Billy Mumy in the TWILIGHT ZONE: It's A Good Life.
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Ten Best TZ Episodes
By: Anthony C. FerranteDate: Friday, November 25, 2005
For Marc Scott Zicree, this isn't the end-all, be-all list, but rather ten episodes (in no particular order) from the original and '80s series that he feels represent the best of what The Twilight Zone has to offer.
"Walking Distance"
(original airdate: 10/30/59)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 1
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Robert Stevens
Definitely one of my favorites, and it was one of Serling's favorites, about a man who goes back to his home town in his past and encounters himself as a child. It's beautifully written and directed, and the music by Bernard Hermann is fabulous. It's heartfelt and one of the most poetic episodes of The Twilight Zone. Whenever I want to see what television is capable of and remind myself of that as a writer, I'll watch that episode again.
"Kick The Can"
(original airdate: 2/9/62)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 3
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: Lamont Johnson
The George Clayton Johnson piece about old folks that want to be young again. Hugely moving, beautifully written and a timeless great episode.
"Paladin of the Lost Hour"
(original airdate: 11/8/85)
From The Twilight Zone Season 1 (1985-1986)
Writer: Harlan Ellison
Director: Alan Smithee (aka Gil Cates)
Harlan Ellison did a superb job of writing that, and Danny Kaye and Glynn Turman give hugely moving performances. It's a beautiful, truthful piece that's top notch about an old man who is a guardian of this time piece that keeps things going, and he hands it off to a Vietnam vet who is extremely emotionally wounded. There's a lot of emotional punch to it.
"The Lonely"
(original airdate: 11/13/59)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 1
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Jack Smight
This story is about a man in isolation on an asteroid who falls in love with a robot woman. Jack Warden is terrific, and Serling's writing is great. The reveal at the end where they shoot her face off and see these sparking, electronic parts is just a horrifying image, and it really holds up.
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"
(original airdate: 10/11/63)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 5
Writer: Richard Matheson; based on his short story
Director: Richard Donner
A gremlin is on the wing of the plane, with William Shatner and directed by a young Donner long before he did Lethal Weapon and Superman. How can you do it better than that? It was Shatner at his best before he was on Star Trek.
"Living Doll"
(original airdate: 11/1/63)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 5
Writer: Jerry Sohl
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Telly Savales is an evil stepfather and the little girl's doll is going to kill him. The Twilight Zone is able to get scares out of unusual themes, and this episode chills you.
"The Eye of the Beholder"
(original airdate: 11/11/60)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 2
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Douglas Heyes
Serling's writing is at its finest, and it deals with issues of conformity and normality and what makes someone a human, when a woman is waiting to take the bandages off her face to see if she's going to look "normal." That episodes could have been written today and be equally as powerful. There is nothing dated about it. The issues it's speaking to, particularly in the time of shows like The Swan and Extreme Makeover, it's even more relevant now than when it was written in 1963.
"It's A Good Life"
(original airdate: 11/3/61)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 3
Writer: Rod Serling based on the short story by Jerome Bixby
Director: James Sheldon
Billy Mumy is a little boy who terrorizes an entire town with his psycho powers, and it's brilliant ensemble acting. It has a great image when a character is turned into a jack in the box and its thing you've never seen before. Mumy is incredibly scary in that episode very effective.
"Message from Charity"
(original airdate: 11/1/85)
From The Twilight Zone Season 1 (1985-1986)
Writer: Alan Brennert from a story by William M. Lee
Director: Paul Lynch
A fine episode that was incredibly personal to writer Alan Brennert. It's an extremely unusual love story. It deals with these issues of life, death and of love and maturity and shows this focus on these issues in a very credible and visceral way. It's very engaging and enthralling, and that's what the best of what Twilight Zone does.
"Nothing in the Dark"
(original airdate: 1/5/62)
From The Definitive Twilight Zone Season 3
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
Director: Lamont Johnson
It's about an old woman who stays trapped in her house because she's sure Mr Death is going to come in some disguise and take her away, but she saves a policemen who is shot outside and her compassion overcomes her fear. She pulls him into her apartment. It's basically a two-character player, with superb acting from Robert Redford and Gladys Cooper.
Also, Third from the Sun was a great episode. That is how to do a twist ending well (much like Eye of the Beholder).
I think I was most surprised to see Time Enough at Last left off this list. I've always been under the impression that this episode and Eye of the Beholder were two of the quintessential TZ episodes. Regardles, it is one of my top episodes.
What a fantastic show this was. There was just so much quality there.