actually our astronauts. She never spoke a word... pure acting. I also loved the episode where astronauts landed on a planet and there were tiny people on there. Then giants at the end.
That's really wild that you mentioned those episodes together because, "The Invaders" starring Agnes Moorehead was the very first episode of the Twilight Zone I ever saw, when I was a kid, and my second episode was the other one you mentioned titled "The Little People" that starred Claude Atkins and Joe Maross.
@@elizabethblackwell6242 They could make that same hysteria about Russia today! Russia is NOT our worst enemy! Neither is China! The worst enemy of the people (wherever they live), is their own, lying government! None more so than the scheming, power-mad, money-hungry U. S. government! Liberal historian Howard Zinn, correctly noted and is quoted on YT saying, "governments lie, or they wouldn't last as a government for very long!
It's really tough to pick a favorite. The ones I talked about as a kid were the one with the beauty standards and ugly doctors, the one with Burgess Merideth and the books. and of course we all talked about "To Serve Man" regularly. My school had us read "Monsters on Maple St." aloud and do a report on it. Classic. But it was my dad, who was on set for a Twilight Zone episode but they didn't use him at the last minute... who made me think about the show and talked about his favorites, one being "The Invaders" (season 2, episode 15) --the one with Agnes Moorhead as a wordless victim of tiny robots or something but the twist ending was perfect. We loved that one. Dad also loved "Shadow Play" where the trial kept resetting. And the 5 characters trying to get out of the trap... he wanted me to watch that one when I was pretty little. -- I realized as I grew to adulthood that the ones that got me the most were the misdirection ones like where things get reversed at the end like "The Invaders" but more than that I loved the Time Travel ones. The WW1 Pilot showing up in 1959 and having to get back to his time... gives me goose bumps... the one where the 1861 guy heads over the ridge for medicine and arrives in 1961 - But I think my favorite one for time travel was "Walking Distance" from season 1... the one with Gig Young arriving in his childhood town and seeing himself at 10 years old.. and remembering things long buried. Fascinating. I also still love "the Lonely" Jack Warden stranded on a planet for being a nuisance back on earth... and getting a companion. That kills me.
At the conclusion of the opening scene in that one, I believe Rod stands taller than he does in any other ep with his comments and that coat in the falling snow. I think a church bell even rings. The concluding sentiments of that particular ep will always bring a smile to my face.
I LOVED the Twilight Zone-- and I still think it was one of the very best, most imaginative, most thought-provoking TV shows ever created. Hats off to Rod Serling!
Couldn't agree moreNReeves...a body of creative work right up there. A benchmark series of creative writing and the cinematography was very strong too. Yes, an all time favorite of mine. Rod Serling - what he went through in war and possibly other significant events left us all with what emerged inhis writings from those experiences.
It's weird that the show suffered low ratings at points, and also could not attract sponsors. What the heck? It's such a creative show. Maybe viewers were scared, literally.
So many great ones. One of my favorites of all time was when they had the devil locked up in a castle and a stranger doesn't listen to the brothers of the castle and release him. Scary and intriguing episode. Loved Twilight Zone and couldn't get enough of them even though they aired years before i was born.
I forgot to add.....The thing that made Twilight Zone so creepy was every episode was a assault on your mind. Almost no monsters. Mr. Serling got our attention and just as he has us watching a plot line, he reverses everything at the end to make you think.........."WOW"!!
Agreed. Another thing that made the Twilight Zone so creepy was US. Those shows had the ability to shine a light on us humans at our most violent, bigoted, greedy, petty, egomaniacal, illogical, on and on. A story with those kinds of creatures will always be scarier than any made-up monster will ever be.
Death's Head Revisited was pure horror genius. The acting was incredible. The subject matter was horrific. Joseph Schildkraut rarely blinked in the episode. As Alfred Becker, the ghost of a concentration camp inmate, he acted extremely ghostly. It was pure genius.
@@TheBuck1283 The set where Deathshead Revisited was filmed was a set constructed for a western movie that was never finished. The set fell into disrepair and became weathered. It was perfect to shoot his episode because it was supposed to be abandoned since the end of World War II.
