Thank you all for the continued support and for sharing your Twilight Zone stories! A few clarifications that are long overdue: - I know how to pronounce Billy Mumy’s name now, so no need to comment it. - When I talk about the episode “Two” with Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, I say “I don’t like the man.” I had no idea how much this statement was going to blow up 😂 in the episode Charles Bronson’s character’s name is “Man” so I was saying I don’t like his character! Trust me, I’m a fan of the actor! - My ranking has stayed fairly the same, minor changes here and there. Still not a big fan of To Serve Man.
This was a tremendous tribute to what I feel is the greatest tv series ever. I watched the original series 3 times over. A lot of that series was ahead of its time and is playing out today.
Straight talk - "it's playing out today" lol. Whenever something odd is happening in the world ; I always find some episode of TTZ to relate it to & the lesson ppl learned from it
Decades after Twilight Zone, William Shatner appeared as Big Giant Head in sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun, starring John Lithgow. In this episode, he mentions that during his flight he saw something on the wing of the plane, to which Lithgow's character Dick mentions that the same thing happened to him before. Not only is this reference to the original TZ episode, but also a reference to the TZ movie from the 80s in which Lithgow played the same character that Shatner played in the original, therefore, both experiencing the same thing during their flights.
I've had a hard time sleeping all of my life and it was as a very young boy in the eighties that I learned of The Twilight Zone. When my parents were asleep, I would turn on the TV in my end of the house- the volume turned very low. It was on from like 12:30 - 1:00 AM. I fell in love with this show and am amazed to see a young man like yourself so fully engaged in it!!! Nice work!!!!
The Obsolete Man, an excellent cautionary tale against authorian utilitarianism, awesome number 1 pick. My personal favorite is The Rip Van Winkle Caper personally, it shows how futile greed is in the end, very powerful.
So glad I watched your video!! I was the set designer / art director for the version of TOT at Disneyland. I'm also glad you spotted the easter egg on the wall of the second floor of the Boiler Room set. But did you know that I put 99 easter eggs in that attraction? My favorite prop was going to a local Los Angeles custom eyeglasses maker. I had a picture of Burgess' glasses in Time Enough at Last. The man said he could make a copy in about 3 weeks. When I went to pick it up from him he said to me that he remembered making glasses like that for "another project" I found out that he had built the original glasses (5 pairs) for the actual TZ episode so many years ago. The glasses (complete with shattered lens) were in one of the bookcases in the TOT Library set. Another favorite easter egg of mine was by the telephone near the timeclock in the Boiler Room. I hung a pencil on a string on the phone dangling down. On the wall (in pencil) I scratched the names of all the murderers in all the TZ shows. A dented thimble is in the display case in the hallway in the man lobby set. I could go on and on. Though I gave Operations a list of all the easter eggs, nobody employee or guest on the attraction never even found them. Pity it's gone now.
Ashame to see Come Wander With Me so low on the ranking. That one was my all time favorite and scared me the most since I first watched TTZ. Not to mention that song has wormed its way so far into my brain, I’ve still been humming it years later
It’s very satisfying at my age and in our current global situation to see a young man enjoy something I’ve loved for over 60 years. Some of your lower ranked episodes you had to quickly review I actually had a hard time even remembering. I understand why you ranked “To Serve Man” so low but I still love it. I also just a few days ago saw an interview of Richard Kiel who revealed something I’d never known. He was involved in another project as this was being produced and he had a very long drive back & forth. The makeup also took a long time. Due to this he never knew his lines which ended up being done by another actor from another episode. The actor who played Satan in the pawn shop with the older couple you liked. A bit of trivia you might not know. Anyway I appreciate your eye for excellence in all the Twilight Zone stands for !! God Bless you !! 🙏🏻❤️
Rod said about a third of the episodes were excellent, a third were okay, and a third stank. I think he was a bit harsh on himself, because certainly nowhere near 52 episodes were stinkers.
Thank you for the tribute! Also my favorite tv show of all time as well as many who are here willing to see this major ranking! Glad to see everyone gathered and discussing, sharing, and promoting TTZ and their personal story of how it has affected them!
The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank is a chilling episode. It plays upon our most innate fear of the dead. It manages to unsettle the viewer without startling, eerie shock scenes, talking dummies, scary masks, or makeup. Watch it closely, listen intently to the dialogue, and the ending twist will tie it all together, making it one of the more believable episodes in the series.
@@paulrichards6894 no kidding!! For what it’s worth, that one is nostalgic for me! One of my earliest memories of watching. Just think the actual thoughts he’s reading are pretty cheesy 🤣
Superb video and I agree (with most of your rankings). I must say, I thoroughly enjoy your channel content as I'm a lifelong Hitchcock, classic film/tv and Twilight Zone fan as well. While TZ is undoubtedly my all-time favorite show, I would love to see a similar ranking video for the series "Night Gallery". I'm not sure if you've seen each episode of that series, but I enjoy the show and the actors who participated in the series almost as much as The Twilight Zone. Looking forward to more great content, keep up the good work!
Means so much, truly! Glad to find another fan of the classics! I have started Night Gallery, but have only seen a few episodes. I would love to someday have a complete ranking for that series as well!
Walking Distance is my number one episode. It's themes of aging, regret, nostalgia for the past, wanting to return to a simpler time, getting a second chance not to make mistakes, etc make it not only my favorite Twilight Zone, but one of my favorite tv episodes of any series. As well Bernard Herrmann's heart breaking atmospheric score and Gig Youngs performance make it a masterpiece.
You did a very good job at an impossible task! Your ranking is very good. Of course, everyone will end up with a different one. Twilight Zone was a great show. Some episodes are real marvels. Beyond pure entertainment, there is often a spiritual, or philosophical message, this is what I like.
Good list overall. However... You're no doubt sick of hearing arguments about your ranking of "To Serve Man", but I felt the need to try. "Twist" endings are a signature element of what made The Twilight Zone so beloved, and the alien cookbook may be the show's most iconic twist of all. Your main gripe appears to be the "special effects" of the aliens, which is a bit... petty. Lots of shows of the time had crappy special effects - including The Mask - yet that didn't seem to affect your ranking. The original Star Trek series had a lot of awful special effects, but some excellent stories - so critics made allowances. I would therefore challenge you to re-consider your ranking without "special effects", which is something the Twilight Zone had little control over and does not diminish the quality of the story.
I went 40 years, knowing I had seen a, "Twilight Zone", episode about a guy being hung, and the rope breaks. Then he swims and runs to get home. The scene of the snake swimming in the river stuck with me. Then a girl I was working with heard me talking about it. Her boyfriend ran an old record and DVD store. She brought me the entire series on DVD. I can't describe my excitement as I plugged in the tape, and wound it to, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Always watched the, "Twilight Zone", marathons, and was always disappointed that it was never shown. I found out that that episode and, "The Encounter", weren't allowed to be shown for some forty years. I saw them as a child and they stuck with me, all those years. Some episodes aren't just my favorite episodes, but some of my favorite memories.
It's incredibly lazy anti-Soviet propaganda. It's really not that profound or genius. I love Rod, but let's be real, it's literally Red Scare-esque, anti-Communism. And it's not subtle.
This episode scares me still, as an adult. While being simplistic, it defines humanity at its worst which has happened time and time again in history, and will continue to. Every "legit" governmental body, cult group, or high control group falls into this danger, for all kinds of reasons. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man.
Brilliant! Loved your commentary on this masterpiece of a series! Your numbers 1 and three were my one and two, with Obsolete man coming in second! Burgess Meredith, what a legend!
Can I get a little help here? I remember a twilight zone episode where this guy loves zither music and wierd things, but isn't very liked by his coworkers. Then he gets a guardian angel who tries to get him to stand up for himself, so he asks the angel to make him liked by his coworkers, but that takes away all the things he likes, like zither music, so he asks the angel to take it back, and at the end, he has a new appreciation for who he is. I re-watched this list multiple times, and I can't find it. Anyone remember the name of it? The angel's name is Mr. Hempstead if that helps.
Pleasantly surprised to see this one remembered! Mr. Bevis is a top 10-20 episode for me, but it tends to be one of them that folks completely forget about. Comedy isn’t one of Serling’s strong suits, but it’s just nice to see such a wholesome trip into the twilight zone.
