The pilot episode of The Twilight Zone starts with Mr. Serling in a chair behind a desk and he greets television viewers with a soliloquy of the entertainment they are about to experience. He uses seven minutes and 38 seconds to explain the unique product and that he is here to push this product much like his audiences' occupations. However, not to worry commercial salesmen, people will still go out and buy their products after the conclusion of the episode.
Mr. Serling captures viewers with the offer of three summaries of episodes scheduled to air. He uses props from each of the shows and explains how they all wrap into elements of human behavior.
Mr. Serling is the best television host because he admits that writers cannot tell stories verbally, "We're better behind a typewriter."
After he welcomes us into this new world, he walks into the set or the Twilight Zone and disappears. He says, "See what I mean?" Then he states he's sure Instant Sanka will be flying off shelves this fall.
Screenshot of the original title opening.
Notice the square letters and embossing.
This will change over the seasons.
Scene opens with actor Earl Holliman walking down an empty road, wandering, aimlessly. He sees a diner and ventures inside. He jukebox plays but there's noone in sight. He walks behind the counter and pours himself a cup of coffee and simultaneously knocks over a clock. The clock says 6:15. He continues to holler for anyone to cook him food. He pulls out $2.85 American money.
This is when he shares with anyone who could be listening that there's a problem with his identity. He knows he's an American but he doesn't know who he is.
This is when he shares with anyone who could be listening that there's a problem with his identity. He knows he's an American but he doesn't know who he is. He walks outside and heads down the road. This is when the audience can see the CLOSED sign on the door.
He runs into the town as the bell on the church tolls. He wanders around the town until he sees a woman in an old work van. He opens the door and the woman falls out of the passenger seat. This woman is no woman. It is a mannequin. The van belongs to Resnick's Store Mannequins.
Next, he heads over to the Police Station. Ironically, he says to himself, "I wish I could shake that crazy feeling of being watched." I laughed out loud with this statement. Not only is there absolutely noone around, he is inside Big Brother's operation station. Suddenly, smoke begins to rise as a freshly lit cigarette burns in the ashtray. He walks towards the jail cells and sees running water in the sink. He tells himself, "Time to wake up now," as the shadow of the jail cell door begins to swing shut. He runs like hell from the station and screams what we've all been waiting to hear, "HEY, WHERE IS EVERYBODY!?"
The scene cuts to the church bell tolling and he walks into the ice cream parlor. He makes himself a small sundae and chats to his reflection. He apologizes to himself for not knowing who he is. He then acknowledges that he is having a nightmare in which he cannot escape. Next, he quotes Ebenezer Scrooge, "
You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!"
He walks to the counter and sees the local high school basketball schedule where he states, "I'm the only one in the world who could have a dream as complete as mine." He heads over to the book racks and sees what he can only believe to be himself:
He begins to run and scream. He enters the theater where the main show is BATTLE HYMN. He walks over and looks at the movie poster. The uniform looks exactly like his! "Air Force... I'm in the Air Force!" He runs into the theater and screams, "HEY EVERYBODY I'M IN THE AIR FORCE!"He sits down in the empty theater and the movie begins to play. He runs up to the projector box but there's no one there. He runs downstairs and crashes directly into a mirror. After this collision, he exits the theater and the camera angle tilts sideways aiding to our actors' frantic and desperate despair. He is panicking, freaking out, he can't take it. He's totally alone but how could everyone just disappear? He runs out into the streets and crashes dramatically into a parked bicycle.
He flips himself over only to see a giant drawing of an eye on the Optometrists office and screams. He runs from the eye and holds on for dear life to a traffic light post. The lights flash, changing over and over as he continuously clicks the button to change the lights. "Help me, help me, please, somebody help me! Help me, somebody's looking at me, somebody's watching me, help me!"
As the camera changes, we see blank faces of soldiers watching our actor on a small screen. Our actors' eyes are closed and he is covered in wires.
They quickly release him from the tiny box which he is enclosed. His hand is tapping a small clock so rigorously, he breaks the glass.
Aha! Remember the clock from the diner that he knocked over and broke? HAH! You do now! Nearly, the exact same times!
The Colonel talks to the General and says our actor was suffering delusions. He was in the small box for 484 hours and 36 minutes. Its the equivalent to a trip to the moon, several orbits and a return trip home.
The General tells the press if they were trapped in a box alone for the same amount of time, "Your imagination would run away with you too."
Our actor tells his fellow soldiers he was in a, "...place I never wanna go again." The doctor explains to him it was a mental nightmare his brain manufactured. They can fabricate places, things, smells and sounds but we can't simulate companionship.
Soldiers carry our actor out on a stretcher as he stops and looks to the moon and tells it, "Hey. Don't go away up there. Next time it won't be a dream or a nightmare. Next time, it'll be for real. So don't go away. We'll be up there in a little while," as he smiles.
We finally learn our actors' name is Mike Ferris and he has just come back from a long, lonely, isolated journey from the Twilight Zone.
Episode written by Rod Serling.