An episode that made an impression on me as a kid was the one where this traveler stumbles on some monks who claim to have captured the devil and have him imprisoned. Of course, the guy doesn't believe them and lets him out. There's a memorable scene in which the prisoner transforms from an ordinary looking man into the devil in stages, as he walks past some pillars in the monastery after being released.
My favorite episodes are "A Stop at Willoughby" which was truly horrifying. "Walking Distance" (another favorite) was so profound and I literally bawled the first time I saw it. The speech Gig Young gave at the ferris wheel was tragic. That show was way ahead of it's time and I adore it. I have seen every episode. The scariest for me would have to be "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "The Hitchhiker" is the most haunting. How horrifying would it be to be dead and on a loop. Night Gallery was brilliant as well.
Interesting that you found "A Stop at Willoughby" to be horrifying. It was one of my favorite episodes and hardly horrifying to me at all. To me, it was so gratifying to see an unhappy, miserable man, running the rat race of commuting from the suburbs to the city and back again, find happiness in the bucolic little village of Willoughby. Of course he had to die to get there permanently, but, having found the love and happiness he so desperately wanted, I like to think he would have made the same choice again. As a 13 to 15 year old unhappy child at the time, perhaps I saw the episode quite differently than some may have.
Favorite Twilight Zone episode. "Willoughby" The main charcter is a stressed out business man commuting on a train It's winter and he e dreams of a train stop where it is summer and boys are walking by with fishing rods. So later when he dreams it again and hears "next stop Willoughby he gets off. He goes on with the boys with the fishing rods while the train stops. Somebody says he just said Willoughby and jumped off the train into a snow bank..When the hearse gets there it says "Willoughby Funeral Home".
The one with Billy Mumy in it was classic. I was about 5 or 6 when that came out and Billy was my hero. Especially when he turned one of his antagonist into a jack in the box. The fear in the adults that had to deal with him was palpable.
The name of this episode is "It's a Good Life" and is IMO the most frightening, unsettling and hardest to watch TZ episode of all because of the utterly omnipotent power it ascribed to the selfish, unthinking, uncaring and completely capricious whims of a 6 year old! While many TZ episodes had an ending that left the characters & the viewers with some degree of hope for the future/survival if the story were true, this episode left both with no hope at all!
Billy was not doing it in a good way, either; He was drunk with power, and the entire town feared, and hated him. In the opening scene, He makes a playmate disappear. It was interesting that this episode, and many others, were set in Ohio; Ohio at that time, was considered as American Middle Class, as you can get. Serling also attended Kenyon College, in Gambier; about 50 miles northeast of Columbus, and about 30 miles, north of Newark. The Movie, "Children of the Corn", was filmed in New England-influenced Northeastern Ohio, east of Cleveland and Akron; and some scenes from "Brubaker" were filmed at the now-closed Junction City State Prison, east of Lancaster, and south of Newark. Incidentally, Billy Mumy reprised his Role, as a grown man, who had a daughter, with his "power" on one of the newer "Twilight Zones". As I remember it, They ended up destroying the town, and its residents, and Billy tells his daughter, somewhat ominously; "Let's go, to the City" (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati? Maybe a city, in a nearby State, or in Canada?).
I loved every single episode that Burgess Meredith was in. 1. The Obsolete Man; where he's a prisoner who's crime is reading books. 2. Time Enough at Last, again the bookworm only this time he's a meek little guy whose love of books gets him abused by family and job until a nuclear war wipes them all out. 3. Printer's Devil, where he literally plays Satan and was really scary. These were all fabulous performances. 4. Twilight Zone: The Movie, where he was just the narrator. MY personal favorite, however, is the hilarious Mister Dingle, the Strong. A walk in the park for an actor of Meredith's skill, but so funny as the mild mannered, not-too-very-bright protagonist who becomes the center of a series of Alien experiments.
