History TheTwilightZone1959 / TropesQToZ

* TravelingSalesman: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E55MrDingleTheStrong Mr. Dingle, the Strong]]", Luther Dingle is a dismally unsuccesssful door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman.

** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]" ends in this setting, since the world was destoyed by [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]].

* SuperpowersForADay: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E52APennyForYourThoughts A Penny for Your Thoughts]]", Hector B. Poole gains the ability to read minds after he pays for his newspaper and the coin lands on its edge. When he returns to the newstand and buys the late afternoon edition, he tosses another coin and knocks over the first one. As a result, his power disappears as quickly as it came.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E62ShadowPlay Shadow Play]]", Adam Grant doesn't die from his dreams of being execuited but the fear and pain that come along with the whole thing feel very real to him, no matter how many times they happen.

* SameLanguageDub: In "The Bewitchin' Pool", it happened to Mary Badham, whose lines and voice in the outdoor scenes were so unintelligible, the directors had to have Creator/JuneForay dub her lines.

* TakingTheFightOutside: In the episode entitled "The Bewitchin' Pool", Sport and Jeb enter the titular pool at the behest of a boy named Wit, who appeared there suddenly while their parents were arguing. They descend to a place for unloved children and meet "Aunt T" an [[CoolOldLady elderly, loving matriarch]]. Wit makes a comment that upsets Sport and she resolves to fight him. Aunt T calmly hands them each a pair of boxing gloves and tells them to go outside, fight fair and to avoid hitting below the belt. She then turns to Jeb and asks for help frosting the cake she's made. Sport asks to help too only for Aunt T to reply "But I thought you two were gonna beat each other up." Wit and Sport inform her that they'd rather frost the cake instead.

** "Mr. Garrity and the Graves". Mr. Garrity tells the people of Happiness, Arizona that he will resurrect the people buried in Boot Hill at midnight.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]", a sign outside the church in the apparent deserted town states that the reverend is Kogh Gleason. This is a reference to F. Keogh Gleason, a regular Creator/{{MGM}} set decorator who worked on the series during its first three seasons.

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Bob and Millie in "Stopover in a Quiet Town" wake up in a strange house with no memory of how they got there, only that they had far too much to drink the previous night and tried to drive home anyway, only for a large shadow to pass over their car.

** In the opening narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E144WhatsInTheBox What's in the Box]]", Rod Serling says that Joe Britt is in for a really big show, pronouncing "show" as "shew." This is a reference to Ed Sullivan's {{Catchphrase}} and his distinctive pronunciation of "show" on his [[Series/TheEdSullivanShow long-running variety show]]. Like ''The Twilight Zone'', ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' aired on Creator/{{CBS}}.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]", Paula Harper says that her mother Emily has done nothing but complain every since they arrived in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans. Emily replies "He jests at scars that never felt a wound." This is a line from ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', Act II, Scene II.

* [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare ReferencedBy: William Shakespeare]]:

* ScrewPolitenessImASenior: Jason Foster in "The Masks", though this is both a subversion and a JustifiedTrope. Jason's cranky and crotchety because he knows he's going to die soon and he's surrounded by {{Jerkass}} family members waiting for him to die like vultures. However, while certainly cranky, he never comes off as needlessly cruel to his doctor or his servants and shares a sort-of rapport with them. They're also quite understanding of why he's cranky, and share his contempt for his so-called "family".

** "The Masks". The dying Jason Foster forces his evil relatives to wear their masks until midnight, on pain of losing their inheritance. Foster dies at the stroke of midnight, but when the relatives remove their masks they discover that something unusual has occurred.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E143QueenOfTheNile Queen of the Nile]]", the immortal woman starred in the SilentMovie ''Queen of the Nile'' in about 1920, under the name Constance Taylor, and in its [[TheRemake 1940 remake]], under the name Pamela Morris.

