The Twilight Zone Turns 50

1. MikeG
   October 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 am

   It's hard to pick a favorite..

   I particularly remember the one where the veteran FAA investigator suddenly sees a WW2 plane land, and he and some airport staff can't figure out why it has no crew, and after a bit he realizes it doesn't actually exist and that he never actually talked to those staff (who did otherwise exist), and it turns out that ------- the plane was the one crash whose cause he had never been able to determine, so many years ago.

   Classic Twilighty Zoneness.

   Oh there's also the one where the writer's wife complains about his other recently appearing 'woman friend', so he shows his wife how he really just created the friend (with the power of his mind/magic tape recorder/etc/etc) and even destroys the new friend to satisfy his wife, but still the wife wants a divorce, so he destroys her as well.. she was fun for a while.. and hey he could always recreate her 'from scratch' if he wanted

   I rarely find episodes of The Twilight Zone comforting, but if you want provocation, TZ has it.. and really surely more things happen after an episode is over, I'm sure everyone gets free cake and dances joyously around for eternity

2. Joyous
   October 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 am

   One favorite is "Time Enough At Last," with Burgess Meredith. I'm also a compulsive reader, reading the ingredients on the ketchup bottle when nothing else is available. I can remember the first time I saw that episode, how excited I was to imagine books stacked up as far as the eye could see. Then the horror when his glasses broke. I still cry at the end.

3. Matt Tougas
   October 2nd, 2009 at 7:34 am

   This one. By a mile. http://www.transylvania-tv.com/?p=744

4. Gail Pink
   October 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 am

   I don't know about choosing just one favorite, either, but the scariest one for me was "To Serve Man." SO SCARY!

5. Antonio Ingles
   October 2nd, 2009 at 7:49 am

   Here in Portugal we have seen the series in the 70s.
   But I think I always remember "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

   From that day I look my neighbours and really, I dont think aliens need to do anything, nust watch

6. Splint Chesthair
   October 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 am

   My favorite would be "A Nice Place to Visit":

   "Heaven, Mr. Valentine? Whatever gave you the idea that you were in Heaven? This is the other place!!"

7. VSBM
   October 2nd, 2009 at 9:21 am

   Too many to list. But if I had to pick one that really stuck with me, it would be "Little Girl Lost". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Girl_Lost

   Spooky, creepy and with a twist at the end. Classic Zone. There are also some from the '80's version that are classics.

8. Miss Cellania
   October 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 am

   From the old series: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet

   From the not-so-old series: Button, Button.

9. Miss Cellania
   October 2nd, 2009 at 10:06 am

   Ooh! I also like Nice Place to Visit.

10. Another Tim
    October 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 am

    I like the one entitled "The hitchhiker" I believe. It was about a young woman driving across the country (or at least half of it--like Chicago to LA) and she keeps seeing the same hitchhiker.

    Watch the show to see why...

11. Johnny Cat
    October 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Hmm, very tough to pick a favorite. But I'll go with The Eye of the Beholder.

12. namowal
    October 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 am

    "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" is hard to beat.
    Exhibit "A" on how vulnerable people are to being manipulated into destructive behavior.

    "Eye of the Beholder" is great too. Maybe a bit over the top, but I still remember seeing it for the first time and being truly surprised at, well, the surprise! Plus, any episode featuring characters with silly animal heads can't be all bad.

13. gwdMaine
    October 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    If you love(d) the Twilight Zone, you can't pick a favorite - there's just too many. But if someone who had never seen the show asked what it was about, what five episodes would you recommend?

    The Night of the Meek
    I Sing the Body Electric
    The Passersby
    Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
    The Changing of the Guard
    Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

    I couldn't even do this. Couldn't bring myself to not have one of the above in my personal "Top 5." And if I think about this any longer, I'd have to revise it. . .

14. Katy
    October 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Clearly "Maple Street" and "Beholder" carry such strong and profound messages about the nature of man as to have stuck in many people's minds for so long. I find they hold up nicely.

    I also like this one episode, I don't know the title, but two or three men are on a mission in space and they crash on what they believe in an alien planet. One man goes off to explore and is found weak and dying. Before he dies he makes a mark in the sand. The other man/men desperately tries to figure out what it means and it's not until the very end that we, the audience, find out the drawing was of a telephone pole the first man had found. Turns out it was earth the whole time.

15. Caregiver
    October 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I love the episode where the guy breaks his glasses and is unable to read his books. Another one I love is the gold episode where these scientists plan a robbery and steal lots of gold. Then freeze themselves so their gold is worth much more in the future. Only to find out that gold can be created in the future making their robbery worthless.

16. Don Newbury
    October 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    If "Maple Street" is the one where neighbors turn on one another because of their lights being out and cars starting on their own, among other things, then that was the best one in my opinion, hands down. It's just shows how people can be manipulated and carries a strong message even to this day. Great series.

17. emwin237
    October 2nd, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    The long distance call; so creepy.

18. Ali S.
    October 2nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    My favourite was the episode with the child who can read everyone's mind and would kill them if they thought bad things about him.

19. Palewriter
    October 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    My favorites are A Game Of Pool about a man who wants to beat the best pool player that ever lived--and it turns out he comes back to life to play him. And the other is 22 which deals with a woman who is in the hospital and keeps having a dream that she walks down to the morgue only to find a nurse who comes out of the doors saying--"Room for one more, honey."

20. Ruby2
    October 5th, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Nice choices everyone! i also hold "The After Hours" close to my heart... Still a fav!

21. Ruby2
    October 5th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    Oh! and how could I forget? "In Praise of Pip"...I love Jack Klugman!!!

22. Ruby2
    October 5th, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Ok- my last one! (but there are soooo many!)

    "Kick the Can"...if you haven't seen it, you will love it. It still makes me cry!

23. Palewriter
    October 5th, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    OK, Here are the others I didn't mention that I think are noteable.
    "The Odyssey Of Flight 33"(A plane goes back in time)
    "Little girl Lost" (Girl is lost in another dimention.)
    "The grave"(man chases Pinto Sykes, faces dare)
    "Back there" (Man goes back in time to assasination)
    "A stop at willougby" (Another back in time)
    "The Hitch-Hiker" (woman chased by man)

    And many more...

    And don't forget--One step Beyond although not Rod Serling

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