I never saw many of the fourth season TZ episodes, probably because the hour length made them more expensive (and therefore less likely) to be re-run. But I got a complete TZ boxseet a while back, and have watched some.
An interesting one is “Passage on the Lady Anne”:
[spoiler]A young American couple books eastward Transatlantic passage on a mysterious 50+ years-old English luxury cruise ship. They soon observe that all the other passengers are English, and over 75 years old. After some cryptic hints, they learn that the cruise line plans to decommission the Lady Anne, and the passengers (all long-time repeat customers who’ve become very close over the decades) have decided to ride out to sea, and go down with the ship when the crew (who are also old, and close to the passengers) deliberately sinks it.
The motivation for this swan song is the elderly passengers feeling out of touch with modern, fast-paced ways (and transportation), which dovetails with the American husband’s workaholism and impatience, which he moderates over the course of the voyage.
At the end, the young American couple are informed that they will be spared: their rescue has been summoned, and they are put on a lifeboat with supplies (to include an RF beacon).[/spoiler]One thing I wanted to say: I’d always thought that the only two TZ episodes with no supernatural phenomena were “Where Is Everybody?” and “The Silence”.
But “Passage on the Lady Anne” would seem to be another, unless I’m missing something.
I’m not sure what you mean. There are lots of science fiction episodes with no “supernatural” elements. Perhaps you mean no supernatural or science fiction elements?
There are some episodes like “Where Is Everybody?” where the apparently supernatural elements take place within someone’s mind or in a dream. But another one like that is “Perchance to Dream.”
"The Shelter"is another episode with no supernatural or science fiction elements.
I perked up when they mentioned the ship’s age, as 52 years: I remembered the year of production (1963) incorrectly and wondered if that was a hint that these people died on the Titanic.
Yes, “Nick of Time” is great because you’re left wondering.
There’s also “The Jeopardy Room”, with Martin Landau as the would-be defector who, granted, is maybe up against an explosives expert, but a mundane one.
The Wiki article on “The Silence” says there are only three such episodes, but one of the others it lists is “The Jeopardy Room.” (“The Jeopardy Room,” on the other hand, says there are four.) It doesn’t seem to me that these lists are very reliable.
So we are up to at least five (although I would also count “Perchance to Dream.” It’s really no more supernatural than “Where is Everybody?”)
Arguably, “Nick of Time.” Shatner is convinced that there was nothing supernatural things going on, and the people at the end are being held prisoner by their own superstition, not anything supernatural.
I’d figure that “One More Pallbearer” is of a piece with “Where Is Everybody?”: we find out by the time of the opening narration that he’s a single-minded eccentric who’s been rigging up an elaborate hoax, and over the course of the episode we learn that he’s in the grip of a twisted obsession — with grudges that he’s been nursing for decades, and a plan that doesn’t play out at all the way he’s been fantasizing about for so long. The guy is, in a word, crazy. Or, if you prefer: delusional.
“Your whole life has been a fantasy: a parade of illusions!”
I don’t recall any intention to scuttle the old liner in “Passage on the Lady Anne”. The impression I always got was that once the live passengers were sent off on the lifeboat the rest of the passengers, who were already dead, would sail off into… whatever comes next.
But, it has been a very long time since I saw it.
