It’s been a New Year’s Eve tradition for several years now. No, not Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Hosted By Ryan Seacrest. It’s the annual nearly two-day marathon of The Twilight Zone on the Syfy network. Fans spend most of this time kicking back and partaking in all of their favorite journeys into another dimension. Everyone has their favorites. You might even set your DVR to tape a couple of episodes.
Sites like RottenTomatoes and IMDB have fan-ranked “best of” lists of episodes. Most of these kinds of lists are always the same episodes. There are over 150 episodes of the original show, so there are so many more to pick from. Some may not be considered “iconic,” but they're no less amazing for it. Here are some of the forgotten gems.
“The Masks” (S05 E25, 1964)
It’s Mardi Gras night and wealthy Jason Foster is on death’s door. His family coming to visit him doesn’t do anything in the way of cheering him up. They’re all lecherous vultures who just want Foster to die so they can inherit all of his money.
Foster’s daughter Emily whines about everything. Her husband Wilfred only cares about money. Their daughter Paula is vain and their son Wilfred Jr. is a big bully. Nevertheless, Jason agrees to bequeath them all with his fortune. All they have to do is wear masks for the duration of the evening: masks that reveal the ugliness within themselves.
“The Odyssey Of Flight 33" (S02 E18, 1961)
The flight from London to New York is eight hours. A lot can happen in that time... like traveling through time! As the plane comes through the clouds, ready to begin its landing descent, the pilots and passengers catch a glimpse of Manhattan Island at the time of the dinosaurs.
The pilots then make an attempt to catch another slipstream to get back to their own timeline. They manage to catch the stream again, only they haven’t gone far enough and wind up at the 1939 World’s Fair. Rather than land, the pilots decide to make one more attempt before the plane runs out of fuel...
“Person Or Persons Unknown” (S03 E27, 1962)
Imagine being the life of the party one night and waking up the next day and having no one recognize you - not even your wife! It happened to David Gurney when he woke up in The Twilight Zone.
Pictures he had taken with his wife now just showed him. He eventually woke up to learn it was all a bad dream. That dream turned into a living nightmare, however, when he woke up next to someone who was definitely not his wife!
“Little Girl Lost” (S03 E26, 1962)
Little Tina Miller woke up in the middle of the night wanting her mommy, like a lot of little kids. But Tina happened to have woken up in The Twilight Zone. She can be heard clearly, but her folks can’t find her.
The Millers call their physicist friend to try and find their little girl. Their dog races in to find her, but she’s trapped in the Fourth Dimension. Her dad acts quickly to rescue her before the portal closes forever.
“King Nine Will Not Return” (S02 E01, 1960)
The second season premier was also the first episode where Rod Serling appeared at the start of the show. James Embry, captain of the fighter ship King Nine has crash-landed, leaving Embry to traverse the desert wondering where the rest of his crew is.
In reality, he has been suffering hallucinations for years, suffering from survivor’s guilt due to his fever disqualifying him from boarding the actual King Nine years ago. It might one big hallucination, but sand in Embry’s shoe does spook one of the nurses.
“Long Distance Call” (S02 E22, 1961)
Child actor Bill Mumy’s most memorable role on the show was as Anthony in “It’s A Good Life.” But that wasn’t his first foray into The Twilight Zone. In Season Two’s “Long Distance Call,” he plays a boy named Billy who lost his grandmother shortly after his fifth birthday.
She leaves him a phone that he can use to communicate with her any time he wants. Much to everyone’s bewilderment, he really can! Much to everyone’s dismay, Grandma wants Billy to join her.
“Kick The Can” (S03 E21, 1961)
The power of feeling young at heart is on full display in one of the more whimsical episodes of the series. At the Sunnyvale Rest Home, Charlie believes that he has found the secret of youth: just start acting younger. Obviously, the home’s super, Mr. Cox, doesn’t believe that's the case and puts Charles under observation.
Charles persists and convinces just about everyone in the home to play a game of Kick The Can. Everyone except his best friend, Ben, who gets left behind along with Mr. Cox as Charlie and the rest of the residents find the fountain of youth in The Twilight Zone.
“A World Of His Own” (S01 E36, 1960)
Noted playwright Gregory West has weaved very intricate stories, but his greatest story yet is crafting “A World Of His Own.” It began as his wife Victoria came home, seemingly to find Gregory with another woman, Mary.
Victoria quickly learns that Mary isn’t real - Gregory hasn’t gone mad, he’s just able to create real creations from his work. All he has to do is talk into his tape recorder and give vivid descriptions of Mary, an elephant he used to keep Victoria from leaving, and even Victoria and Rod Serling himself.
“The Midnight Sun” (S03 E10, 1961)
The Earth has stopped rotating and is moving closer to the Sun. Norma and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson, are the only two people left in an apartment building. Water’s restricted to one hour's use a day and electricity is turned off to conserve energy.
Citizens are going a little mad as the temperatures increase. Thankfully, it was a fever dream for Norma. Unfortunately, the world did stop turning, but it's actually moving away from the Sun and everyone's freezing to death instead.
“The Bewitchin’ Pool” (S05 E36, 1964)
Sport and Jeb have been dealing with their parents’ bickering and divorce for a while now. While they are sitting beside their pool, a young boy pops up out of nowhere and invites them to hang out at Aunt T’s Place.
Aunt T. loves children and takes in the ones whose parents don’t deserve them. It’s wish fulfillment at its finest and the last episode of the series.