FIRST SEASON 1959-1960
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WHERE IS EVERYBODY? ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
Cast: Earl Holliman, James Gregory
The pilot show for the series concerns a man who finds himself
in a completely deserted city. In the end, we learn that it was all
a test to observe how human beings will respond to extreme loneliness
during space flights. This was the only episode shot at Universal
Studios, all others were filmed at MGM.
LW: Earl Holliman later became known as Angie Dickenson's sidekick
in "Policewoman". Earl is the sole actor in this piece right up
to the last five minutes or so of the script.
ONE FOR THE ANGELS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parish
Cast: Ed Wynn, Murray Hamilton, Dana Dillaway, Merritt Bohn
Wynn delivers a bravura performance as a sidewalk salesman
who makes the greatest pitch of his life to save a little girl
from "Mr. Death".
MR. DENTON ON DOOMSDAY **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Allen Reisner
Cast: Dan Duryea, Malcolm Atterbury, Martin Landau, Jeanne Cooper,
Ken Lynch, Doug McClure
A has-been gunslinger finds his fast draw abilities have been
restored after he drinks a magic potion.
LW: Neither Martin Landau nor Doug McClure had their careers exactly
ended by this episode, even though it was a poor one. Martin
continued on to roles in "The Outer Limits", and of course,
starred in "Mission Impossible". Doug shows up in a variety of
places.
THE SIXTEEN-MILLIMETER SHRINE **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
Cast: Ida Lupino, Martin Balsam, Alice Frost, Jerome Cowan
A former movie queen tries to recreate the spirit of her heyday
by screening her old movies...and living them.
WALKING DISTANCE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
Cast: Gig Young, Frank Overton, Michael Montgomery, Irene Tedrow
Young's acting and a magnificent score by Bernard Hermann
highlight this episode. Harried advertising agent Martin Sloane
visits his home town and slips thirty years into his childhood.
LW: Rather sentimental, but I'm a sucker for stuff like that. Our
hero actually meets himself as a child, and turns out to be
the cause of an old leg injury that bothered him the rest of
his life...
ESCAPE CLAUSE ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Mitch Leisen
Cast: David Wayne, Virginia Christine, Wendell Holmes, Thomas Gomez
A hypochondriac makes a pact with the Devil for immortality. He
then kills someone for kicks, but instead of getting the electric
chair, he is sentenced to life imprisonment!
LW: Rather amusing, actually!
THE LONELY *****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
Cast: Jack Warden, Jean Marsh, John Dehner, Ted Knight, Jim Turley
This classic episode concerns one James Corry (Warden), a man
convicted of murder and sentenced to spend forty years on a distant
asteroid. He has only one companion - a robot made in the form of
a woman. Ted Knight, later Ted Baxter on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW,
has a minor role as a nasty space crewman.
LW: I gotta tell ya' ... the closing scene of this episode gave me
nightmares for many nights as a child when I first saw it. An
excellent episode.
TIME ENOUGH AT LAST ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Burgess Meredith, Jacqueline DeWit, Vaughn Taylor, Lela Bliss
In his first of several TWILIGHT ZONE episodes, Burgess Meredith
plays a nearsighted bank teller who becomes the only survivor of an
H-bomb attack. He is now able to pursue his only real interest in
life: reading.
LW: At least, he THINKS he will be able to pursue it...
PERCHANCE TO DREAM ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Robert Florey
Cast: Richard Conte, John Larch, Suzanne Lloyd, Ted Stanhope,
Eddie Marr
The first non-Serling script of the series concerns a man (Conte)
who is terrified of falling asleep. He fears that the mysterious
woman he meets in his dreams will soon murder him.
LW: To elaborate a bit: Conte has a heart condition, and fears that
the excitement (so to speak) of dying in the dream will kill him.
The last time he went to sleep, he ended up in a rollercoaster
with this mystery woman. He knows that if he goes back to sleep,
the dream will continue, she will push him out, and that will
finish him, both in the dream and in reality. This episode
involves several "layers" of reality and is a nice one.
JUDGEMENT NIGHT *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Nehemiah Persoff, Ben Wright, Patrick McNee, Hugh Sanders,
Leslie Bradley, Deirdre Owen, James Franciscus
Murky tale about a passenger aboard a wartime freighter who
is certain the ship will be sunk at 1:15 AM.
LW: Serling had a thing about ship stories, and they were almost
always rather poor. Oh well.
