# What was your favorite Twilight Zone episode? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [October 12, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971 "2005-10-12T22:04:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/21 "2005-10-13T01:20:02Z")
“Night of the Meek,” about a poor slob who discovers a near-bottomless sack of gifts at Christmas time. _sniff_ ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/22 "2005-10-13T01:32:25Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > \*\*Jeep’s Phoenix \*\* I don’t remember the hunt, can you give more details? An old hillbilly and his dog go out 'coon hunting, and after a mishap find themselves wandering along a deserted road. They encounter a stranger who seems nice enough, but the dog is more than eager to get away from him. It turns out that the man and his dog both died. The stranger they meet is eager to let the man “in,” presumably to heaven, but states that the dog can’t go “inside.” The hillbilly refuses, saying that anyplace that isn’t good enough for his dog isn’t good enough for him. The two keep walking, and encounter another young man. The young man listens to their story, then informs the hillbilly that his dog just kept him from going to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/23 "2005-10-13T01:36:29Z")
I’ve seen only a few episodes. I think \*Twilight Zone \* was one of those programmes that was shown only intermittently on television here. Or perhaps there was a “best of” compilation? I certainly remember some of the ones already mentioned (the bank teller with the passion for reading; the gremlin on the aeroplane’s wing). I don’t know the name of the one I remember most vividly. It was about a man who appeared to be the only person left in a small town after all the other people had vanished. Eventually he goes insane because of the lack of human companionship. Then it’s revealed that he’s an astronaut in training for a long-distance space mission and he’s undergoing a psychological assessment to assess how well humans could deal with the loneliness of space travel. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/24 "2005-10-13T01:47:06Z")
> [@Jeep's Phoenix](#): > > An old hillbilly and his dog go out 'coon hunting, and after a mishap find themselves wandering along a deserted road. They encounter a stranger who seems nice enough, but the dog is more than eager to get away from him. > > It turns out that the man and his dog both died. The stranger they meet is eager to let the man “in,” presumably to heaven, but states that the dog can’t go “inside.” The hillbilly refuses, saying that anyplace that isn’t good enough for his dog isn’t good enough for him. The two keep walking, and encounter another young man. The young man listens to their story, then informs the hillbilly that his dog just kept him from going to hell. As it happens, that episode was written by Earl Hamner, who went on to create “The Waltons.” And that episode ends with my favorite closing line of any TZ: “See, a man will walk into hell with his eyes wide open. But not even the Devil can fool a dog!” ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/25 "2005-10-13T02:04:42Z")
> [@hillbilly queen](#): > > One of my favorites has rarely been shown. And when I describe it, nobody remembers it. > > It takes place during Mardi Gras. The patriarch of a wealthy family is on his deathbed. His nasty, greedy relatives are gathered around and wearing masks, (he may have requested the mask wearing). The masks are not very flattering. He lets each member know what he thinks about them, (again, not very flattering). After much bickering and whining from the relatives, the old guy dies. > Then… > > They take off their masks only to discover, their faces have changed to look identical to the mask they were wearing. Actually, I just saw that one not too long ago. I think it’s called “Masks” I like the one where a small town man who loves to tell tall tales is kidnapped by aliens, saves himself with a harmonica, and no one in town believes a word he says. or Jack Klugman playing a dead Jonathan Winters in pool. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/26 "2005-10-13T02:18:25Z")
Since Time Enough to Last was already mentioned, ☹ I’m going to say Five Characters in Search of an Exit. A soldier finds himself in a tall, featureless, round room with a ballerina, a clown, and two other people. They have no idea how they got there. They decide to try to escape, and all of their efforts are thwarted. Finally the soldier peers over the edge, screams in horror, then falls out of the room. A girl on a street corner is collecting toys for the Salvation Army. People have been contributing dolls. Somehow the soldier doll got out of the round bin and fell onto the sidewalk. So the girl put it right back into the bin. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/27 "2005-10-13T02:39:02Z")
