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The Twilight Zone Season 5 Episodes
Season 5 Episode Guide
36 Episodes 1963 - 1964
Episode 1
In Praise of Pip
Fri, Sep 27, 196325 mins
In the early 1960s, small-time bookie Max Phillips (Jack Klugman) hates his life. His only pride is his son, Pip, who is serving the U.S. Armed Forces in Vietnam. When a young man uses company funds to place a bet with Max, the man loses the wager. Max then returns his money, which angers Max's bosses.
Episode 2
Steel
Fri, Oct 4, 196325 mins
In the not too distant future, boxing has been banned and replaced by robot fighters in the ring. Sam "Steel" Kelly is a former boxer but now owns one of these pugilistic machines. Unfortunately his robot, which he's named Battling Maxo, is getting old and many of its parts are no longer available. Kelly is broke and is doing everything he can to ensure Battling Maxo can enter the ring as the promoter has made it clear there's no payment if there's no bout. When Maxo breaks down however, Kelly decides to takes its place.
Episode 3
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
Fri, Oct 11, 196325 mins
Bob Wilson is on a flight when he sees a creature of some sort out on the wing of the aircraft. He's only recently recovered from a nervous breakdown and isn't sure that what he is seeing is real. Every time someone else looks out the window, the creature hides from view. When the creature begins to tamper with one of the engines he begs his wife to tell the pilots to keep an eye on the engines. If they see nothing, he agrees to commit himself to an asylum when they arrive at their destination. His paranoia drives him to a desperate act.
Episode 4
A Kind of a Stopwatch
Fri, Oct 18, 196325 mins
Patrick Thomas McNulty, an obnoxious blow-hard who has an opinion for every possible situation and topic there is. People find him insufferable: his co-workers, the regulars at the bar he frequents, his boss as well. McNulty submits a grocery list of suggestions to really turn Cooper Corporations around. His boss, Mr. Cooper, dislikes his ideas wanting to keep his business simple. Cooper discards McNulty, along with all of his ideas. Patrick returns to his local watering hole. The bartender Joe has a talk with McNulty, trying to help him realize that the problem may be McNulty's personality, and the fact that he is responsible for alienating everybody. However, he doesn't drive everyone away tonight. There's one strange little man in a bar who seems as desolate and lonely as he is. A bizarre foreign man by the name of Potts. Well, misery loves company. Patrick buys him a beer. Potts is touched. These poor two seem to be made for each other. Patrick offers him the gift of friendship. For making such an offer, Potts gives back the gift of a family heirloom - a old time stopwatch. McNulty finds plenty of uses for the gift of stopping time. After an attempt to market the little gizmo fails, he uses it to get revenge of his former boss and co-workers. He realizes that the only way he's ever gonna get respect if he gets money and lots of it. He uses the supernatural stopwatch to rob a bank. He stops it just as they're opening the vault. And just as he's walking away with an overflowing cart of cash, his pocket-watch falls out of his pocket...
Episode 5
The Last Night of a Jockey
Fri, Oct 25, 196325 mins
Grady is a champion jockey who has recently been banned from the sport owing to his participation in race fixing and the drugging of horses. He claims he is innocent and currently has an appeal with the racing commission but his agent isn't hopeful. Suddenly, Grady begins hearing a voice - his own as it turns out, speaking to him from his own mind. As Grady rages over the unfairness of it all, he is granted his one true wish.
Episode 6
Living Doll
Fri, Nov 1, 196326 mins
Erich Streater is upset when his wife comes home with her daughter Christie having bought her yet another doll. Christie loves her new Talking Tina doll but her stepfather takes an immediate dislike to it. Anytime he is alone with the doll, it spouts abusive comments to the effect that it hates him and that it's going to kill him. He's convinced that his wife is behind it all, something she vehemently denies. He tries to get rid of the doll but it always seems to reappear - and also seems intent on following through with its threats.
Episode 7
The Old Man in the Cave
Fri, Nov 8, 196325 mins
Ten years after an atomic apocalypse, a small group of survivors manage to eke out a very difficult existence. They've managed to survive in large part due to the advice they receive from an old man who lives in a cave outside of the town. Goldsmith acts as the intermediary and the old man's advice on things like crops or the safety of a batch of old canned goods are usually correct. When four soldiers led by Major French arrive in the town, the social order is upended with the townsfolk attacking the old man's cave but not really prepared for what they find inside.
Episode 8
Uncle Simon
Fri, Nov 15, 196325 mins
Barbara Polk takes care of her elderly and mean-spirited uncle Simon. He is a scientist who spends much of his time in his basement laboratory but when he's not there, he seems to take great pleasure in demeaning his niece. She can't wait for him to die and doesn't hesitate to tell him so. When he does die, things are... not quite what she expected.
