History Recap / TheTwilightZone1985S1E2WordplayDreamsForSaleChameleon

!! Wordplay

Businessman Bill Lowrey (Creator/RobertKlein) finds that his company is switching product lines to medical supplies, forcing him to stay up for whole nights to memorize the names of complex products. Overtime, Bill slowly discovers that everyone around him is starting to use words in very different ways than what they usually mean. This phenomenon escalates to the point where all Bill hears from everyone around him is nonsensical gibberish, which becomes a critical situation when his son becomes ill with a potentially deadly disease.

[[folder:Tropes]]
* AmbiguousSituation: It's kept ambigious as to whether the English language has mysteriously changed for everyone except Bill, or it's Bill himself who is forgetting the meaning of words and we're seeing a TranslationConvention from his perspective. Even then, we have no idea of what circumstances led to the change in the first place.
* CurseOfBabel: Bill seemingly develops aphasia and gradually loses the ability to communicate with other people. The first indication of his condition is his wife Kathy telling him about a doctor named "Bumper". He comments on his unusual name, but thinks nothing more about it. When his neighbor Mr. Miller refers to his dog as an "encyclopedia", Bill thinks that he's in on a practical joke. However, he becomes agitated when mailroom attendant Robbie asks his advice on where to take his girlfriend Barbie for "dinosaur." Bill then assumes that this is a sort of New Wave slang, until Kathy uses the same word later that day. By the time that he goes to work the next morning, he's unable to understand anyone, while being equally incomprehensible to everyone else. This presents problems when his young son Donnie has to be rushed to the emergency room. After Donnie is successfully treated, Bill vows to learn the new language by heart. He picks up one of his son's ABC books and sees that the new word for dog is "Wednesday." Other new words include "mayonnaise" for "experience," "trumpets" for "tricks," "throwrug" for "anniversary," "stepdad" for "seatbelt", "sunflower" for "Sunday", and "elephant" for "emergency." Bill's own name is changed to "Hinge Thunder".
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Donnie's first appearance has Kathy telling Bill that he's got a runny nose and a fever. The episode's climax has the sickness worsening to the point where the kid is rushed to the ER, which is complicated when Bill's aphasia worsens to the point where he can't understand anyone, nor can they understand him.
* LanguageBarrier: Bill discovers that the English language has apparently changed overnight after he starts hearing the wrong words in other people's speech. The number of these words increases until they're the only things he can hear. The episode ends with him slowly starting to learn the new version of English so he can understand everyone else.
* LighterAndSofter: As ''Twilight Zone'' stories go, this one is very light. Bill's condition is distressing and life-changing, especially because he has to try saving his son's life while being unable to communicate. However, his son survives, and he ends the story taking the first steps to adapt to his new reality.
[[/folder]]
-> "A question trembles in the silence: why did this remarkable thing happen to this perfectly ordinary man?" ''(...)'' "It may not matter ''why'' the world shifted so drastically for him. Existence is slippery at the best of times. What ''does'' matter is that Bill Lowery isn't ordinary. He's one of us. A man determined to prevail in the world that was, and the world that is, or the world that will be -- in the Twilight Zone."
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!! Dreams for Sale

While on a country picnic with her husband and twin daughters, a young woman (Creator/MegFoster) finds things repeating themselves, as well as her husband developing a peculiar stutter. When she learns the truth about why these events are occuring, she also learns that reality isn't what it appears to be. She also learns that the alternative may not be as better.

