# Suggest some Twilight Zone(TOS) episodes, please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107 "2013-06-28T12:08:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/21 "2013-06-28T23:03:29Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > Just wanted to note if you’re very interested in the original series, _The Twilight Zone Companion_ by Marc Scott Zicree is worth the small investment. He details the history of the entire series, complete with episode-by-episode synopses including Serling’s intro and outro bits. (He also critiques the episodes unflinchingly, which has annoyed some Amazon reviewer/fanboys.) I second this recommendation. I first bought this book when I was in college in the '80s, and I still dig it out occasionally for a read. It’s good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/22 "2013-06-28T23:14:21Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > **randwill** , the first one from the Original Series was “Where Is Everybody?” Just Earl Holliman for most of it. He did an excellent job. The bit where he walks into the jail cell and the door sloooowly starts closing really got to me. You’re right. I believe “Walking Distance” was the first episode they shot (5th to air) after the pilot, “Where is Everybody?” (first to air) got the show picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/23 "2013-06-28T23:15:18Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > Just wanted to note if you’re very interested in the original series, _The Twilight Zone Companion_ by Marc Scott Zicree is worth the small investment. He details the history of the entire series, complete with episode-by-episode synopses including Serling’s intro and outro bits. (He also critiques the episodes unflinchingly, which has annoyed some Amazon reviewer/fanboys.) A while back there was a Twilight Zone magazine, which ran scripts from TOS. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/24 "2013-06-28T23:27:49Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > You’re right. I believe “Walking Distance” was the first episode they shot (5th to air) after the pilot, “Where is Everybody?” (first to air) got the show picked up. Thanks **randwill**! I did not know that. I guess I’d better get that book, it sounds interesting and I do fancy myself a fan. Another favorite of mine from TOS, “The Man in the Bottle”. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/25 "2013-06-29T00:09:51Z")
A World of His Own ["The Twilight Zone" A World of His Own (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734553/) The kicker at the end is hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/26 "2013-06-29T00:52:02Z")
“Twenty-two”. Better known as “Room for one more”. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/27 "2013-06-29T01:01:35Z")
We’re pretty fond of [The Hunt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29) because it’s about a man and his dog. It was written by Earl Hamner, Jr., of “Waltons” fame. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/28 "2013-06-29T03:34:09Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > But it’s hard to go wrong with _The Twilight Zone_; there are so many episodes (especially from the first three seasons) that are absolute classics:\*\* “One for the Angels”\*\*, “A Passage for Trumpet”, “The Howling Man”, “The Eye of the Beholder”, “The Night of the Meek” (Art Carney in a sweet Christmas story), “A Game of Pool”, **“In Praise of Pip”** , “Living Doll”, to name just a few. Bolding mine. I’m sentimental, “One for the Angels” is my favorite episode, although I like a lot of them. As for “In Praise of Pip” I’ve heard it said that the episode is arguably the first in entertainment television to mention a conflict in Vietnam. As Jack Klugman’s character put it “A place you’ve probably never heard of…” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/29 "2013-06-29T04:59:14Z")
“The Lateness of the Hour” with Inger Stevens and “The After Hours” with Anne Francis are rather creepy. “The Obsolete Man” is a classic. “I Sing the Body Electric” is an adaptation of the story of the same name by Ray Bradbury (the only story of his the original series did). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/30 "2013-06-29T06:54:51Z")
My favorite has always been “The Eye of the Beholder.” My ex had never seen it, so I sat him down and watched it with him. When it got to the climax, he totally freaked out, and was literally shaking. I’m old enough to have seen all of them when they first aired. We had no idea that we’d ever see them again, so it was mandatory to be home when it was broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/31 "2013-06-29T07:02:49Z")
I remember one (not sure if it was from the original or revival. I want to say original because I _recall_ black and white, but not sure). There was a portal that appears in a couple’s house and… that’s all I really remember. I think they hear their daughter crying “where am I?” and such and they have to retrieve her? I also liked Living Doll, one of the first I ever saw. Talky Tina is a bitch. ETA: There was also one from the revival where someone gets hit on the head and gains the ability to see these people meant to make sure everyone’s lives go “as planned”, and decides to effectively rebel so he gets free will. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/32 "2013-06-29T09:24:05Z")
“Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room” is probably my overall favorite, at least right now. “Steel” is a close second, and behind that is “He’s Alive”, an exemplar of how wonderful acting can save a pretty dismal script. “Nightmare as a Child” is my favorite example of the kind of thing people think of when you mention _The Twilight Zone_, with “The Night of the Meek” and “Deaths-Head Revisited” tied for a very close second. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/33 "2013-06-29T11:09:45Z")
