The Twilight Zone (The Original Series 1959-1964): All Episodes Rated and Ranked

On January 11, 2016, a little over 18 months ago, I set myself on a quest. To re-watch every episode of the original Twilight Zone series in order, and to rank, rate and review each one of them. Last night I succeeded in completing this quest, the result of which some of you have been able to join me in my journey, and many of you will not doubt just be glad that it is over.

For the most part, this has been a lot of fun. At times it has felt pointless and hard to press on, mostly for the fact that I know practically no one reads what I write, and that doing it didn't really serve any purpose.

Except that it did. It encouraged me to re-watch every episode of this wonderful series, of which not enough positives can ever be written. It was groundbreaking at the time, and some of the writing and acting is absolutely exceptional. Not all of it, mind you, because there are times when you get two or three average episodes back to back that you think it's time to stop. But by going through with this I was able to continue on and re-discover some real gems of which I had either completely forgotten about, or perhaps had never seen for whatever reason.

On top of all of that, of being able to have re-watched every episode, and now be sure I have seen them all, I was able to create my own definitive ranking of every episode, which is something I like to do. In this way, I can be sure that this is how I feel about each episode, and not just guess through a half dozen that I know I love, and not be sure about the rest.

Of the 156 episodes over five series, I have rated 73 episodes with a four out of five or better. In my rankings, I believe that anything of four or better is an exceptional episode, ones that have that special quality that will have you wanting to watch them again and again. As it turns out, that is almost half of the episodes in this series that I feel this way about. I would hazard a guess that, over such a long series this would be very high.

And so, for those that have waited for this moment, the list below is my personal list, in order, of the episodes of The Twilight Zone. Some will be obvious, but others may surprise.

Thanks for taking the journey with me. Perhaps we'll do it again some day.

5
S01 E22: The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
S01 E08: Time Enough at Last
S01 E10: Judgement Night
S01 E18: The Last Flight
S05 E03: Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
S01 E21: Mirror Image
S01 E14: Third From the Sun
S02 E18: The Odyssey of Flight 33

S03 E24: To Serve Man
S01 E11: And When the Sky Was Opened
S04 E11: The Parallel
S01 E30: A Stop at Willoughby
S02 E15: The Invaders
S01 E15: I Shot an Arrow into the Air
S05 E30: Stopover in a Quiet Town
S05 E14: You Drive

S05 E13: Ring-a-Ding Girl
S01 E34: The After Hours
S04 E03: Valley of the Shadow
S05 E22: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
S03 E25: The Fugitive
S05 E16: The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross

4.5

S03 E09: Deaths-Head Revisited

S02 E28: Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?

S03 E08: It's a Good Life

S02 E29: The Obsolete Man
S02 E06: Eye of the Beholder
S02 E25: The Silence
S05 E06: Living Doll

S03 E05: A Game of Pool

4
S02 E10: A Most Unusual Camera
S02 E09: The Trouble With Templeton
S02 E23: A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

S04 E06: Death Ship
S02 E07: Nick of Time
S04 E04: He's Alive
S01 E23: A World of Difference
S02 E16: A Penny For Your Thoughts

S02 E19: Mr. Dingle, the Strong

S04 E17: Passage on the Lady Anne

S03 E21: Kick the Can

S03 E37: The Changing of the Guard

S03 E15: A Quality of Mercy
S05 E35: The Fear
S01 E07: The Lonely
S05 E26: I Am the Night – Colour Me Black
S03 E14: Five Characters in Search of an Exit
S01 E06: Escape Clause
S04 E10: No Time Like the Past
S03 E30: Hocus-Pocus and Frisby
S03 E07: The Grave
S04 E02: The Thirty Fathom Grave

S04 E09: Printer's Devil
S02 E05: The Howling Man
S01 E36: A World of His Own
S04 E14: Of Late I Think of Cliffordville
S02 E03: Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room
S01 E02: One For the Angels
S05 E29: The Jeopardy Room
S03 E35: I Sing the Body Electric
S05 E19: Night Call
S04 E13: The New Exhibit
S05 E05: The Last Night of a Jockey