[[folder:Tropes]]
* AGlitchInTheMatrix: The woman starts the episode having a lovely picnic in the country with her husband Paul and their twin daughters, until she starts to notice unusual things happening. Notably, Paul opens the same bottle of champagne twice, a chicken reappears inside the picnic basket when she takes it out, Paul asking her if she is okay three times in the span of a few seconds, and the fact that he develops an electronic stutter. She then wakes up to find herself connected to a Dreamatron, a fully interactive dream machine which had been running a "Country Picnic" simulation for her. When she reenters the simulation and tells Paul about the "dream" she just had, the Dreamatron short circuits, as if telling the simulation that it was a simulation overloaded the machine itself.
* BrokenRecord: Paul keeps repeating himself as the simulation malfunctions.
* CrapsackWorld: The future where the short is set is painted as one with the brief screentime it has. Everything is sterilized and revolves around continous labor, the only reprieve the workers have being the Dreamatrons, which are limited to 10-minute increments. The maintenance worker's throwaway line, where he dubs the woman as "a runaway" as the Dreamatron malfunctions, also hints that the government in power is totalitarian.
* ElectronicSpeechImpediment: Paul's voice stutters and becomes increasingly warbly as the Dreamatron simulation malfunctions.
* LotusEaterMachine: When not on shift, the workers in the future world are connected to Dreamatrons, machines that create fully interactive dreams depicting idyllic or exciting worlds. The options include "Jail Break", "Caribbean Cruise", and in our dreamer's case, "Country Picnic".
* NoNameGiven: The woman we follow isn't given a name.
* PrefersTheIllusion: The woman decides to remain in the "Country Picnic" simulation created by the Dreamatron, where she is happily married to Paul and has two daughters instead of returning to work in a sterile, future world. When she tells Paul about the "dream" she had in the future world, the Dreamatron suffers a fatal error and burns out. As she tells Paul that she wants to stay with him forever, she dies with a smile on her face, her mind seemingly uploaded into the machine.
* SpoilerTitle: The title makes it obvious that the woman's idyllic country picnic isn't real.
[[/folder]]
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!! Chameleon

When NASA space shuttle ''Discovery'' returns to Mission Control after its latest flight, the crew discovers that a malfunctioning camera was actually housing a being of pure energy that hitched a ride to Earth. The crew soon learn that the being can absorb people, as well as take on the appearance of those it has absorbed. It can also appear as objects and people from their memories, and tries to bluff the crew into releasing it by shifting into an active nuclear device.

[[folder:Tropes]]
* EnergyBeing: One of them hitches a ride on ''Discovery'' and is unknowingly brought back to Earth. It has the ability to absorb any object or person into itself, and transform itself into either them or anything from their memories. For instance, after absorbing Crew Chief Simmons, it imitates both him and his wife Kate. Later, it absorbs weapons expert Dr. Vaughn Heilman and changes itself into a nuclear bomb in order to coerce the UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} scientists studying it into letting it go.
* ForScience: When asked why it came to Earth aboard ''Discovery'', the energy being, in the appearance of Dr. Heilman, tells him that it was "just curious."
* KarmaHoudini: The energy being gets away with absorbing two people and nearly destroying NASA with a nuclear explosion all for its own curiosity.
* KlaatuBaradaNikto: Gerald quotes the line during a discussion about ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' with Simmons.
* StockFootage: Footage of a UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} shuttle in orbit, astronauts on a spacewalk, and the shuttle returning to Earth, all accompanied by voiceover, is used to represent ''Discovery'' in the opening scene.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The energy being is capable of changing its appearance to any object or person it absorbs, as well as things from their memories.
[[/folder]]
-> "Imagine yourself a visitor to many worlds, drifting on the solar wind, a thousand voices singing in your memory. Now imagine you're ''this'' man, who can only '''guess''' at the wonders he might have known. Wonders that exist for him now, only as a riddle -- from The Twilight Zone."
-----

When NASA space shuttle ''Discovery'' returns to Mission Control after it's latest flight, the crew discovers that a malfunctioning camera was actually housing a being of pure energy that hitched a ride to Earth. The crew soon learn that the being can absorb people, as well as take on the appearance of those it has absorbed. It can also appear as objects and people from their memories, and tries to bluff the crew into releasing it by shifting into an active nuclear device.

* PrefersTheIllusion: The woman decides to remain in the "Country Picnic" simulation created by the Dreamatron, where she is happily married to Paul and has two daughters instead of returning to work in a sterile, future world. When she tells Paul about the "dream" she had in the future world, the Dreamatron suffers a fatal error and burns out. As She tells Paul that she wants to stay with him forever, she dies with a smile on her face, her mind seemingly uploaded into the machine.

* CrapsackWorld: The future where the short is set is painted as one with the brief screentime it has. Everything is sterilized and revolves around continous labor, the only reprieve the workers have being the Dreamatrons, which are limited to 10-minute increments. The maintenance worker's throwaway line, where he dubs Jenny as "a runaway" as the Dreamatron malfunctions, also hints that the government in power is totalitarian.