This is the first time I’ve watched your channel. Well done young man! I’m old enough to have seen the show when it first aired. I’ve watched them over the years on tv and a few years ago purchased the entire series on dvd. Here’s my top 10: 1)Walking Distance 2)Miniature 3)Living Doll 4)The New Exhibit 5)The Hitchhiker 6)Nightmare 20,000’ 7)Willoughby 8)The After Hours 9)The Dummy 10)Little Girl Lost / Honorable Mention: The Lonely, Mirror Image, Nick of Time. As a kid, “Living Doll” and “The Hitchhiker” scared me the most!!
Steel and Spur of the Moment deserve much higher. I know Nightmare at 20,000 ft is a classic but it's pretty dumb. "One for the Angels" should be somewhere around 130. Nick of Time is one of the most underrated episodes. It's actually quite poignant.
As prolific as a show this is, I'm surprised there's not more TZ content on youtube (maybe some copyright bs I'm not aware of). Awesome video and keep up the great work!
Excellent list! I think "The Self Improvement of Salvadore Ross" was underrated, but just my opinion. Also, "Number 12 looks just like you" is also excellent and under appreciated.
Good work with this list! I really enjoy most if not all the TZ episodes but To Serve Man will always be THE episode with the cleverest twist ending. BTW the concept for the movie Jacobs Ladder always struck me to have been borrowed from Death Ship.
Jack Klugman and Billy Mumy realy bonded during shooting In Praise of Pip and remained good friends up until Klugman's death in 2012. It was Mumy who delivered eulogy at Klugman's funeral, which was Jack's specific wish. Mumy's father very rarely visited the set and, unlike so many child actors parents of the time, never interfered in his son's productions. One day when he did visit as it was shot on pier that he and Billy visited regularly, he was introduced to Jack Klugman, who approached him and introduced himself, and gave him a speech on how father son relationship is extremely important. Mumy's father claimed for many years that he was very moved and impressed by the encounter with Klugman. Interesting trivia is that 32 years later Klugman appeared in movie Dear God, which co-starred Bill's son Seth.
I have always wondered why, on “Time Enough at Last”, when the bomb hit the crystal on his pocket watch broke, but his glasses didn’t break at that particular time. Guess it would have been a short episode.
Great job with this post! My all time favorite show and I really like your countdown and your insights. A Stop At Willoughby is my #1 but so many classics! A timeless show!
That one really is awesome. I love Misrel's "Push, push, push, all the way, all the time, right on down the line" speech, especially as they close up on his mouth. The key scene in this is just before he steps off the train. He DELIBERATELY leaves his briefcase (and, thereby, his old life) behind.
The obsolete man is also my favorite. With only a few differences, I concur with this list, and I have been watching for over 30 years, including the 80's episodes (of which a few were reboots of the OS). The absolute devotion to faith will always demonstrate power over the state.
Easy to rank your top 20 but to do the whole lot is a bit wild. When you began with the average or bad episodes yes I agreed with most of them in fact I've been reluctant to watch them more than once. You had 2 episodes execution & uncle Simon come in at around the 120 mark well I put these in my top 20. Execution not only had a great twist but the whole episode moved at a very fast pace never a dull moment & as for uncle Simon not only was the twist one of the best but great drama to witness the psychological effects it had on the neice when Simon was alive & now that he's dead the torture will continue. Agreed with most of your top 20. The masks for me is number one.
The Lonely, The Hitch-Hiker, The Purple Testament, After Hours, Eye of the Beholder, the Passersby, Five Characters In Search of An Exit, To Serve Man, Ring-A-Ding Girl, The Masks.
Great list - I mostly agree with your rankings - but gosh don't we always fondly recall the first episode we ever saw? For me, it was, believe it or not, "A Piano in the House", aired on a NY TV station as a fill-in when my dad's Yankees game was cancelled due to rain.
Great job putting this together! What one sees in these episodes is in the eye of the beholder, of course. I'm old enough to have seen some of the episodes when they originally aired. I was around nine or ten years old at the time and back then the more fantasy-themed episodes with special effects like ‘Stopover in a Quiet Town’ were my favorites. As an old man now, I like the ones that deal with old age, longing to go back in time, etc. As a ten-year-old, “Static” would have been around the bottom of my list; now it's near the top.
Thank you so much for your comment! What an insightful thing to say, the episode is in the eye of the beholder, that’s so true! Thank you for watching, and I’m glad to speak with a life-long fan! It’s funny how I also discovered it at the same age, but in a completely different era.
This was an amazing video! You must have put a ton of effort into this. One of my favorite series ever, but I have to admit I haven’t seen every episode. A Stop at Willoughby is my number 1
Thank you so much Anthony! If I may say, it’s still the video I’m most proud of on my channel. Happy it’s still getting shared and even happier I’ve connected with so many fans!
Billy Mumy and Cloris Leechman reprised their roles in 2002 TZ series episode It's Still a Good Life. However, John Larch, who played the father in the original episode, did not return in 2002, even though he was also still alive at the time.
I know I stumbled across this episode a few weeks ago. Didn't know it existed still I didn't watch much of the new twilight zone episodes. Absolutely brilliant & that ending with the girl I didn't see coming so much like her father though the misdirection was good thinking she was going to defy her father & use her powers for good & return the world back to normal. Cloris was great & what a speech just wish she had acted on it sooner when antony was a boy like that man said that turned in to a jack in the box why didn't someone kill him wouldn't have been hard.
My favorites: The Obsolete Man, Nothing in the Dark, Nick of Time, The Shelter, Deaths Head Revisited, The Night of the Meek, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up, Once Upon a Time, Two, The Invaders (love how the entire story is told with little or no dialogue).
I got very excited about #5 lol. Deaths Head Revisited is one of my all time favorite episodes and I feel like no one ever talks about it. I was very happy to see it ranked so high on your list.
Yes, it is amazing! You have to remember that the first time the public saw the concentration camp films was in the 1961 movie Judgement at Nuremberg, so it was still fresh.
I loved Piano in the House. Such an interesting little story on how music plays on our subconscious. It’s exaggerated, but some truth to how music can flip emotions.
got here because I was watching channel awesome's discussion about each episode - but excited to watch your ranking as well! esp all in a row .. let's go!
@@maplestreetmovies yeah its super addictive to hear his take and research on each ep! I'm 1/2 way through this list and yeah feeling the same on a lot of your picks!
This is very impressive. The Twilight Zone is my favorite show too, and I started watching it when I was 13. I stumbled across it on Netflix, and asked my mom it I could watch it, and thought she was going to say no. She seemed a little surprised, but said yes, and here I am now, and the show has had a significant impact on me. While I have each season ranked, I don't have the entire series ranked. However, there are my bottom three and top fifteen. Also, I do collect signed trading cards, and have ones signed by Jack Klugman, Dean Stockwell, and Martin Landua, so I appreciate you showing yours. Bottom Three 3. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (I'm sorry, I have tried to like it, but have never been able to understand what makes it so great.) 2. The Mighty Casey 1. The Incredible World of Horace Ford Top Fifteen 15. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet 14. Valley of the Shadow 13. The Hunt 12. Jess-Belle 11. Spur of the Moment 10. The Old Man in the Cave 9. The Shelter 8. The After Hours 7. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? 6. Miniature 5. The Masks (Had a birthday cake based off this episode) 4. A Game of Pool 3. The Obsolete Man (In terms of quality, I would consider this the best episode of the series) 2. In Praise of Pip 1. Walking Distance (Martin's Speech to his younger self after accidentally causing him to fall off the merry-go-round is such a beautiful shot. I also had a birthday cake based off this episode, and a custom made shirt dedicated to it. That's how much I love it.)
