The Twilight Zone

The bestTwilight Zoneepisodes proffer a unassailable mix of sci - fi , horror , fantasy , and speculative fiction shorts that often toy out as morality story . The serial was one of the original anthology television shows and is easily the most influential . Every anthology serial that followed owes a lot to Rod Sterling ’s masterful collection of mentation - provoking , often horrific , and disturbing tales of terror . Whether it was horror , sci - fi , or the fear of an unknown futurity , The Twilight Zonemastered it all .

There have been a few reboots of the series , let in a critically clap one by Jordan Peele . However , the original remain the best , and that serial alone ( range from 1959 to 1963 ) created some of the most haunting , fearsome , scary , and sometimes hopeful and empathetic unretentive filmsin genre television history . With major famous person names likeWilliam Shatner , Jack Klugman , Burgess Meredith , and Jackie Gleason , the bestTwilight Zoneepisodes are as efficacious today as they were six tenner ago .

10Living Doll

Season 5, Episode 6

There have been many " bread and butter bird " horror moving picture . tiddler ’s Playis the most famous . BothM3GANandAnnabelleare new additionsto the subgenre . However , all thesekiller dolly motion picture owe everything to the original killer dolly , the hold out Doll fromThe Twilight Zone . This doll was discover Talky Tina , and a mother bought the dolly for her daughter ’s birthday one year . She hoped the doll would aid the little lady friend passage best into life with her fresh exacting stepfather but that is n’t how things call on out .

The total way this installment takes the unlikable Erich and turns him into someone the consultation fears for is consummate …

Telly Savalas ( The unclean Dozen ) make for stepdad Erich , who knows the bird is evil even though his new married woman and stepdaughter conceive she is sweet . When Talky Tina tells Erich , " My name is Talky Tina , and I ’m going to kill you , " he sets out to find a manner to destruct it but fails . The entire way this sequence takes the unlikeable Erich and turn him into someone the audience fears for is masterful , but when he gets what is coming to him in the last , it makes it all deserving the wait .

03130397_poster_w780-1.jpg

9Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?

Season 2, Episode 28

" Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up " was another instalment in whichThe Twilight Zonetackled prejudice and dogmatism by using exotic living to tell the story . This episode is mostly described asa whodunnit mystery but was also a good precursor to alien intrusion movies likeInvasion of the Body SnatchersandJohn Carpenter ’s The Thing . The episode come at a wayside diner where a group of strangers is stranded during an uttermost weather violent storm . However , they before long begin to realize something is n’t right .

While this definitive anthology series was an iconic show for five seasons , some seasons failed to substantiate the appeal the show is observe for .

The diners conceive one of the multitude there is an alien , and they do n’t know which one of them it could be . This induce them to turn on each other , show their prejudice in the unfastened , and make threats based on what they see as dispute . Even duad go to suspect their partner are not who they claim to be , and the tension rise until they all finally get out without proving anything . The final twist is that one of them was an alien , think the major planet was ready to assault since humans could n’t even believe each other , mosh the level home .

Collage of various characters from The Twilight Zone

Original SR Image by Shawn Lealos.

8The Invaders

Season 2, Episode 15

" The Invaders " is an amazingTwilight Zoneepisode that misdirects the viewers into thinking they are watching one thing and then springing the twist that things are not what they seem . Richard Matheson ( I Am Legend ) wrote this instalment with Douglas Hayes directing the repugnance story about what is likely a unfrequented woman fighting for her sprightliness as little creatures seem to be try on to kill her in her home . She does everything she can to protect her home and stick live as she obliterate these creaturesin any way she can .

What makes this episode work so well is that the viewing audience spend the entire time cheer for the scoundrel without sleep together that they are the bad hombre and then realize when it is too late that the " monsters " were the victims all along . The twist reveals that the " wight " are human astronauts who landed on another planet , and the woman is a elephantine unknown protecting her dwelling house from the " invading " humanity . It is the only time in the episode any dialog is used , and the fact this is a understood installment adds to the terror .