-> "A question trembles in the silence: why ''did'' this remarkable thing happen to this perfectly ordinary man?" ''(...)'' "It may not matter why the world shifted so drastically for him. Existence is slippery at the best of times. What ''does'' matter is that Bill Lowery isn't ordinary. He's one of us. A man determined to prevail in the world that was, and the world that is, or the world that will be -- in the Twilight Zone."

While on a country picnic with her husband and twin daughters, a young woman named Jenny (Creator/MegFoster) finds things repeating themselves, as well as her husband developing a peculiar stutter. When she learns the truth about why these events are occuring, Jenny also learns that reality isn't everything it's cracked up to be.

* AGlitchInTheMatrix: Jenny starts the episode having a lovely picnic in the country with her husband Paul and their twin daughters, until she starts to notice unusual things happening. Notably, Paul opens the same bottle of champagne twice, a chicken reappears inside the picnic basket when Jenny takes it out, Paul asking her if she is okay three times in the span of a few seconds, and the fact that he develops an electronic stutter. Jenny then wakes up to find herself connected to a Dreamatron, a fully interactive dream machine which had been running a "Country Picnic" simulation for her. When she reenters the simulation and tells Paul about the "dream" she just had, the Dreamatron short circuits, as if telling the simulation that it was a simulation overloaded the machine itself.

* CrapsackWorld: The future where the short is set is painted as one with the brief screentime it has. Everything is sterilized and revolves around continous labor, the only reprieve the workers have being the Dreamatrons, which are limited to 10-minute increments.

* LotusEaterMachine: When not on shift, the workers in the future world are connected to Dreamatrons, machines that create fully interactive dreams depicting idyllic or exciting worlds. The options include "Jail Break", "Caribbean Cruise", and in Jenny's case, "Country Picnic".
* PrefersTheIllusion: Jenny decides to remain in the "Country Picnic" simulation created by the Dreamatron, where she is happily married to Paul and has two daughters instead of returning to work in a sterile, future world. When she tells Paul about the "dream" she had in the future world, the Dreamatron suffers a fatal error and burns out. As Jenny tells Paul that she wants to stay with him forever, she dies with a smile on her face, her mind seemingly uploaded into the machine.
* SpoilerTitle: The title makes it obvious that Jenny's idyllic country picnic isn't real.

When the space shuttle ''Discovery'' returns to NASA Headquarters after a mission, the crew discovers that a malfunctioning camera was actually housing a being of pure energy that hitched a ride to Earth. The crew soon learn that the being can absorb people, as well as take on the appearance of those it has absorbed. It can also appear as objects and people from their memories, and tries to bluff the crew into releasing it by shifting into an active nuclear device.

* StockFootage: Footage of a UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} space shuttle in orbit, several astronauts on a spacewalk, and the shuttle returning to Earth, all accompanied by voiceover, is used to represent the ''Discovery'''s mission.

-> "Imagine yourself a visitor to many worlds, drifting on the solar wind, a thousand voices singing in your memory. Now imagine you're ''this'' man, who can only guess at the wonders he might have known, wonders that exist for him now only as a riddle -- from The Twilight Zone."

-> "Imagine yourself a visitor to many worlds, drifting on the solar wind, a thousand voices singing in your memory. Now imagine you're this man, who can only guess at the wonders he might have known, wonders that exist for him now only as a riddle -- from The Twilight Zone."

-> ''"A question trembles in the silence: Why did this remarkable thing happen to this perfectly ordinary man?" (...) "It may not matter why the world shifted so drastically for him. Existence is slippery at the best of times. What does matter is that Bill Lowery isn't ordinary. He's one of us. A man determined to prevail in the world that was, and the world that is, or the world that will be -- in the Twilight Zone."''

-> ''"Imagine yourself a visitor to many worlds, drifting on the solar wind, a thousand voices singing in your memory. Now imagine you're this man, who can only guess at the wonders he might have known, wonders that exist for him now only as a riddle -- from The Twilight Zone."''