So glad to meet another TZ fan! Loved hearing your thoughts. Definitely shocked with Maple Street’s placement, but I’m sure you usually get that response 🤣 I just love how good it is at showing true human nature in such a short runtime.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I am old enough to remember TZ in prime time, then frequent syndication. I was a fan from the time I first saw it, I believe the first one I saw was "Eye of the Beholder". And speaking of eye of the beholder, the thing about the Twilight Zone is that each episode says a little something different depending upon the viewer. How old you are, what was on your mind when you watched the episode, and myriad other things combine to make that episode special to you. Of course, I put "Eye of the Beholder" first because those pig-faced people scared the daylights out of me as a little boy. I have both editions of Marc Scott Zicree's book, and I disagree with some of his assessments of some of my favorite episodes as well. I put "Night of the Meek" second, I watch it every Christmas. John Fiedler's dialog sounds like he's channeling Rod Serling (because he is), and I don't care for his acting, but that doesn't ruin it. After that, I don't rank them, there are just episodes I like and ones I don't like as much. No matter what order you rank them in, I think we all agree that the Twilight Zone was one of the best TV series ever aired.
Remarkable job Sir! Thank you.... and I am so glad you could kept breathing as you went thru your list...I almost thought you were going to pass out! LOL. Well done!!! I have them all on DVD. The Obsolete Man is probable my favorite as well...close second...The Changing of the guard. Such diverse stories thru the whole series...the best of TV. Thank you for taking the time to do this! Judging by your taste, I would like to suggest an old movie you might not have seen. PARK ROW 1952. Wonderful on all levels.
To me, Eligy and Death Ship take place in the same world, and they are two of my favorites. Kick the Can is a great story, written by George Clayton Johnson, who later would co-write Logan's Run. I agree with nearly all your picks for the "near perfect" category. I got to hang with Bill Mumy for a few days at Comic Con and he was awesome. Very generous and kind. It's Good Life is in my top 5. Also I love Walking Distance, Midnight Sun, and A Stop at Willoughby.
Great rankings and so happy that you picked my favorite, The Obsolete Man, as your favorite, too! I would have ranked The Passersby a little higher, but other than that, I agreed with most of your rankings. Thank you for an amazing video!
Thank you for this. I'm with you all of the way, except regarding "The Mute". It's about traumatized people (in this case a child) finding their voice. We play it in PTSD groups. It's not for everyone, but very moving for some.
It was many years ago that I watched it, but there was a pretty stewardess in the episode "Nightmare at 20 000 feet" that I fell madly in love with. We all have our reasons, I guess, but that makes it my favourite episode for now, even though I have not even seen all the other episodes... yet. 😊
Very well done ! Its hard enough to put a list together ranking the episodes. Taking the time to a video recap is really incredible. I've been watching TZ for over 45 years and my only comments would be a game of pool, to serve man, living doll, shadow play & howling man ranked higher. One for the angels and changing of the guard wouldn't be in my top 10. Recommended reading: "twilight zone companion" & "everything i know i learned in the twilight zone"...
"Mirror Image" was the first TZ that actually scared me. I was 10 in 1979 and a little local station showed one episode every Friday night at 10. I waited breathlessly for that time each week. And the shot of Alicia's blown-off face at the end of "The Lonely" just shocked me. To this day, when I watch it, I can feel my rising anxiety as that moment approaches. "A Stop At Willoughby" was the very first TZ I saw, Christmas Eve 1978. I had heard of the show but knew nothing about it...I was enormously surprised by the reveal at the end, and when that little local station started showing TZ the next year I was hooked.
I have no idea when I first saw TZ. Probably when I emigrated here from England in the 60s. Anyway, around 80-82, they had this Twilight Zone Magazine. I grabbed every copy of that. There was a lot of Stephen King in there, but also Dennis Etchison, and others. Wonderful magazine.
Okay, you are truly one of the biggest Twilight Zone fans ever. What throws us viewers off is your Ranking your Favorites, not stating Greatest or most popular, or most talked about, etc. Your rankings can't be disputed as they are YOUR favorites. So I was really expecting "To Serve Man and It's a Good Life to be in your top ten. Kudos to you for listing every episode (in no particular order?). I do confess I only watched the 10 least favorite and the ten top favorites. Anyway, thank you for this. You don't appear to be old enough to have watch these in the early sixties. I did, and I must say that was the very best time to be a kid watching television. Twilight Zone, The Munsters, Adams Family, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Outer Limits, which I dam well know you have seen everyone of those so lets hear about your favorites.
Thanks for your comment James! And thanks for respecting my thoughts. All 156 episodes are ranked in a particular order, my least favorite to my favorite. Totally understandable people are turned off that it’s my opinion and not an objective ranking. I never meant it to be that way though. I look at it as “your signing up to hear this random fan’s ranking, how does yours compare?” And start some good conversations. Really appreciate you watching, even if it’s first 10 and last 10! Have a great day!
@@maplestreetmovies I wasn't turned off in the least. I will watch the whole video soon. I like your style and presentation. Anything to keep shows like this for new generations. I'm 67. I am still a kid.
My favorite show of all time! Solid review man, need a Kubrick ranking ! Ps Bronson is awesome, maybe a deeper dive into some of his films may change that for ya! Keep up the great work
Thanks! I like Bronson! In his episode, “Two” his character’s name is “The Man” and he’s dislikable to me, but I have no problem with the actor. I’ve enjoyed him in plenty of other stuff.
Even where I disagree with your rankings, I can see your point and I admire the judgement you've applied, as well as the huge amount of work that's gone into the video. Thanks for this superb post.
@@maplestreetmovies I think your favourites are very well chosen and it's difficult to rank episodes when so many are equally good and memorable. Personally I love A Big Tall Wish. And I agree with you about Bob Cummings's acting, and I find it frustrating because with a better lead performance King Nine Will Not Return could have been a classic. Your top three episodes would all make my top 5, along with A Big Tall Wish and It's a Good Life. The one episode that I've always considered irredeemably bad is The Rip Van Winkle Caper, because the basic premise seems ridiculous. No one would hide in suspended animation for that length of time with no idea what kind of world they were waking up to. If they'd planned to hide for one year and something went wrong with the process, so they ended up oversleeping by a century, it could have worked very well. That's just a personal view and I know people who like that episode very much. Anyway, thanks again for a great post.
@@DavidJoneswhynotgoglobal loved hearing your thoughts! That’s a really good point on Rip Van Winkle Caper! I think part of the reason I still love it is because of greed and power being presented in such a unique way
My favorite show of all times also. You have a few episode placements I disagree with and think should be much higher but overall a great review. I appreciate your hardwork and effort. Great video!
@@maplestreetmoviesHard for me to say. I like so many of the episodes for different reasons. I hold a good number of the episodes in high regard and place them of equal value depending on my mood. If I had to do a ranking I would most likely do a grouping system where I put the episodes in classes rather than outright pick a best one in particular. Fun fact: I once memorized the dialogue from The dummy because I thought it was well written. i thought the confrontation between Frank and Jerry backstage was pure gold. 🤣✌️
It was made into a short black-and-white film as well, which our English teacher had us watch after reading the story. It was very impactful - I was shaken. I had no idea until this video that The Twilight Zone had bought the rights to it.
Thanks for doing this, great video. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into this, and it got me to thinking about the series and I re-watched some of it and came up with my own Top Ten. I realized as I was working on this that the Top Ten I give you now is a lot different from one I would have given 30 or 40 years ago. I'm 60 now and grew up watching the series, re-watched a lot of them when I was in college and then in years after that. In some cases I found that episodes I loved as a child - such as Perchance to Dream and Walking Distance - no longer appealed to me as they once did. Others that I overlooked before I now find quite compelling. My earliest memories of Twilight Zone include the shock of hearing the line "It's a cook book!". That sort of burned itself into me, and, even now, I think that episode - To Serve Man - deserves to be considered a classic. I would like to submit one other line that I consider to be in the same league and that is from The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross. The line at the end "Compassion? Don't you remember, I sold it to you yesterday". A great line, overlooked by many, I suppose. Anyway, here's the list: A Stop at Willoughby A World of Difference Nick of Time Nightmare as a Child Death Ship The Silence The Obsolete Man The Self Improvement of Salvadore Ross To Serve Man Printer's Devil
Thank you so much for sharing your story! One of the unexpected blessings of this video was being able to hear so many unique experiences with the show! Great episodes picked too.