S04 E16: On Thursday We Leave for Home
S03 E29: Four O'Clock
S01 E25: People Are Alike All Over
S05 E07: The Old Man in the Cave
S04 E15: The Incredible World of Horace Ford
S01 E12: What You Need
S04 E12: I Dream of Genie
S03 E31: The Trade-Ins
S01 E01: Where is Everybody?
S03 E18: Dead Man's Shoes

3.5
S03 E03: The Shelter

S03 E02: The Arrival

S02 E26: Shadow Play

S03 E32: The Gift
S05 E04: A Kind of Stopwatch

S03 E27: Person or Persons Unknown

S03 E13: Once Upon a Time

S03 E16: Nothing in the Dark

S04 E05: Mute
S05 E10: The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms
S01 E19: The Purple Testament
S03 E04: The Passerby
S02 E21: The Prime Mover
S01 E28: A Nice Place to Visit
S05 E09: Probe 7, Over and Out
S03 E33: The Dummy
S05 E28: Caesar and Me
S02 E20: Static
S05 E24: What’s in the Box?
S01 E20: Elegy
S05 E15: The Long Morrow
S01 E26: Execution
S01 E05: Walking Distance
S05 E32: Mr. Garrity and the Graves
S05 E31: The Encounter
S04 E08: Miniature

S04 E01: In His Image
S05 E33: The Brain Center at Whipple's
S05 E20: From Agnes – With Love
S03 E23: The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank
S02 E04: A Thing About Machines
S01 E09: Perchance to Dream
S05 E08: Uncle Simon

3
S03 E19: The Hunt
S02 E22: Long Distance Call
S02 E02: The Man in the Bottle
S03 E20: Showdown With Rance McGrew
S01 E24: Long Live Walter Jameson
S02 E11: The Night of the Meek

S02 E17: Twenty Two

S03 E26: Little Girl Lost
S05 E02: Steel
S01 E35: The Mighty Casey
S03 E28: The Little People
S02 E01: King Nine Will Not Return
S01 E03: Mr. Denton on Doomsday
S02 E14: The Whole Truth
S05 E23: Queen of the Nile

S04 E18: The Bard
S05 E34: Come Wander With Me

S03 E17: One More Pallbearer
S01 E16: The Hitch-Hiker
S05 E12: Ninety Years Without Slumbering
S02 E24: The Rip Van Winkle Caper
S05 E18: Black Leather Jackets
S01 E17: The Fever
S02 E27: The Mind and the Matter
S01 E04: The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine
S05 E27: Sounds and Silences
S03 E22: A Piano in the House
S05 E25: The Masks

S05 E01: In Praise of Pip
S03 E06: The Mirror
S05 E21: Spur of the Moment
S03 E11: Still Valley
S05 E17: Number 12 Looks Just Like You

2.5
S03 E36: Cavender Is Coming
S03 E10: Midnight Sun
S01 E33: Mr. Bevis
S03 E01: Two
S01 E31: The Chaser
S01 E27: The Big Tall Wish
S03 E12; The Jungle
S01 E29: Nightmare as a Child
S01 E32: A Passage for Trumpet

2
S05 E11: A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain
S02 E13: Back There
S02 E08: The Lateness of the Hour
S05 E36: The Bewitchin' Pool
S02 E12: Dust

S04 E07: Jess-Belle
S01 E13: The Four of Us Are Dying

1.5
S03 E34: Young Man's Fancy

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E36: The Bewitchin’ Pool

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E36: The Bewitchin’ Pool

Having the ending as the beginning of the episode, only to go back and explain the story before coming to the ending again, perhaps robs this episode of any chance of maintaining your interest all the way through. Why? Well if there is to be a twist, then it has already been revealed, and all you then have to watch is the story once you know how it finishes. It doesn’t really make any sense.

The idea that there is a secret exit from a pool into another world - yes, that portal through the Twilight Zone – is fine, as is the idea behind why the children end up looking for an escape. Although the parents feel a bit overblown, just pushing too hard at that idea that they are unhappy and looking to separate. Both of their attitudes, so very demanding of the kids, just seems a tad unreal to be believable, especially when at the end 9or is it the start?) of the episode they are so worried about them having disappeared. It’s less than ideal. And the same exists for Aunt T. She seems a little too overbearing for kids to suddenly warm to instead of their own home.

