Twilight Zone: The Lonely

CBS airs the seventh episode of Rod Serling’s anthology series The Twilight Zone. Jack Warden (Being There) and Jean Marsh (Doctor Who, Willow) star in a script written by Serling.

Convicted criminal James Corry is sentenced to live out his life on an asteroid with a breathable atmosphere, nine million miles from Earth. A rocket from Earth checks on him four times a year, and the desperate loneliness of isolation has driven Corry to begin regarding his jailkeepers as much-needed company. Captain Allenby smuggles a special gift to Corry: a female robot named Alicia, almost indistinguishable from a human woman. Left alone with a synthetic woman, will Corry find sanity and even love…or a new outlet for cruelty?

written by Rod Serling
directed by Jack Smight
music by Bernard Herrmann

Cast: Jack Warden (James Corry), John Dehner (Captain Allenby), Jean Marsh (Alicia), Ted Knight (Adams)

Notes: British actress Jean Marsh would go on to create and star in Upstairs, Downstairs, but she also has a significant SF pedigree, going on to appear as two different characters in Doctor Who (short-lived TARDIS traveler Sara Kingdom in The Daleks’ Masterplan, 1965-66, and Morgaine in Battlefield, 1989). She appeared in the George Lucas-produced Willow in 1988, and has appeared in such series as The Love Boat, 9 To 5, UFO, and the 1990s revival of The Tomorrow People. She has since reprised the Doctor Who character of Sara Kingdom in the Companion Chronicles audio series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green