I think everyone has their own particular favorites, and this may change as one grows older and watches the episodes over again. For example, I don't believe that when the series debuted and I was about eight or nine years old, that the same episodes which I love today, I had loved or even liked at that young age. How could I have appreciated such gems as The Trouble with Templeton or Young Man's Fancy when I was child. Yet today, these two are among my favorites. On the other hand, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet must have been impressive to a young child, but certainly is less so to a man in his seventies.
You can appreciate something like "Young Man's Fancy" as a 9 year old, it may make you melancholy and sad for the character you don't need to relate but you may be able to as you might miss things you don't do anymore which you did when younger or may experience a sadness knowing you might be in his position someday, it reminds you your youth is limited and a young person can feel bad being reminded of that.
Big Kudos to you for an excellent job on this video. T Zone is my favorite TV show of all time. I remember it as a child. Just the music and introduction alone scared me. LOL !!
I watched this whole video even though I’ve seen single digit amount of twilight zone episodes. Your love for the show has always reminded me of mine for Tales From The Crypt. I have an episode ranking on my Letterboxd lol
in 1990, at 8 yrs old, i got the flu on new years eve and was throwing up all day and watched the twilight zone marathon on channel 11. my grandmother made me chicken soup and gave me ginger ale and i sat in bed and watched it all day under a blanket sipping ginger ale w my christmas presents still around me. to this day, when i watch the twilight zone i can taste ginger ale in my mind. its so hard to explain but the 2 are forever linked, and i always associate that comfort of being curled in bed while watching it. its very personal for me. Also, A Stop at Willoughby is the best episode, followed by a close second of Walking Distance.
I'm reminded of that episode when I watched a biopic about Charlie Chaplin. The Twilight Zone moment was when I realized that Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah was played by his daughter Geraldine!
@@maplestreetmovies I loved your description of how your family developed a New Years weekend tradition around watching the Twilight Zone marathon. My family did the same.
In 1972, I accompanied a good friend from high school on her looksee of Ithaca College in upstate NY as a possible school choice. Rod Serling was teaching a seminar in screenwriting, and we sat in. He used "The Obsolete Man" that day as his example. His speaking for an hour was quite an experience, but then again, most of the episodes were him speaking through his screenplays. I won't dispute this as a #1 choice; my top 10 are pretty much all equally ranked, though, and some are different than yours. That's Ok, this is one of the richest bodies of work in TV to choose from.
Just name came across this - brilliant. I was dreading it a bit at first, figuring it would be another overly facile you tube thing. Wrong! 😀 Like the series itself, you were able to present a lot of thoughtful elements in 35 plus minutes. Kudos! I think your set of criteria was spot on. Many of these episodes are deep with my psyche because I watched them as a kid “real time” when they were first broadcast. (It’s a Good Life still scares the crap out of me) Twilight Zone still remains a very high benchmark. Thank you!
Thank you for watching! So glad you enjoyed it. I always try to make rankings only if I have something genuine to say, I’m glad you saw that!! What’s your favorite episode?
@@maplestreetmovies My favorite? Today I might go with “Nothing in the Dark”, but next week it might be “Walking Distance” or “The Obsolete Man”. Then again, maybe “Nervous Man in a Two Dollar Room” or “The Last Flight” (btw, the lead in that one is in a brilliant scene in “Hard Days Night” I guess there’s a TZ episode for all moods and states of mind :)
I grew up watching the Twilight Zone with my dad when I was a kid. He would always tape the New Year's marathon on VHS! It's been one of my favorite shows ever, and I always come back to it. It's such a fantastic mix of emotions and stories that we get to see play out. I loved watching your ranking of all the episodes, that's crazy! Walking Distance is my #1
@@trainsandcemeteries7631 thank you so much for sharing and for watching! One of the unexpected dividends of making this video has been hearing so many different experiences from how the show affected them and their lives. Also, great choice for #1!!
I saw the Abraham Lincoln episode as a child while living in Japan. The following morning, I turned on the TV only to see Lincoln again. It was a news program about JFK's assassination.
Thank you all for the continued support and for sharing your Twilight Zone stories! A few clarifications that are long overdue:
- I know how to pronounce Billy Mumy’s name now, so no need to comment it.
- When I talk about the episode “Two” with Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery, I say “I don’t like the man.” I had no idea how much this statement was going to blow up 😂 in the episode Charles Bronson’s character’s name is “Man” so I was saying I don’t like his character! Trust me, I’m a fan of the actor!
- My ranking has stayed fairly the same, minor changes here and there. Still not a big fan of To Serve Man.
This was a tremendous tribute to what I feel is the greatest tv series ever. I watched the original series 3 times over. A lot of that series was ahead of its time and is playing out today.
Thank you so much!
Straight talk - "it's playing out today" lol.
Whenever something odd is happening in the world ; I always find some episode of TTZ to relate it to & the lesson ppl learned from it
Decades after Twilight Zone, William Shatner appeared as Big Giant Head in sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun, starring John Lithgow. In this episode, he mentions that during his flight he saw something on the wing of the plane, to which Lithgow's character Dick mentions that the same thing happened to him before. Not only is this reference to the original TZ episode, but also a reference to the TZ movie from the 80s in which Lithgow played the same character that Shatner played in the original, therefore, both experiencing the same thing during their flights.
I've had a hard time sleeping all of my life and it was as a very young boy in the eighties that I learned of The Twilight Zone. When my parents were asleep, I would turn on the TV in my end of the house- the volume turned very low. It was on from like 12:30 - 1:00 AM. I fell in love with this show and am amazed to see a young man like yourself so fully engaged in it!!! Nice work!!!!
Appreciate it so much! I wish more people watched it today, it still has so many profound lessons. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience!
The Obsolete Man, an excellent cautionary tale against authorian utilitarianism, awesome number 1 pick. My personal favorite is The Rip Van Winkle Caper personally, it shows how futile greed is in the end, very powerful.
Thank you! And yes, that’s a great pick!
The Changing of the Guard! So glad it placed high!
So glad I watched your video!! I was the set designer / art director for the version of TOT at Disneyland. I'm also glad you spotted the easter egg on the wall of the second floor of the Boiler Room set. But did you know that I put 99 easter eggs in that attraction? My favorite prop was going to a local Los Angeles custom eyeglasses maker. I had a picture of Burgess' glasses in Time Enough at Last. The man said he could make a copy in about 3 weeks. When I went to pick it up from him he said to me that he remembered making glasses like that for "another project" I found out that he had built the original glasses (5 pairs) for the actual TZ episode so many years ago. The glasses (complete with shattered lens) were in one of the bookcases in the TOT Library set. Another favorite easter egg of mine was by the telephone near the timeclock in the Boiler Room. I hung a pencil on a string on the phone dangling down. On the wall (in pencil) I scratched the names of all the murderers in all the TZ shows. A dented thimble is in the display case in the hallway in the man lobby set. I could go on and on. Though I gave Operations a list of all the easter eggs, nobody employee or guest on the attraction never even found them. Pity it's gone now.
Wow that is so cool! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Ashame to see Come Wander With Me so low on the ranking. That one was my all time favorite and scared me the most since I first watched TTZ. Not to mention that song has wormed its way so far into my brain, I’ve still been humming it years later
You have good taste my friend. "The Obsolete Man" has always been my favorite episode. My favorite line: "You cannot erase God with an edict!"
@@davidslion3568 thank you! Yes, that’s a great line!
It’s very satisfying at my age and in our current global situation to see a young man enjoy something I’ve loved for over 60 years. Some of your lower ranked episodes you had to quickly review I actually had a hard time even remembering. I understand why you ranked “To Serve Man” so low but I still love it. I also just a few days ago saw an interview of Richard Kiel who revealed something I’d never known. He was involved in another project as this was being produced and he had a very long drive back & forth. The makeup also took a long time. Due to this he never knew his lines which ended up being done by another actor from another episode. The actor who played Satan in the pawn shop with the older couple you liked. A bit of trivia you might not know. Anyway I appreciate your eye for excellence in all the Twilight Zone stands for !! God Bless you !! 🙏🏻❤️
I loved learning that, thank you Joel! And this comment means so much! I love that the Twilight Zone brings so many fans of all ages together!