Is it a complete loss? Probably not, but realistically it is not one of the better episodes of the series. And that is a shame, given it was the final one aired before the show was cancelled.

Rating: Stepping inside the pool. 2/5.

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E35: The Fear

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E35: The Fear

It’s the ‘one room’ plays that can often be the best episodes of the Twilight Zone, given that you only have the reactions of the immediate participants to judge what exactly can be happening in such a scenario. Such is the premise here in The Fear, where a well-used scenario is put to its test once again.

In the long run, the episode actually works out quite well. The rapport between the two lead characters, policeman Robert and socialite Charlotte, is well explored, with the nervous Charlotte, who has moved to this isolated location to recover from her anxiety, suddenly believing she is being stalked. It isn’t long before the trooper finds he believes her, and is struck by the strange things going on around them. His car moving by itself, and then mysteriously being returned to its position, but with two large fingerprints on it. Even the final reveal of their stalker, the enormous one-eyed alien, doesn’t come across as corny at all. Indeed, the ending of the episode is well done, and ties the whole story together nicely for a satisfying conclusion.

Given the performances of the two actors in the story, this is much more pleasing than you would have initially expected if you just read the story outline. It’s worth the watch.

Rating: Eye can see you! 4/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E34: Come Wander With Me

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E34: Come Wander With Me

I still have as much trouble with this episode as I ever had. While the story may come together in the end, it takes far too long to try and piece together what the hell is going on, and then once you do you struggle to deal with the way the protagonist come to its conclusion.

There’s too many questions. For a start, old mate at the shop who doesn’t talk and doesn’t indicate anything – what the hell is that all about? Why would Floyd go any further when he was being obviously no help whatsoever? Then there is the whole thing about wanting to buy a song for his next big hit, and hears about four lines of a song from Mary Rachel and he MUST have it. Seriously? Are we expected to believe this rubbish? And then the appearance of Billy Rayford, and the whole accidental death. OK, I know we are supposed to be just acting out the song lyrics here, but it is all too staged. Yes, it is supposed to be that way, but couldn’t it have been more ‘realistic’ to go along with song? And the end, with Floyd hiding in a shop and being found. Why not keep running all the way back to his car and out of there? Sorry, not buying it.

We might be in the Twilight Zone, but there needs to be a little bit more believability to a story to have me wanting to come back to an episode in the future. This doesn’t have it.

Rating: A song to die for. 3/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E33: The Brain Center at Whipple's

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E33: The Brain Center at Whipple's

When I originally watched this episode, the title made me think it was set in an ice cream parlour. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, the episode itself is an excellent tale on the modernisation of companies during the middle of last century, and a peek into the future itself.

The idea is solid, and is probably as relevant today as it was when it was released all those years ago. Good old Mr Whipple decides to automate some of his manufacturing business in order to increase productivity, which leads to inevitable layoffs of the human workforce. This causes some consternation and some of those people confront Whipple and try to convince him that it is a bad move. Of course, Whipple is impressed with the increased workload at less cost, and continues to employ more computers, which leads to an almost complete loss of the workforce. As always in the Twilight Zone there is a final twist of the tail, one that leads to a satisfying conclusion.

As an address on the increase in technology in the workplace, this episode shines a great big light on the industrialisation of manufacturing, while highlighting the human effect of it all as well. It mightn’t be a nice episode, but it is one that has its own story to tell.

Rating: When a machine can do your own work for you. 3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E32: Mr. Garrity and the Graves

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E32: Mr. Garrity and the Graves

Here’s another one of those episodes that you work your way through, looking for the hook or twist, waiting for it to occur, and then when it comes thinking… “well, maybe they should have done something else”.

The set up and setting is all terrific. Back in the old west, in the small town, where Mr. Garrity shows up and pronounces that he can raise the dead. Disbelief abounds, as it should, until he brings a dog back from the dead that has been hit by a stage coach, and the man who was shot dead by his brother is seen to be walking down the street until the brother bribes Garrity to make him go away. All of the set-up is well done, and then the meeting up with his partner who has done the groundwork on the townsfolk, and the dog who has been trained to play dead.