** In the opening narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E144WhatsInTheBox What's in the Box]]", Rod Serling says that Joe is in for a really big show, pronouncing "show" as "shew." This is a reference to Ed Sullivan's {{Catchphrase}} and his distinctive pronunciation of "show" on his [[Series/TheEdSullivanShow long-running variety show]]. Like ''The Twilight Zone'', ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' aired on Creator/{{CBS}}.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: A common occurrence in the series, but especially in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E95HocusPocusAndFrisby Hocus-Pocus and Frisby]]" when Somerset Frisby, who has a penchant for [[TallTale tall tales]], tries and fails to convince his friends that he was [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]].

* YouCantFightFate: Or at least, you can't change the past. Several episodes revolve around characters trying to avert disasters, but failing or only making small changes.

** A weird and somewhat baffling variation occurs in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]", when Michael Chambers, onboard a flying saucer in transit asks his Kanamit [[spoiler:captors]] what time it is, only to be told there isn't one, because there's no way to measure time in space, to which the hero responds "What time is it ''on Earth''?

* UrbanFantasy: Anything that takes place in a city, natch.

* VampiricDraining: In "Queen of the Nile", a middle-aged actress named Pamela Morris is actually [[spoiler:thousands of years old - she maintains her youth by draining the LifeEnergy of young men]].

** For the episode "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", Rod Serling ditches his usual method of introduction and says, apparently out of character, that tonight they're going to do something very special that they've never yet done in the five years they've been running the show and show you a French film made by somebody else. Justified, in that it's up to the show's usual quality.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E91LittleGirlLost Little Girl Lost]]", Ruth and Bettina "Tina" Miller are named after

