History Recap / TheTwilightZoneS1E9PerchanceToDream

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/perchance_to_dream14.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Edward gets creeped out by Maya.]]

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Twelve o' clock noon. An ordinary scene, an ordinary city. Lunchtime for thousands of ordinary people. To most of them, this hour will be a rest, a pleasant break in the day's routine. To ''most'', but not all. To Edward Hall, time is an enemy, and the hour to come is a matter of life and death.

Air date: November 27, 1959

Edward Hall (Richard Conte), a nervous, anxious, and utterly exhausted man, stumbles into a psychiatrist's office one afternoon. Edward explains to the psychaiatrist, Dr. Rathmann, that he has no history of mental illness, but what he does have is a major problem. Recently, he has begun dreaming in chapters, finding himself in a creepy carnival with where a seductive, unnerving performer, Maya, tries to scare him to death, since Edward has a heart condition. Since then, he's been awake for 4 straight days, refusing to sleep so he can avoid the dream and by extension, Maya. Of course, the strain of exhaustion isn't doing his heart any favors, either.

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!!Perchance To Tropes:

* AdaptationNameChange: In the short story by Charles Beaumont, the protagonist's name is Philip Hall. In the television adaptation, his name is ''Edward'' Hall.
* AmusementParkOfDoom: Edward's dream carnival is spooky and potentially deadly, if only because of Edward's heart condition.
* AndYouWereThere: Edward becomes terrified upon seeing that the doctor's secretary has the same face as Maya. Even outside the dream, she has the same appearence.
* CatGirl: Maya is described as one, though it's more about her eyes and the way she moves.
* DangerTakesABackseat: Edward mentions reading a newspaper story of a woman being murdered by an assailant in her backseat. He crashed his car out of paranoia about the same thing, nearly killing himself from the shock.
* DrivenToSuicide: Upon seeing Miss Thomas' face (which matches Maya's), Edward jumps out the window in fear.
* DutchAngle: The carnival DreamSequence features them prominently, as a means to showcase how eerie and otherworldly it is.
* DyingDream: At the end, Dr. Rathmann and Miss Thomas note that Edward just came in, fell asleep, let out a scream, and died. The near entirety of the episode was his dream.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Edward lies down on the couch and closes his eyes as the lights dim, leaving him in near darkness for a moment. It's an early sign that he really ''did'' go to sleep, rather than narrowly avoiding it.
** Shortly after the above moment, he opens the window, leans out a bit, and remarks about the long drop to the ground. He later jumps out this very same window and plummets to his death within the dream. The experience causes him to have a heart attack and die in the waking world.
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: Edward describes his predicament like this word-for-word: if he falls asleep, the shock of his continuing nightmare will kill him, but if he stays awake, the strain and exhaustion will kill him instead.
* HesDeadJim: At the end of the episode, Edward screams while he's asleep. Dr. Rathmann checks his pulse and immediately pronounces him dead, not even bothering to apply first aid or call an ambulance.
* MatterOfLifeAndDeath: Mentioned in the opening narration; if Edward can't get help, he will die.
* MortonsFork: Edward's choice. Either he can go to sleep and have his heart fail from fear, or he can stay awake and die from the strain on his heart.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the short story by Charles Beaumont, neither the girl in the dream nor the psychiatrist are ever named. In the television adaptation, their names are given as Maya and Dr. Elliott Rathmann.
* NeverSleepAgain: Edward has been refusing to sleep out of fear of Maya scaring him to death.
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Maya is a literal one, as she makes it her mission to scare Edward to death.
* PassedInTheirSleep: Edward thinks that if he falls asleep, he'll die. At the start of the episode. he goes to a psychaiatrist's office, lies down and closes his eyes for a moment, then jumps up and explains his situation to the doctor. At the end, it's revealed that the whole episode was a DyingDream; Dr. Rathmann reports to his receptionist Miss Thomas that the man came into his office, laid down, and never woke up.
* ProperlyParanoid: Edward has been worried that if he falls asleep, he'll die. He was right.
* TwistEnding: Most of Edward's discussion with Dr. Rathmann never happened. He dreamed everything that happened after he laid down on the doctor's couch and closed his eyes.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who's to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the Earth - in the Twilight Zone.

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An exhausted, nervous man Edward Hall (Richard Conte) turns up in a psychiatrist's office one afternoon. He has no history of mental illness; what he does have is a major problem. Recently, he has begun dreaming segments of a story in which he finds himself in a creepy carnival with a seductive, unnerving girl named Maya, who seems to be trying to scare him to death. And given that he has a heart condition, she may just succeed.

->'''Rod Serling''': They say a dream only takes a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who's to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the earth - in the Twilight Zone.

* AdaptationNameChange: In the short story by Charles Beaumont, the protagonist's name is Philip Hall. In the television adaptation, his name is Edward Hall.
* AmusementParkOfDoom: The carnival is spooky and potentially deadly, if only because of Edward's condition.
* AndYouWereThere: After a fashion; Edward becomes terrified upon seeing that the secretary has the same face as Maya. Even outside the dream, she still has the same appearence.