Rod said about a third of the episodes were excellent, a third were okay, and a third stank. I think he was a bit harsh on himself, because certainly nowhere near 52 episodes were stinkers.
I agree!!
Thank you for the tribute! Also my favorite tv show of all time as well as many who are here willing to see this major ranking! Glad to see everyone gathered and discussing, sharing, and promoting TTZ and their personal story of how it has affected them!
Completely agree! The engagement from the community has been far more beneficial than I could’ve imagined!
It feels like you’re not taking into account when this was made when judging it.
Great video! Glad I found your content!
Time Enough At Last blew my mind as a kid. It really drove home the "be careful what you wish for" mantra and frightened me. Number 1 IMO.
The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank is a chilling episode. It plays upon our most innate fear of the dead.
It manages to unsettle the viewer without startling, eerie shock scenes, talking dummies, scary masks, or makeup. Watch it closely, listen intently to the dialogue, and the ending twist will tie it all together, making it one of the more believable episodes in the series.
Impressive amount of work that this must have taken. Definitely want to see some of these now
Thank you!!
@@maplestreetmovies watching this now for the 3rd time....what number is penny for your thoughts....i keep missing it
just found it 83....its my no 1...shows how no 2 people like the same thing
@@paulrichards6894 no kidding!! For what it’s worth, that one is nostalgic for me! One of my earliest memories of watching. Just think the actual thoughts he’s reading are pretty cheesy 🤣
@@maplestreetmovies can you tell me a platform on youtube that is safe to watch them ...cheers
You could make an updated version with all the 80’s episodes and modern episodes in there too
Superb video and I agree (with most of your rankings). I must say, I thoroughly enjoy your channel content as I'm a lifelong Hitchcock, classic film/tv and Twilight Zone fan as well. While TZ is undoubtedly my all-time favorite show, I would love to see a similar ranking video for the series "Night Gallery". I'm not sure if you've seen each episode of that series, but I enjoy the show and the actors who participated in the series almost as much as The Twilight Zone. Looking forward to more great content, keep up the good work!
Means so much, truly! Glad to find another fan of the classics! I have started Night Gallery, but have only seen a few episodes. I would love to someday have a complete ranking for that series as well!
Night Gallery is an amazing series! I was just thinking the same thing!
DID YOU GUYS KNOW Rod Serling earned a Purple Heart for his extensive combat experience in WW2?
Walking Distance is my number one episode. It's themes of aging, regret, nostalgia for the past, wanting to return to a simpler time, getting a second chance not to make mistakes, etc make it not only my favorite Twilight Zone, but one of my favorite tv episodes of any series. As well Bernard Herrmann's heart breaking atmospheric score and Gig Youngs performance make it a masterpiece.
My all-time favorite as well.
Ok so i havent seen this show but my goodness your a baller for ranking 156 episodes!!!
Thanks Trevor!! Well hey if you’re looking for recommendations 👀😂
I’ll have to disagree with the incredible world of Horace ford even if I haven’t seen it I actually think it’s a great episode.
From Agnes with love is a good one too clearly this dumb narrator doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Dang! Good on you to rank all TZ episodes! That’s impressive! Solid list! I wonder how mine would differ 🤔
You should watch everything in my top 25!! I know you’ve seen most of them, so you really only have to watch like 5 😂
You did a very good job at an impossible task! Your ranking is very good. Of course, everyone will end up with a different one. Twilight Zone was a great show. Some episodes are real marvels. Beyond pure entertainment, there is often a spiritual, or philosophical message, this is what I like.
Thank you Paul! Completely agree with your take on the show!
this is my favorite tv show of all time. thank you so much i’ve been looking for this vid forever
Thank you!!
Good list overall. However... You're no doubt sick of hearing arguments about your ranking of "To Serve Man", but I felt the need to try. "Twist" endings are a signature element of what made The Twilight Zone so beloved, and the alien cookbook may be the show's most iconic twist of all. Your main gripe appears to be the "special effects" of the aliens, which is a bit... petty. Lots of shows of the time had crappy special effects - including The Mask - yet that didn't seem to affect your ranking. The original Star Trek series had a lot of awful special effects, but some excellent stories - so critics made allowances. I would therefore challenge you to re-consider your ranking without "special effects", which is something the Twilight Zone had little control over and does not diminish the quality of the story.
I went 40 years, knowing I had seen a, "Twilight Zone", episode about a guy being hung, and the rope breaks. Then he swims and runs to get home. The scene of the snake swimming in the river stuck with me. Then a girl I was working with heard me talking about it. Her boyfriend ran an old record and DVD store. She brought me the entire series on DVD. I can't describe my excitement as I plugged in the tape, and wound it to, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". Always watched the, "Twilight Zone", marathons, and was always disappointed that it was never shown. I found out that that episode and, "The Encounter", weren't allowed to be shown for some forty years. I saw them as a child and they stuck with me, all those years. Some episodes aren't just my favorite episodes, but some of my favorite memories.
@@jameswinners2001 that is so neat!! Both great episodes you mentioned too. I love hearing other’s experiences with this show. Thanks for sharing.
I remember seeing "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" in class at school.
The Orwellian future of The Obsolete Man is what really terrified me as a kid.
The obselete man episode scared the hell out of me as an adult lol. I didn't fully grasp it fully as a kid
It's incredibly lazy anti-Soviet propaganda. It's really not that profound or genius. I love Rod, but let's be real, it's literally Red Scare-esque, anti-Communism. And it's not subtle.
This episode scares me still, as an adult. While being simplistic, it defines humanity at its worst which has happened time and time again in history, and will continue to. Every "legit" governmental body, cult group, or high control group falls into this danger, for all kinds of reasons.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man.
The ending is awesome, especially with Burgess Maradeth at his best;
@@fshoapsyeah, that's a good thing..
You did a fantastic job guiding us along - and your opinions/critiques were very, very good. This is suitable for a college class!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Brilliant! Loved your commentary on this masterpiece of a series! Your numbers 1 and three were my one and two, with Obsolete man coming in second! Burgess Meredith, what a legend!
Thank you for watching! Those are incredible choices!
Can I get a little help here? I remember a twilight zone episode where this guy loves zither music and wierd things, but isn't very liked by his coworkers. Then he gets a guardian angel who tries to get him to stand up for himself, so he asks the angel to make him liked by his coworkers, but that takes away all the things he likes, like zither music, so he asks the angel to take it back, and at the end, he has a new appreciation for who he is. I re-watched this list multiple times, and I can't find it. Anyone remember the name of it? The angel's name is Mr. Hempstead if that helps.
Sounds like Season 1 Episode 33: Mr. Bevis
@@maplestreetmovies thanks, found it.
Pleasantly surprised to see this one remembered! Mr. Bevis is a top 10-20 episode for me, but it tends to be one of them that folks completely forget about. Comedy isn’t one of Serling’s strong suits, but it’s just nice to see such a wholesome trip into the twilight zone.
This is a brilliant undertaking !!!!I am loving this video
Thank you so much!
This is the first time I’ve watched your channel. Well done young man! I’m old enough to have seen the show when it first aired. I’ve watched them over the years on tv and a few years ago purchased the entire series on dvd. Here’s my top 10: 1)Walking Distance 2)Miniature 3)Living Doll 4)The New Exhibit 5)The Hitchhiker 6)Nightmare 20,000’ 7)Willoughby 8)The After Hours 9)The Dummy 10)Little Girl Lost / Honorable Mention: The Lonely, Mirror Image, Nick of Time. As a kid, “Living Doll” and “The Hitchhiker” scared me the most!!
Thank you so much Dwight!! Great top 10! The Hitchhiker scared me too as a kid!
Steel and Spur of the Moment deserve much higher. I know Nightmare at 20,000 ft is a classic but it's pretty dumb. "One for the Angels" should be somewhere around 130. Nick of Time is one of the most underrated episodes. It's actually quite poignant.
Thanks for sharing your opinion!
As prolific as a show this is, I'm surprised there's not more TZ content on youtube (maybe some copyright bs I'm not aware of). Awesome video and keep up the great work!
I agree, and hope to make more videos on it! Thank you!