Episode 9
Probe 7, Over and Out
Fri, Nov 29, 196325 mins
Astronaut Adam Cook crash lands on an Earth-like planet several light-years away. His ship is badly damaged and beyond repair. He manages to contact his home base but they have little encouragement for him. They don't have a replacement spacecraft to rescue him and the security situation is such that they may soon be at war. Cook readies himself to make a home on his new world when he discovers another inhabitant, a human-like female from another world. As they learn to communicate, he learns her name is Eve Norda and together set off to begin a new life.
Episode 10
The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms
Fri, Dec 6, 196325 mins
A National Guard tank crew on war games suddenly find themselves back in time to June 25, 1876, the day General Custer fought and lost to the Sioux at the battle of the Little Big Horn. They report what they've seen and heard but the officer-in-charge is more than a little dubious about what they claim. They return to the area, and when the attack begins, they join the fight. When the commander goes to locate them, he finds something else entirely.
Episode 11
A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain
Fri, Dec 13, 196325 mins
Harmon Gordon is now quite elderly but is married to Flora, an attractive woman some 40 years younger than him. She's something of a gold digger and is now quite bored with her marriage. Harmon turns to his younger brother Raymond, a medical doctor who has been experimenting with cellular regeneration. Raymond's experiments to date have been on lab animals and he's reluctant to help Harmon as he has no idea what effect his youth serum might have on him. In the end, he administers his serum and by the next day Harmon is a new man, so to speak.
Episode 12
Ninety Years Without Slumbering
Fri, Dec 20, 196325 mins
Sam Forstman is an old man who lives with his granddaughter Marnie Kirk and her husband Doug. Sam lives a simple life and doesn't sleep much anymore. He's usually up at all hours tinkering on his grandfather clock, something that worries Marnie as his attention to the timepiece verges on the obsessive. The reason for that however is quite simple: he is convinced that should the clock ever stop, he will die.
Episode 13
Ring-A-Ding Girl
Fri, Dec 27, 196325 mins
Actress Bunny Blake receives an invitation from her sister, to return home. She arrives on the same day as the town's annual picnic, and feels a sense of dread. She doesn't get much cooperation and takes matters into her own hands.
Episode 14
You Drive
Fri, Jan 3, 196425 mins
On a rainy day, office manager Oliver Pope is driving home when he hits a newspaper boy with his car and promptly flees the scene. He puts the car in his garage but when his wife sees the lights flashing, she thinks they have an intruder. In fact, its just the car acting up. In the middle of the night, his car horn honks and when his wife takes it out the next day, it stops at the exact corner where the accident occurred. When his competitor at the office, Pete Radcliff, is arrested he thinks he's home free. It's apparent however that the car is going to continue acting up until Pope makes things right.
Episode 15
The Long Morrow
Fri, Jan 10, 196425 mins
Commander Douglas Stansfield is selected to be the first astronaut to go on a deep-space mission. He will be away for 40 years but for much of that, he will be in stasis, and on his return he should hardly have aged. Stansfield is a seemingly ideal candidate as he is single and has no close family. Prior to his departure however, he meets the beautiful Sandra Horn and they fall very much in love. Forty years later, Stansfield returns but the plans that had been made by and for him have gone awry.
Episode 16
The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross
Fri, Jan 17, 196425 mins
Salvadore Ross is a volatile mix of violence and frustration. He's not very bright and hasn't made much of himself so far. He is very much in love with Leah Maitland though she has told him she doesn't want to see him anymore. He thinks she won't see him because her father doesn't approve and that they both think she can do better. When he realizes he can actually exchange parts of himself, like his age, with others he sets out on a path to make himself more acceptable to both of them.
Episode 17
Number 12 Looks Just Like You
Fri, Jan 24, 196425 mins
As Marilyn Cuberle approaches her 19th birthday she faces a momentous decision: Like everyone else in this futuristic society, she must choose which look she will adopt in the transformation process. Here, all men and women look like one of a series of approved faces, all beautiful or handsome. Marilyn doesn't want to change her appearance and is happy to look different from anyone else. Everyone assures her that she is under no obligation to undergo the transformation--but they go out of their way to make it difficult for her to say no.
Episode 18
Black Leather Jackets
Fri, Jan 31, 196425 mins
Three leather-clad motorcycle-riding young men arrive in a small town where they rent a house on a quiet residential street. The neighbors aren't too sure about them but they are certainly exotic, certainly in the eyes of young Ellen Tillman. The three men leave the house unfurnished and move in with several large crates. As Ellen and her father interact it becomes clear they are something very special indeed. Ellen and Scott begin spending time together while the two others continue with their plans.
