Adrian's Top Five
My five favorite Twilight Zone episodes.
Before Netflix was CDs and televisions were flat, everyone either had a rabbit-ear antenna or a cable box on top of their television set. This was well before the streaming era when you either flipped through a dozen or show channels, or just watched whatever playing on the TV. I suspect that I came to streaming services later than most people, so my memories of binge watching television were when cable channels used to air marathons of certain programs. My favorite was the SYFY channel’s annual The Twilight Zone New Year’s marathon. From December 31 to January 2, they aired back-to-back episodes. I would get sucked in and lose a few hours watching episode after episode. Even if I remembered the twist ending, I never tired of the surprise or Rod Serling’s closing statement at the end of each episode.
I kept up this television tradition for a while, but at some point between teaching and raising young kids, I forgot all about The Twilight Zone. That is until I stumbled upon the anthology series on Amazon Freevee over my winter holiday.1 Once again, I got sucked in watching a couple of episodes each evening before going to bed. It took me a few months, but I re-watched every episode and loved every black-and-white minute.
Here are my five favorite episodes from The Twilight Zone. I promise this is a spoiler-free post! Play the opening credits, sit back, and prepare to enter…. The Twilight Zone.
5. Third from the Sun (S1; E14)
Third from the Sun is based on a short story of the same name by Richard Matheson. It appeared in the first issue of the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction in October 1950. This episode is about two government employees who plan to steal an experimental spaceship, load their families onboard, and travel to far off planet to avoid nuclear war. I remember watching this episode for the first time and feeling like something was off. Everything seemed ordinary. The factory job, the house, the furniture. The off-kilter angles kept me trying to figure out what was going to happen next.
The Twilight Zone often explored fears of aliens, war, and a nuclear holocaust. In this episode, William Sturka, played by Fritz Weaver, contemplates the impending nuclear holocaust and his role in causing it. I wish people still spoke like this today!
When it came time for the twist ending, I shouted. I’ve shown this episode to my own children and it remains one of their absolute favorites. It’s a cleverly crafted story.
4. To Serve Man (S3; E24)
Based on a short story by Damon Knight and adapted for television by Rod Serling, this episode shows an alien race, the Kanamits, arriving on Earth and promising peace advanced technology. Linguists Michael Chambers and Patricia Brody work to translate the aliens' language, using a book whose title they decode to be "To Serve Man.” The sinister twist ending is quite a shock. Serling’s final monologue is dark and and hilarious, warning about blindly accepting help that seems too good to be true.
3. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (S2; E28)
This episode has all of the features of a great whodunnit mystery. On a snowy night, state troopers Bill Padgett and Dan Perry respond to a report of a crashed UFO. When they find tracks leading to a diner housing a group of stranded bus passengers, they spend the rest of the episode trying to deduce which one of the customers is an alien. The building tension makes for great viewing and the messaging of exonerating oneself from suspicion of being an outsider makes for great dinner time discussion.
2. Time Enough at Last (S1; E8)
This episode has my most favorite (and painfully cruel) endings of all time. Staring Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis, an anti-social bookworm. Bemis loves books so much, that it makes it quite difficult for him to hold down a job or have a relationship with others. He only wants quiet time to read. During his lunch break in the bank’s vault, a nuclear holocaust decimates society. Bemis is left with plenty of time on his hands, lots of canned food to eat, and books to read. If only life weren’t so cruel!
1. The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (S1; E22)
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street is a screenplay that was first published in 1959. The residents of Maple Street are busy living their lives when they hear a loud noise and feel a tremor. Some think it’s a meteorite, others believe it is an electrical storm or solar flares. When young Tommy tells everyone about the science fiction comic he read where aliens first send some initial scouts disguised as humans, paranoia ensues. This episode is so good that I used it with my students to discuss herd mentality, xenophobia, and prejudice. We first read the teleplay, watched the original episode, and finally compared it to a modern adaptation that felt eerily prescient to today.
Whereas other episodes end with Rod Serling bridging the science fiction with reality by providing a moral lesson for viewers, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street ends with Serling’s direct narration warning the dangers of fear and prejudice. It’s excellent!
The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices - to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children...the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is...that these things cannot be confined to...The Twilight Zone!
Rod Serling
There are some great lessons online that go with this episode. I highly recommend you have older students read the teleplay. It’s an exemplary script to read, analyze, and understand how horror and sci-fi can be used as metaphor for very real-world issues.
I hope you have fun watching some of these episodes. I wish I could have provided more video clips, but every free video online revealed the twist ending, and I certainly didn’t want to deprive you of the joy of experiencing these episodes!
Let me know which Twilight Zone episodes are your favorites! Have you ever taught using The Twilight Zone? I’d love to hear about it!
Have a great week!
— Adrian
Resources
This video has a few more of my favorite episodes that didn’t make my Top 5 list. Observant readers might notice that I didn’t include some of the more obvious choices, including Nightmare at 20,000 Feet starring William Shatner (S5;E3); The Obsolete Man (S2; E29); Eye of the Beholder (S2; E6); and The Masks (S5; E26). I wanted to focus more on some less known episodes that are incredible stories.
I find it fascinating how The Twilight Zone was a mirror of American society in the late 50s, early 60s. Serling loved writing stories that showcased people’s fears, criticized their prejudices, and tricked viewers into examining themselves and society. If you watch enough episodes, you’ll see common themes such as the Cold War, nuclear bombs, space travel, McCarthyism, and Martians. This video essay does a good job of summarizing some of those themes.
An Early Run-In With Censors Led Rod Serling to ‘The Twilight Zone’
Did you know that Rod Serling wanted to write a teleplay around the racism that led to Emmett Till’s murder? The network censors wouldn’t allow it, so Serling got creative, using science fiction to address themes of prejudice, bigotry, and war.
The 10 most powerful closing statements from The Twilight Zone
Rod Serling’s closing narrations are iconic. This article lists ten of Serling’s most powerful closing statements. There are so many great ones on this list!
The Enduring Legacy of The Twilight Zone by Brian Murray | The New Atlantis
This is an in-depth look at how Rod Serling worked hard to create literary teleplays that would engage the viewer intellectually and emotionally.
5 Best Twilight Zone Episodes for the Classroom | Laura Randazzo
I love how this teacher outlines which Twilight Zone episodes make for great analysis. She even pairs episodes with supplementary novels and important themes to discuss with high school students.
Listen to Rod Serling recount to Mike Wallace his efforts to write about Emmett Till’s murder. You can also hear Serling’s anti-racisms in this interview here.
The writer’s role is to be a menacer of the public’s conscience. He must have a position, a point of view. He must see the arts as a vehicle of social criticism and he must focus the issues of his time. — Rod Serling
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Want some more of Adrian’s Top 5? Check out a few of my archived posts.
Freevee has since taken The Twilight Zone off their free list. You can still watch the entire series on Pluto TV for free and Paramount+ with a subscription.
"A Stop at Willoughby", "The Bewitchin' Pool" , "The Hunt" and "The Midnight Sun" are some of my ultimate favorites! Good list!!!!
I'd add "Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge." Retired ELA teacher who taught the short story and then showed that episode.