I always watch Night of the Meek and Changing of the Guard around Christmas time.
As you should!!
Excellent list! I think "The Self Improvement of Salvadore Ross" was underrated, but just my opinion. Also, "Number 12 looks just like you" is also excellent and under appreciated.
"And the best part is Val, I look just like you."
No actor could play a "hard luck" character better than Don Gordon.
Good work with this list! I really enjoy most if not all the TZ episodes but To Serve Man will always be THE episode with the cleverest twist ending. BTW the concept for the movie Jacobs Ladder always struck me to have been borrowed from Death Ship.
Jack Klugman and Billy Mumy realy bonded during shooting In Praise of Pip and remained good friends up until Klugman's death in 2012. It was Mumy who delivered eulogy at Klugman's funeral, which was Jack's specific wish.
Mumy's father very rarely visited the set and, unlike so many child actors parents of the time, never interfered in his son's productions. One day when he did visit as it was shot on pier that he and Billy visited regularly, he was introduced to Jack Klugman, who approached him and introduced himself, and gave him a speech on how father son relationship is extremely important. Mumy's father claimed for many years that he was very moved and impressed by the encounter with Klugman.
Interesting trivia is that 32 years later Klugman appeared in movie Dear God, which co-starred Bill's son Seth.
@@miroslavtomic7038 wow!! That’s so fascinating!! Thank you for sharing!
Damn I definitely didn't expect To serve Man to not even make "good" status in your book!
Shocking to most! 😭
I have always wondered why, on “Time Enough at Last”, when the bomb hit the crystal on his pocket watch broke, but his glasses didn’t break at that particular time. Guess it would have been a short episode.
Great job with this post! My all time favorite show and I really like your countdown and your insights. A Stop At Willoughby is my #1 but so many classics! A timeless show!
Thank you so much for watching and sharing your #1!
That one really is awesome. I love Misrel's "Push, push, push, all the way, all the time, right on down the line" speech, especially as they close up on his mouth.
The key scene in this is just before he steps off the train. He DELIBERATELY leaves his briefcase (and, thereby, his old life) behind.
The obsolete man is also my favorite. With only a few differences, I concur with this list, and I have been watching for over 30 years, including the 80's episodes (of which a few were reboots of the OS). The absolute devotion to faith will always demonstrate power over the state.
It comes across as really dull, anti-Soviet propaganda to me.
Easy to rank your top 20 but to do the whole lot is a bit wild. When you began with the average or bad episodes yes I agreed with most of them in fact I've been reluctant to watch them more than once. You had 2 episodes execution & uncle Simon come in at around the 120 mark well I put these in my top 20. Execution not only had a great twist but the whole episode moved at a very fast pace never a dull moment & as for uncle Simon not only was the twist one of the best but great drama to witness the psychological effects it had on the neice when Simon was alive & now that he's dead the torture will continue. Agreed with most of your top 20. The masks for me is number one.
Great choice for a number 1!! Thank you for commenting and checking out my ranking!
The Lonely, The Hitch-Hiker, The Purple Testament, After Hours, Eye of the Beholder, the Passersby, Five Characters In Search of An Exit, To Serve Man, Ring-A-Ding Girl, The Masks.
Great list - I mostly agree with your rankings - but gosh don't we always fondly recall the first episode we ever saw? For me, it was, believe it or not, "A Piano in the House", aired on a NY TV station as a fill-in when my dad's Yankees game was cancelled due to rain.
Great job putting this together! What one sees in these episodes is in the eye of the beholder, of course. I'm old enough to have seen some of the episodes when they originally aired. I was around nine or ten years old at the time and back then the more fantasy-themed episodes with special effects like ‘Stopover in a Quiet Town’ were my favorites. As an old man now, I like the ones that deal with old age, longing to go back in time, etc. As a ten-year-old, “Static” would have been around the bottom of my list; now it's near the top.
Thank you so much for your comment! What an insightful thing to say, the episode is in the eye of the beholder, that’s so true! Thank you for watching, and I’m glad to speak with a life-long fan! It’s funny how I also discovered it at the same age, but in a completely different era.
This was an amazing video! You must have put a ton of effort into this. One of my favorite series ever, but I have to admit I haven’t seen every episode. A Stop at Willoughby is my number 1
Thank you so much Anthony! If I may say, it’s still the video I’m most proud of on my channel. Happy it’s still getting shared and even happier I’ve connected with so many fans!
'TO SERVE MANKIND', ranked #74th ??!??? Really?!
YOU sir, must be the real alien, lol.
Billy Mumy and Cloris Leechman reprised their roles in 2002 TZ series episode It's Still a Good Life. However, John Larch, who played the father in the original episode, did not return in 2002, even though he was also still alive at the time.
I know I stumbled across this episode a few weeks ago. Didn't know it existed still I didn't watch much of the new twilight zone episodes. Absolutely brilliant & that ending with the girl I didn't see coming so much like her father though the misdirection was good thinking she was going to defy her father & use her powers for good & return the world back to normal. Cloris was great & what a speech just wish she had acted on it sooner when antony was a boy like that man said that turned in to a jack in the box why didn't someone kill him wouldn't have been hard.
My favorites: The Obsolete Man, Nothing in the Dark, Nick of Time, The Shelter, Deaths Head Revisited, The Night of the Meek, Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up, Once Upon a Time, Two, The Invaders (love how the entire story is told with little or no dialogue).
some very good ones there
the first video i saw from u was ur harry potter book ranking and its really interesting and cool seeing ur editing and camera presence now
Thank you! I’ve come a long way since then 😂
@@maplestreetmovies indeed u have! keep it up!
I got very excited about #5 lol. Deaths Head Revisited is one of my all time favorite episodes and I feel like no one ever talks about it. I was very happy to see it ranked so high on your list.
I agree that it’s barely talked about! I’m not sure why either. It tackles such large issues and is so mature!
Yes, it is amazing! You have to remember that the first time the public saw the concentration camp films was in the 1961 movie Judgement at Nuremberg, so it was still fresh.
I would have put It's a Good Life at number one. But then, Jeremy Bixby also wrote Mirror Mirror for Star Trek, so there is that.
I loved Piano in the House.
Such an interesting little story on how music plays on our subconscious. It’s exaggerated, but some truth to how music can flip emotions.
Definitely one of my favorites!
I'm not laughing at you Mr Fortune, you're not funny anymore.
got here because I was watching channel awesome's discussion about each episode - but excited to watch your ranking as well! esp all in a row .. let's go!
Thanks for visiting! I love channel awesome’s series!
@@maplestreetmovies yeah its super addictive to hear his take and research on each ep! I'm 1/2 way through this list and yeah feeling the same on a lot of your picks!
This is very impressive. The Twilight Zone is my favorite show too, and I started watching it when I was 13. I stumbled across it on Netflix, and asked my mom it I could watch it, and thought she was going to say no. She seemed a little surprised, but said yes, and here I am now, and the show has had a significant impact on me. While I have each season ranked, I don't have the entire series ranked. However, there are my bottom three and top fifteen. Also, I do collect signed trading cards, and have ones signed by Jack Klugman, Dean Stockwell, and Martin Landua, so I appreciate you showing yours.
Bottom Three
3. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (I'm sorry, I have tried to like it, but have never been able to understand what makes it so great.)
2. The Mighty Casey
1. The Incredible World of Horace Ford
Top Fifteen
15. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
14. Valley of the Shadow
13. The Hunt
12. Jess-Belle
11. Spur of the Moment
10. The Old Man in the Cave
9. The Shelter
8. The After Hours
7. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?
6. Miniature
5. The Masks (Had a birthday cake based off this episode)
4. A Game of Pool
3. The Obsolete Man (In terms of quality, I would consider this the best episode of the series)
2. In Praise of Pip
1. Walking Distance (Martin's Speech to his younger self after accidentally causing him to fall off the merry-go-round is such a beautiful shot. I also had a birthday cake based off this episode, and a custom made shirt dedicated to it. That's how much I love it.)
So glad to meet another TZ fan! Loved hearing your thoughts. Definitely shocked with Maple Street’s placement, but I’m sure you usually get that response 🤣 I just love how good it is at showing true human nature in such a short runtime.