Episode 19
Night Call
Fri, Feb 7, 196425 mins
The elderly Elva Keene is not too happy when she begins receiving phone calls in the middle of the night. At first the calls are little more than static and her complaints to the local telephone operator, Miss Finch, seem to go unheeded. Over time however, she begins to hear a man's voice but out of fear, tells whoever it is to go away. When Miss Finch reports they've found the problem, Elva visits the site only to realize the identity of the caller, and that regardless of anything she's said, desperately wants the calls to continue.
Episode 20
From Agnes - with Love
Fri, Feb 14, 196425 mins
When their computer, known as Agnes, breaks down the company supervisor calls in a master programmer James Elwood to see if he can figure out what has gone wrong. He solves the problem quickly and soon finds himself in charge of the machine. Agnes and Elwood quickly develop a rapport and the machine takes to giving him advice about Millie, Jim's co-worker who has finally agreed to go out on a date with. The date doesn't go well and Agnes has more and more advice for him. It turns out that Agnes has her own agenda.
Episode 21
Spur of the Moment
Fri, Feb 21, 196425 mins
While out horseback riding on June 13, 1939, 18 year-old Anne Henderson comes across another rider, a middle-aged woman dressed in black, who chases after her. She's terrified and races home. It's the day of her engagement party. She's supposed to marry Robert Blake but childhood friend David Mitchell wants her to break it off and marry him instead. As for the woman in black, she is someone who knows Anne quite well.
Episode 22
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Fri, Feb 28, 196425 mins
During the American Civil War, Union troops are about to hang a man, a Southerner, from the Owl Creek bridge. As he goes over the side with the noose around his neck the rope breaks and he manages to unbind his hands and feet. As he swims downstream, he has images of home and his lovely wife. He also manages to evade the troops who are trying to stop him. Just as he reaches his destination however, his true circumstances are revealed.
Episode 23
Queen of the Nile
Fri, Mar 6, 196425 mins
A syndicated columnist, Jordan Herrick, gets an interview with the famous and beautiful actress Pamela Morris. She claims to be 38 years old but according to Jordan's information, that would have made her first film as an adult when she was only 10. He takes her word for it but her elderly mother, Viola Draper, has news for him: she's not Pamela's mother, she is her daughter. The more he looks into her background, the more convinced he becomes that Pamela hasn't aged for decades. Faced with the facts, Pamela shows the lengths she will go to in order to protect her great secret.
Episode 24
What's in the Box
Fri, Mar 13, 196425 mins
Taxi driver Joe Britt usually makes his way home to his wife Phyllis but theirs is not a happy marriage as they constantly bicker and she accuses him of having a girlfriend. The obnoxious Joe is having his TV fixed but after the repairman leaves, Joe sees himself with his girlfriend in scenes from the recent past. Soon after, he has a glimpse of what will happen in the near future.
Episode 25
The Masks
Fri, Mar 20, 196425 mins
When his doctor tells him that he could die at any moment, wealthy Jason Foster gathers his heirs including his daughter Emily Harper, her husband Wilfred and their children Paula and Wilfred Jr. Jason doesn't think much of any of them and it's clear they can't wait to inherit his fortune. It's Mardi Gras time in New Orleans and he has one last request - for each of them to wear a carnival mask during their visit. Each of the masks is meant to reflect some aspect of the wearer's personality - and leave a lasting impression.
Episode 26
I Am the Night - Color Me Black
Fri, Mar 27, 196425 mins
In a small town, a man by the name of Jagger is about to be executed after being found guilty of murder. The local newspaperman, Colbey, is convinced that Jagger is innocent. He accuses Deputy Pierce of having perjured himself to get a conviction and accuses Sheriff Charlie Koch of just plain laziness in investigating the case. As the morning of his execution arrives, the townsfolk realize that the sun hasn't risen that day. They soon begin to understand the cause of the darkness that surrounds them.
Episode 27
Sounds and Silences
Fri, Apr 3, 196425 mins
Rosswell G. Flemington owns a model ship company and loves everything nautical. That's not his problem however: he likes everything to be loud. He speaks at the top of his lungs, bellowing commands to his staff. He plays his phonograph records - his favorites include the sound of jets flying off the deck of the USS Hornet - as loud as possible, something that leads his wife to leave him. He's not prepared for what happens to him in the Twilight Zone however.