@@vogelstevAbsolutely the best episode of the entire series, by far. It’s Greek tragedy. I first saw the episode when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. It haunted me so for many, many years. Even when I could only remember vague aspects of it, it disturbed me, even in my dreams. To this day I rewatch it whenever I can during the TZ marathons on Sci Fi network. Also, strangely, I have always had a somewhat compulsive need to handle my eyeglasses very gently and protect them at all costs… my wife says I’m maniacal about it. I always blame it on this episode, and she eases up on me. 🤓
When I was a boy, stayed up and watched it with my Dad, I miss him. And I do agree with Serling, "Time Enough". was my favorite and Bergous Meredith was a great and powerful actor. - thanks for the frightening memories
They were all scary when I was a kid! As an adult, I was unsettled by the episode that starred Billy Mumy as a child who could 'do' things. Including get away with murder and worse! It did prove that he was an incredible child actor though!
The episode "Litle Girl Lost" in Season 3 scared me for years as a kid. A time warp or portal had opened up on the wall of a little girl's bedroom. Her parents hear her cries "mommy where are you?" but they can't see her. Eventually they get her back in the bedroom before the time warp slams shut forever. I could not sleep next to my bedroom wall for years after that show.
Thank you for the look back in time on our behalf, as viewers. I was a preteen when I started watching "The Twilight Zone," and I believe it was on Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. Occasionally, in the summertime, I would have a campout in our backyard with friends, but first we would go in and watch "The Twilight Zone," get scared, and then go out and sleep in the tent. This was in Columbus, Ohio. It was a time when our imaginations ran wild.
Ha! I literally did the same thing as a pre teen in Columbus, in my cousins backyard, they were my best friends at the time '71-'77. Good times! I also thought it so cool that RS incorporated Ohio towns in more than a few episodes!
“Time Enough at Last” - absolutely the best episode of the entire series, by far. I’m heartened to learn that it was Rod Serling’s favorite as well. It’s pure Greek tragedy. I first saw the episode when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. It haunted me so for many, many years. Even when I could only remember vague aspects of it, it disturbed me, even in my dreams. To this day I rewatch it whenever I can during the TZ marathons on Sci Fi network. Also, strangely, I have always had a somewhat compulsive need to handle my eyeglasses very gently and protect them at all costs… my wife says I’m maniacal about it. I always blame it on this episode, and she eases up on me. 🤓
Time enough at last was to me a very wise cautionary tale that you can't take for granted that you will have all the time in the world to achieve all your bucket list items. You need to do some of those now while you can because you may not be able to in the future...even if you finally have all the time in the world...time at last ;)
That episode is one of my favorites, too. It's a testimony to Murphy's Law! Finally, having all the free time to indulge and losing the opportunity in a split second due to a careless mistake. 🤦
As a goggle-glassed bookworm I identified so closely with Burgess Meredith. I cried when I saw the original episode. Even now, as I write this, tears come to my eyes.
I think my scariest TZ episode was none other than "Talkie Tina" the pre-Chucky scary doll. That gave me nightmares when I was a kid watching this at my grandmother's in the early 80s reruns. Rod Seeking was way ahead of his time.
I do not remember the title but I can quickly describe the episode that I remember the most. It takes place in a cabin/lake house. All shots are from within the home. An old woman (70s?) is home alone at night, the lighting in the home is pre-electric. Anyway, she is being attacked by 4" tall space-suited creatures and is in the fight of her life. You, the viewer are with her. Cheering her on. When she finally kills the last creacher you are rewarded with your first look through the window. On the ground is a 'flying saucer' with "USA" inscribed on it's side.
I'm sorry, but there were a few shots where she was on the roof, trying to fight off/scare away the invaders. It starred the great Agnes Moorhead in her pre_Endora/Bewitched days. She also never had a single line of dialog except for a few grunts, groans and screams.