You are awesome for ranking all these. Thank you Nathan for doing this. I have some serious TZ episode watching to do.
@@BM_Holdings really appreciate that! Lemme know your favorites!
Walking Distance. In the top 5, in my opinion.
Thank you for taking the time to do this. I am old enough to remember TZ in prime time, then frequent syndication. I was a fan from the time I first saw it, I believe the first one I saw was "Eye of the Beholder". And speaking of eye of the beholder, the thing about the Twilight Zone is that each episode says a little something different depending upon the viewer. How old you are, what was on your mind when you watched the episode, and myriad other things combine to make that episode special to you. Of course, I put "Eye of the Beholder" first because those pig-faced people scared the daylights out of me as a little boy. I have both editions of Marc Scott Zicree's book, and I disagree with some of his assessments of some of my favorite episodes as well. I put "Night of the Meek" second, I watch it every Christmas. John Fiedler's dialog sounds like he's channeling Rod Serling (because he is), and I don't care for his acting, but that doesn't ruin it. After that, I don't rank them, there are just episodes I like and ones I don't like as much. No matter what order you rank them in, I think we all agree that the Twilight Zone was one of the best TV series ever aired.
I'm glad you rated "On Thursday we leave for home" as your favorite season 4 episode, cause it's mine too. I personally think it's a top 10 episode. 👍
Yeah my fav too from season 4 & couldn't be told during the usual 25 min period. Top 20 for me along with the parallel
Remarkable job Sir!
Thank you.... and I am so glad you could kept breathing as you went thru your list...I almost thought you were going to pass out! LOL. Well done!!! I have them all on DVD. The Obsolete Man is probable my favorite as well...close second...The Changing of the guard. Such diverse stories thru the whole series...the best of TV. Thank you for taking the time to do this!
Judging by your taste, I would like to suggest an old movie you might not have seen. PARK ROW 1952. Wonderful on all levels.
Thank you for the kind words!! And for the movie recommendation! I’ll add it to the watchlist!
To me, Eligy and Death Ship take place in the same world, and they are two of my favorites. Kick the Can is a great story, written by George Clayton Johnson, who later would co-write Logan's Run. I agree with nearly all your picks for the "near perfect" category. I got to hang with Bill Mumy for a few days at Comic Con and he was awesome. Very generous and kind. It's Good Life is in my top 5. Also I love Walking Distance, Midnight Sun, and A Stop at Willoughby.
Great selection!!
WE JUST DISCOVERED YOUR CHANNEL ❤❤❤❤ WE LOVE IT😊
So glad to hear it! Hope you enjoy your stay!
Great list, I'd personally rank 'The New Exhibit' much higher, I think it's one of the most underrated episodes
Great rankings and so happy that you picked my favorite, The Obsolete Man, as your favorite, too! I would have ranked The Passersby a little higher, but other than that, I agreed with most of your rankings. Thank you for an amazing video!
Glad to hear we both love The Obsolete Man! Thank you for watching!
All episodes are great.
5 Chareters searching for an exit is my faviroute
Nice job. Several are among my "favorite episode." My favorite show of all time as well.
Thank you for this. I'm with you all of the way, except regarding "The Mute". It's about traumatized people (in this case a child) finding their voice. We play it in PTSD groups. It's not for everyone, but very moving for some.
That’s really cool!!
This is great as a directory, whether or not we agree with the rankings. Thanks for all your initiative in compiling this.
Appreciate it!
It was many years ago that I watched it, but there was a pretty stewardess in the episode "Nightmare at 20 000 feet" that I fell madly in love with. We all have our reasons, I guess, but that makes it my favourite episode for now, even though I have not even seen all the other episodes... yet. 😊
Very well done ! Its hard enough to put a list together ranking the episodes. Taking the time to a video recap is really incredible. I've been watching TZ for over 45 years and my only comments would be a game of pool, to serve man, living doll, shadow play & howling man ranked higher. One for the angels and changing of the guard wouldn't be in my top 10.
Recommended reading: "twilight zone companion" & "everything i know i learned in the twilight zone"...
Thank you for the sweet comment! I own both those books and definitely plan to read them!
"Mirror Image" was the first TZ that actually scared me. I was 10 in 1979 and a little local station showed one episode every Friday night at 10. I waited breathlessly for that time each week. And the shot of Alicia's blown-off face at the end of "The Lonely" just shocked me. To this day, when I watch it, I can feel my rising anxiety as that moment approaches. "A Stop At Willoughby" was the very first TZ I saw, Christmas Eve 1978. I had heard of the show but knew nothing about it...I was enormously surprised by the reveal at the end, and when that little local station started showing TZ the next year I was hooked.
Amazing story! Glad you love it so much!
I have no idea when I first saw TZ. Probably when I emigrated here from England in the 60s. Anyway, around 80-82, they had this Twilight Zone Magazine. I grabbed every copy of that. There was a lot of Stephen King in there, but also Dennis Etchison, and others. Wonderful magazine.
I remember that magazine, even the font used on the cover!
@@EricStanway-ky9ys
Okay, you are truly one of the biggest Twilight Zone fans ever. What throws us viewers off is your Ranking your Favorites, not stating Greatest or most popular, or most talked about, etc. Your rankings can't be disputed as they are YOUR favorites. So I was really expecting "To Serve Man and It's a Good Life to be in your top ten. Kudos to you for listing every episode (in no particular order?). I do confess I only watched the 10 least favorite and the ten top favorites. Anyway, thank you for this. You don't appear to be old enough to have watch these in the early sixties. I did, and I must say that was the very best time to be a kid watching television. Twilight Zone, The Munsters, Adams Family, Thriller, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Outer Limits, which I dam well know you have seen everyone of those so lets hear about your favorites.
Thanks for your comment James! And thanks for respecting my thoughts. All 156 episodes are ranked in a particular order, my least favorite to my favorite. Totally understandable people are turned off that it’s my opinion and not an objective ranking. I never meant it to be that way though. I look at it as “your signing up to hear this random fan’s ranking, how does yours compare?” And start some good conversations. Really appreciate you watching, even if it’s first 10 and last 10! Have a great day!
@@maplestreetmovies I wasn't turned off in the least. I will watch the whole video soon. I like your style and presentation. Anything to keep shows like this for new generations. I'm 67. I am still a kid.
@@jimringomartin you’re totally still a kid!! We all have some kid in us! 😁
I love twilight zone. I watched them all too. Obsolete man I thought was good too, but my favorite is Walking distance
My favorite show of all time! Solid review man, need a Kubrick ranking !
Ps Bronson is awesome, maybe a deeper dive into some of his films may change that for ya! Keep up the great work
Thanks! I like Bronson! In his episode, “Two” his character’s name is “The Man” and he’s dislikable to me, but I have no problem with the actor. I’ve enjoyed him in plenty of other stuff.
@@maplestreetmovies oh my mistake! No doubt, keep up the great work my dude!
Room 22.Room for one more honey is my favorite. It still scares me.
Quite a feat, taking on this amount of material. Well done!
Thank you James!
I’m so glad you did this! I’ve wanted this for literally years!
Yay!! Glad you enjoyed 😁
I can't watch the whole video now, so I know I'll be really excited about it by the end of the day.
Yay!!
Even where I disagree with your rankings, I can see your point and I admire the judgement you've applied, as well as the huge amount of work that's gone into the video. Thanks for this superb post.
Thank you David! Means a lot! Would love to hear some of your favs.
@@maplestreetmovies I think your favourites are very well chosen and it's difficult to rank episodes when so many are equally good and memorable. Personally I love A Big Tall Wish. And I agree with you about Bob Cummings's acting, and I find it frustrating because with a better lead performance King Nine Will Not Return could have been a classic. Your top three episodes would all make my top 5, along with A Big Tall Wish and It's a Good Life. The one episode that I've always considered irredeemably bad is The Rip Van Winkle Caper, because the basic premise seems ridiculous. No one would hide in suspended animation for that length of time with no idea what kind of world they were waking up to. If they'd planned to hide for one year and something went wrong with the process, so they ended up oversleeping by a century, it could have worked very well. That's just a personal view and I know people who like that episode very much. Anyway, thanks again for a great post.
