The Twilight Zone has had a remarkable impact on the popular culture at large for any show, let alone a show that premiered sixty years ago this year. Even head honcho Rod Serling probably did not imagine his anthology series of entertaining and shocking parables would be such a lasting force. The Twilight Zone‘s influence can be felt far and wide. The original series has inspired three reboots, one in 1985, one in 2002, and one this year, hosted by Jordan Peele of Key & Peele, Get Out and Us. It inspired an anthology film in which Steven Spielberg, John Landis and two then-unknowns Joe Dante and George Miller put their own spin on a classic episode of the show for the silver screen. It helped launch the careers of Dante—who would go on to make the Gremlins movies and The ‘Burbs—and Miller—the mastermind behind the high-adrenaline world of Mad Max.
The Twilight Zone even inspired a theme park ride. The accelerated drop tower dark ride takes place in the elevator of a haunted hotel and makes use of the Pepper’s ghost technique to vividly bring the show’s classic intro to life. The British anthology series Black Mirror was also clearly influenced by The Twilight Zone. Each episode draws some sort of lesson from stories of technology gone haywire as an—usually insufficient—way of wrestling with our increasingly digital world. None of these things would exist without the original series. Now seems to be as good a time as ever to look back upon our favorite twists from the seminal show itself.
Here are the seven best twists of the original Twilight Zone series. Do you agree with our list? Be sure to check out our slideshow and let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
twilight zone best
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7. 'Nightmare at 20,000 Feet'
One of the most popular and oft-referenced Twilight Zone episodes, with William Shatner as a mentally unstable airline passenger who struggles with hallucinations of some awful creature tearing apart the plane. Naturally, his concerns go unheeded by crew and fellow passengers alike, and when the plane lands he is escorted away in a straitjacket. But once he has left the premises, the crew discovers someone or something was indeed tampering with the airplane's engine during the flight.
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6. 'I Shot an Arrow into the Air'
A spaceship crash on what appears to be an asteroid leaves four survivors. With survival materials—namely water—in short supply, tensions quickly rise and one of the survivors reaches his breaking point and kills the other survivors. He sets out with all the water for himself, only to realize they crashed in the desert just outside Reno, Nevada.
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5. 'Time Enough at Last'
"Time Enough At Last" sees a man who cannot get any alone time to read until he finds a comfortable place in the vault of the bank where he works. Suddenly, a nuclear blast goes off, killing everyone in the area but him. As he excitedly runs to the library to gather more books, his glasses fall off his face, break and render him unable to read.
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4. 'Third From the Sun'
Seen through the eyes of a military scientist, the world is on the cusp of nuclear war. The scientist and a friend resolve to secretly stock a military spaceship with survival supplies and leave with their families when the time comes. As nuclear war seems imminent, they take control of the vessel—with some resistance—and set the course for a planet suitable for them to live; a place the locals call Earth.
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3. 'Would the Real Martian Please Stand Up?'
In this bizarre whodunnit, two police officers interrogate a diner full of bus passengers as they believe one is the pilot of a UFO from Mars that crashed nearby. Each passenger—even couples—grow ever more suspicious of one another until the bus is cleared to leave. Later, one of the passengers returns to the diner alone and reveals to the diner's cook his third arm as he was the Martian all along, while the cook reveals his third eye, as he is from Venus.
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2. 'To Serve Man'
When aliens arrive on Earth, humanity struggles to learn their true intentions. When a cryptologist translates the title of a book in the aliens' possession as "To Serve Man," everyone breathes a sigh of relief. But as he translates more of the book, he discovers a horrifying truth: it is, in fact, a cookbook and the aliens intend to eat the people of Earth.
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1. 'Eye of the Beholder'
A heavily bandaged woman is anxiously awaiting the results of her latest cosmetic treatment as her doctor and nurse—cast in shadow—discuss her grim fate if they have not successfully fixed her severe disfigurement. When the time comes, she is revealed to be a conventionally attractive woman, yet the medical practitioners have failed. Finally, the viewer sees the doctor and nurse clearly: they have piglike faces and to our own eyes, it is they who are the disfigured ones.