So the end has come, and we discover the clueless Mr. Garrity can actually raise the dead, as the cemetery they pass I rapidly emptying as the inhabitants all head into town to confront those that had offed them in the first place. Now that’s okay, but I just felt a little gypped. Maybe the undead taking out Garrity before heading for town? I don’t know. It just felt like it was trying too hard and hadn’t quite delivered on a real Twilight Zone ending.

Rating: Night of the living dead. 3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E31: The Encounter

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E31: The Encounter

Perhaps it’s all a little bit too far-fetched, even for a Twilight Zone episode, or maybe that it just doesn’t go far enough, or perhaps… just perhaps… it jumps around too much between character portrayals to make this an episode that is completely convincing or watchable.

It is somewhat of a shame, as both of the actors involved, Neville Brand and George Takei, are accomplished. Brand was a certified WWII hero before turning to acting, so his portrayal as the washed up former war hero who is eventually defrocked as a coward, who shot a Japanese officer after he had surrendered, is in places chillingly poignant. Takei’s character, who begins by claiming his father was a hero at Pearl Harbour, before revealing he was in fact a traitor who led the Japanese to their bombing sites, convincingly plays the man who wants nothing to do with the conversation, until he actually holds the sword of the murdered Japanese officer, and he then is overcome by the sword’s stated plan from its engraving, ‘the sword will avenge me’.

The supernatural effect of the episode is only overshadowed by the constant to-ing and fro-ing of the attitudes and emotions of the two characters, and for me this tends to mess with the build-up of the episode itself. The story to me needed a slow constant build to the climax, whereas it has a haphazard up and down rollercoaster run, which for me does hamper the whole ending, which in itself is perhaps too predictable.

Rating: Battle of the Ghosts. 3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E30: Stopover in a Quiet Town

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E30: Stopover in a Quiet Town

How often have you watched a Twilight Zone episode, and know exactly what has happened and what is going to happen within the first sixty seconds of the show opening? I guess there were a few times this happened for me, but certainly this episode seemed to give it away very very quickly. Not that it made the episode any less enjoyable, but knowing what was occurring maybe helped or maybe didn’t.

From the start it was obvious that ‘something’ had happened. Our couple woke up in their clothes from the previous night, neither could remember how they got there, and the house and town they had woken up in was completely deserted, except for the occasional laughter from a child that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Got the drift yet? Yeah, I thought you might. We’ve been picked up by a spaceship, we’ve been taken to another planet, and we are now the play things of a giant girl in her own play city.

Don’t get me wrong, the set-up is done well, and especially when they get on the train at Centreville, and they just do a loop and end up back at Centreville. And the protagonists are well played in dramatic style without getting terse with each other which seems to be the way these stories usually run. Despite its predictability it is one of the better episodes of season 5.

Rating: Probably should have gotten a hotel room. 5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E29: The Jeopardy Room

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E29: The Jeopardy Room

While this is an interesting story and is excellently acted throughout, it really isn’t a story that fits into the Twilight Zone apocrypha. There is no supernatural or science fiction part to the tale, indeed it is a straight forward mystery tale that would fit any number of formats but probably not this one. However, once you are into the story you forget all about that and just go along for the ride.

It’s always great to see Martin Landau on the screen and he is terrific here again pitted as the agent looking to defect to the West against John van Dreelan’s Commissar, who is sick of simply shooting deserters, and wants to do something more elaborate. As such, he sets up a trap for his opponent, giving him three hours to find where the booby trap is in order to save his life. Their cat and mouse game is terrific to watch, and the final scenario and outcome is enjoyable and worth the storyline that precedes it.

Of course, this isn’t a Twilight Zone episode in the whole scheme of things, but it is an enjoyable way to pass 20-odd minutes.

Rating: Ring, ring, why don’t you give me a call? 4/5

*FOOTNOTE* On the day I have posted this, we learned that Martin Landau had passed away, aged 89. His magnificent career is full of fabulous moments, from starring in Mission: Impossible to his Academy Award winning role in Ed Wood as Bela Lugosi.
Apart from this episode, Martin also had a role in the first series episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday". RIP one of the greats.

