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Exploring The Twilight Zone, Episode #123: "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"

by Peter Martin, December 14, 2011 3:00 PM


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William Shatner stars in a classic episode, written by Richard Matheson and directed by Richard Donner, that holds up incredibly well as a model of terror and tension.


The Twilight Zone, Episode #123: "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (original air date October 11, 1963)

The Plot: Bob Wilson (William Shatner), husband, father, and salesman, has spent six months in a sanitarium, recuperating from a nervous breakdown he suffered on an airplane. He's cured now and ready to go home.

He boards a jet with his wife Julia (Christine White) for the long flight and settles in. Julia dozes off. Idly, Bob looks out the window. He sees something moving. It's nighttime and it's raining hard, so it's hard to tell what it is ... and then he sees it again: it's a man! Or a beast. Or a man dressed up as a beast, it's hard to tell, but, whatever it is, it's out there, and it's moving around.

Disturbed, Bob signals for the stewardess (Asa Maynor) -- yes, we call them flight attendants now -- but by the time she arrives, no one is standing on the wing of the plane. Bob couldn't quite believe his eyes, either, but it looked so real. The stewardess leaves, Bob closes the curtain so he can (hopefully) fall asleep, but he can't resist taking a peak ...

tz-123-250.jpg

The Goods: What a joy that an episode I recalled so fondly from my youth holds up so well as a model of terror and tension!

I've lost track of the number of times that I've watched "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," so all surprises are lost, yet I still thoroughly enjoyed sitting through it one more time. Matheson's script -- based on his 1961 short story "Alone by Night" -- is excellent, and makes perfect sense at every turn. Donner's direction is even better, jangling the nerves; he makes every shot count.

And it's a perfect marriage of character and actor for William Shatner, who loses himself in the slowly-building hysteria of a man who doesn't want to believe that he's right. But he knows what he knows, and he knows that he's not crazy (this time), and he's got to do something about, as gutsy, nutso, and gonzo as that turns out to be.

The Trivia: The episode marks the third in a row to star a veteran of the series. Shatner starred in the Season 2 episode "Nick of Time," as a man who tries to push his luck with a fortune-telling machine; Star Trek stardom was still three years away.

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" was remade by George Miller as an episode of Twilight Zone: The Movie, starring John Lithgow in the role made famous by Shatner.

On the Next Episode: A man comes into possession of a very special stopwatch -- it can stop time.

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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