The 25 Best Twilight Zone Episodes
The Twilight Zone is one of the most iconic shows of early television, launching countless copycat anthology series and several reboots. Rod Serling’s monologue introducing each episode may be the most famous aspect of the show but the content was just as groundbreaking. Mixing science fiction, horror and social commentary, the show transcends genre fiction and episodes last as timeless, important works of art. Of course, the nature of anthology series combined with the uneven nature of TV programming resulting in highly varied quality. While some are must see masterpieces, other entries are dull wastes of time. The following will act as a guide for beginners of the series, showing them the great gems while steering them around the duds.
25. The Old Man in the Cave (Season 5, Episode 7)
24. The Midnight Sun (Season 3, Episode 10)
23. Shadow Play (Season 2, Episode 26)
22. The Little People (Season 3, Episode 28)
21. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Season 5, Episode 3)
20. The Obsolete Man (Season 2, Episode 29)
19. Twenty-Two (Season 2, Episode 17)
18. The Lateness of the Hour (Season 2, Episode 8)
17. Third From the Sun (Season 1, Episode 14)
16. The Lonely (Season 1, Episode 7)
15. Walking Distance (Season 1, Episode 5)
14. The Shelter (Season 3, Episode 3)
13. The Invaders (Season 2, Episode 15)
12. The Masks (Season 5, Episode 25)
11. To Serve Man (Season 3, Episode 24)
10. The Silence (Season 2, Episode 25)
One of the few Twilight Zone episodes that are almost normal enough to be reality but the macabre nature of the story warrants it’s inclusion in the show. Two members of a gentlemen’s club make a wager over one of them not talking for an entire year, but it takes a dark twist.
9. A Stop at Willoughby (Season 1, Episode 30)
A brilliant episode that doesn’t rely on horror or aliens but on dreams and fantasy, although it still has a fatalist twist. A stressed out executive who falls asleep on his train ride home and finds himself back in time in a mysterious town called
8. Mirror Image (Season 1, Episode 21)
One of the most eerie episodes in the series is successful because it doesn’t try to explain it’s mystery. The inspiration for Jordan Peele’s film Us, its a masterclass in atmosphere and minimalist storytelling.
7. It’s a Good Life (Season 3, Episode 8)
It’s a Good Life is one of the series’s darkest and is unique in that it is a straightforward tale without any sort of moral or lesson. The story follows a small town that is by an all powerful six year old that makes anything he doesn’t like disappear.
6. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (Season 2, Episode 28)
A great blend of science fiction and mystery, this iconic episode features an investigation of a UFO crash where a the suspects are customers at a diner and one of them is an alien. Similarly to Monsters are Due on Maple Street, conflict comes when people jump to conclusions.
5. Time Enough at Last (Season 1, Episode 5)
The first great episode of the series is a dark piece of science fiction. A bookworm is fed up with people and society and his wish for solitude comes true, only for him to experience an O. Henry-like twist.
4. The After Hours (Season 1, Episode 34)
A lot of Twilight Zone episodes are scary for their ideas and possible situations but there are also the creepy few that are more traditionally unsettling. The After Hours is the most spine tingling of them all, following a woman who gets lost among the upper floors of a department store in The Twilight Zone. While the plot is a big goofy, especially the final turn, the masterful execution and concept make up for it.
3. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (Season 1, Episode 22)
This episode is a very thinly veiled commentary over the dangers of the communist witch hunts that went on during the era. The plot revolves around a friendly neighborhood that soon gets at each other’s throats when they are poisoned by suspicion and mob mentality.
2. Five Characters in Search of an Exit (Season 3, Episode 14)
More like a work of experimental theater than a television program, this unique episode jumps straight to conflict without any exposition. The episode is surreal exercise in philosophy with the simplest of plots, and is expertly tied back to reality without trivializing the content before it.
1. Eye of the Beholder (Season 2, Episode 6)
One of the most iconic episodes mixes horror and political commentary in a deft and dramatic fashion, complete with a shocking twist. While the plot is not as fascinating as some of the other greats, the imagery and impact of ‘Eye of the Beholder’ make it the greatest example of what the show was capable of and the perfect place to start for a new viewer.
Check out more TV lists here.
Feel free to comment below or message author at artglut@gmail.com