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E28: Caesar and Me

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E28: Caesar and Me

Haven’t we already had an episode about a talking ventriloquists doll? Yes! Indeed we have, in the episode “The Dummy”! So, what the hell are we revisiting that stream of consciousness for? Surely the similarity in the scenario should have been enough to have Serling steer clear of producing this episode? Or was it done without his say so?

Watching Jackie Cooper go about his work is some consolation for what is happening. As the down and out unemployed man who is looking to find work with his ventriloquist dummy, he plays the kind but eminent loser well. While we are made aware early on that Caesar can talk, it isn’t until all hope seems lost that Caesar is able to convince his living partner that robbery is the one way that they can escape homelessness and hunger.

OK, so I’m a bit disappointed that we seem to be recycling stories here as we come close to the conclusion of the series. But the story does enough to make you care about Jonathan West – or perhaps it is just the wonderful acting from Cooper in the role that does that – and makes you want to strangle the little girl Susan who is a little know-it-all. By the conclusion of the tale, for which there was only ever going to be one winner, the feeling of disappointment over the story as a whole is lifted by the performance of the actors.

Rating: It feels a bit wooden. 3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E27: Sounds and Silences

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E27: Sounds and Silences

Whether the basic plot of this episode is believable or not probably becomes the hinge as to whether you enjoy it or not greatly. Because to be honest, if you had been forced to be quiet in your home as a child I can’t see that you would then surround yourself around such noise that you can’t hear anything else going on around you.

Anyway, that’s the premise, that our protagonist is so loud, and has such noise so constant that his wife leaves him (but really, would she have put up with this for twenty years? I can’t see it). Of course, as soon as she leaves, every little sound around him, such as a dripping tap, now sound like cannons. Eventually, he goes to a psychiatrist who says that it is all “mind over matter”, and that he can will the sound away, which he duly does. Regaining his pompousness he mentally tunes out his wife’s returning salvo, until he realises he’s gone too far, and he has tuned out the world and is unable to recover it. Which, in its own way seems a little convenient, because if he is able to tune the world down through “mind over matter”, surely he can tune it back in again…

While the episode is interesting enough, John McGiver as the bellowing Flemington is perhaps just a bit too belligerent in the role, over stating the character to such a point that none of it is really believable. It’s a reasonable premise but for me it just doesn’t have a solid enough base for the story to be as enjoyable as other episodes.

Rating: Hearing problems aren’t the only problems here. 3/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E26: I Am the Night – Colour Me Black

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E26: I Am the Night – Colour Me Black

Here is another of Rod Serling’s thought pieces, where he takes those darkest parts of human nature, rolls them into a story and then throws it back at you and hits you between the eyes with it. You can imagine that these types of episodes caused him all sorts of headaches with the networks back in the early 1960’s, but it didn’t seem to stop him doing them anyway.

Is it a take on prejudice, or is it a take on injustice, or is it something else? It’s probably a touch of everything, but it is up to the viewer to decide. In a small, nondescript town, a man is about to be hanged for the murder of a bigot. The man’s guilt or innocence is still ambiguous, but the hanging goes ahead anyway. However, what has been unusual on this morning is that the sun has not risen, and the town is still dark, despite the time reaching the time of 9.30am. The episode spends most of its time with barbs being traded back and forth between many of the town’s residents, each with their own feelings on the subject of the man to be hanged and whether it is correct or not. The prejudices from all sides, including the convicted man, is apparent. It isn’t until after the deed has been completed that town reverend suggests that the darkness signifies the hatred of those within the town, at which point the light becomes even darker. The radio broadcast to complete the episode suggests that this phenomenon is occurring at other places around the globe.

Serling sets this piece up well, and for the most part it is played out by the actors well. Apparently Serling wrote this in reaction to President Kennedy’s assassination, which is referenced in the radio broadcast as “a street in Dallas”. It again prefaces his own attempts to highlight these kinds of themes in his work, and have them faced by those that watch. It is something he generally did extremely well.

