Rod Serling’s brilliant, often powerful The Twilight Zone has inspired any number of prominent directors over the years. It makes sense why, as the episodes were often inventive, politically charged, and more often than not came equipped with a surprising twist. And, throughout five seasons and 156 episodes, there were some stone-cold winners. Episodes that, even six decades later, hold a tremendous amount of narrative power. That said, not all of them were winners. In fact, The Twilight Zone could be something of a mixed bag. It was at its strongest when it was aiming a lens at society or trying to catch the audience off-guard and at its worst when it was trying to be, well, funny.
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What follows are the episodes that fall firmly in the former category. As far as IMDb voters are concerned, these are the best of the best. Let’s see if you agree.
10) “The Shelter” (Season 3, Episode 3) – 8.6
Some great Twilight Zone episodes are light on supernatural and sci-fi elements. “The Shelter” has none. Like “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” (more on that later), it’s just about the selfish, violent core of human nature.
The episode follows physician Bill Stockton, who has been spending his spare time building a nuclear fallout shelter. When he, his family, his friends, and his neighbors all begin hearing a Civil Defense announcement about potential UFO sightings, those he once considered close to him begin showing their true colors.
9) “The Obsolete Man” (Season 2, Episode 29) – 8.6
Rocky‘s Burgess Meredith was always a terrific presence on The Twilight Zone. He infused his characters with a quirky charm and mousy nature that often made him the target for abuse by those around him. And like with “Time Enough at Last” (which we’ll get to), this was an absolute asset to “The Obsolete Man.”
Meredith stars as Romney Wordsworth, who is unfortunate enough to live within a futuristic totalitarian society. As a librarian, he is now on trial for being “obsolete.” After being found guilty, the man of faith (another strike against him in the atheist society) requests that he is executed by an assassin on national television. The Chancellor, who oversees the sham of a trial, visits Wordsworth in his cell, and the latter reveals that his manner of execution is a bomb, and the door to his cell is locked. As the clock continues to tick toward the explosive deadline, the Chancellor becomes more and more consumed by despair and, with the cameras rolling, screams that Wordsworth unlock the door “in the name of God.” This results in the Chancellor being put on trial and, fairly swiftly, beaten to death.
8) “It’s a Good Life” (Season 3, Episode 8) – 8.6
“It’s a Good Life” is such a terrific episode that it was one of the few adapted for Twilight Zone: The Movie (to lesser effect). It’s not easy to make one of an anthology horror series’ scariest villains a child, but thanks to the performance by Lost in Space‘s Bill Mumy, that’s exactly what Anthony Fremont is.
Fremont is a six-year-old with a firm hold over all those around him. He has various abilities, including telepathy. If someone in his small Ohio town so much as thinks that something he’s done is anything other than “good,” they suffer severe punishment. For instance, when a drunken resident of the town finally breaks down and berates Anthony, he gets turned into a jack-in-the-box. It’s an incredibly inventive episode, and like some of the other great Twilight Zone episodes, it’s about as nihilistic as they get.
7) “Living Doll” (Season 5, Episode 6) – 8.7
A major inspiration for the Child’s Play franchise’s Chucky, Talky Tina is one of the most iconic figures in The Twilight Zone‘s history. “Living Doll” isn’t the only episode of the show to feature a small inanimate object that apparently has life in it, but it is by far the best.
Starring Kojak and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service‘s Telly Savalas as infertile and rage-prone stepfather Erich Streator, the episode is focused on a three-person family that, in a way, becomes four. But whereas Erich’s wife and stepdaughter believe this little doll is a simple, cute toy, the newfound patriarch begins to suspect it harbors hostile intentions. And he’s right. But, by the time his wife comes around to believing him, it’s too late.
6) “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” (Season 2, Episode 28) – 8.7
“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” is a sublime merger of The Twilight Zone‘s greatest elements. A look at paranoia? Check. A silly but not too silly tone? Check. A doozy of a twist? Two checks.