What was the episode where a guy starts his work day, and everybody he knows is a stranger? I forgot how it ended…it was the poor guy wondering if he was insane, or if everybody else was. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/34 "2013-06-29T14:57:15Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > As for “In Praise of Pip” I’ve heard it said that the episode is arguably the first in entertainment television to mention a conflict in Vietnam. As Jack Klugman’s character put it “A place you’ve probably never heard of…” It may be (it originally aired September 27, 1963). “There isn’t even supposed to be a war going on there” he says. > [@Jragon](#): > > I remember one (not sure if it was from the original or revival. I want to say original because I _recall_ black and white, but not sure). There was a portal that appears in a couple’s house and… that’s all I really remember. I think they hear their daughter crying “where am I?” and such and they have to retrieve her? “Little Girl Lost”, written by the great Richard Matheson. The couple’s daughter has accidentally fallen through a temporary portal into another dimension; they can hear her and spend the episode trying to locate the portal and rescue her with the help of their neighbor who happens to be a physicist. > [@ralph124c](#): > > What was the episode where a guy starts his work day, and everybody he knows is a stranger? I forgot how it ended..it was the poor guy wondering if he was insane, or if everybody else was. Sounds like “Person or Persons Unknown”, written by Charles Beaumont, who was, along with Matheson, the other major contributor of _TZ_ scripts aside from Serling himself (who wrote most of them). In the story, nobody knows our hero, and he spends the episode trying to convince everyone he’s not insane. He wakes up at the end to the familiar “it was all a dream” relief, only to realize he does not recognize his wife! ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/35 "2013-06-29T15:52:02Z")
You can also approach the “which episodes to watch” question from the known actors involved. Jack Klugman appeared in four episodes, and was always very good:[ul][li]A Passage for Trumpet (written by Rod Serling) 5/20/60[_]A Game of Pool (George Clayton Johnson) 10/13/61[_]Death Ship (Richard Matheson) 2/7/63[_]In Praise of Pip (Rod Serling) 9/27/63[/ul]Burgess Meredith was the only other with that many appearances:[ul]Time Enough at Last (Rod Serling) 11/20/59[_]Mr Dingle, the Strong (Rod Serling) 3/3/61[_]The Obsolete Man (Rod Serling) 6/2/61[_]Printer’s Devil (Charles Beaumont) 2/28/63[/ul]William Shatner actually _acts_ in his:[ul][_]Nick of Time (Richard Matheson) 11/18/60[_]Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Richard Matheson) 10/11/63[/ul]Robert Duvall is in “Miniature”, written by Charles Beaumont and originally aired 2/21/63.[/li] Dennis Hopper is in “He’s Alive”, written by Rod Serling and originally aired 1/24/63. Child actor Billy Mumy was in three:[ul][_]Long distance Call (William Idelson and Charles Beaumont) 3/3/61[_]It’s a Good Life (Rod Serling, based on “It’s a _Good_ Life” by Jerome Bixby) 11/3/61In Praise of Pip (Rod Serling) 9/27/63[/ul]For Trekkers, you can see Leonard Nimoy in a bit part in " A Quality of Mercy", written by Rod Serling and originally aired 12/29/61 and George Takei in “The Encounter”, written by Martin M. Goldsmith and originally aired 5/1/64. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/36 "2013-06-30T01:27:52Z")
Why is it that the ones I dislike the most were starring Jack Klugman . . . except for “Death Ship”? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/37 "2013-06-30T02:51:08Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > And there is an episode I forgot the name, an agoraphobic old woman in her house gets a visitor a’knocking on her door, asking her to come out. She eventually lets him in and talks to him, because the visitor is played by Robert Redford! You can see where that one’s going, too. But it’s rather charming, moreso than scary. Per IMDb, this appears to be “Nothing In the Dark,” and I agree, it started as creepy but quickly changed in tone. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/38 "2013-06-30T03:47:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I think the 80s revival was at least as good if not better than the original, but the OP wasn’t asking about it (and I don’t know if it’s as readily available). The 1985-87 revival, which is available on DVD, was as good or better in the sense of having more consistent stories, and was at least equal to the original series in featuring up and coming A-list actors (including Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Joan Allen and Morgan Freeman) but the set design is done on the cheap, the special effects are terrible, and the cinematography is often atrocious. (To be fair, these are problems common to nearly all 'Eighties television shows where production costs were still limited to ~$200k per television hour, and exacerbated by the poor transfer to DVD.) The classic show benefits from less reliance upon special effects, good to excellent cinematography, the often outstanding casting, and of course the barely veiled allegories that were relevant in the 'Sixties and seem quaint today. However (and I say this as a fan who has recently viewed all five seasons in their entirety) about a third of the episodes are great, another third are interesting but the twist is patently obvious to modern viewers, and the last third are just terrible. So you do have to be somewhat picky about which to watch. Many of my personal favorites have already been listed, but I have a particular fondness for “The Long Morrow” which is a very well done twist story in the vein of “The Gift of the Magi”. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/39 "2013-06-30T03:52:46Z")
As long as folks are mentioning the '80’s series, I’ll cast a vote for “Nightcrawlers” and “Palladin of the Lost Hour”. Then for fans of “Eye of the Beholder”, there’s this: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvxdkqt-HHs) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107/40 "2013-06-30T07:47:17Z")
Coincidentally, Amazon has the [complete series](http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_196050_30740630_pe_button/?docId=1001250161&ie=UTF8) on sale this week ('til 7/6/2013) in both DVD ($113.99) and Blu-ray ($143.99) – and SyFy’s marathon starts 8:00 AM Thursday (7/4). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-some-twilight-zone-tos-episodes-please/662107.md?page=3)