Rating: I wear my sunglasses at night. 4/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E25: The Masks

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E25: The Masks

Despite the reasonable idea of the written story, I think perhaps this episode is too drawn out to get the appropriate response from the viewer. Such is the way when you have a bed-ridden patient and a family that you are trying to cross-examine even as the story progresses.

The story is ok. An old man is dying, and his family shows up more to ensure he IS dying and that they can claim the enormous inheritance than to show any real sympathy for his own situation. Each of the family reveals their obvious character traits as they are there. As a result, in order to claim their inheritance, they must each don masks that are said to be the opposite of their character but are obviously not so, and must leave them on until midnight. Throughout the evening they all complain of being uncomfortable, but they dutifully await until the anointed hour, at which time the old man expires. Initially delighted to have become immensely rich, they remove their masks to discover why they were so uncomfortable – their faces have contorted into the same terrible expressions as the masks, forcing them to live with their character traits in full public view forever.

Like I said, it comes across as a reasonable story idea, but given the length of time that it takes to drag out to the final conclusion, it is not one of the episodes that you will consider as memorable for those reasons.

Rating: No more hiding behind a mask. 3/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E24: What’s in the Box?

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E24: What’s in the Box?

It is somewhat amusing to see a tale that harps a little on the obsession of some people on watching television back in 1964, especially given the argument that often rears its head in 2017 about how much television the people of today are watching. Still, in the long run that’s not exactly what this episode is about at all. No, it is something completely different and unrelated.

Welcome Joe Britt, a character who seems to have very little redeeming qualities. Let’s bitch about our dinner, let’s bitch about our wife, and let’s bitch about out television repairman. Well, do so at your own risk, because if you have Winnie the Pooh’s voice repairing your TV, then he may just make a special tweak for you. Because once he leaves and Joe resumes his favourite position, suddenly what he can watch on the TV is his life – parts that have passed, parts that are current, and what scares him more, parts of what is to come.

OK, so without trying to overanalyse the episode, if this was occurring to you, would you not try and conclude whether anyone else could see if (which his wife could not) and then try and examine whether you were seeing things? Yes, I am overanalysing I know, and while the episode draws to its inevitable conclusions I guess you should be able to enjoy it without trying to pick it all to pieces. I have a bad habit of doing that to episodes that use either time travel or knowledge of the past or future in them.

As it turns out, two rather unlikeable characters both get their just desserts, which is perhaps the way it should be in a world where the Twilight Zone plays its parts in proceedings.

Rating:  Just turn it over to the wrestling!   3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E23: Queen of the Nile

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E23: Queen of the Nile

Do you get the feeling that this episode gives everything away far too early? It’s all and good for a story to give enough clues such that you can try and work out the plotline yourself without having it handed to you on a platter, but sometimes you’d like it to be a little less obvious.

When reporter protagonist Herrick shows up to interview the golden actress superstar Pamela Morris, her immediate similarity to a long-supposed-dead Egyptian queen Cleopatra sends off alarm bells in his head. Not the which are then exacerbated when he meets Morris’s mother, who then claims not to be her mother but her daughter. Like any good journalist he follows up with those claims, but then makes the mistake of confronting Morris once he has enough evidence to support what he now believes. Surely, in such a scenario, you would have approached this in a completely different fashion, but no, Herrick does not, and suffers the consequences that the Twilight Zone dishes up to him.

While the story is worth following as the pieces of the puzzle fall into place (much quicker for the viewer than the character unfortunately), the conclusion is a bit too predictable and unsatisfying to give the episode a high mark against the others found in the series.

Rating: Her daughter even TOLD you about the scarab beetle! 3/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E22: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E22: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

This is a unique episode of the Twilight Zone, as it was actually a short film shot in France which won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film in 1963. It was then bought by Rod Serling’s production team to air as a part of their series. It does in its own way fit straight into the mantra of the series and doesn’t feel out of place.

It is impressive given the almost zero dialogue that takes place, and yet you can easily discern the plot of the episode and how it is progressing. The fact that it is based on a story set in American and written by an American but film and acted by Frenchmen doesn’t affect it at all. The excellent portrayal of the protagonist by Roger Jacquet gives the whole story its impetus, as he tries to escape from his fate after the rope he is being hanged by snaps, allowing him to drop into the river below from where he escapes his bonds and looks to make his way home. It is expertly filmed, and the story never lags and keeps you interested in the finale right up until the final plotline is revealed.