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E140FromAgnesWithLove From Agnes - With Love]]", James Elwood gives items to a passing secretary. On the first occasion, he gives her the box of chocolates that Millie turned down because of her diet. On the second, he gives her the bouquet of roses to which Millie was allergic. On the third, he gives her his nameplate.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E91LittleGirlLost Little Girl Lost]]", Ruth and Bettina "Tina" Miller are named after Creator/RichardMatheson's wife and daughter. The former also served as the namesake of Lt. Ted Mason's late wife in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E108DeathShip Death Ship]]".
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]", the protagonist Captain William Benteen is named after Captain Frederick William Benteen, who fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The real Benteen is mentioned several times in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E130The7thIsMadeUpOfPhantoms The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms]]".
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E138BlackLeatherJackets Black Leather Jackets]]", the alien bikers Scott, Steve and Fred are named after Earl Hamner, Jr.'s son Scott and two of his friends.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]", a sign outside the church in the apparent deserted town states that the reverend is Kogh Gleason. This is a reference to F. Keogh Gleason, a regular Creator/{{MGM}} set decorator who worked on the series during its first three seasons.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E20Elegy Elegy]]", Professor Kurt Meyers tells Jeremy Wickwire that Earth was devastated by a nuclear war in 1985 and it has taken 200 years for humanity to rebuild. It is also mentioned that the cemetery asteroid Happy Glades was established in 1973.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E108DeathShip Death Ship]]", the spaceship E-89 lands on the thirteenth planet of Star System 51 to investigate the feasibility of establishing a colony in 1997.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]", the Earth ship ''Pilgrim I'' containing 113 people landed on the planet V9-Gamma in August 1991. A rescue ship, the ''Galaxy 6'', arrives to bring the impoverished survivors back to Earth in 2021.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E122Steel Steel]]", it is mentioned that boxing matches between human fighters were banned in 1968 and that the sport came to be dominated by robots. The episode takes place on August 2, 1974.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E127TheOldManInTheCave The Old Man in the Cave]]", a nuclear war devastated Earth in 1964. Millions of people were killed and [[PollutedWasteland the world is contaminated with radiation]]. The episode takes place ten years AfterTheEnd in 1974.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E135TheLongMorrow The Long Morrow]]", the astronaut Commander Douglas Stansfield embarks on a 40 year round trip mission to a solar system 141 lightyears from Earth on December 31, 1987.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E137Number12LooksJustLikeYou Number 12 Looks Just Like You]]", the opening narration gives the date as 2000 "for want of a better estimate." It takes place in a world where people undergo a surgery called the Transformation at 19 years old to make them look like everyone else.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E153TheBrainCenterAtWhipples The Brain Center at Whipple's]]", Wallace V. Whipple replaces the workers at his factory with an automatic assembly machine called the [=X109B14=] in 1967.
* TwistEnding: Became infamous for this sort of thing.
* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes:
** A weird and somewhat baffling variation occurs in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]", when Michael Chambers, onboard a flying saucer in transit asks his Kanamit [[spoiler:captors]] what time it is, only to be told there isn't one, because there's no way to measure time in space, to which the hero responds "What time is it ''on Earth''?
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E95HocusPocusAndFrisby Hocus-Pocus and Frisby]]", after Somerset Frisby is lured into a FlyingSaucer, the aliens' leader tells him that they will be taking off in "fourteen minutes, by your measure of time."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: U-V]]
* UnbuiltTrope: "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E79FiveCharactersInSearchOfAnExit Five Characters in Search of an Exit]]" milked the concept of [[spoiler:sentient toys]] for all its inherent horror and existential angst about three decades before [[spoiler:''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'']] made the idea famous. The ending, where we find out that [[spoiler:the titular five characters are actually dolls put in a donation bin for a girls' orphanage]], is absolutely ''terrifying''.
* UnPaused: "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E124AKindOfAStopwatch A Kind of a Stopwatch]]", until [[spoiler:[[KarmicTwistEnding the stopwatch breaks.]]]]
* UrbanFantasy: Anything that takes place in a city, natch.
%%* UrbanLegends: The basis of many episodes.
* UrbanRuins:
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]" ends in this setting, since the world was destoyed by [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]].
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the man and woman are the first people to set foot in the ruined city since the war that devastated the world five years earlier. They discover the skeletal remains of several people and even two birds that someone kept as pets.
* VampiricDraining: In "Queen of the Nile", a middle-aged actress named Pamela Morris is actually [[spoiler:thousands of years old - she maintains her youth by draining the LifeEnergy of young men]].
* VictoryIsBoring: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E116OfLateIThinkOfCliffordville Of Late I Think of Cliffordville]]", William J. Feathersmith has become extremely bored with his position of wealth and power as the thrill was in the acquisition rather than the possession. He makes a DealWithTheDevil to be transported back in time to Cliffordville, Indiana in 1910 so that he can relive his glory days and use his knowledge of the future to become even wealthier.
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: The six Season 2 "videotape episodes"; see SomethingCompletelyDifferent.
* VideoPhone: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E96TheTradeIns The Trade-Ins]]", the New Life Corporation receptionist tells Mr. Vance that there is a call for him on the video phone.
* VillainProtagonist: Several episodes feature them, and they usually end up badly.
** "The Four of Us Are Dying" is about a petty crook who uses his VoluntaryShapeshifting power to defraud people.
** The main characters of "A Most Unusual Camera" are a trio of not so bright thieves.
** "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" also focuses on a gang of thieves.
** The aforementioned {{Nazi Protagonist}}s of "Death's Head Revisited", "He's Alive" and "Judgment Night".
** The disguised alien invaders in "Black Leather Jackets".
** In "Mr. Garrity and the Graves", the titular character is a ConArtist.
* TheVoiceless: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", "pryekrasnyy," the Russian word for beautiful, is the only word that the woman says the entire episode.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E13TheFourOfUsAreDying The Four of Us Are Dying]]", the con man Arch Hammer has the ability to alter his face so that he can imitate anyone that he chooses.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E90TheFugitive The Fugitive]]", Ben can change his shape into anything that he can imagine. Aside from the old man shape that he has been using since he met Jenny, he turns into a [[UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} Martian]], a mouse, a fly and Jenny herself. [[spoiler:His [[ShapeShifterDefaultForm true form]] is that of a handsome young man who looks completely human.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder: W]]