there’s the classic “Skin Deep” - has anyone mentioned that yet? (it may not actually be the title, tho) Beautiful woman devastated because she doesn’t look like all the pigfaces in her society and there’s one where a man awakes to what at first seems a deserted town, gradually he happens upon people, but they are really mannikins, and even tho there are bodies all around, in “active” positions, he is utterly alone and he eventually goes mad; and we discover that he’s an astronaut in an isolation booth undergoing a test in prep for a long space journey ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/28 "2005-10-13T03:02:53Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > there’s the classic “Skin Deep” - has anyone mentioned that yet? (it may not actually be the title, tho) Beautiful woman devastated because she doesn’t look like all the pigfaces in her society > > and there’s one where a man awakes to what at first seems a deserted town, gradually he happens upon people, but they are really mannikins, and even tho there are bodies all around, in “active” positions, he is utterly alone and he eventually goes mad; and we discover that he’s an astronaut in an isolation booth undergoing a test in prep for a long space journey I think the second one you mentioned may have been the first episode of the series, with Earl Holliman…? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/29 "2005-10-13T03:06:49Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > She didn’t put it back in the freezer. She thawed it and served it to the detectives. The story the teleplay was based on is “Lamb to the Slaughter”, written by Roald Dahl, and it didn’t appear in “The Twilight Zone”, but “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”. It also appeared in _Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected_. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/30 "2005-10-13T03:12:50Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I think the second one you mentioned may have been the first episode of the series, with Earl Holliman…? Yep, it was. Has anyone seen much of the hour long episodes, the only one I can remember is Jack Klugman and two others as astronauts who see their own wrecked spaceship on a planet. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/31 "2005-10-13T03:19:09Z")
There were so many great episodes – [my faves](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5645647). Others\* include “In Praise of Pip” – _damn_, Jack Klugman batted a thousand on that show. “A Stop at Willoughby” made you think about life and death. I wasn’t a big Waltons fan (even though I was born and raised in Appalachia), but I will never forget that line by Earl Hamner: _“A man will walk into Hell with his eyes open – but not even the devil can fool a dog”_ “A Kind of Stopwatch” was a fascinating examination of what you would do if no one was looking. Regarding the “Five Characters” episode, one of the coolest trivia items I’ve learned lately:The actress who played the ballerina (Susan Harrison) is the mother of Darva Conger. - Of which this thread reminded me. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/32 "2005-10-13T04:43:10Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > spoiler :eek: ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/33 "2005-10-13T07:01:00Z")
I’ll just quote a line from my favourite TZ episode: “_It’s a cookbook! It’s a cookbook!_”. The actor in that episode even spoofed that scene when he appeared in _Naked Gun 2_😃 ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/34 "2005-10-13T07:19:28Z")
I enjoyed the one where the entire town is afraid of the little boy with the horrible powers. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/35 "2005-10-13T09:10:10Z")
That little boy was Bill Mumy, who later was Will Robinson on “Lost in Space”. And later still, Lenier, a Minbari, on Babylon 5. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/36 "2005-10-13T12:10:40Z")
I’ll go with “It’s a Cookbook.” It was even spoofed in a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/37 "2005-10-13T12:31:21Z")
I’m with our lady **Eve** in liking **A Stop at Willoughby**. There’s a “Willoughby” exit off I-64 on the way to Virginia Beach and every year, regular as clockwork, my father would announce “Next stop, Willoughby” as we drove past. Old Lady lets Policeman Robert Redford into her apartment after he’s shot. A wonderful story (I can’t recall the title). **Kick the Can** **Skin Deep** ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/38 "2005-10-13T12:34:05Z")
I also forgot to add Burgess Meredith as the man who loves to read. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/39 "2005-10-13T13:04:37Z")
From _The New Twilight Zone_ - _A Small Talent for War_ - With the most chilling last line ever - “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard!” and _Eye of Newton_. The phrase on the devil’s t-shirt keeps changing. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971/40 "2005-10-13T13:20:50Z")
I thought of several favorite episodes, but then I realized they were all Outer Limits episodes. "Demon With a Glass Hand, Xanti Misfits, Wolf 359 … mmmm, that was a good show. And clearly one I liked a lot better than Twilight Zone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-your-favorite-twilight-zone-episode/325971.md?page=3)