* DangerTakesABackseat: Edward mentions reading a newspaper account of a woman being murdered by an assailant in her backseat. He crashed his car out of paranoia about the same thing, nearly killing himself with the shock.
* DrivenToSuicide: Upon seeing the receptionist Miss Thomas' face (which matches Maya's), Edward jumps out the window.
* DutchAngle: The carnival DreamSequence features them prominently.
* DyingDream: At the end, Dr. Rathmann and Miss Thomas note that Edward came in, fell asleep, screamed, and died. Almost the whole episode was his dream.

** Edward lies down on the couch and closes his eyes, and the lights go down, leaving him in near darkness for a moment. It's an early sign that he really ''did'' go to sleep, rather than narrowly avoiding it.

* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: Edward describes his predicament like this word-for-word: if he falls asleep the shock of the nightmare will kill him, but if he stays awake, eventually the strain and exhaustion will kill him instead.
* HesDeadJim: At the end of the episode, Edward screams while he's asleep. The psychiatrist Dr. Rathmann checks his pulse and immediately pronounces him dead. He doesn't even bother to apply first aid or call for an ambulance.

* MortonsFork: Edward's choice. Either he can go to sleep and have his heart fail from fear or he can stay awake and die from the strain on his heart.

* NeverSleepAgain: Edward can't sleep for fear of Maya scaring him to death.

* PassedInTheirSleep: Edward thinks that if he falls asleep he'll die. At the start of the episode he goes to a doctor's office, lies down and closes his eyes for a moment, then jumps up and explains his situation to the doctor. At the end it's revealed that it was all a DyingDream; Dr. Rathmann reports to his receptionist Miss Thomas that the man came into his office, lay down, and never woke up.
* ProperlyParanoid: Edward was worried that if he falls asleep, he'll die. Turns out he was right.
* TwistEnding: Most of Edward's discussion with the psychiatrist Dr. Rathmann never happened. He dreamed everything that happened after he laid down on the couch and closed his eyes.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': They say a dream takes only a second or so, and yet in that second a man can live a lifetime. He can suffer and die, and who's to say which is the greater reality: the one we know or the one in dreams, between heaven, the sky, the Earth - in the Twilight Zone.

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!!This episode contains examples of:

* DyingDream: At the end, the doctor and the receptionist note that Edward came in, fell asleep, screamed, and died. Almost the whole episode was his dream.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: The carnival is spooky and potentially deadly, if only because of the protagonist's condition.

* MortonsFork: The protagonist's choice. Either he can go to sleep and have his heart fail from fear or he can stay awake and die from the strain on his heart.

* TwistEnding: Most of the protagonist's discussion with the psychiatrist never happened. He dreamed everything that happened after he laid down on the couch and closed his eyes.

* DrivenToSuicide: Upon seeing the receptionist Miss Thomas' face, Edward jumps out the window.

* AdaptationalNameChange: In the short story by Charles Beaumont, the protagonist's name is Philip Hall. In the television adaptation, his name is Edward Hall.

An exhausted, nervous man (Richard Conte), Edward Hall, turns up in a psychiatrist's office one afternoon. He has no history of mental illness; what he does have is a major problem. Recently, he has begun dreaming segments of a story in which he finds himself in a creepy carnival with a seductive, unnerving girl named Maya, who seems to be trying to scare him to death. And given that he has a heart condition, she may just succeed.

* HesDeadJim: At the end of the episode, Edward screams while he's asleep. The psychiatrist Dr. Rothman checks his pulse and immediately pronounces him dead. He doesn't even bother to apply first aid or call for an ambulance.

* PassedInTheirSleep: Edward thinks that if he falls asleep he'll die. At the start of the episode he goes to a doctor's office, lies down and closes his eyes for a moment, then jumps up and explains his situation to the doctor. At the end it's revealed that it was all a DyingDream; Dr. Rothman reports to his receptionist Miss Thomas that the man came into his office, lay down, and never woke up.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: the carnival is spooky and potentially deadly, if only because of the protagonist's condition.
* AndYouWereThere: After a fashion; the protagonist becomes terrified upon seeing that the secretary has the same face as Maya. Even outside the dream she still has the same appearence.

* DrivenToSuicide: Upon seeing the secretary's face, the protagonist jumps out the window.

** Shortly after the above moment, he opens the window, leans out a bit, and remarks about the long drop to the ground. He later jumps out this very same window and plummets to his death, both within the dream and in the waking world.
* HesDeadJim: At the end of the episode, the man screams while he's asleep. The psychiatrist checks his pulse and immediately pronounces him dead. He doesn't even bother to apply first aid or call for an ambulance.

* PassedInTheirSleep: A man thinks that if he falls asleep he'll die. At the start of the episode he goes to a doctor's office, lies down and closes his eyes for a moment, then jumps up and explains his situation to the doctor. At the end it's revealed that it was all a DyingDream; the doctor reports to his receptionist that the man came into his office, lay down, and never woke up.

An exhausted, nervous man (Richard Conte) turns up in a psychiatrist's office one afternoon. He has no history of mental illness; what he does have is a major problem. Recently, he has begun dreaming segments of a story in which he finds himself in a creepy carnival with a seductive, unnerving girl named Maya, who seems to be trying to scare him to death. And given that he has a heart condition, she may just succeed.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The man lies down on the couch and closes his eyes, and the lights go down, leaving him in near darkness for a moment. It's an early sign that he really ''did'' go to sleep, rather than narrowly avoiding it.

* TwistEnding: The protagonist's discussion with the psychiatrist never happened. He dreamed it all.