The Twilight Zone’s five-season run, it was one of the most consistently brilliant shows in the history of television. Rod Serling’s spooky anthology series delivered so many great episodes that they can’t all get the recognition they deserve. There are some episodes that encapsulate what made the show so great — twisty storytelling, timeless social commentary, fascinating characters rounded out in a short space of time — but don’t get ranked among the best.
There are plenty of classic Twilight Zone episodes with a hard-earned place in TV history — from the supernatural terror of “It’s a Good Life” to the evergreen political paranoia of “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” — but there are just as many underappreciated gems that have fallen by the wayside. Just because they didn’t pierce the pop-cultural zeitgeist the same way Henry Bemis’ broken reading glasses did, it doesn’t mean the episodes aren’t as great. From the hauntingly relevant “He’s Alive” to the uncharacteristically sweet and sentimental “The Changing of the Guard,” these Twilight Zone episodes deserve more love.
10 The Invaders
Season 2, Episode 15
Season 2’s “The Invaders” stars Agnes Moorehead as a woman who fights it out with two miniature aliens from another planet. She has formidable size, but they have advanced weaponry, so it’s an interesting conflict. “The Invaders” builds to a great twist, as all the best Twilight Zone episodes do. The episode seems to set up a scenario where tiny aliens are invading Earth, but that’s not the case at all. This curious story explores the idea that what constitutes an “alien” is all based on perspective — to intelligent beings on other planets, we’re the aliens.
9 The Changing Of The Guard
Season 3, Episode 37
“The Changing of the Guard” is essentially The Twilight Zone’s version of It’s a Wonderful Life. Donald Pleasance plays a teacher at a boys’ school, who’s asked by the trustees to step down and retire. Depressed, he plans to take his own life. But then, he’s called back to his classroom by a phantom bell, where he meets the ghosts of seven former students, who tell him that he inspired them to become better men. This is one of The Twilight Zone’s sweetest and saddest episodes, about how a good teacher can change their students’ lives.
8 The Odyssey Of Flight 33
Season 2, Episode 18
“The Odyssey of Flight 33” is one of the weirdest episodes of The Twilight Zone. It’s a modern retelling of the legend of the Flying Dutchman in which a commercial airplane headed to New York breaks through the time barrier and lands in the prehistoric era. Old-school stop-motion effects bring the dinosaurs to life, and the episode is noted for its authentic cockpit dialogue. According to the book Dimensions Behind The Twilight Zone, Serling consulted his brother, aviation writer Robert J. Serling. The pilots’ communication helps to ground this wild sci-fi storyline in some semblance of realism.
7 The Hunt
Season 3, Episode 19
After returning from a hunt in the aptly titled season 3 episode “The Hunt,” Hyder Simpson finds that no one can see or hear him — and he’s shocked to learn that he’s dead. When he discovers that his beloved dog died alongside him, he’s heartbroken to hear that, while he’s destined to spend eternity in Heaven, he’ll have to enter the kingdom alone, because dogs aren’t allowed. “The Hunt” is a curious look at a possible afterlife, and unusually sentimental for this show. It’s a touching supernatural look at the powerful bond between a man and his furry best friend.
6 On Thursday We Leave For Home
Season 4, Episode 16
The season 4 episode “On Thursday We Leave for Home” takes place on a distant planet, where a struggling colony is waiting for the arrival of a ship that will take them back to Earth. It’s a moving sci-fi exploration of the concept of home, like a spacebound version of the movie Brooklyn. The leader of the colony has built a close-knit community in this new place, so he doesn’t want to go back to Earth. When the ship arrives, there’s an interesting clash of cultures between the colonists and their rescuers.
5 Uncle Simon
Season 5, Episode 8
In season 5’s “Uncle Simon,” a young woman named Barbara can only inherit her wealthy uncle’s estate if she stays in his house and takes care of his final invention: a robot named after himself. The robot shares the cruelty of its maker, but Barbara has to put up with it or she’ll lose her inheritance. The moral of the story is that we shouldn’t cater to the demands of evil, controlling, manipulative narcissists, even though it’s sometimes necessary for financial gain. This cautionary tale about the dangers of advanced technology feels like a precursor to Black Mirror.
4 A Nice Place To Visit
Season 1, Episode 28
A small-time crook is killed by police officers during a robbery gone awry in season 1’s “A Nice Place to Visit.” He finds himself in an amazing afterlife where he can have anything he wants. At first, he loves it. But, as he wins every bet in the casino and every beautiful woman fawns over him, he quickly grows bored with paradise. It’s a simple story with a complicated philosophical exploration of the need for bad experiences to give the good experiences a real impact. If you only ever get the things you want, you’ll never be truly happy.
3 He's Alive
Season 4, Episode 4
Dennis Hopper gave his breakout performance as an American neo-Nazi in The Twilight Zone’s fourth-season installment “He’s Alive.” An elderly Holocaust survivor sympathizes with this young Nazi, because he understands that his extreme political views come from a place of insecurity and a childish need for other people’s respect. As his rallies are met with mocking jeers, he’s mentored by the shadow of Adolf Hitler. This episode is just as relevant today (if not more so), as it explores how angry young men get indoctrinated by the white supremacist ideology.
2 A Stop At Willoughby
Season 1, Episode 30
After an ad executive falls asleep on the train home from his stressful job in season 1’s “A Stop at Willoughby,” he wakes up in the year 1888 and finds himself in the bizarre but idyllic town of Willoughby. When he returns to his own time, with the pressures of his cutthroat office environment, he decides he doesn’t want his old life and he wants to spend the rest of his days in Willoughby instead. This episode was well ahead of its time in allegorizing mental health issues and the descent into suicidal ideation.
1 The Shelter
Season 3, Episode 3
Season 3’s “The Shelter” is one of the only Twilight Zone episodes with no sci-fi or supernatural elements. It doesn’t involve any alien invaders or alternate dimensions; it’s grounded in reality, and presents a haunting situation that could actually play out as it’s depicted in the episode. It takes place at a lavish party, where everyone is shocked by news of a missile strike. The hosts of the party promptly barricade themselves in their bomb shelter, leaving their guests unprotected from the impending acts of war.
This episode aired around the time that fallout shelters were prevalent in American culture. Following the Berlin Crisis of 1961, a lot of American families wondered whether they should get their own bomb shelters for protection. The Twilight Zone’s take on this national discourse offers a chilling look at barbaric territorialism: protection for me, not for thee. The Twilight Zone delivered a lot of scary ghost stories, but this one terrifies its audience with human nature alone.
Source: Dimensions Behind The Twilight Zone: A Backstage Tribute to Television's Groundbreaking Series
The Twilight Zone
- Release Date
- 1959 - 1964
- Network
- CBS
- Showrunner
- Rod Serling
Cast
Rod SerlingSelf - Host-
Robert McCordWaiter
WHERE TO WATCH
The Twilight Zone is an anthology series that debuted in 1959, featuring a collection of standalone episodes encoming drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and horror. Known for its macabre or unexpected twists, each story is distinct, exploring various speculative themes and human experiences.
- Creator(s)
- Rod Serling
- Seasons
- 5
- Streaming Service(s)
- Paramount Plus
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