The Twilight Zone is one of those iconic TV shows that transcends their humble broadcast origins to become a permanent part of the pop culture zeitgeist. And while it’s hard to imagine anyone alive today not having at least a passing knowledge of the series, it does happen. As popular as The Twilight Zone is, younger fans of moralistic sci-fi/fantasy anthologies are more likely to watch something like Black Mirror or any number of other modern takes on Rod Serling’s brand of twisted parables. But what if you were to come across someone completely oblivious of The Twilight Zone and its cultural legacy?
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We’ve compiled a list of episodes we think are absolutely essential when introducing someone new to The Twilight Zone. These aren’t just stories, but keys that unlock a door to another dimension, one of sight and sound, but also of the mind. Show these to a potential zoner and they’ll find themselves moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into… the 10 Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone to Show a New Fan.
“Living Doll” – Season 5, Episode 6
The trick with introducing a new fan to The Twilight Zone, especially if they were born in the 21st century, is getting them to accept a show broadcast in black and white at a time when married TV couples had to sleep in separate beds. One of the easiest ways to do this is to show them an episode that will scare them half to death in spite of all the show’s limitations. “Living Doll” fits the bill perfectly.
Before M3GAN and Chucky, there was Talky Tina — an evil toy who won’t hesitate to kill anyone who crosses her. As great as the above-mentioned killer dolls are, there is something about the subtle way in which Tina menaces her victims that makes her ten times more frightening. Good luck getting to sleep once you’ve heard “My name’s Talky Tina and I’m Going to kill you.”
“Time Enough at Last” – Season 1, Episode 8
The Twilight Zone is famous for its surprise endings, and “Time Enough at Last” practically started the trend. The Season 1 episode was the first one to really nail that gut-punch final twist. When introverted bookworm Henry Bemis somehow becomes the sole survivor of a nuclear blast, he wastes no time finding an abandoned library and gathering all of the books he’s ever wanted to read but didn’t have the time for. Just as he’s about to settle down for a lifetime of uninterrupted reading, his glasses fall off and shatter, leaving him practically blind.
It’s the kind of cruel twist The Twilight Zone would go on to replicate and perfect in later seasons, but in terms of raw irony, they don’t get any better than the fate of poor Henry Bemis.
“Eye of the Beholder” – Season 2, Episode 6
A great Twilight Zone episode subverts your expectations, and “Eye of the Beholder” is no exception. Janet Tyler is in the hospital for what we’re told is her eleventh plastic surgery to try and look “normal.” For most of the episode, Tyler’s face is hidden under a thick swath of bandages while the nurses and doctors are filmed mostly in shadow. The episode does everything it can to convince the viewer that Janet is absolutely hideous underneath her bandages, but when they finally come off, it’s revealed that she is, in fact, a flawless beauty.
The viewer gets maybe a fraction of a second before the other shoe drops, and the doctors and nurses are finally revealed to have deformed pig faces. “Eye of the Beholder” is the perfect examination of conformity and the subjectiveness of physical attractiveness. It’s also a perfect introduction to the Twilight Zone universe.
“It’s a Good Life” – Season 3, Episode 8
Everyone has dealt with at least one annoying brat in their lifetime, an unruly child who does whatever they want and refuses to listen to anyone else. “It’s a Good Life” asks you to imagine that brat with God-like abilities and absolutely nothing to stop them. The residents of Peaksville, Ohio, have been separated from the rest of the world and now live at the mercy of six-year-old monster Anthony Fremont.
Throughout the episode, Anthony tortures the population of Peaksville, including his own family, by turning them into disgusting monstrosities like a human jack-in-the-box and killing the town’s crops with a sudden snowstorm. Like “Living Doll,” “It’s a Good Life” uses the limitations of ’60s network television to its advantage. Many of Anthony’s worst crimes occur off-screen, but all you need are the horrified reactions of those around him to know just how evil the child really is.
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” – Season 5, Episode 3
The premise is simple: A man on a routine flight looks out his window and sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane attempting to dismantle it. The man tries to warn the other passengers, but no one believes him. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” takes the common fear of flying and turns it up to 11.
The gremlin design is one of the few from the series that doesn’t really hold up today, but a pre-Star Trek William Shatner giving one of his most phenomenal performances more than makes up for it.
[RELATED – 10 Most Influential Episodes of The Twilight Zone]
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” – Season 1, Episode 22
The Twilight Zone originally aired smack dab in the middle of the Cold War, so it’s not surprising that many of its best episodes were inspired by America’s growing paranoia over Soviet invasion. “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” is a thinly veiled allegory for the Red Scare that plagued America in the early ’60s that shows how little provocation it would take to cause an idyllic small town to violently turn on itself.
With the nation as a whole still deeply suspicious of what the family next door is up to, “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” stands the test of time as a mirror to the darkness in all our souls.
“To Serve Man” – Season 3, Episode 24
Everyone knows the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” and yet when a nine-foot-tall alien race makes contact with Earth offering cures for every disease, an end to all wars, and a solution for world hunger, it’s hard to turn them down — even if they really just want to eat you.
Without exaggeration, the ending of “To Serve Man” is the single most incredible twist in the history of The Twilight Zone. If you’re showing it to a Twilight Zone newcomer and they don’t gasp when they hear the words “It’s a cookbook!” then chances are the show just isn’t for them.
“Five Characters in Search of an Exit” – Season 3, Episode 14
The Twilight Zone doesn’t always set out to teach the viewer a lesson or give them a fright. Sometimes the series would get cerebral and venture into existential crisis territory. “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” takes its name and inspiration from the plays Six Characters in Search of an Author and No Exit. A U.S. Army major wakes up inside a metal cylinder with no doors and no memory of how he got there. With him are a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and a clown. An ominous bell rings from somewhere off in the distance…
Are the characters in Hell? Purgatory? Have they always been inside the cylinder, or did they recently arrive? For 22 minutes, Five Characters in Search of an Exit asks the viewer to consider several existential concepts they wouldn’t normally expect to encounter in a half-hour TV show. We won’t spoil the ending here; suffice to say that if you haven’t seen this one yourself, you really need to check it out.
“Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” – Season 2, Episode 28
At some point, your would-be superfan is probably going to start trying to guess the twists at the end of the episodes. That’s when you bust out “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” and really mess with them. The Season 2 episode takes what would on its own make a perfectly servicable Twilight Zone episode — an alien crashes during a snowstorm and makes its way onto a bus pretending to be a regular passenger — and turns it on its head.
When the titular Martian reveals his presence at the end of the episode, bragging about invading Earth to a diner owner, he gets the shock of his life. Not only is the diner owner himself an alien — a Venusian to be exact — but his people have intercepted the Martian invasion force and destroyed it. A twist on a twist might sound like overkill, but in this instance, it’s exactly what the episode calls for.
“The Night of the Meek” – Season 2, Episode 11
When trying to get someone hooked on The Twilight Zone, it’s a good idea to let them know that not every episode holds up a mirror to the dark side of humanity. Some episodes, like “The Night of the Meek,” are downright inspiring and highlight the good that humans are capable of.
A drunken mall Santa stumbles across a magic bag of toys and, for once, gets to play Kris Kringle for real, giving several poor children gifts that they wouldn’t have received otherwise. It’s a little sappy and a little hokey, but ultimately, “The Night of the Meek” is the kind of Christmas Miracle only The Twilight Zone could produce.
What episodes of The Twilight Zone would you show a newcomer? Let us know in the comments below!
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