AND WHEN THE SKY WAS OPENED ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Rod Taylor, Charles Aidman, James Hutton, Maxine Cooper
After three astronauts return from man's first space flight,
each of them mysteriously disappears. Based on a short story by
Richard Matheson.
SJ: Serling was so impressed by Matheson's work that he was later
asked to write more episodes himself.
LW: A good episode concerning the subject of "what IS reality?"
WHAT YOU NEED ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Steve Cochran, Ernest Treux, Reed Morgan, William Edmonson,
Arline Sax
Swindler Fred Renard (Cochran) tries to profit from an amiable
fellow's talent for seeing into the future. Based on a short story
by Lewis Padgett.
THE FOUR OF US ARE DYING **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Harry Townes, Beverly Garland, Philip Pine, Ross Martin,
Don Gordon
Arch Hammer (Townes) can alter his face to make it look like
anyone else's. Based on a short story by George Johnson.
LW: Not one of the best efforts.
THIRD FROM THE SUN ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Richard Bare
Cast: Fritz Weaver, Joe Maros, Edward Andrews, Denise Alexander,
Lori March
Weird camera angles and special props left over from MGM'S
FORBIDDEN PLANET bolster this story about two families planning to
leave a war-threatened world via spaceship.
LW: Edward Andrews did at least one other "Twilight Zone", and
countless other television shows and movies over the years. A
great character actor, he usually is cast into roles involving
rather evil, devious, or just plain unlikable men.
I SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE AIR ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Edward Binns, Dewey Martin
After supposedly landing on another planet, an astronaut kills
his comrades to prolong his own life. Based on a short story by
Madeline Champion.
THE HITCH-HIKER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Inger Stevens, Leonard Strong, Adam Williams, Lew Gallo,
Dwight Townsend
Driving cross-country, a woman becomes panicky when she
continually sees the same ominous hitch-hiker on the road ahead.
Based on a story by Lucille Fletcher.
SJ: a personal favorite.
LW: "Going MY way?" ...
THE FEVER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Everett Sloane, Bibi Janiss, William Kendis, Lee Miller
A gambling-hating man named Franklin Gibbs (Sloane) battles
a Las Vegas slot machine with a malevolent mind of its own.
SJ: Another favorite of mine.
LW: Well, let's be careful now, he THINKS it has a mind of its own,
but we don't REALLY know that. Still, it might have at that...
THE LAST FLIGHT ***
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: William Claxton
Cast: Kenneth Haigh, Alexander Scourby, Simon Scott, Robert Warwick
A British World War I flyer lands at a modern air base in 1959.
LW: A minor time paradox is involved in this plot.
THE PURPLE TESTAMENT ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Richard Bare
Cast: William Reynolds, Dick York, Barney Phillips, William Phipps,
Warren Oates, Marc Cavell, Ron Masak, Paul Mazursky
Powerful tale about a lieutenant with the ability to predict
which men in his outfit will be killed in battle.
LW: Powerful, yes. But I never cared much for it. Dick York, by the
way, played Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) Stevens' first husband
in "Bewitched".
ELEGY ***
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Cecil Kellaway, Jeff Morrow, Kevin Hagen, Don Dubbins
Three astronauts land on a world where everyone is in a
trance-like state. They then encounter an eccentric old gent
named Mr. Wickwire (Kellaway), who apparently runs the planet.
MIRROR IMAGE ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Vera Miles, Martin Milner, Joe Hamilton
In a nearly deserted bus depot, a woman finds herself haunted
by her double.
LW: One of my personal favorites. This episode has a great "creepy"
atmosphere. Martin Milner later starred in "Adam 12".
THE MONSTERS ARE DUE ON MAPLE STREET ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Claude Akins, Jack Wagner, Ben Erway, Lyn Guild
Hysteria grips a small community as residents suspect a power
failure has been caused by invaders from outer space disguised as
Earthmen.
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE ****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ted Post
Cast: Howard Duff, Eileen Ryan, Gail Kobe, Frank Maxwell, Peter Walker
A business man's working world inexplicably becomes the set for a
film in which he has become a character.
LW: Another of my favorites. The poor guy suddenly discovers that he
is talking into a prop telephone!
LONG LIVE WALTER JAMESON **
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: Tony Leader
Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Edgar Stehli, Estelle Winwood, Dody Heath
An effective horror story in the tradition of "The Man in Half
Moon Street." History professor Walter Jameson (McCarthy), an expert
on the Civil War, is actually immortal and well over 200 years old.