The narrative takes place in a single location: a diner. In that diner is a group of bus passengers, as the conditions have made it too difficult for the trip to continue for the time being. But that’s not why two state troopers have arrived. They’re here to follow up on a strange call about a crashed UFO. It seems the occupant of that UFO is also in the diner, and now the bus passengers are beginning to point fingers with increasing volatility. The troopers aren’t wrong … but there may be more than alien on the premises.
[RELATED –This Episode of The Twilight Zone Was Banned from TV for Over 50 Years]
5) “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (Season 1, Episode 22) – 8.9
The definitive example of why The Twilight Zone is not only one of the scariest horror TV anthology series, but by far the most incisive, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” is an all-timer. Maple Street could be any street in America, filled with people who are friendly on the surface but talkative when the doors are closed, and the blinds are drawn.
When strange occurrences become more frequent (e.g. simple things like blinking street lights), the once-peaceful occupants of this thin street in a small town begin grabbing for one another’s throats. Is it actually an alien invasion? As it so happens, yes, but it’s less an invasion and more a chuckle-producing experiment on human nature.
4) “Time Enough at Last” (Season 1, Episode 8) – 8.9
A great starter episode for any budding The Twilight Zone fan, “Time Enough at Last” is the ultimate episode when it comes to getting the viewer thinking. Featuring quite possibly the greatest performance of Burgess Meredith’s career, it’s an episode that carries impressively substantial narrative heft for just 22 minutes.
Meredith is Henry Bemis, a banker who spends most of his free time the same way he spends his time on the clock: reading. That is, when his boss isn’t on his case at work, or his domineering wife isn’t on his case at home. Getting lost in the written word is all Bemis wants to do. And, when he locks himself in the bank’s vault to do just that, a nuclear bomb goes off. With everyone he knows dead, he’ll now be able to read to his heart’s content. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the best eyesight in the world, so he’ll need his glasses to do that. Here’s hoping he doesn’t break those gla— Oops.
3) “To Serve Man” (Season 3, Episode 24) – 9.0
Featuring what may very well be the scariest ending of The Twilight Zone‘s run, the success of “To Serve Man” all hinges on a single double entendre. Thanks to a pitch-perfect tone and razor-sharp pacing, it stands as one of the series’ best episodes.
The Kanamit are an alien species who have just revealed themselves to us Earthlings. Their leader (played by 007 antagonist Jaws himself, Richard Kiel) addresses the people of Earth with what seem like noble intentions. In his hand is a book title To Serve Man. To understand just how the Kanamit intend to help Earth, the book will have to first be deciphered. Unfortunately, once that happens, it’s revealed just what this book is. It’s not a guidebook to altruism … it’s a cookbook.
2) “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (Season 5, Episode 3) – 9.0
Still a creepy The Twilight Zone episode to this day, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” is a great example of how the series was at its best when it confined itself to a single location. It’s the episode that springs to most people’s minds when they hear the title of the show and it makes sense it was adapted for Twilight Zone: The Movie (though, like with “It’s a Good Life,” to severely diminished effect).
William Shatner stars as Robert Wilson, an aviophobic man who has just been released from a mental health clinic. Alongside his wife, he’s currently on an airplane and, as the flight progresses, he finds himself tormented by a “gremlin.” Once the flight lands the audience is asking themselves the same question his wife is: Was it there or was it a mere figment of his imagination?
1) “Eye of the Beholder” (Season 2, Episode 6) – 9.1
A thematically stunning episode with much to say about how human beings perceive one another, “Eye of the Beholder” is without a doubt a timeless episode. Not so much because of the prosthetics in the closing moments (though they look pretty good given the restrained budgeting the series always faced), but because its message is one that will always be relevant.
The narrative follows Janet Tyler, who is in the process of receiving her eleventh physical alteration surgery. That’s the cap allowed by the futuristic society in which she lives. Unfortunately, once the bandages are removed, she finds that, to her peers, she’s still hideous. The viewer, however, sees a beautiful woman. It’s only when the doctor and nurses turn towards the camera that there’s reason to recoil.
