# What is your favourite episode of the original Twilight Zone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2017, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646 "2017-11-15T00:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/61 "2017-11-17T19:20:12Z")
> [@divemaster](#): > > I’ve seen (and loved) many of the ones mentioned above. One episode that I only saw once and has stuck with me involves a couple of nice parents and their daughter, who if I recall, seemed to be in her young 20s. Nice normal family, until the daughter realizes something about herself and the parents turn out to be not so nice after all. Again, going from memory, the last lines spoken by the daughter are “No, pain, Dad!..No pain!” and then the parents look at each other–and make their chilling decision. > > I swear I need to get the complete DVD boxset. Every time someone mentions another one I mentally shout “me too!” and I can recall pretty much the whole episode, scene for scene, but this one has me stumped. I’m pretty sure it’s not _Lateness of the Hour_. Part of your description matches it, but IIRC it ends with the parents of the “daughter” ,who is actually a robot, reprogramming her to be a servant, as she was not happy with her life. I don’t recall her having been in pain(?) . Of course, I could be mistaken. I feel like I _do_ remember the “No pain” line but my mind’s eye is not associating it with LotH. Hopefully someone can give us the definitive answer. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/62 "2017-11-17T19:29:06Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Every time someone mentions another one I mentally shout “me too!” and I can recall pretty much the whole episode, scene for scene, but this one has me stumped. I’m pretty sure it’s not _Lateness of the Hour_. Part of your description matches it, but IIRC it ends with the parents of the “daughter” ,who is actually a robot, reprogramming her to be a servant, as she was not happy with her life. I don’t recall her having been in pain(?) . Of course, I could be mistaken. I feel like I _do_ remember the “No pain” line but my mind’s eye is not associating it with LotH. Hopefully someone can give us the definitive answer. The Lateness of the Hour. Season 2 episode 8 From [here](http://www.twilightzonemuseum.com/show/02.php): > [@](#): > > Mrs. Loren: Jana! Jana! > Jana Loren: {Repeatedly hits her arm against the bannister} No pain! No pain at all! No pain! > William Loren: Jana, stop it! > Jana Loren: No pain! No love. I can’t even feel love. Oh no!! (sobbing uncontrollably) > Mrs. Loren: Jana!! ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/63 "2017-11-17T20:22:42Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > The Lateness of the Hour. Season 2 episode 8 > From [here](http://www.twilightzonemuseum.com/show/02.php): :smack: I can sort of picture it now. My mind was going in a totally different direction. Thanks, **Doug K**. And sorry, \*\*Wesley Clark \*\* , and anyone else who already told us that. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/64 "2017-11-17T21:38:25Z")
“The Odyssey of Flight 33” - ["The Twilight Zone" The Odyssey of Flight 33 (TV Episode 1961) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734668/) “The Howling Man” - ["The Twilight Zone" The Howling Man (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734645/?ref_=tttr_tr_tt) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/65 "2017-11-18T04:58:52Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > “The Thirty Fathom Grave” scared the hell out of me when I saw it back in second grade! I never really got into Twilight Zone that much, but this is an episode that I’ve always remembered fondly. I thought I was all mature and grown up (13 in '63) but that last line gave me the creeps. But the Rod Serling piece that I’ve always considered his best was from the Night Gallery series a few years after TZ. John Carradine in a little ten minute masterpiece: **“Big Surprise.”** ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/66 "2017-11-18T09:02:40Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I never really got into Twilight Zone that much, but this is an episode that I’ve always remembered fondly. I thought I was all mature and grown up (13 in '63) but that last line gave me the creeps. > > But the Rod Serling piece that I’ve always considered his best was from the Night Gallery series a few years after TZ. John Carradine in a little ten minute masterpiece: **“Big Surprise.”** I saw that at 1:00 am while overnighting at a truck stop on the A1M outside of Leeds, England, in July 1976. Creeped the hell out of me, too! _“Hee, hee, hee! **SURPRISE!** ”_ ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/67 "2017-11-22T17:19:34Z")
“Little Girl Lost” written by Richard Matheson. Reminds me of a part of ‘Poltergeist’ made years later…How convenient it is to have a physicist friend you can call on to rush over to help! ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/68 "2017-11-22T18:31:31Z")
The one where the ending was a surprise? I’m still waiting for that one. ---