LW: The first of a couple of episodes on this basic theme.
PEOPLE ARE ALIKE ALL OVER ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: David Orrick
Cast: Roddy McDowell, Susan Oliver, Paul Comi, Byron Morrow,
Vic Perrin
An astronaut (McDowell) is pleased to find that people on
Mars act just like people at home. Based on a short story by
Paul W. Fairman.
LW: A TZ classic.
EXECUTION ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Albert Salmi, Russel Johnson, Than Wyenn, George Mitchell,
Jon Lormer
A western outlaw (Salmi) is snatched from the hangman's noose by
a modern day scientist (Johnson) and his time machine.
LW: Russel Johnson, by the way, also had the distinction of playing
"The Professor" on "Gilligan's Island", some years later! From
the Twilight Zone to Gilligan's Island. Sigh...
THE BIG TALL WISH *
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Cast: Ivan Dixon, Steve Perry, Kim Hamilton
A child's faith in miracles helps a down-and-out boxer win an
important match.
LW: Ever since "Requiem for a Heavyweight", Rod also had a thing about
boxing plots. The Twilight Zone versions of these tended to be
comparatively poor.
A NICE PLACE TO VISIT ****
Writer: Charles Beaumont
Director: John Brahm
Cast: Larry Blyden, Sebastion Cabot, Sandra Warner
While committing a crime, a cheap hood (Blyden) gets killed and
finds an afterlife in which all wishes are granted.
LW: Sebastion is great as the, well, "helper" in the afterlife (he's
called "Pip".) Sebastion starred in many other roles both before
and after this of course.
NIGHTMARE AS A CHILD **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Cast: Janice Rule, Terry Burnham, Shepperd Strudwick
Schoolteacher Helen Foley (Rule) is haunted by the recurring
image of herself as a child.
LW: Time paradoxes play a minor role in this episode.
A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parrish
Cast: James Daly, Howard Smith, Patricia Donahue, James Maloney
Harried by his high-pressure job, an executive falls asleep on
a train and wakes at a mysterious stop called Willoughby.
LW: Another "classic", though objectively speaking, not a truly great
episode.
THE CHASER ***
Writer: Robert Presnell, Jr.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: George Grizzard, John McIntyre, Patricia Barry
A loser in the game of love purchases a special potion from a
weird "doctor". Based on a short story by John Collier.
LW: The doctor's name was somthing like "A. Demon" by the way, to
give you some idea of what his practice was like...
PASSAGE FOR TRUMPET ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Don Medford
Cast: Jack Klugman, Mary Webster, John Anderson, Frank Wolff
An unsuccessful trumpet player is given a second crack at life -
after he is struck and killed by a truck, but first he has to learn
what it's like to be "dead" in a world full of life...
LW: The first of several dramatic appearances on TZ by Klugman, later
to become familiar to us all as the sloppy Oscar Madison on "The
Odd Couple".
MR. BEVIS **
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Parrish
Cast: Orson Bean, Henry Jones, Charles Lane, William Schallert
A kindly fellow's life is turned topsy-turvy when he receives
"help" from his guardian angel (Jones).
LW: Sigh. Poor Orson Bean (familiar to all) starred in this the first
of two almost identical (except for details) TZ episodes on the
subject of guardian angels. Neither was particularly good.
THE AFTER HOURS ****
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Anne Francis, Elizabeth Allen, James Millholin, John Conwell
A woman (Francis) discovers that the floor of a department store
on which she bought an item doesn't exist, and that the salesgirl was,
in reality, a mannequin.
LW: Anne Francis we all know. This episode is one of the most
memorable in the TZ series.
THE MIGHTY CASEY ***
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Cast: Jack Warden, Robert Sorrells, Don O'Kelly, Abraham Sofaer
The manager of a baseball team adds a new man to the fold - a
robot named Casey.
LW: This episode is told as a fable, and is presented in a rather
"tongue-in-cheek" manner. Fun if not taken too seriously.
A WORLD OF HIS OWN *****
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Keenan Wynn, Phyliss Kirk, Mary LaRoche
Serio-comedy, as a playwright creates true-to-life characters on
his tape machine. They are so true that he can make them appear in the
room with him!
SJ: This episode has the strangest and funniest ending of the series.
LW: An EXCELLENT episode, which indeed has the most bizarre ending of
any show in the entire TZ run. Highly recommended. Keenan Wynn
plays a truly delightful character in this comedy/drama.
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