* WaitHere: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", a Confederate scout named Sgt. Joseph Paradine gives orders to his partner Dauger:
-->'''Paradine:''' Now you stay here. If you hear a shot, you get back to the lieutenant at a fast gallop...If you haven't heard from me in 15 minutes, you get back there anyway.
* TheWallAroundTheWorld: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]", the Kanamits provide every country on Earth with the technology to project a forcefield around their borders, ending the possibility of any nation attacking another.
* WarIsHell:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", this is the man's opinion on the conflict that devastated the world five years earlier. He no longer has any urge or any reason to fight.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E69ThePassersby The Passersby]]", when Lavinia Godwin tells the sergeant that she plans to shoot the next Union soldier that she sees out of revenge for the death of her husband Jud, he says that he does not want to hear any more talk of butchery or bloodshed due to the thousands of men and boys killed in [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the war]].
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", Dauger says that he went to war as if he were playing a children's game but the experience of fighting has shown him the realities of war. His only desire is to remain alive and he even suggests surrendering to the Union troops. Sgt. Joseph Paradine slaps him across the face in response.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E80AQualityOfMercy A Quality of Mercy]]", the battle-hardened marines have been fighting the Japanese for two years, which has made them war-weary. Andrew J. Watkins tells the gung-ho Lt. Katell that they have seen enough dead man to last the rest of their lives and that they aren't going to stand up and cheer at the opportunity to kill more. Sgt. Causarano later says that the platoon consists of "dirty, tired men who have their craw full of this war."
* WasItAllALie: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E105ValleyOfTheShadow Valley of the Shadow]]", Philip Redfield asks Ellen Marshall if she was merely pretending to be in love with him as part of the SecretTest to determine whether he was worthy of gaining access to the equations used by the townspeople to create their AppliedPhlebotinum. She reveals to him that her feelings for him were genuine.
* WastelandElder: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]", Captain William Benteen has done all he can to keep the V9-Gamma colonists together and keep their hope for rescue alive, but it's {{Subverted}} when Colonel Sloane arrives and provides an escape from the wasteland and Benteen is less than willing to give up his role as a leader. He'd rather keep them on the desert planet, barely scraping out an existence and forever looking to him for guidance, than go back to Earth where they won't need him.
* WaterSourceTampering: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E138BlackLeatherJackets Black Leather Jackets]]", the aliens plan to [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar exterminate humanity]] by contaminating water reservoirs all over the world with deadly bacteria. Thousands of advance troops have been sent to Earth for that purpose. Steve reports to their leader that every living thing in the state will be dead within 48 hours.
* WaterWakeUp: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the man revives the woman by throwing a bucket of water over her after knocking her out.
* WeComeInPeace: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E97TheGift The Gift]]", Williams tells the mob that he has come to Earth in peace shortly before they kill him. Similarly, the document that he gave to Pedro says, "We come as friends and in peace."
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill:
** Type 1: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E97TheGift The Gift]]", Williams is a peaceful alien who came to Earth to give humans the CureForCancer. However, he is killed by a suspicious mob and the document that he carries is damaged by fire, destroying the cure formula.
** Type 2: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E89ToServeMan To Serve Man]]", an alien race called the Kanamits come to Earth and provide humanity with the technology to eliminate all of its societal problems. [[spoiler: They did so in order to pacify Earth so that it will be easier for them to fulfil their true goal: [[ToServeMan to use humanity as a food source]].]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: According to Bill Mumy (who played him), Anthony Fremont from "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]" is honestly trying to make the world a better place, he simply doesn't grasp that what makes ''him'' happy isn't best for everyone. In short, his immaturity prevents him from taking other's views into consideration. This is explored further in the short story on which the episode is based. A notable example excluded from the episode is his reanimating a man's corpse after hearing his widow mourn his death, much to her (and everybody else's) horror. The town folk mostly try to avoid any negative thoughts at all after that, because Anthony might make things so much worse by trying to make them better.
%%* WhackAMole: "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?"
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: Bob and Millie in "Stopover in a Quiet Town" wake up in a strange house with no memory of how they got there, only that they had far too much to drink the previous night and tried to drive home anyway, only for a large shadow to pass over their car.
* WhamLine: A memorable one in "The Man in The Bottle": "Well?? What about it, [[spoiler:''Fuehrer?!'']]" Paired with a [[TheReveal shot]] of Arthur: he wished to be a [[spoiler:the leader of a modern and powerful country in which he cannot be voted out of office]]: he's now [[spoiler:Adolf Hitler, moments before his suicide in the bunker.]]
* WhamShot: In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E51TheInvaders The Invaders]]", after the woman destroys the seemingly tiny aliens' spacecraft, the camera pans to reveal [[spoiler:the words "U.S. Air Force Space Probe No. 1" on the opposite side, indicating that the invaders were in fact humans and the woman is a giant alien]].
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E7TheLonely The Lonely]]", Corry initially rejects Alicia, calling her a lie and something to mock him. However, when he sees that she's capable of feeling the same things as him and can even cry, he changes his mindset and sees her as a person. When Allenby's crew returns, Corry can't part with her so Allenby shoots her in the face, exposing the machinery underneath. He assures Corry that all he's leaving behind is loneliness.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", out of all the Confederates, Sgt. Joseph Paradine is the only one to realize that it's better to go off to war and lose than win by BlackMagic that would tarnish their souls. He believes that if is the Confederacy is going to be buried, it should be in hallowed ground.