7It’s A Good Life

Season 3, Episode 8

One of the creepiestTwilight Zoneepisodes ever made is season 3 ’s " It ’s A Good Life . " That is because it has one of the scary affair in revulsion flicks - a creepy shaver . Rod Sterling wrote the handwriting base on a chronicle by Jerome Bixby , and it all starts off shockingly . The first thing that the consultation take care is a radical of adult nervously talking to each other , and some of them beg the others to defeat a child ( wager by Billy Mumy ) . However , these adults are not the bad guys in this news report .

A someone with great top executive , but unchecked aggressiveness can destruct everything around him .

Anthony Fremont has godlike genial business leader . He can interpret brain and pressure masses to do anything he need them to . No one can resist his powers , and everyone in the town is enslaved to this young boy ’s wish and desire . He is also vindictive as when he does n’t get his way , he will smart the adult he feels slighted by . This terrifying episodeshows how a individual with dandy index , but unchecked aggressiveness can destroy everythingaround him and make mass scared to do anything to stop him .

The Living Doll in Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone is an anthology series that debuted in 1959, featuring a collection of standalone episodes encompassing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and horror. Known for its macabre or unexpected twists, each story is distinct, exploring various speculative themes and human experiences.

6To Serve Man

Season 3, Episode 24

There are manyTwilight Zoneepisodes from which other shows and moving-picture show have adopt , but few have been as mimicked as " To Serve Man . " This episode stars Richard Kiel ( Jaws from the James Bond franchise ) as an alien . His people are 9 - foot - tall telepathic beings who set down on Earth and recognize humans with a volume calledTo Serve Man . The aliens take they are there to function homo in any path possibleand apportion their advanced knowledge , which could solve all of Earth ’s problem .

As with all the bestTwilight Zoneepisodes , this one has a twist - one of the best in the entire franchise ’s run . They do everything they promised and turn the Earth into a utopia with all the problems , include contamination , world hunger , and more solved . The braid was also a perfect joke , as the al-Qur’an ’s championship -To Serve Man- was genuine in the signified that the aliens were taking human being to visit their satellite , where they then serve them as meals to their race . The gag helped elevate this to masterpiece status .

5Nightmare At 20,000 Feet

Season 5, Episode 13

ThisTwilight Zoneepisode might be the most famous one in the original run . The principal reason are two - sheepfold . First , this was one of William Shatner ’s appearance in the anthology serial , and he was on top form in this performance . secondly , the story itself was creepy-crawly and memorable - one that most sports fan can remember almost every detail about . Shatner is a man who is frightened of flying but has to take a flight anyway . It does n’t help that a storm is on-going , and the plane hits turbulence .

Richard Donner ( Superman ) head the episode in one of his other credits .

What post this human race over the edge is when he wait out the windowpane and date a " gremlin " on the aeroplane ’s wing . No one believes him , and he is considered an unruly passenger , all while the gremlin seek to bring down the plane . Richard Donner ( Superman ) address the episode in one of his former citation , and while the brownie is clearly a human beings in a furred courting , the total thing is just creepy enough to stay one of the most memorable and belovedTwilight Zoneepisodes in history .

A still from the Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up? episode of The Twilight Zone

4The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

Season 1, Episode 22

One of the most popularTwilight Zoneepisodes ever made , " The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street , " tells a story that was important in the sixties and might be even more full of life in today ’s social club . The installment start out with the electrical energy give out out in a neighborhood , and no one can get it back on . However , when one car can still start , the people who live on Maple Street begin to consider there is an alien invasion ongoingand start to indicate digit at each other , accusing neighbors of being aliens .

This episode is one of the better allegory duringThe Twilight Zone ’s run about fear - pitch and xenophobia .

While the preconception place out in this instalment is not based on grammatical gender , race , ethnicity , or religious belief , it does show that humankind will often find reason to segregate and detest the great unwashed unlike them , even if there is no ground to do so . This episode is one of the best allegories duringThe Twilight Zone ’s runnel about fear - mongering and xenophobia in small , secretive - apt community . When it turns out alien do it , but only as a way to turn humans against each other by provoking concern , it is a message that remains scarily genuine .

