Twilight Zone: The Very Best of the Series

Posted on by

Thanks to last year’s SYFY Twilight Zone Marathon which ran every episode in order, I can now say with complete certainty I’ve seen every Twilight Zone episode.  Rod Serling deserves all the praise he’s received for creating not only the best television anthology series but one of the overall best tv series ever.  Sure, there were some episodes which didn’t quite work, but overall the excellent episodes outweighed those that fell short.

There were eleven episodes that earned my top rating.  These are the episodes that can be watched repeatedly without losing their impact.  Here they are…

  • Time Enough at Last [Season 1, Episode 8]
    Poor little, nearsighted, henpecked Henry Bemis [Meredith] loves to read.  Reading is his passion but sadly life deprives him of it.  A twist of fate provide Bemis with time enough at last to read to his heart’s content… until another twist of fate proves this is The Twilight Zone.

 

  • The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street [Season 1, Episode 22]
    It’s a beautiful summer afternoon until a strange sound and vibration brings neighbors outside.  Paranoia soon takes over as the thought of an alien invasion takes hold.  Who among them isn’t human?

 

  • The Howling Man [Season 2, Episode 5]
    David Ellington [Wynant] while on a long hike alone in the woods in Europe becomes ill.  Ellington stumbles across a monastery.  Initially told he cannot stay, Brother Jerome [Carradine] allows him to stay until he is well enough to travel.While recuperating, Ellington hears a man howling in pain.  The screams lead to a cell where a man is being held prisoner.  Before Ellington can release him, Brother Jerome arrives and explains that the thing in the cell is not a man, but the devil!

    How could the devil be held in a cell?  Are the monks insane?  If so, Ellington is in danger as well.  Isn’t his duty to help the man escape?  These are the thoughts that race through Ellington’s mind before he makes a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.

  • Eye of the Beholder [Season 2, Episode 6]
    Janet Tyler [Stuart] is lying in her hospital bed, her head and face totally covered by bandages.  Tyler nervously waits for her doctor to remove the bandages hoping that her latest (and last) surgery will make her look normal.Sadly Tyler is hideously ugly and lives in a society where the less desirables are sent away.  As the bandages are removed her worst fears are revealed.
  • Nick of Time [Season 2, Episode 7]
    While driving through a small town heading for their honeymoon, Don [Shatner] and Pat [Breslin] Carter’s car breaks down.  The mechanic says it will take a few hours to repair, so the newlyweds head into a small cafe for lunch and to pass the time.Don is nervous to hear about a possible promotion but is afraid to call his boss.  There’s a little penny fortune-telling machine at their table, so Don jokingly puts in a penny to get the answer.  When it appear that the machine got the answer correctly, Don asks more and more questions and the machine answers with startling accuracy… or does it?
  • The Invaders [Season 2, Episode 15]
    An old woman who lives alone in a rural shack with no modern conveniences finds herself under attack when small visitors from another planet land on her roof.  Contains one of the best Twilight Zone twist endings of all.

 

  • Will the Real Martian, Please Stand Up? [Season 2, Episode 28]
    On a dark, snowy night, two deputies respond to a call about a crashed spaceship.  Tracks lead to a remote dinner where seven bus passengers and the diner’s owner are waiting out the storm.  The funny thing is there were only supposed to be six passengers on the bus and strange things are starting to happen at the dinner.  Coincidence or is there an alien among them?

 

  • The Shelter [Season 3, Episode 3]
    Several families from the neighborhood have come together to celebrate a birthday.  Just as toasts are made with everyone expressing their friendship, an emergency warning announcing an imminent nuclear attack is broadcast.As each family prepares for the incoming bombs, they realize that one of the families has a bomb shelter.  Sadly it is not big enough to hold everyone.

 

  • It’s a Good Life [Season 3, Episode 8]
    Little Anthony Fremont [Mumy] has extraordinary mental powers.  Anthony has made all of the world outside of his small farming town disappear.   He’s done the same or worse to anyone of anything that displeases him.
    |
    Anthony demands that everyone think happy thoughts.  The town people live in fear that they will displease Anthony and they will be next.Tonight is Anthony’s birthday.  Let’s hope he’s not disappointed.

 

  • To Serve Man [Season 3, Episode 24]
    Aliens come to earth promising peace and shared technology. They seem to be making good on their promise to turn earth into a paradise, yet some doubts linger…  This is one of the best Twilight Zone episodes made.

 

  • Nightmare at 20,000 Feet [Season 5, Episode 3]
    Bob Wilson [Shatner] and his wife are flying home.  Wilson has just recovered from a nervous breakdown and a storm is making the flight less than comfortable.  Wilson becomes alarmed when he sees a creature on the wing of the plane tearing at wires.  His wife and others think Bob is suffering a relapse but he’s not…