The Wall
"Alexander McAndrews, former test pilot, with a paper trail of commendations and a closet full of broken records. A man for whom the unknown is to be faced, not feared; conquered, not surrendered to. Alexander McAndrews, who is about to face yet another unknown. But this one is unlike all the others, for this one burns at the very heart — of the Twilight Zone."
Major Alexander McAndrews of the United States Air Force (John Beck) is met by General Greg Slater (George R. Robertson) at a secret research laboratory. The general tells Alexander that a hole accidentally blasted into the wall a couple of months ago created a portal, which has since been called "the Gate". Since then, four volunteers who traveled through the Gate haven't returned, and the military has been unable to recreate it due to its accidental nature. Upon investigating, Alexander finds himself on another planet with a breathable atmosphere. He meets the previous volunteers and a human-looking alien named Baret (Patricia Collins), who tells him that the community here is peaceful and idyllic, but there is no way to return to Earth. After gradually enjoying his time on this planet, Alexander discovers that the Gate is still open, leaving him torn between remaining in paradise or telling his superiors everything, risking the planet's inhabitants befalling whatever the Armed Forces may have planned for them.
Tropes
- Armies Are Evil: Kincaid and Baret believe that the military will take over her peaceful world for their tactics, and Alexander comes to realize that they were right all along when he tells his superiors about them.
- Commune: The Gate leads to a small, agrarian community on a distant planet, whose people work together for their mutual advantage.
- Cool Gate: A group of scientists studying wormhole physics in a secret research facility caused a freak accident that resulted in the creation of a portal, which is dubbed "the Gate" for lack of a better name. Four volunteers (2nd Lt. Emilio Perez, Sergeants Evelyn Marx and Glenn Sinclair, and Captain Henry Kincaid) were sent through the Gate to determine what was on the other side, but they had failed to return. When Alexander goes through, he discovers that the Gate leads to a utopian planet whose inhabitants live a simple and rural existence, free of the social problems that plague Earth. Alexander learns that although the Gate is constantly visible on Earth, the refraction of light on the other planet means that it can only be seen at night there. He also discovers that the US government hopes to use the Gate to conquer this planet and use it to launch preemptive strikes on its enemies, prompting him to race to close it and retreat to the other world for good.
- Desk Jockey: Alexander was a former test pilot before he learned about the Gate, and he agrees to risk his life going through it because he was recently told that he was too old to keep being a pilot, and thus enjoyed the idea of entering a mysterious portal that could potentially kill him instead of sitting behind a desk and filling out paperwork all day.
- Generation Xerox: Alexander joined the military to defend the United States and its citizens, just as his father and grandfather did before him. When he learns that they intend to conquer the peaceful world on the other side of the Gate, he commits desertion and flees to the other world, closing the Gate in the process.
- Happy Ending: Alexander flees to the other world and closes the Gate, keeping the Army from conquering it and using it as a tactical site.
- Human Aliens: Alexander learns that Baret's people, who live on an idyllic planet far from Earth, are identical to humans.
- Insignia Rip-Off Ritual: In the end, Alexander decides to settle on Baret's planet permanently after learning about what the military intends to do with it, and he tears off his USAF insignia before he goes through the Gate for a second and final time.
- Married to the Job: Alexander's wife Sarah left him a while ago, as he was so utterly committed to the Air Force and the principles of honor, duty, and integrity they stand for that he completely ignored her, even after she told him that she didn't believe in bigamy.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Alexander returns to Earth, as he feels duty-bound to report what he discovered on the other side of the Gate. After he reports that the planet therein is a peaceful, agrarian society without weapons of any kind, the government begins to draw up plans to conquer it and use it as a staging ground to launch surprise attacks on its enemies. Believing that he's about to introduce a snake to the Garden of Eden, Alexander sabotages the equipment maintaining the Gate and goes through it just before it collapses.
- Paradise Planet: Alexander discovers that the other side of the Gate leads to a peaceful farming society. Its leader, Baret, tells him that this society has no hatred, no poverty, no violence, and no possessions to steal. She further tells him that their only religion is the sanctity of life, and their only law is to share kindness with one another. Captain Kincaid compares it to the Garden of Eden, while 2nd Lieutenant Emilio, who specializes in astronavigation, has determined that this planet is nowhere near Earth.
- Recycled Premise: The episode is essentially a rehash of "Quarantine" from Season 1, as both episodes focus on military men who find themselves in peaceful, agrarian societies with no technology that the Army intends to conquer, forcing them to save said societies before it's too late. The core difference between the two societies is that the one in "Quarantine" is set on Earth hundreds of years after a nuclear war, while the one featured here is on a distant planet lightyears away from Earth.
- Riddle for the Ages: The exact circumstances of the accident that created the Gate are left undisclosed.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Bound by his military principles, Alexander tells his superiors of the world beyond the Gate. When they immediately draw up plans to conquer it and use it for an attack-staging facility, he leaves the Armed Forces he used to worship behind and flees to the other world before the Gate closes permanently. Before he does this, he tells Baret that his father and grandfather told him that he had to fight for what he believes in, and he applies this belief in the best way he knows.
"Major Alexander McAndrews, retired; who learned that there is a better world, and that sometimes, Heaven is a place better left untouched by human hands. There may be one more commendation yet to come for the major. One that says:" "For services rendered — in the Twilight Zone."