* StockFootage: Footage of a UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} space shuttle in orbit, several astronauts on a spacewalk, and the shuttle returning to Earth, all accompanied by voice over, are used to represent the ''Discovery'''s mission.

* KarmaHoudini: The energy being gets away with absorbing two people and nearly destroying NASA with a nuclear explosion all for its own curioisty.

Businessman Bill Lowrey (Creator/RobertKlein) finds that his company is switching product lines to medical supplies, forcing him to stay up for whole nights to memorizes the names of complex products. Overtime, Bill slowly discovers that everyone around him is starting to use words in very different ways than what they usually mean. This phenomenon escalates to the point where all Bill hears from everyone around him is nonsensical gibberish, which becomes a critical situation when his son becomes ill with a potentially deadly disease.

A businessman (Creator/RobertKlein) hears everyone use words in a different way that what is usually meant.

At a picnic, a woman (Creator/MegFoster) finds events repeating themselves.

A group at NASA finds an alien that can absorb matter and change shape at will.

!!This episode contains the following tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Wordplay]]
* AmbiguousSituation: As illustrated by the fact this entry itself refers both to Bill having aphasia, and to him having to learn the "new language", it's ambigious whether language has changed for everyone except Bill, for some unknown reason, or it's Bill himself who is forgetting the meaning of words, and we're seeing a sort of TranslationConvention from his perspective. After all, from his point of view, it's the same thing.
* CurseOfBabel: Bill Lowery develops aphasia and gradually loses the ability to communicate with other people. The first indication of his condition is his wife Kathy telling him about a doctor named Bumper. He comments on his unusual name but thinks nothing more about it. When his neighbor Mr. Miller refers to his dog as an encyclopedia, Bill thinks that it is a practical joke. However, he becomes agitated when the mailroom attendant Robbie asks his advice on where to take Barbie for "dinosaur." Bill assumes that it is some sort of New Wave slang until he goes home and Kathy uses the same word. By the time that he goes to work the next morning, he cannot understand anyone and he is equally incomprehensible to everyone else. This presents problems when his young son Donnie has to be rushed to the emergency room. After Donnie is successfully treated, Bill has to learn the new language. He picks up one of his son's ABC books and sees that the new word for dog is "Wednesday." Other new words include "mayonnaise" for "experience," "trumpets" for "tricks," "throwrug" for "anniversary," "stepdad" for "seatbelt" and "elephant" for "emergency." Bill's own name is Hinge Thunder.
* LanguageBarrier: Bill Lowery discovers that the English language has changed overnight when he starts hearing wrong words in other people's speech. The number of wrong words increases until all the man can hear is them. This episode ends with him starting to learn the "wrong word" version of English so he can understand everyone else.
* LighterAndSofter: As ''Twilight Zone'' stories go, this is very light. Bill's condition is distressing and life-changing, especially because he has to face a family emergency while being unable to communicate. However, his life remains intact and he ends the story taking the first steps to adapt to his new reality.

[[folder:Dreams for Sale]]
* AGlitchInTheMatrix: Jenny is having a lovely picnic in the country with her husband Paul and their twin daughters when she starts to notice unusual things happening. Paul opens the same bottle of champagne twice. After she takes a chicken out of the picnic basket, it suddenly reappears inside of it. Other events begin to repeat themselves such as Paul asking her if she is okay three times in the space of a few seconds. Jenny then wakes up to find herself connected to a Dreamatron, a fully interactive dream machine which had been running the "Country Picnic" simulation for her.
* LotusEaterMachine: The workers in a future world are connected to a Dreamatron which creates a fully interactive dream for them, depicting idyllic or exciting worlds, when they are not on shift. Options include Country Picnic (experienced by Jenny), Jail Break and Caribbean Cruise.
* PrefersTheIllusion: Jenny decides to remain in the "Country Picnic" program created by the Dreamatron in which she is happily married to Paul and has two daughters instead of returning to her real life as a worker in a sterile future world. She tells Paul that she wants to stay with him forever. The Dreamatron burns out and she dies with a smile on her face, though her mind seemingly survives in the machine.
* SpoilerTitle: The title of this episode makes it obvious that the idyllic country picnic experienced by Jenny is not real.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chameleon]]
* EnergyBeing: An energy being hitches a ride on the space shuttle ''Discovery'' and is unknowingly brought back to Earth. It has the ability to absorb any object or person into itself and transform itself into either them or anything from their memories. For instance, after absorbing Crew Chief Brady Simmons, it imitates both him and his wife Kate. Later, it absorbs the weapons expert Dr. Vaughn Heilman and changes into a nuclear bomb in order to coerce the UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} scientists studying it into releasing it.
* KlaatuBaradaNikto: Gerald Tyson quotes the line during a discussion about ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' with Crew Chief Brady Simmons.
* StockFootage: Footage of a UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} space shuttle in orbit, several astronauts on a spacewalk and the shuttle returning to Earth are used to represent the ''Discovery'''s mission.
[[/folder]]