@@DavidJoneswhynotgoglobal loved hearing your thoughts! That’s a really good point on Rip Van Winkle Caper! I think part of the reason I still love it is because of greed and power being presented in such a unique way
I disagree with his whole entire statement.
You don't like Charles Bronson? Okay we're done here.
I hardly even notice Bronson. Too busy looking at Liz Montgomery. 😍
@@steveeddy9686she was stunning 😍
😁
He wasn't a likable person in real life dude so I can understand him.
Well that’s creepy.
My favorite show of all times also. You have a few episode placements I disagree with and think should be much higher but overall a great review. I appreciate your hardwork and effort. Great video!
Thank you 😊 what’s your favorite episode?
@@maplestreetmoviesHard for me to say. I like so many of the episodes for different reasons. I hold a good number of the episodes in high regard and place them of equal value depending on my mood. If I had to do a ranking I would most likely do a grouping system where I put the episodes in classes rather than outright pick a best one in particular.
Fun fact: I once memorized the dialogue from The dummy because I thought it was well written. i thought the confrontation between Frank and Jerry backstage was pure gold. 🤣✌️
small criticism.. I feel like you should have at least doubled the length of the video.. still great content
Appreciate the feedback! I could talk TZ all day, so I agree 😂
An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge was an original 1890 short story by Ambrose Bierce. I had to read it in high school.
It was made into a short black-and-white film as well, which our English teacher had us watch after reading the story. It was very impactful - I was shaken. I had no idea until this video that The Twilight Zone had bought the rights to it.
I kept thinking Billy Mummy was a young Ron Howard…
Ron Howard did appear in The Twilight Zone episode "Walking Distance" as Martin's childhood neighbor.
Wow! You ranked 'The Man In The Bottle' high!
I love Come Wander with Me.
Thanks for doing this, great video. You obviously put a lot of time and thought into this, and it got me to thinking about the series and I re-watched some of it and came up with my own Top Ten. I realized as I was working on this that the Top Ten I give you now is a lot different from one I would have given 30 or 40 years ago. I'm 60 now and grew up watching the series, re-watched a lot of them when I was in college and then in years after that. In some cases I found that episodes I loved as a child - such as Perchance to Dream and Walking Distance - no longer appealed to me as they once did. Others that I overlooked before I now find quite compelling. My earliest memories of Twilight Zone include the shock of hearing the line "It's a cook book!". That sort of burned itself into me, and, even now, I think that episode - To Serve Man - deserves to be considered a classic. I would like to submit one other line that I consider to be in the same league and that is from The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross. The line at the end "Compassion? Don't you remember, I sold it to you yesterday". A great line, overlooked by many, I suppose. Anyway, here's the list:
A Stop at Willoughby
A World of Difference
Nick of Time
Nightmare as a Child
Death Ship
The Silence
The Obsolete Man
The Self Improvement of Salvadore Ross
To Serve Man
Printer's Devil
Thank you so much for sharing your story! One of the unexpected blessings of this video was being able to hear so many unique experiences with the show! Great episodes picked too.
I think everyone has their own particular favorites, and this may change as one grows older and watches the episodes over again. For example, I don't believe that when the series debuted and I was about eight or nine years old, that the same episodes which I love today, I had loved or even liked at that young age. How could I have appreciated such gems as The Trouble with Templeton or Young Man's Fancy when I was child. Yet today, these two are among my favorites. On the other hand, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet must have been impressive to a young child, but certainly is less so to a man in his seventies.
You can appreciate something like "Young Man's Fancy" as a 9 year old, it may make you melancholy and sad for the character you don't need to relate but you may be able to as you might miss things you don't do anymore which you did when younger or may experience a sadness knowing you might be in his position someday, it reminds you your youth is limited and a young person can feel bad being reminded of that.
Big Kudos to you for an excellent job on this video. T Zone is my favorite TV show of all time. I remember it as a child. Just the music and introduction alone scared me. LOL !!
Thank you so much! It’s my favorite as well, never gets old!
I watched this whole video even though I’ve seen single digit amount of twilight zone episodes. Your love for the show has always reminded me of mine for Tales From The Crypt. I have an episode ranking on my Letterboxd lol
Thank you so much Carson!! Maybe I have to get into that show 🤣
@@maplestreetmovies there would definitely be some episodes you like, but it’s a little more x rated than Twilight Zone, haha.
Ever tried “Tales From the Darkside”?
The opening monologue gives me such excitement/nostalgia/dread
in 1990, at 8 yrs old, i got the flu on new years eve and was throwing up all day and watched the twilight zone marathon on channel 11. my grandmother made me chicken soup and gave me ginger ale and i sat in bed and watched it all day under a blanket sipping ginger ale w my christmas presents still around me. to this day, when i watch the twilight zone i can taste ginger ale in my mind. its so hard to explain but the 2 are forever linked, and i always associate that comfort of being curled in bed while watching it. its very personal for me.
Also, A Stop at Willoughby is the best episode, followed by a close second of Walking Distance.
I disagree with you on "Queen Of The Nile." That one gave me the creeps, but in a twisted "Twilight Zone" way. The twist was pretty neat!
I'm reminded of that episode when I watched a biopic about Charlie Chaplin. The Twilight Zone moment was when I realized that Charlie Chaplin's mother Hannah was played by his daughter Geraldine!
I've shown this one to my students and they love it! The fact that Ann Blyth is still alive today makes this one extra creepy.
It's kinda trite today, so many interactions of the same theme. Maybe it wasn't back then. Still, a great episode.
And, Ann Blythe was smokin' in that episode.
This is a phenomenal video. Thank you for making it. I gained exposure to a bunch of episodes that I have not seen!
Thank you so much Scott! Means a lot!
@@maplestreetmovies I loved your description of how your family developed a New Years weekend tradition around watching the Twilight Zone marathon. My family did the same.
In 1972, I accompanied a good friend from high school on her looksee of Ithaca College in upstate NY as a possible school choice. Rod Serling was teaching a seminar in screenwriting, and we sat in. He used "The Obsolete Man" that day as his example. His speaking for an hour was quite an experience, but then again, most of the episodes were him speaking through his screenplays. I won't dispute this as a #1 choice; my top 10 are pretty much all equally ranked, though, and some are different than yours. That's Ok, this is one of the richest bodies of work in TV to choose from.
That is so neat!! Thank you for sharing and for watching!
Just name came across this - brilliant. I was dreading it a bit at first, figuring it would be another overly facile you tube thing. Wrong! 😀 Like the series itself, you were able to present a lot of thoughtful elements in 35 plus minutes. Kudos! I think your set of criteria was spot on. Many of these episodes are deep with my psyche because I watched them as a kid “real time” when they were first broadcast. (It’s a Good Life still scares the crap out of me) Twilight Zone still remains a very high benchmark. Thank you!
Thank you for watching! So glad you enjoyed it. I always try to make rankings only if I have something genuine to say, I’m glad you saw that!! What’s your favorite episode?
@@maplestreetmovies My favorite? Today I might go with “Nothing in the Dark”, but next week it might be “Walking Distance” or “The Obsolete Man”. Then again, maybe “Nervous Man in a Two Dollar Room” or “The Last Flight” (btw, the lead in that one is in a brilliant scene in “Hard Days Night” I guess there’s a TZ episode for all moods and states of mind :)
The Midnight Sun is one personal favorites. It's like an existential Mississippi seasons.
Mine too.
I grew up watching the Twilight Zone with my dad when I was a kid. He would always tape the New Year's marathon on VHS! It's been one of my favorite shows ever, and I always come back to it. It's such a fantastic mix of emotions and stories that we get to see play out. I loved watching your ranking of all the episodes, that's crazy! Walking Distance is my #1
@@trainsandcemeteries7631 thank you so much for sharing and for watching! One of the unexpected dividends of making this video has been hearing so many different experiences from how the show affected them and their lives. Also, great choice for #1!!
The Obsolete Man and The Shelter are my top 2.
Great taste 🔥
I saw the Abraham Lincoln episode as a child while living in Japan. The following morning, I turned on the TV only to see Lincoln again. It was a news program about JFK's assassination.