Twilight Zone – Nightmare at 20,000 Feet… #7

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 #7 on my list.

I have to watch these again before I write about them…Now I wish I would have made this my top 50.

Rod Serling Opening Narration: Portrait of a frightened man: Mr. Robert Wilson, thirty-seven, husband, father, and salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent the last six months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home—the difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilson’s flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he’s traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to Mr. Wilson’s plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of the Twilight Zone.

In this episode he plays a husband (Bob Wilson) who just suffered a nervous breakdown on a plane 6 months before. Him and his wife Julia were taking a flight and you could tell Bob was a nervous as soon as he boarded the plane. He had just spent 6 months in an institution getting over his breakdown and now his Doctor said he was ready to fly again. He sits by the window and the fun begins… after take off he thinks sees a creature of some sort out on the wing of the aircraft.

Because of the breakdown he is not sure he saw the creature or not. Bob starts freaking out and eventually gets a gun from an officer on the plane. Hmmm gun, nervous man, and a plane. Nothing good will come from that. Everyone thinks he is crazy…is he? This one is a thriller with a creepy creature.

Richard Matheson wrote this episode. He wrote 16 Twilight Zones in all.

This is an iconic episode of the Twilight Zone. It was redone in the 1983 movie Twilight Zone with John Lithgow in the title role. I’ll take the classic version though.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration: The flight of Mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a flight not only from point A to point B, but also from the fear of recurring mental breakdown. Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer… though, for the moment, he is, as he has said, alone in this assurance. Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much longer, for happily, tangible manifestation is very often left as evidence of trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as the Twilight Zone.

Cast

  • William Shatner as Robert “Bob” Wilson
  • Christine White as Julia Wilson
  • Ed Kemmer as Flight Engineer
  • Asa Maynor as Stewardess
  • Nick Cravat as Gremlin

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

47 thoughts on “Twilight Zone – Nightmare at 20,000 Feet… #7”

    1. He was in two of them…this one was in their last season. It is my favorite show bar none. There is a quality about this show that you don’t see on tv very often.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. It creeps me out when that thing just pops in the window. That black and white adds to it also. I did like the ending because he will be proved right.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      2. Oh yea Ackroyd driving him to who knows what…My favorite part of the remake movie was…”you want to see something really scary?”

        Liked by 3 people

    1. Off the top of my head…I know he was in two of them…I’ll have to check to see if there is more. Nimoy was in at least one also.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      3. And, Dean Stockwell. Shakespeare’s speech…

        There is also a Quality of Mercy episode in The Outer Limits from the 90s. It’s a two-parter across two seasons, concluding on The Light Brigade with Robert Patrick & Wil Wheaton.

        Babylon 5 has one, too.

        Heh. Gotta love Shatner…

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I have all of the Outer Limits of the old ones… I need to check and see if I have the 90s

        Like

      2. That one might make the list…I think it’s called Little Girl Lost…I love when they show that world/dimension….brilliantly written.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I don’t remember a lot about it, just that she goes through the wall and walks through mist or fog? I do remember being afraid to sleep near the wall because I thought I’d fall through lol

        Liked by 1 person

      5. She rolled out of bed in her sleep. As she woke up and crawled under the bed then, thru the portal. The family sent their little dog in after her. She tied the dog’s leash to her and the dog led her out just before the portal closed. Her parents could hear her all over the house, inside the walls. Great episode.

        Liked by 2 people

  10. Liking your Twilight Zone feature- that was a memorable one with a young Bill Shatner. One of those ones you see once and remember it well- although I’ve probably seen this a dozen times over the years- still holds up.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Hans… the part that still gets me is when the curtain to the window was drawn back and there it is…I still don’t expect it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment