Category: Twilight Zone

Edward Hall walks into a doctor’s office and claims that he can’t allow himself to fall asleep, lest a woman that he has seen only in a dream cause him to die in that dream, and in real life. The doctor warns Mr. Hall that staying awake much longer will cause him to have a heart attack and die. Then Mr. Hall realizes that the woman from his dream is following him even in his waking life…or perhaps she’s just the doctor’s receptionist.

written by Charles Beaumont
directed by Robert Florey
music by Van Cleave

Cast: Richard Conte (Edward Hall), John Larch (Dr. Rathmann), Suzanne Lloyd (Maya)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

1942: an Allied passenger ship, S.S. Queen of Glasgow, has become separated from her convoy in enemy waters during the height of the German U-Boat threat in World War II. One passenger, a Mr. Lanser, admits to being from Germany and seems very distracted. This arouses the suspicions of his fellow passengers, who begin trying to find out more about him. Lanser has little recollection of how he came to board the Queen of Glasgow, but his memory returns at the same time the others discover his true identity: he’s a German boat captain – the one responsible for sinking the S.S. Queen of Glasgow.

written by Rod Serling
directed by John Brahm
music not credited

Cast: Nehemiah Persoff (Carl Lanser), Deirdre Owen (Barbara Stanley), Patrick Macnee (First Officer McLeod), Ben Wright (Captain Wilbur), Leslie Bradley (Major Devereaux), Kendrick Huxham (Bartender), Hugh Sanders (Potter), Richard Peel (1st Steward), Donald Journeaux (2nd Steward), Barry Bernard (Engineer), James Franciscus (Lt. Mueller)

Notes: This is one of those Twilight Zone episodes that’s crawling with future genre stars, including Patrick Macnee (1922-2015), barely two years before taking on the role of Steed in ITV’s The Avengers, James Franciscus (1934-1991), future star of Beneath The Planet Of The Apes, and Nehemiah Persoff, who guest starred in Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan’s Run, Battlestar Galactica, The Bionic Woman, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A spacecraft that flew 900 miles above Earth and then vanished for 24 hours returns, with its crew of three intact. But one of the astronauts, Major Gart, doesn’t remember one of the others; he only recalls a crew of two. His crewmate, Forbes, remembers the presence of a third man, Harrington, but Forbes is the only one who seems to remember him. And then suddenly, Gart no longer remembers Forbes…

teleplay by Charles Beaumont
based on a short story by Richard Matheson
directed by Douglas Heyes
music by Leonard Rosenman

Cast: Rod Taylor (Lt. Col. Clegg Forbes), James Hutton (Maj. William Gart), Charles Aidman (Col. Ed Harrington), Maxine Cooper (Amy ), Paul Bryar (Bartender), Sue Randall (Nurse), Joe Bassett (Medical Officer)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A man desperate for a job holds down a corner stool at the local bar, unable to afford a drink, until an older man promises him that “what you need” is coming soon. Moments later, the phone rings with a much-hoped-for job offer. Another man at the bar, harboring a more dangerous desperation, follows the old man in the hopes that he can also score a miracle. Reluctantly, just such a minor miracle is handed to him by the old man, but that isn’t enough: he wants a steady string of “what you need” and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.

teleplay by Rod Serling
based on a short story by Lewis Padgett (pseudonym for Henry Kuttner)
directed by Alvin Ganzer
music by Van Cleave

Cast: Steve Cochran (Fred Renard), Ernest Truex (Pedott), Read Morgan (Lefty), Arline Sax (Girl in Bar), William Edmonson (Bartender), Doris Karnes (Woman), Fred Kruger (Man on Street), Norman Sturgis (Hotel Clerk)

Notes: A dark and somber Christmas episode by any measure, What You Need isn’t really overtly a “Christmas special”…but perhaps has a warning for those who aren’t appreciative of their gifts. Arline Sax was later known by the stage name Arlene Martel.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Arch Hammer, a man with an uncanny ability to change his face to look like others, checks into a hotel room with a plan to impersonate several recently deceased men in an attempt to swindle their acquaintances out of money, love, or both. When he tries to escape the lair of a mob boss whose money he’s just taken, he must change his face to resemble that of a man whose picture he saw just moments ago…only to have that man’s past catch up with him.

teleplay by Rod Serling
based on a short story by George Clayton Johnson
directed by John Brahm
music by Jerry Goldsmith

Cast: Harry Townes (Arch Hammer), Phillip Pine (Virge Sterig), Ross Martin (Johnny Foster), Don Gordon (Andy Marshak), Harry Jackson (Trumpeter), Bernard Fein (Mr. Penell), Peter Brocco (Mr. Marshak), Milton Frome (Detective), Beverly Garland (Maggie)

Notes: This is an early TV scoring credit for composer Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004), who was only about five years into his storied career as a TV/film composer when he scored this, his first Twilight Zone episode.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

On the eve of a global holocaust, two men who work on hydrogen weapons and the means of delivering them to their targets meet with their families. They have a plan: the government has also been secretly working on a craft capable of interstellar flight. They will steal this vehicle and resettle on another world, one they hope is free from the kind of madness that could wipe out all life on its surface…one that is the third planet from its sun. Unless, of course, someone from their own world puts a stop to their plan.

teleplay by Rod Serling
based on the short story by Richard Matheson
directed by Richard L. Bare
music not credited

Cast: Fritz Weaver (William Sturka), Edward Andrews (Carling), Joe Maross (Jerry Riden), Denise Alexander (Jody Sturka), Lori March (Eve Sturka), Jeanne Evans (Ann Riden)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

A rocket manned by eight astronauts is launched, and then disappears off of the scopes. Of the eight-man crew, four survive the rocket’s crash landing, into what they believe to be an asteroid near Earth’s orbit, since the sun is approximately the same size in the sky. The asteroid has a conveniently breathable atmosphere, but between them, the four survivors have only five gallons of water. One of them suffered critical injuries in the crash, but the mission’s commander refuses to entertain notions that water no longer be “wasted” on the injured. His subordinates, however, are feeling less charitable, until the expedition is whittled down to a single survivor…who finds that he’s far closer to home than he thought.

teleplay by Rod Serling
based on the story by Madelon Champion
directed by Stuart Rosenberg
music not credited

Cast: Dewey Martin (Corey), Edward Binns (Colonel Donlin), Ted Otis (Pierson), Harry Bartell (Langford), Leslie Barrett (Brandt)

Notes: The “asteroid” exteriors were shot in Death Valley, so it’s likely that the cast members were in need of water almost as badly as their characters…

LogBook entry by Earl Green