Twilight Zone – Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? … #9

I’m going to write about my top 10 favorite TZ episodes in the next few weeks…Most of the Twilight Zones are like songs to me…to be enjoyed over and over. The Twilight Zone is not really an ordinary TV show. It’s THE TWILIGHT ZONE. This is my personal choice for #9 on my list.

This episode has some great dialog and it is a “who is it?” til the very end.

A bus of 6 or is it 7 exits the bus because of an icy bridge in some far away place. There is a suspected Martian in the bunch…but who is it? Will paranoia turn everyone against each other? This episode is just as much about human nature as it is Martians.

Rod Serling Intro: Wintry February night, the present. Order of events: a phone call from a frightened woman notating the arrival of an unidentified flying object, then the checkout you’ve just witnessed, with two state troopers verifying the event – but with nothing more enlightening to add beyond evidence of some tracks leading across the highway to a diner. You’ve heard of trying to find a needle in a haystack? Well, stay with us now, and you’ll be part of an investigating team whose mission is not to find that proverbial needle, no, their task is even harder. They’ve got to find a Martian in a diner, and in just a moment you’ll search with them, because you’ve just landed – in The Twilight Zone.

Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up?: After an anonymous phone call about a spacecraft that crashed in the frozen woods, two police officers find evidence that the event really happened. Apparently one alien had walked away from the spot. They drive to the HI-WAY Cafe and they find a bus with seven passengers waiting for the reopening of an iced bridge.

However the bus driver says that he only had six passengers when he parked the bus. While interrogating the travelers, weird things happen in the diner, with the lights switching on and off and the turntable turning on and off. The passengers/customers start to turn on each other. When the bridge is declared safe for travel they take off…it’s not over then though. We find out the truth after that…it does not disappoint. Just when you think it’s explained Serling throws a wonderful twist in.

Rod Serling wrote this episode.

The stand out character in the café is Jack Elam as a crazy old man named Avery. Barney Phillips plays Haley the cook/server and his face is out of central casting for character actors. If you are new to the Twilight Zone this is a great one to start off with…thank you for reading and I’ll have another one next weekend.

Cast

• John Hoyt as Ross, the businessman
• Jean Willes as Ethel McConnell, the dancer
• Jack Elam as Avery, the crazy man
• Barney Phillips as Haley, the cook
• John Archer as Trooper Bill Padgett
• William Kendis as Olmstead, the bus driver
• Morgan Jones as Trooper Dan Perry
• Gertrude Flynn as Rose Kramer, the older wife
• Bill Erwin as Peter Kramer, the older husband
• Jill Ellis as Connie Prince, the younger wife
• Ron Kipling as George Prince, the younger husband

Thank you all for reading!