* WhenSheSmiles: In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the woman smiles when the man says that her dress is "pryekrasnyy," meaning "beautiful."
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E62ShadowPlay Shadow Play]]", Adam Grant is a convicted murderer sentenced to be executed at midnight, who claims that the whole situation is a dream he's having. Prosecutor Henry Ritchie talks with newspaper editor Paul Carson about it:
--->'''Carson:''' That's another thing. Why does this always happen around midnight?\\
'''Ritchie:''' Because that's when it happens!\\
'''Carson:''' Yeah, but why?\\
'''Ritchie:''' You tell me why!\\
'''Carson:''' According to Grant, he doesn't know anything about these matters except what he sees in the movies. In the movies it always happens at midnight.\\
'''Ritchie:''' Because movies are technically accurate!\\
'''Carson:''' Yeah, that's strange too when you come to think of it.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E2OneForTheAngels One for the Angels]]", a sidewalk pitchman named Lou Bookman is scheduled to die at midnight. When he tricks Death into not taking him, a young girl, Maggie Polonski, is scheduled to die in his place at that time. He must make his best pitch ever to distract Death from taking her.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E65TheObsoleteMan The Obsolete Man]]", when the prosecutor asks Mr. Wordsworth when he wants to be executed, Wordsworth picks the traditional time: midnight.
** "The Masks". The dying Jason Foster forces his evil relatives to wear their masks until midnight, on pain of losing their inheritance. Foster dies at the stroke of midnight, but when the relatives remove their masks they discover that something unusual has occurred.
** "Mr. Garrity and the Graves". Mr. Garrity tells the people of Happiness, Arizona that he will resurrect the people buried in Boot Hill at midnight.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E72TheGrave The Grave]]", Johnny-Rob makes a bet with Conny Miller that he won't go to Pinto Sykes' grave at midnight.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E109JessBelle Jess-Belle]]", the title character turns into a leopard every night at twelve o'clock.
* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue:
** In the closing narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E88TheLastRitesOfJeffMyrtlebank The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank]]", Rod Serling notes that [[spoiler:the title character and Comfort Gatewood are still alive and their only son, a United States senator, is regarded as "an uncommonly shrewd politician."]]
** In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E100ISingTheBodyElectric I Sing the Body Electric]]", Anne, Tom and Karen Rogers have grown up and are ready to attend college. As they no longer need her, their robotic grandmother sadly leaves the house. Before she does so, however, she tells her former charges that they have brought her great joy over the years.
* WholePlotReference: "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E97TheGift The Gift]]" is a sci-fi version of the story of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}. Williams is an alien visitor who has arrived on Earth with a gift for humanity, a CureForCancer, but he is killed and the gift is destroyed. The parallel is made clear when the doctor says that the bartender Manolo, who has told the Mexican Army of Williams' presence, should have been christened "Judas."
* WifeHusbandry: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E90TheFugitive The Fugitive]]", Rod Serling says in his closing narration that [[spoiler:Jenny will grow to be "an honest-to-goodness queen," suggesting that she will one day marry Ben.]]
* WishingForMoreWishes: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E38TheManInTheBottle The Man in the Bottle]]", the genie explicitly forbids this. He tells Arthur Castle that he dreads to think of the consequences of making such a wish.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E41TheHowlingMan The Howling Man]]", David Ellington tells a maid the story of his visit to Wolfring Castle and releasing the Devil from his confinement in the 1920s.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E6EscapeClause Escape Clause]]", Walter Bedeker makes a DealWithTheDevil for immortality. He uses his new situation to commit a series of insurance fraud scams by jumping in front of buses and under trains but the thrill of cheating death over and over again eventually fades. After his wife Ethel falls to her death while trying to prevent him from jumping off the roof of their apartment building, Walter confesses to having murdering her. He is looking forward to the experience of being sent to the electric chair. [[spoiler:However, he is instead sentenced to life imprisonment. In order to avoid the unimaginable boredom of being confined for millennia, Walter exercises his escape clause and has the Devil end his life.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E24LongLiveWalterJameson Long Live Walter Jameson]]", the title character is an immortal who has lived for more than 2,000 years. He admits to his close friend Professor Samuel Kittridge that he has grown tired of his eternal life but he does not have the courage to bring it to an end. He sits with a revolver in his hands every night and hopes that this will be the night that he will force myself to pull the trigger. [[spoiler:Laurette Bowen, one of the many wives that Walter deserted as they grew old, finally puts him out of his misery and shoots him. [[EmptyPileOfClothing He is quickly reduced to dust.]]]]
* TheWildWest:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E3MrDentonOnDoomsday Mr. Denton on Doomsday]]", Al Denton was once the FastestGunInTheWest but he became [[TheAlcoholic a severe alcoholic]] when the latest man to challenge him turned out to be a sixteen-year-old boy. Like all of the others, he killed him. Denton gets a second change from a peddler named Henry J. Fate.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E26Execution Execution]]", as he is about to be hanged for murder on November 14, 1880, Joe Caswell is transported forward in time to 1960 by Professor Manion.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E48Dust Dust]]", in a Wild West village "built of crumbling clay and rotting wood," a man named Luis Gallegos, who got drunk, went out in his wagon and struck and killed a little girl, is about to be hanged. A peddler named Sykes arrives in town and tells Gallegos' father that he can save his son by spreading special dust, which will cause the crowd to have a change of heart.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E59AHundredYardsOverTheRim A Hundred Yards over the Rim]]", while searching for a source of food and water for his wagon train in 1847, Chris Horn is transported forward in time to UsefulNotes/NewMexico in September 1961.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E72TheGrave The Grave]]", the hired gunman Conny Miller arrives in a western town to discover that his rival Pinto Sykes, a notorious outlaw, has been killed by the townsfolk. Conny learns that Pinto make a vow to reach up from his grave and grab Conny if he ever came close to it.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E85ShowdownWithRanceMcGrew Showdown with Rance McGrew]]", the title character, a conceited actor who plays a hero named after himself in a [[TheWestern Western TV series]] featuring UsefulNotes/JesseJames, is transported back in time to the Wild West and meets the real Jesse James.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E130The7thIsMadeUpOfPhantoms The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms]]", Sgt. William Connors, Corporal Richard Langsford and Private Michael [=McCluskey=], three US Army soldiers from 1964, are transported back in time to the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E152MrGarrityAndTheGraves Mr. Garrity and the Graves]]", the peddler Jared Garrity arrives in the small town of Happiness, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}} in 1890. He claims that he can [[BackFromTheDead bring the dead back to life]].
