Senior Alien: Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines and radios and telephones and lawnmowers. Throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then sit back and watch the pattern.
Junior Alien: And this pattern is always the same?
Senior Alien: With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch.
Junior Alien: Then I take it this place, this Maple Street is not unique.
Senior Alien: By no means. Their world is full of Maple Streets and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other, one to the other, one to the other...
Junior Alien: And this pattern is always the same?
Senior Alien: With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it's themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch.
Junior Alien: Then I take it this place, this Maple Street is not unique.
Senior Alien: By no means. Their world is full of Maple Streets and we'll go from one to the other and let them destroy themselves. One to the other, one to the other, one to the other...
You're Traveling through another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. You've entered The Twilight Zone and here, we see some of its denizens show they stand above the rest for their brilliance and plotting.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
1959 series
- "Escape Clause": The Devil, appearing as an affable, portly man named Cadwallader, is a trickster who appears to hypochondriac Walter Bedeker offering him immortality in exchange for his soul. Cadwallader plays to Bedeker's ego to get him to accept the deal, also explaining that there is an "escape clause" that will have him kill Bedeker if he requests. Bedeker quickly uses his newfound immortality to throw himself into dangerous situations for a thrill, eventually trying to get himself executed in the electric chair. However Bedeker is instead sentenced to life imprisonment and is crestfallen, calling Cadwallader to enact the escape clause which he does, with the Devil getting everything he wanted without ever telling a lie.
- "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street": The unnamed alien duo behind the mysterious happenings on Maple Street know full well the power of paranoia and the weakness of mankind. Shutting down the power on Maple Street and allowing the discontent to build, the aliens strategically turn lights on to cause the people to blame their own and turn upon one another violently until all is chaos. Stating their intent to continue this and conquer the rest of the world, one notes that "every town has a Maple Street."
- "The Howling Man": The Howling Man himself is the ruthless biblical Devil, locked away by devout monk Brother Jerome. Playing at being an innocent victim to convince the protagonist, Ellington, to open his cell, the Devil promptly reclaims his role as lord of evil while helping to inflict misery on the world. Though Ellington is eventually able to recapture him, the Devil is then able to influence Ellington's maid into unlocking his cell at the very end of the episode.
- "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up": Haley the cook at a small roadside diner is far more than he initially appears. Against the hidden Martian going by the name "Ross," Haley allows him to seemingly manipulate the situation to cause the deaths of any witnesses nearby before revealing that Haley had been playing Ross and in fact had been setting up earth for conquest and colonization. Revealing a third eye, Haley states he is from Venus and his fleet has intercepted the Martians' own, with Haley's plot for an invasion imminent.
- "Printer's Devil": "Mr. Smith" is really the Devil, who takes the form of a charming, eccentric old man. Talking Doug Winter, the head of a failing newspaper, out of suicide, Smith agrees to work for him. Smith modifies the newspaper's equipment so that anything he writes comes to pass, causing a series of disasters to boost the paper's sales. When the smug head of a rival paper threatens to ruin them, Smith arranges for a fire to burn down his office. Smith manipulates Winter into a bargain for the soul, getting him to sign on the premise that an educated man like Winter can't be foolish enough to believe in the Devil. When Winter tries to fire him, Smith arranges for Winter's assistant to be in a car crash, offering to spare her life if Winter surrenders his soul as agreed. Never losing his charm, Smith sincerely wishes Winter good luck in his last-minute efforts to stop him.
- "Living Doll": Talky Tina is a sentient doll who feels protective of her owner Christie, while loathing the girl's abusive stepfather, Erich. She begins gaslighting Erich by taunting him when they're alone together, making him suspect that his family is behind it, while his aggressive response to the doll alienates them further. When Erich tries to throw her away, Tina escapes and evades a number of attempts to destroy her, before she fulfills her threats by tricking Erich into falling to his death. With a playful charm that belies her homicidal nature, Tina cements herself as one of the show's most memorable characters.
- "Mr. Garrity And The Graves": Mr. Jared Garrity is a charming, slick Con Man who tricks entire towns into believing he has the power of resurrection to swindle them. Garrity rides into the town of Happiness, Arizona, and quickly goes about enacting scenarios involving his trained dog and partner in crime to convince the citizens of his powers. Then using his personal knowledge of the people, Garrity manipulates them all into paying him to not revive their former neighbors and enemies, raking in a fortune before moving on to the next town, always remaining polite and keen on finding his next target.
- "A Traveler": "A. Traveler" himself is a mysterious, charming man who shows up in a small Alaskan town as a charismatic "extreme traveler." Manipulating the townspeople into conflict to deflect suspicion from himself, he plants misinformation about himself and his goals while laying the groundwork for an alien colonization of earth. After having Sheriff Pendleton sent out to check the power grid, he manipulates Sergeant Yuka with a promise of Pendleton's job to send her after him, ending the episode victorious and sharing a slice of pumpkin pie with a cellmate as his forces come to take over earth.
