# What are your top three episodes of the Twilight Zone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839 "2025-05-27T01:57:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/1 "2025-05-27T01:57:13Z")
The classic one, I mean, not any of the three (yes, three by now) reboots. Mine would have to be 1. The Shelter 2. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 3. Shadow Play But there are a ton I could sub in. I could easily make a top ten or even top 20 of this… I won’t ask that of you, though, only the top three will do. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/2 "2025-05-27T02:02:53Z")
1. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 2. Five Characters in Search of an Exit 3. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up (To be fair there are more and it’s been ages since I watched the show so I’m not going to fight hard for these choices.) Honorable mention: Time Enough at Last (my GFs favorite) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/3 "2025-05-27T02:25:08Z")
- Nervous man in a four dollar room - A nice place to visit - On thursday we leave for home ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/4 "2025-05-27T02:32:32Z")
Nick of Time The Howling Man A Most Unusual Camera ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/5 "2025-05-27T02:40:35Z")
1. “It’s a Good Life” 2. “Walking Distance” 3. “A Kind of a Stopwatch” ---
**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:** [May 27, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/6 "2025-05-27T02:42:05Z")
1. “It’s A Good Life” 2. “The Invaders” 3. “The After Hours” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/7 "2025-05-27T02:45:30Z")
To Serve Man The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street The After Hours ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/8 "2025-05-27T02:47:25Z")
“Nightmare at Twenty Thousand Feet” “Little Girl Lost” “To Serve Man” Honorable Mentions: “Nick of Time” “The Jeopardy Room” “The Odyssey of Flight 33” ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/9 "2025-05-27T02:56:01Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > To Serve Man > [@Dropo](#): > > “To Serve Man” I’m surprised I forgot this one. A true classic. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/10 "2025-05-27T03:01:07Z")
One For The Angels It’s A Good Life Steel ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/11 "2025-05-27T03:34:03Z")
We all enjoyed “Eye of the Beholder” but it scared my 8 year old sister so much that she still talks about it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/12 "2025-05-27T03:36:41Z")
1. A Stop at Willoughby 2. It’s a Good Life 3a. Eye of the Beholder 3b. Walking Distance I could be persuaded to change my mind about 2 and 3, but #1 is non-negotiable. I’m surprised no one else mentioned it yet. I agree with novelist R L Stine that it’s the best Twilight Zone episode ever. Rod Serling himself felt that it was at least the best of the first season. 3a and 3b are ties. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/13 "2025-05-27T03:48:06Z")
Room for One More To Serve Man It’s a Good Life ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/14 "2025-05-27T04:17:28Z")
It’s a Good Life The Invaders The After Hours ETA: Damn! I swear I wasn’t cribbing off of @Stranger_On_A_Train ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/15 "2025-05-27T04:50:35Z")
As long as we’re talking about favorite, not always best, most iconic, or some other criterea. 1. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 2. The Old Man in the Cave 3. The Odyssey of Flight 33 Though my opinions change depending on the day and the mood, #1 is probably almost always # 1, and TOMitC is almost always in my top 5 due to the insightful, yet rueful condemnation of our species. Flight 33 just always stays with me, the situation, the quite desperation in the end, and of course, the completely unresolved question and the fact that it is so very random, compared to a lot of more moralistic/ironic justice episodes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/16 "2025-05-27T06:58:36Z")
Nick of Time It’s a _Good_ Life To Serve Man ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/17 "2025-05-27T07:45:15Z")
**To Serve Man**. This one has the classic Twilight Zone twist at the end—and what a twist! **The Hunt**. I saw this one in reruns about fifty years ago, and it has always stayed with me. I don’t know why; I’m nothing like the main character, nor do I hunt, or even own a hound dog. But it does have a valuable moral: “Not even the Devil can fool a hound dog.” **The Shelter**. Serling pulled out all the stops with this one. Perfectly normal people, enjoying an evening together, who become a ravenous mob, just because one of them has something the others want. The Cold War threat is central to this one, and it fits perfectly, though the lesson can extend to anything, really. Honorable Mentions go to the following: **A Stop at Willoughby**. As mentioned above, and thank you for reminding me of it, @wolfpup. This one is quiet and understated, and will likely make no “Best Of” lists because of that. But it should. In today’s world, and even in the world of the early 1960s, who wouldn’t want a Willoughby to stop at? Away from phones ringing nonstop, people wanting something, and an ever-growing inbox of e-mails? Sounds good to me. **Miniature**. This was one from the fourth season, when episodes were an hour long. For some reason, it was never included in syndicated reruns. But I had the great good luck to see it, thanks to a local TV station who said, “Screw it, we’re buying it,” and ran all of Season Four in late-night. It is a bittersweet story. A man who visits the local museum daily—apparently, its cafeteria always has a great lunch special—and on his daily visit, is convinced that he sees the dolls moving in a dollhouse exhibit. He watches the goings-on in the dollhouse daily, and falls in love with one of the dolls, who is apparently being abused. One day, the man (who, I should note, is played extremely well by Robert Duvall) disappears. Nobody can find him; his family has no idea where he is. Until a museum guard notices an addition to the cast of characters in the dollhouse, and he looks suspiciously like the man who used to visit daily. That was one of the best hour-long episodes, IMHO. It remains one of my favourites. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/18 "2025-05-27T11:11:03Z")
In no particular order, these came to mind immediately: “A Stop at Willoughby” “It’s a Good Life” “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/19 "2025-05-27T12:23:06Z")
The Invaders - with Agnes Moorehead. There is no dialog, but her acting is superb! The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street - In the 6th grade, we read this out loud in class. It had always stuck with me, and one day I saw it on The Twilight Zone! I was blown away. Nothing in the Dark - Robert Redford shines as a policeman who gets shot. An old woman afraid of “the dark” (death personified) decides to help him, even though she is very afraid. ---
**Author:** ![f.coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eada6e/32.png) [@f.coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/f.coli)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839/20 "2025-05-27T14:06:49Z")
And When the Sky Was Opened (very creepy) The Thirty Fathom Grave (who, or what, is banging on hull of the submarine) The Fear (a great twist after 20 minutes of suspense) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-three-episodes-of-the-twilight-zone/1018839.md?page=2)