* TheWorldIsNotReady: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E105ValleyOfTheShadow Valley of the Shadow]]", the alien scientist who provided the people of Peaceful Valley, UsefulNotes/NewMexico with the equations to create AppliedPhlebotinum in 1859 instructed them not to share their technology with the outside world until mankind learns the ways of peace.
* WorldOfSymbolism: Some of the more esoteric [[TheReveal reveals]] involve this.
* WorldWarIII:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E8TimeEnoughAtLast Time Enough at Last]]", a nuclear war breaks out. Henry Bemis [[SoleSurvivor survived]] as he was reading in the bank vault when the H-Bomb that destroyed his city was detonated.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E20Elegy Elegy]]", Professor Kurt Meyers tells Jeremy Wickwire that Earth was devastated by a nuclear war in 1985 and it has taken 200 years for humanity to rebuild.
** {{Played with}} in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]". The man and woman appear to be American and Soviet soldiers respectively who are still alive five years after the war devastated the world but Rod Serling's opening narration leaves the time period vague, even stating that the story could have taken place two million years ago.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E127TheOldManInTheCave The Old Man in the Cave]]", a nuclear war devastated Earth in 1964. Millions of people were killed and [[PollutedWasteland the world is contaminated with radiation]].
* WorthlessYellowRocks:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E60TheRipVanWinkleCaper The Rip Van Winkle Caper]]", Farwell is the last survivor of the four criminals who stole $1 million in gold bars and placed themselves in suspended animation for 100 years. Dying of dehydration in Death Valley, he offers all of his gold to a passing motorist named George in exchange for water. He dies before George can do anything to help him. [[spoiler:George is surprised that he offered him gold as if it were really worth something since a way to manufacture it was developed decades earlier. As he and his wife drive away, he throws the worthless bar of gold to the ground.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the man finds money in a cash register in the ruined city but discards it since it is worthless in the aftermath of the war that destroyed his civilization.
* WouldHitAGirl: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E66Two Two]]", the man gets into a fistfight with an enemy soldier, who is a woman, and knocks her out.
* WriterOnBoard: Serling was an outspoken liberal, even for his day, and many of the show's recurring themes of corporate oppression, racism, censorship, isolationism, and the horrors of war were not simply ideas he liked to discuss, but the very reason he created the series was to use as a sounding board for such taboos.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: X-Z]]
* YouAllMeetInACell: The premise of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E79FiveCharactersInSearchOfAnExit Five Characters in Search of an Exit]]": an Army major wakes up to find himself trapped inside in a large metal cylinder, along with a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper, and a clown. None of them have any memory of who they are or how they got there.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E102TheChangingOfTheGuard The Changing of the Guard]]", Professor Ellis Fowler may not have saved any lives directly but his teachings inspired others to save many lives.
* YouCantFightFate: Or at least, you can't change the past. Several episodes revolve around characters trying to avert disasters, but failing or only making small changes.
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: A common occurrence in the series, but especially in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E95HocusPocusAndFrisby Hocus-Pocus and Frisby]]" when Somerset Frisby, who has a penchant for [[TallTale tall tales]], tries and fails to convince his friends that he was [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]].
* YouNeverAsked: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E28ANicePlaceToVisit A Nice Place to Visit]]", Rocky Valentine automatically assumed he was in Heaven and Pip was an angel. Pip chuckles, essentially, "Whatever gave you ''that'' idea?"
* YouWakeUpInARoom:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E79FiveCharactersInSearchOfAnExit Five Characters in Search of an Exit]]", a man dressed in the uniform of a US Army major wakes up a strange metal cylinder with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He discovers that four others, a clown, a ballet dancer, a hobo and a bagpiper, are in the same boat. [[spoiler:It turns out that they are dolls in a Christmas collection barrel for a girls' orphanage.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E150StopoverInAQuietTown Stopover in a Quiet Town]]", Bob and Millie Frazier wake up in a strange house. They are hungover from a party the night before and have no idea how they got there. [[spoiler:It turns out that that they were abducted by a giant alien, who brought them back to his planet for his daughter to play with. They have been in a model village all this time.]]
* YoungerThanTheyLook: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E103InHisImage In His Image]]", Walter Ryder, Jr. reveals to Alan Talbot that he is an eight-day-old android.
* YourDaysAreNumbered: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E76StillValley Still Valley]]", Teague can sense that he is going to die when UsefulNotes/TheSun goes down and gives his book of black magic to Sgt. Joseph Paradine to use against the Union.
* YourMindMakesItReal:
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E9PerchanceToDream Perchance to Dream]]", Edward Hall, who has a rheumatic heart, dreams in chapters like an old FilmSerial. He has been dreaming about a strange woman named Maya at a carnival who has been trying to scare him to death by bringing him to a funhouse and for a ride on a roller coaster. As a result, Edward believes that he will die the next time that he goes to sleep. [[spoiler:It turns out that he is right.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E62ShadowPlay Shadow Play]]", Adam Grant doesn't die from his dreams of being execuited but the fear and pain that come along with the whole thing feel very real to him, no matter how many times they happen.
* {{Zeerust}}: A lot of outer space-themed episodes take place in the year 2000 or the late 90's.
** "Steel", in which human fighters have been replaced by boxing robots, takes place in the far off year of 1974.
** "Third from the Sun" showcased a sleek white phone that gave off soft, elevator-like tones when it rang. In fact, the rotary dial was on the bottom!
** "Elegy" starts with the landing of a rocket that in many ways works like how we imagine a UFO. They open the hatch, and down comes a ladder on a hinge.
[[/folder]]