Perhaps it is a cop out to have such a well-executed, and award winning, short film as an episode in a long running series, but given the story’s nature it is a worthy addition, and more than acceptable within the Twilight Zone universe.

Rating: Loosening the noose. 5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E21: Spur of the Moment

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E21: Spur of the Moment

The thought is there for the story, and is structured well enough that the story moves along without complete predictability, but there’s just that level of acting here that doesn’t quite get it right, that doesn’t quite instill the mood of the story and the characters to make it as believable as it could be.

Trying to tie in the two sides of the story without giving away the whole plot in one sitting is not an easy thing to do, but you need to have some investment in the characters as they are plotted, and none of the characters in this episode are particularly likeable at all, nor do you feel much remorse or sympathy for any of them. The fact that the older version of Anne is trying to save herself from what she sees as her own disappointing failure in her present time s amusing enough, and the fact that she can remember herself being chased by who turns out to be herself in the future is where the story ties in. It’s just that you don’t really want her to change her own present, because she doesn’t seem to deserve to have it changed. Fortunately the Twilight Zone doesn’t allow her that pleasure.

Rating: Ride like the wind! 3/5.

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E20: From Agnes – With Love

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E20: From Agnes – With Love

There as always a predilection when it came to machines and computers that once they became self-aware, what kind of emotions would they be able to evolve and how would those affect the humans who had built them. This episode goes some way to exploring that with the subject of love.The episode cleverly bookends itself, with the character of Elwood coming in to placate the super computer that had been going haywire with its current programmer. His promotion to the post is then quickly followed by a series of events that are promoted by the suggestions offered by the computer Agnes, whose advice seems to be constantly proving to be bad news for Elwood in his pursuit of his work colleague Millie. Of course, what is patently obvious to the viewer but for some reason not the protagonist is that the computer has fallen in love with him, and looks to break up this budding relationship at every turn. The obvious occurs, and we are left with the same scenario as we walked in on at the start of the episode, except this time it is Elwood leaving in complete disarray, leaving the next poor sap to come in and take his place.

The episode is fun enough, but in the end more annoying than enjoyable, as it sits somewhere between comedy and drama without leaning enough to one direction to make it more enamouring.

Rating: Computer games. 3.5/5

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E19: Night Call

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E19: Night Call

On the face of it, this episode has all the right ingredients to make it one of the better stories, though for some reason it doesn’t resonate as much as it should. I can’t really put my finger on why this is, but something just doesn’t elevate it into one of the highly thought of episodes.

It is well acted, and the story of the mysterious phone calls to the invalided old woman, which come with increasing regularity and slowly more recognisable words rather than silence, works well. The build up to the middle of the episode, where Elva has insisted her caller stop bothering her, and the phone company tracing the calls to the local graveyard, is good. Even the conclusion is done well, though having read Richard Matheson’s original short story “Long Distance Call” on which this is based, I like the ending of that better (where the caller says “I’ll be right over!”). And perhaps that is where my problem lies, in that I enjoyed the ending of the story more in its written form rather than the changes made for this episode. Still, this was an easy way to spend twenty-odd minutes.

Rating: Beware the midnight phone call. 4/5.

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E18: Black Leather Jackets

Revisiting The Twilight Zone: S05E18: Black Leather Jackets

Here is another episode where the story and plot is interesting enough, but it doesn’t hold my interest anywhere near to the end, where I pretty much switched off halfway through mentally and waited for the conclusion to come.

Having the three main characters as the bike riding, leather jacket wearing youths, allowing them to be avoided by all of the townsfolk works well enough, but I guess it is the love interest part of the story that holds me back. I see why it is necessary given that it is where we discover everything that these three are a part of, it’s just that it isn’t believable enough for me to invest in. And when the end comes around, and Scott decides to try and convince Ellen to run away with him, only for the inevitable conclusion to arise, it just doesn’t feel… enough. Something is missing. Probably just my interest.

Rating: Hell bent for leather. 3/5