* AdultFear: Bill Lowery is suffering from aphasia, and can't understand what anyone's saying -- even when the life of his son Donnie is at stake.

A businessman (Robert Klein) hears everyone use words in a different way that what is usually meant.

A businessman hears everyone use words in a different way that what is usually meant.

At a picnic, a woman finds events repeating themselves.

! Wordplay

!!Tropes
* AdultFear: Bill Lowery is suffering from aphasia, and can't understand what anyone's saying -- even when the life of his son Donnie is at stake.
* CurseOfBabel: Bill Lowery develops aphasia and gradually loses the ability to communicate with other people. The first indication of his condition is his wife Kathy telling him about a doctor named Bumper. He comments on his unusual name but thinks nothing more about it. When his neighbor Mr. Miller refers to his dog as an encyclopedia, Bill thinks that it is a practical joke. However, he becomes agitated when the mailroom attendant Robbie asks his advice on where to take Barbie for "dinosaur." Bill assumes that it is some sort of New Wave slang until he goes home and Kathy uses the same word. By the time that he goes to work the next morning, he cannot understand anyone and he is equally incomprehensible to everyone else. This presents problems when his young son Donnie has to be rushed to the emergency room. After Donnie is successfully treated, Bill has to learn the new language. He picks up one of his son's ABC books and sees that the new word for dog is "Wednesday." Other new words include "mayonnaise" for "experience," "trumpets" for "tricks," "throwrug" for "anniversary," "stepdad" for "seatbelt" and "elephant" for "emergency." Bill's own name is Hinge Thunder.
* LanguageBarrier: Bill Lowery discovers that the English language has changed overnight when he starts hearing wrong words in other people's speech. The number of wrong words increases until all the man can hear is them. This episode ends with him starting to learn the "wrong word" version of English so he can understand everyone else.

! Dreams for Sale

!!Tropes
* AGlitchInTheMatrix: Jenny is having a lovely picnic in the country with her husband Paul and their twin daughters when she starts to notice unusual things happening. Paul opens the same bottle of champagne twice. After she takes a chicken out of the picnic basket, it suddenly reappears inside of it. Other events begin to repeat themselves such as Paul asking her if she is okay three times in the space of a few seconds. Jenny then wakes up to find herself connected to a Dreamatron, a fully interactive dream machine which had been running the "Country Picnic" simulation for her.
* LotusEaterMachine: The workers in a future world are connected to a Dreamatron which creates a fully interactive dream for them, depicting idyllic or exciting worlds, when they are not on shift. Options include Country Picnic (experienced by Jenny), Jail Break and Caribbean Cruise.
* PrefersTheIllusion: Jenny decides to remain in the "Country Picnic" program created by the Dreamatron in which she is happily married to Paul and has two daughters instead of returning to her real life as a worker in a sterile future world. She tells Paul that she wants to stay with him forever. The Dreamatron burns out and she dies with a smile on her face, though her mind seemingly survives in the machine.
* SpoilerTitle: The title of this episode makes it obvious that the idyllic country picnic experienced by Jenny is not real.

! Chameleon

!!Tropes

* StockFootage: Footage of a UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} space shuttle in orbit, several astronauts on a spacewalk and the shuttle returning to Earth are used to represent the ''Discovery'''s mission.

A business hears everyone use words in a different way that what is usually meant.

!! Wordplay

!! Dreams for Sale

!! Chameleon

A group at NASA finds an alien that can absorb matter and change shape at will.