* RunningGag: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]", Creator/WilliamShakespeare [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare frequently quotes lines from his plays]] and then cites the title, act and scene that they come from. This is accompanied by the sound of a trumpet.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E3MrDentonOnDoomsday Mr. Denton on Doomsday]]", Al Denton was once the fastest gun in the West but he became [[TheAlcoholic a severe alcoholic]] when the latest man to challenge him turned out to be a sixteen-year-old boy. Like all of the others, he killed him. Denton gets a second change from a peddler named Henry J. Fate.

* TheShutIn: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E81NothingInTheDark Nothing in the Dark]]", having once seen Mr. Death kill an old woman on the bus, Wanda Dunn has not left her apartment in many years out of fear that she will be next. [[spoiler:Death has to resort to tricking her by pretending that he is an injured police officer named Harold Beldon who needs her help.]]

* TakeMeToYourLeader: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E64WillTheRealMartianPleaseStandUp Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?]]", Avery says this to the Hi-Way Café jukebox that had spontaneously started playing music while police officers are searching for an alien.

* WaterSourceTampering: In "Black Leather Jackets", a group of aliens is sent to Earth to KillAllHumans by contaminating city water reservoirs with deadly bacteria.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E137Number12LooksJustLikeYou Number 12 Looks Just Like You]]", the opening narration gives the date as 2000 "for want of a better estimate." It takes place in a world where people undergo surgery called the Transformation at 18 years old to make them look like everyone else.

** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E132NinetyYearsWithoutSlumbering Ninety Years Without Slumbering]]" refers to the first line of the chorus of the 1876 song "My Grandfather's Clock" by Henry Clay Work.

** "Probe 7: Over and Out". Colonel Cook says that he has crashlanded on a planet (which turns out to be Earth) 4.3 light years from his home planet, presumably in the Alpha Centauri system. In the narration Rod Serling says that he's "several million miles" from his launching point, which would put said point somewhere in the Solar System, not the Alpha Centauri system.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E130The7thIsMadeUpOfPhantoms The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms]]", Sgt. William Connors, Corporal Richard Langsford and Private Michael [=McCluskey=] are sent back in time to June 25, 1876 and end up fighting in [[spoiler:and dying in]] the Battle of Little Bighorn.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]", the protagonist Captain William Benteen is named after Captain Frederick William Benteen, who fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The real Benteen is mentioned several times in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E130The7thIsMadeUpOfPhantoms The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms]]".

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E130The7thIsMadeUpOfPhantoms The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms]]", Sgt. William Connors, Corporal Richard Langsford and Private Michael [=McCluskey=], three US Army soldiers from 1964, are transported back in time to the Battle of Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876.

* SoleSurvivor: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E104TheThirtyFathomGrave The Thirty-Fathom Grave]]", Chief Bell was the only survivor of the sinking of the submarine ''714''.