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TV

Exploring The Twilight Zone, Episode #64: "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"

by Peter Martin, September 1, 2011 11:28 PM


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It can be tough enough to find good food in a diner, so how on Earth do you find a Martian in one when all the customers look like average, everyday human beings?


The Twilight Zone, Episode #64: "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" (original air date 05/26/61)

The Plot: On a snowy winter evening in New England, two state troopers investigate the report of a UFO. The evidence leads them to a diner, where a bus has recently disgorged a load of passengers.

The Goods: Upon arrival, the troopers (John Archer and Morgan Jones) learn that the bus is stuck at the diner until morning, when a nearby bridge can be re-opened. Six passengers got off the bus, but seven people are in the diner, in addition to the guy behind the counter (Barney Phillips), who says he's been there since the morning. Did the seventh person arrive in the UFO?

tz-real-martian.jpg

Everyone looks "normal." Well, except maybe Jack Elam (pictured, with some weird make-up), as a wild-eyed customer sitting at the counter. The two married couples feel they should be above suspicion -- at first, and then they, too, begin feeling a bit paranoid, just like the elegantly-dressed older gentleman (John Hoyt), the blonde dancer (Jean Willes), and the man at the counter.

The episode is one that is defined entirely by the ending; once you've seen it, you never forget it. Having said that, it plays well even if you've seen it before; I'd forgotten some of the odd things that happen, and the way that the finger of suspicion is pointed first at one person, and then another. It's an excellent script by Rod Serling and the episode is well worth a (re)viewing for the pleasures of the unpredictable.

The Trivia: John Hoyt, as the elegantly-dressed gentleman, made a memorable appearance in the original Star Trek pilot episode as Dr. Phillip Boyce, the forerunner of Dr. Leonard McCoy.

The name of the bus company, Cayuga Buses, can be briefly glimpsed near the beginning of the episode. It was named after Cayuga Production Company, which produced the series.

The episode makes a couple of references to the science-fiction premise of a "monster" from outer space, disguised amongst human beings, and also name drops Ray Bradbury.

The episode is also an early example of product placement; when one of the character pulls a cigarette out of a pack supplied by advertiser Liggett & Myers.

On the Next Episode: "In a future totalitarian society, a librarian is declared obsolete and sentenced to death."

Catching up: Episodes covered by Twitch | Episodes covered by Film School Rejects

We're running through all 156 of the original Twilight Zone episodes, and we're not doing it alone! Our friends at Film School Rejects have entered the Zone as well, only on alternating weeks. So definitely tune in over at FSR and feel free to also follow along on Twitter accounts @twitchfilm and @rejectnation.

More from Exploring The Twilight Zone


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