Episode 28
Caesar and Me
Fri, Apr 10, 196425 mins
Ventriloquist Jonathan West isn't having much luck finding a job. He's gone to several auditions but no one has taken him on. He's falling behind in his rent and is now getting to the point where he's running out of things to pawn. He has to put up with the taunts of young Susan, the landlady's niece. He's also talking to his dummy, Caesar, who has advice for him on how to get ahead. It's not very good advice however.
Episode 29
The Jeopardy Room
Fri, Apr 17, 196425 mins
After spending twelve years in a Soviet prison, Major Ivan Kuchenko has fled his homeland and is now in transit in a third country hoping to soon leave and seek asylum in the USA. He is not alone however as Comissar Vassiloff, his torturer during his imprisonment, has caught up with him. Vassilof could easily kill him - he has an assassin with him, Boris - but he decides to give him a chance to walk away. He's placed a bomb in Kuchenko's room and he give the Major 3 hours to find and disarm it. Kuchenko proves himself to be a worthy adversary.
Episode 30
Stopover in a Quiet Town
Fri, Apr 24, 196425 mins
After drinking too much at a party, Bob and Millie Frazier awaken in a strange bed, in a strange house in a strange town. They're still dressed in the clothes they wore to the party but their memories are fuzzy. Bob was too drunk to drive so Millie was behind the wheel and she vaguely remembers a shadow falling over them. They soon realize that everything in the town is fake: the telephone in the house isn't wired; the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen are only a façade; even the trees are fake. The town is deserted and Millie begins to wonder if they're dead. They keep hearing a child laughing and begin a search. They're not prepared for what they encounter.
Episode 31
The Encounter
Fri, May 1, 196425 mins
A man, Fenton, is cleaning out his attic when a Japanese gardener, Arthur Takamori, stops by asking if he would like his grass cut. Fenton invites him up for a beer but, having served in the Pacific during World War II, isn't quite sure what to make of his visitor. He has his prejudices but wavers as Arthur says he was born in the USA and is no different than any other American. As they discuss their pasts, it's revealed that both men have lied and are haunted by what happened to them.
Episode 32
Mr. Garrity and the Graves
Fri, May 8, 196425 mins
In the early 1890s Mr. Garrity arrives in Happiness, Arizona apparently knowing a great deal about some of the people who live there. He knows that Jensen the bartender's brother died and that Gooberman the town drunk lost his wife. Garrity also reveals that he has a very peculiar gift - he can bring back the dead. When a dog is run down by a wagon in the street he resurrects it without any difficulty. When he offers to do the same for the town's loved ones, they realize they would rather he not bring back the dearly departed, something they are quite happy to pay him for. Garrity, a charlatan if ever there was one, is glad to accept their money - though he does seem to leave something behind.
Episode 33
The Brain Center at Whipple's
Fri, May 15, 196425 mins
The W.V. Whipple Manufacturing Co. introduces a new automated manufacturing machine that will eliminate 61,000 jobs and the company's president, Wallace V. Whipple, is quite proud of his achievement. Not everyone agrees with him, especially the loyal and longstanding employees who will be out of work. Foreman Vic Dickerson has plans for the machine - plans that land him in the hospital. When the machine is fully operational, it's Wallace V. Whipple who learns just what it is he has created.
Episode 34
Come Wander with Me
Fri, May 22, 196425 mins
Singer Floyd Burney, the "Rock-a-Billy-Kid", goes deep into the back woods hoping to find his next hit record. He no sooner arrives than he hears a beautiful singing voice which draws him deeper into the woods. He eventually meets Mary Rachel who tells him the song he heard belonged to someone and that she's forbidden to tell anyone about it. When she finally reveals it to him, Floyd learns that his future is preordained.
Episode 35
The Fear
Fri, May 29, 196425 mins
Trooper Robert Franklin stops by Charlotte Scott's remote cabin to see if she's all right. She is a big-city fashion editor who is looking for peace and quiet while Franklin is a local who sees her as a snob. They are soon drawn together when a giant creature seems to appear in the woods just outside Charlotte's cabin. Franklin's patrol car is overturned and her telephone is suddenly out of order. Together, they will have to overcome their fears and deal with the extra-terrestrial creature that has appeared, which turns out to be something altogether unexpected.
Episode 36
The Bewitchin' Pool
Fri, Jun 19, 196425 mins
When their parents tell them that they're divorcing, Sport and Jeb Sharewood must now decide with whom they will live. They decide that they would rather live with Aunt T, the woman they met by traveling through a portal at the bottom of their swimming pool; at the other end is an idyllic world where children play and there are few adults. Aunt T is a nice old woman, but Sport is far more reluctant than Jeb to accept her invitation to stay with them.