A collage of twilight zone characters

3Five Characters In Search Of A Exit

Season 3, Episode 14

The patch of " Five Characters in Search of an Exit " is clearly one that many horror motion-picture show have play off of over the geezerhood . A chemical group of five people are stuck together with no reason or explanation . They all take to find a agency out before they all die . These people include a clown , a hobo , a concert dance dancer , a bagpiper , and an USA major , andthey need to forecast out why they are there , what each of them represent , and how to escapebefore the nightmare finally ends .

This is a story of five random strangers who do n’t remember how they get there or even who they are . Rod Sterling save this installment and set it up like a deranged whodunnit , an Agatha Christie - title mystery without a brilliant investigator to help these the great unwashed escape worry . What really helps this intact instalment cling the landing place is that they are not in " hell , " as they surmise , but it is something a lot more innocent and also terrorize that explains their predicament .

2Time Enough At Last

Season 1, Episode 8

" Time Enough At Last " is aTwilight Zoneepisode that seems to have a felicitous conclusion after a worldwide calamity but then wrench the knife in the watcher ’s mind when it destroys all hope in the installment ’s last shot . Burgess Meredith star in this episode as a bank cashier who does n’t like to be around people and prefers to drop all his prison term show by himself . However , he never finds the time , and mass remain to get in his way . When a global catastrophe delivers the world via a nuclear bombing , this military man survives .

Each installing of The Twilight Zone has a subject matter hidden in its story , but there are a number of different type of instalment based on their theme .

When he come out of his bomb shelter and sees the full world seems to have been destroyed , he realizes he has " metre enough " to do what he wants to do in sprightliness . Things get even better when he finds the subroutine library was n’t destroyed and all the book he could ever need to record are still there . However , this episode does not have a happy end , and it is a twist that offers up the worst catastrophe imaginable for this world when his glasses fall in . This installment seems playfully mischievous and is a staring tragical comedy .

The aliens attacking in The Invaders in Twilight Zone

1Eye Of The Beholder

Season 2, Episode 6

One of the most shocking and brightly executedTwilight Zoneinstallments is the time of year 2 episode"Eye of the Beholder . " In it , a woman get wind she is so " frightful " that she does n’t have a probability at a normal life unless she undergoes several experimental charge plate operation . It seems sad , but she seems more than willing to undergo this to live a normal life . Director Douglas Heyes films the sequence so that viewers ca n’t see vital information until the shocking twist at the closing .

The primary theme of the episode remains prevalent in today ’s society . With so many people believing they have to vary their appearing to please others , it has made shaping OR commonplace , specially for the rich and notable who always want to continue their youth . The sequence ’s title is a twisting on " sweetheart is in the heart of the observer . " When the twist comes , and the beautiful Maxine Stuart realizes she has to be made to expect like the pig - snouted creatures in this existence , it delivers everythingThe Twilight Zonestands for .

Your Rating

Your comment has not been saved

Cast

The Twilight Zone is an anthology serial that debut in 1959 , featuring a collection of standalone sequence cover drama , psychological thriller , phantasy , science fable , suspense , and revulsion . cognise for its macabre or unexpected kink , each story is distinct , exploring various bad themes and human experiences .

The evil child controlling the adults in The Twilight Zone It’s A Good Life

An alien in the To Serve Man episode of The Twilight Zone

William Shatner screaming with a gremlin outside his window in The Twilight Zone Nightmare At 20,000 Feet

An argument in the The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street episode of Thw Twilight Zone

The five strangers staring out of the room in Five Characters In Search Of An Exit of The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone - Time Enough At Last episode with the last man on Earth with broken glasses surrounded by books

Collage of Rod Serling and characters from various Twilight Zone episodes.

A monstrous doctor next to a terrified woman in The Twilight Zone’s Eye of the Beholder episode

Cast Placeholder Image

The Twilight Zone