I have several favourite episodes, but don't find all that many of them actually scary, as much as just wonderfully twisted. For pure fright value, I think that the episode entitled "22" is the one that creeps me out the most. It's the one where the professional dancer, who has been hospitalised for exhaustion and stress, has a recurring nightmare about being invited into the morgue by a mysterious nurse who always says, "Room for one more, honey." The dream turns out to be more than just a simple dream, but that episode definitely stands out in my mind as one that makes my skin crawl every time I see it. For scariness, I'll also give a runner-up nod to "Death Ship", where a crew of space explorers, captained by Jack Klugman, land on a planet and find a copy of their own crashed ship, complete with their own dead bodies, and have to try to solve the mystery of whether the situation is real or illusion.
The most frightening for me was the one where the characters were lost by falling into the wall. Remember going to bed that night and scared as hell of the nearby wall.
Scariest episode had to be the one where people had gathered for the reading of a will but they all had to wear hideous masks. At the end when they took off the masks they had taken on the appearance of the mask they were wearing.
Like many of you, I have probably seen every episode of the Twilight Zone as a child or later as an adult. As a result, I can recognize every episode in less than :30. The 4 stories I've chosen may not be the scariest or as well known, but they have twisted surprise endings that are both thought provoking and disturbing. "The Howling Man" season 2, ep.5 - has one the most visually stunning transformations of the Devil incarnate on screen. "The Invaders" season 2, ep. 15 - This is the only story, to my knowledge, where the main and lone character (Agnes Morehead) has no dialog. It is a cinematic hypnotic experience. "Back There" season 2, ep.13 (my fav) - An answer to the question of cause and effect. When the main character, just by chance, travels back in time to the day Lincoln got shot. "Perchance to dream" season 1, ep.9 - Where the main character, in reality (Richard Conte), dies in the opening scene of the story. Submitted for your approval.
I was born in 1952. Our parents wouldn't have a TV in the house until we had graduated from public school in first place. My older sister didn't, but I did. The Agnes Moorhead episode cemented my interest in science fiction. I continued to sneak over to a girlfriend's house to watch Twilight Zone and Outer Limits on her .TV
:-) The Howling Man.. whew...you're right, as a kid, that transformation..hard to sleep at night after watching. As an adult I can appreciate the themes so much more..and still love that episode
I have every episode on disc and every winter I tell myself I'm going to marathon through and watch all of the twilight zone episodes but I haven't done it yet. I'll go pick out these though, the ones people have suggested and watch them...
Time Enough at Last is, for a reader like me, absolutely the most terrifying episode of The Twilight Zone. To have all the undisturbed time in the world, and all the books at your finger, and not be able to read? It gives me the shivers. (But I'll read the ingredients list on the cereal box if there's nothing else. I will NEVER understand the people who say they haven't read even one book in the last year as if it's something to be proud of. I can tear through two a WEEK, depending on difficulty level.)
I always thought of this episode’s ending as rather mean-spirited. In many Zone episodes, people get what’s coming to them. This guy hadn’t hurt anybody, done anyone wrong as far as we can tell, and yet he gets screwed in the end. What was that all about?
My favorite original TZ episodes are, ironically, 'The Grave' and 'Mr. Garrety and the Graves'. Both are western themed episodes, but the first was a chilling ghost story while the second was a rare comedic episode. I really liked the 1985 TV revival of TZ. There were some really stories in the first season. I think its biggest problem was it carried the Twilight Zone name, and some couldn't look past that to give it a chance. I'd recommend it to any looking for a good horror/fantasy/sci-fi anthology.
There was an episode where a man and his dog go to the afterlife. He comes to a gate where the man in front describes a great existence. The dead man seems like he will go in, but then he is told no dogs allowed. He decides to go on. At the next entrance he asks the man guarding the entrance if he can bring his dog. The guardian says yes. The dead man says, "I couldn't bring him in at the other place." The guardian replies, "That was the 'Other Place'."
I can’t believe that this show wasn’t as popular when it first started. I remembered falling in love the first time I came across this show during NYE re-runs.
On Thursday We Leave For Home was horrifying in that it portrayed a man (James Whitmore as William Benteen) so stubborn that he couldn't let go of his power and authority. He chose to stay behind rather than be rescued from a desolate planet. When the rescue ship took off, and he realized he'd made a huge mistake, it took a long time for me to forget the image of him running after the ship, crying for it to come back, come back.