**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:** [November 22, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/69 "2017-11-22T18:43:19Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > The one where the ending was a surprise? I’m still waiting for that one. The shows were a lot more fun when I was kid, because I was just a kid. The ones I saw later in life didn’t impress me plot-wise, and often no better in terms of acting, direction, and production quality. Very few of the episodes are real gems but for it’s time it was quite good and it’s been a huge cultural influence. The Zone wasn’t well defined in it’s genre, a mix of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and morality tales, but it shone next to the cookie-cutter fare it competed with on television in it’s day. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/70 "2017-11-22T21:29:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The shows were a lot more fun when I was kid, because I was just a kid. The ones I saw later in life didn’t impress me plot-wise, and often no better in terms of acting, direction, and production quality. Very few of the episodes are real gems but for it’s time it was quite good and it’s been a huge cultural influence. The Zone wasn’t well defined in it’s genre, a mix of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and morality tales, but it shone next to the cookie-cutter fare it competed with on television in it’s day. I was there as a tot. I know. It was a signifier of something back then. But when I have seen reruns as an adult it just reminded me how tv waters everything down. Very few shows can live up to imagination. TZ had a big rep to live up to. Not fair in a way. Also it always looks like they had this idea to do an episode with no effects, just to save money on the budget, because you can “suggest” things. In reruns it looks like that was the whole game on that show. It wasn’t a novelty, and almost all the episodes were that way. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/71 "2017-11-23T04:57:56Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > The one where the ending was a surprise? I’m still waiting for that one. Thanks for your reply. ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/72 "2017-11-25T04:26:38Z")
One I can’t rewatch because it is so sad, is the one with Robert Lansing as the astronaut about to leave for Jupiter or someplace light years away and a few days before his departure, he meets a woman and falls in love. Like the Burgess Meredith/breaking eyeglasses episode listed above, it’s punishing someone whom we don’t feel deserves it. My favorite one is called the **Ring-A-Ding Girl**. An actress decides to return to her hometown for a reunion even though she’s due to film a movie elsewhere. I think the entire episode takes place in her family’s living room and it’s such a tour de force for the actress; she’s so happy to see everyone again, wants to catch up with their lives, etc. She loves her hometown, it was with their help that she was able to go to Hollywood and become a success and she wants to repay them somehow. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/73 "2017-11-25T04:38:06Z")
“Mr. Bevis” and “The Hunt” (Arthur Hunnicutt as the backwoods hunter who drowns along with his dog, and is greeted by a personage who claims to be the angel at the gate to Heaven but won’t let him in with his dog).These episodes illustrate personal choice and dignity. 🙂 While these episodes are the zenith, “It’s a Good Life” is the nadir! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/74 "2017-11-25T04:43:17Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > “Mr. Bevis” and “The Hunt” (Arthur Hunnicutt as the backwoods hunter who drowns along with his dog, and is greeted by a personage who claims to be the angel at the gate to Heaven but won’t let him in with his dog).These episodes illustrate personal choice and dignity. 🙂 Those two are very good, i agree. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/75 "2017-11-25T19:33:37Z")
Let’s also consider “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, which was originally a stand alone short film and subsumed into TZ for showing on US television (even set during the American Civil War, it was a French production) ---
**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:** [November 25, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/76 "2017-11-25T21:26:37Z")
I’m gonna toss a couple of the neglected hour-long eps into the mix: “The Parallel” and “Of Late I Dream of Cliffordville”. (Julie Newmar, mmmmm) ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/77 "2017-11-26T02:01:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I hate that one. Taking aside the argument of him (maybe) getting another pair of glasses, Henry Bemis didnt deserve the twist ending. The tW has always done best when a person got their just desserts. I would have liked the Time Enough far better if it ended without the twist. Indeed it “wasn’t fair”. > > One of my faves is #1: \*Where Is Everybody? > \* > > It really set the pace and the mood, and I have had that very dream. That’a why I love the episode. Henry Bemis did not deserve that fate, but life doesn’t give a flip. It’s great when the ex-concentration camp commander or the robber gets what’s coming to them. But the fickle finger of fate often doesn’t care about what is fair. Often the person who does everything right, still gets screwed in the end. For my favorites other than the above probably would be _Nick of Time,_ though ask me tomorrow and it will probably change. ---
**Author:** ![Hanover\_Fist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hanover\_Fist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanover_Fist)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/78 "2017-11-29T15:45:31Z")
Living Doll ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646/79 "2017-11-29T15:57:22Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Let’s also consider “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, which was originally a stand alone short film and subsumed into TZ for showing on US television (even set during the American Civil War, it was a French production) They actually showed us that film in school and I had no idea it was aired as part of the Twilight Zone until I got the Twilight Zone companion a few years after. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favourite-episode-of-the-original-twilight-zone/801646.md?page=3)