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", shows how quickly "mob mentality" can quickly overcome once friendly people. I loved "Nightmare at 20,000 ft", the original and the remake with, John Lithgow. Both were well done. Richard Matheson, my all time favorite scifi screen writer co-wrote it with Serling both (RIP).
Did you see the 3rd rock from the sun episode where Shatner played "The Big Giant Head", an alien overlord, and he rode on an airplane and apparently made a fuss because "there was something on the wing of the plane!", to which Lithgow's character proclaimed "The same thing happened to me!"
The remake with John Lithgow scared the living crap out of me! The special effects on the "gargoyle" was just magnificent! Really made me scared shitless of flying.
I too grew up with these. I remember one where the people in a house woke up at the wrong time, dug their way out through the walls and found they were living in a dolls house, on a giants table.
My favorite was the the one starring Burgess Meredith , when he survived an atomic bomb blast ,discovering a treasure trove of books at the library but accidentally crushed his glasses. I was 8 years old in 1959 watching the Twilight Zone BCTV . My second favorite episode was when the devil tricked a man into freeing him from his cage..
After having cataract surgery and needing to wear reading glasses for any close viewing, that episode with Burgess Merideth became very personal for me.
I watched Twighlight Zone regularly as a kid. The episode I remember best is when a young woman wants an operation due to being ugly in the culture she's in. "No change" from the operation as the doctors look at her in horror & reveal THEIR faces, truly horrific to us. BEAUTY IS IN EYE OF BEHOLDER. A great lesson for a 10-year-old.
"Eye of the Beholder" (aired on Nov. 11, 1960), with a gorgeous Donna Douglas, then 28, two years before her "Elly May" role on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71).
The scariest episode I remember was Little Girl Lost. The girl disappeared into another dimension. Although she was eerily crying throughout the house, her parents couldn't figure out where she was. They finally figured out how to enter this other dimension to rescue her, and they drew a door in chalk on her bedroom wall. It was frightening for me, thinking that such a portal existed - and in a bedroom! I was so afraid that I would disappear like she did!
I haven't seen that episode, but I have read the short story it was based on. Several Twilight Zone episodes were based on previously published, print stories, by some of the better writers out there at the time.
They showed "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in my school, and it made a deep impression on me. Years later, I learned that it was based on a terrific Ambrose Bierce story. Both the original story and the short film are incredible.
This one was impressive! It moved me more than most any other episode. I'd say it is in the top five. There was one with a giant inflatable alien, the "real" aliens being tiny compared to us. Was that "The Invaders"? Another good one. . .
I saw this in school as well in central Illinois (nice to see they showed this in schools across the country) and it definitely struck something in me so that I’d remember it all these years later, every detail. It’s like I was that guy in the film and could think and feel everything he was.
Used to watch it every week with my late father in the early 60's. It was one of his favourite programmes. Nightmare at 20000ft scared the crap outta me as a 7year old,72 now and can still remember William Shatner being dragged off the Plane in a straight jacket and the cowelling of the engine being torn back.
To me the scariest episode featured Billy Mumy as the kid who wished his neighbors out to the cornfield because he randomly chose those he believed had failed to please him or somehow offended him.
That episode was chillingly ahead of its time. Fifty years later, there are things we cannot say, even though they may be true, or we will get "banished to the cornfield." And what's right and wrong changes and is decided capriciously.
My favorite episode has always been "Time Enough At Last" with Burgess Meredith. I can relate because, I need glasses for reading/needlework/computer use (I can walk around seeing things just fine, just need glasses for close work) and to see blind as a bat, Meredith not able to see anything when his glasses fell off his face just broke my heart. There is a great episode highlighting mob mentality/hysteria: "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street". There is a cul-du-sac I drive past every day where the homes remind me of that episode and I can visualize the homeowners banding together to blame the weird goings on on someone on the street.
I''ve never thought that much of this episode. If the books have survived. Why wouldn't have other opticals and glasses. He's just the laziest of whiny bastards.
I've seen "The Encounter" and "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" and these two episodes stand alone as masterpieces. One of my favorites is "Walking Distance". I am now at the age where this story applies to my life as I have to move back home to the small town in which I grew up ( which hasn't changed) for health reasons.
"Room for one more honey" A dancer experiencing nervous exhaustion and is in the hospital keeps dreaming the same dream whereby she is running down the hospital corridor,reaches the elevator and a nurse in a wicked voice says Room for one more honey. Thank you Mr Serling. Your series was brilliant.
The Night of the Meek, starring Art Carney, 1960 is one of those 6 episodes originally recorded in videotape and then transferred to 16mm. Not a scary episode, unless perhaps you might see a bit of yourself in the main character, but definitely my very favorite episode and one that showcased Art's talent as a serious actor. "And a Merry Christmas, to each and all" - Rod Serling (1924-1975).
My favorites include the first one I ever saw, "Kick the Can" where old folks discover they can become young again if they will only play Kick the Can. I was a little freaked out a few years later when we moved to a neighborhood where they actually played Kick the Can. We played as if our lives depended on it. Billy Mumy in "It's a GOOD Life." I first read this as a short story, maybe in a book of Twilight Zone stories, about a kid who just has way too much influence on the things and people in his town. You sure don't ever want to get this kid angry at you. There was the one about the old lady who lives alone in a small cabin way out in the wilderness who hears really strange noises outside. She's scared to death, especially when she hears more spooky sounds and some banging up on her roof. She takes an ax up into her attic and finds a smallish flying saucer on her roof and has at it with the ax. Then we see the American Air Force insignia on the broken saucer and hear frantic radio calls back to Earth about the terrible monsters they have encountered. That one gave me nightmares. Oh, but it was "The Green Hills of Earth" that really gave me nightmares. A small group of people are stranded on a barren planet, where a kid sits on a rock and asks the old guy to tell him what Earth was like. The old guy talks about crowds of people, pushing and shoving, fighting and hurting one another. Great machines belching smoke that darken the skies and make it hard to breathe. The kid says he would still like to see it if he ever got a chance. The old guy argues that they've made a pretty good place for themselves here, but some of the others argue that it still doesn't compare to Earth. Then a rescue ship arrives to take them all home to Earth. The old guy says he doesn't want to go because they've built too much here to just give up on it. They end up leaving him behind, but he goes over to the rock the kid used to sit on and talks about the green meadows, clear rushing streams, the bright blue skies with beautiful clouds, it's all just so wonderful! So he turns back to the swiftly receding spaceship and yells, "Wait! Come back! I want to go too! Please take me back!" But it's too late. That one haunted me for a LONG time.
"Walking Distance" and "Long Live Walter Jameson" are two of my favorite half-hour episodes, but I could name many others. "Jess-Belle" is my favorite hour-long episode.
One that scared me when I was a kid was the one about Martha White shopping for a gold thimble for her aunt or grandmother. She had to go to the 13th floor in a department building which actually wasn't there. When she got there, these mannequins became alive and started swarming her...... scared the heck out of me, LOL
It was the "9th floor"- which the store didn't have. Actual buildings don't have "13th floors", because they're considered "unlucky". They skip between "12" and "14".
I was only three years old when it started, and though I wasn't supposed to watch it my older siblings loved the show so... I have a vivid memory of Burgess Meredith breaking his glasses. I was also a bookworm.
The Obsolete Man episode is to this day quite brilliant. "To serve man" I think may be the most psychologically terrifying one. Rod was a brilliant storyteller. I loved the the show as a kid watching it in re-runs late at night. Good video. 👍
“To serve man” i was a 70’s baby. I remember watching a few of these. But let’s just say. If aliens show up and invite us to their world. I will stay right here.
Too many treasures, but one of my episodes depicted a family group stranded on a hot desert planet. The group leader, in his survival efforts to support the colony, came to be revered almost to godhood, until a rescue ship appeared. Intense stuff for a kid (me)!
