History TheTwilightZone1959 / TropesQToZ

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E101CavenderIsComing Cavender is Coming]]", a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for a prospective comedy series starring Jesse White as the title character, an apprentice GuardianAngel who assists a klutzy mortal named Agnes Grep played by Creator/CarolBurnett.
** Also, the comedy episodes, such as "Mr. Bevis", "A Penny For Your Thoughts" and "Once Upon A Time". The most sitcom-like one of all (complete with HereWeGoAgain ending, even) is probably "The Bard", which, as mentioned above, is one giant AuthorTract about the pitfalls of network television.
** For "Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge", 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.
** For Season 2, six episodes were [[VideoInsideFilmOutside recorded on videotape]] using four video cameras on a studio soundstage at CBS Television City, as a cost-cutting measure mandated by CBS programming head James T. Aubrey. However, videotape was a relatively primitive medium in the early 1960s, thus the editing of tape was next to impossible. Even worse, the requisite multicamera setup of the videotape experiment made location shooting difficult, severely limiting the potential scope of the storylines, so the crew had to abandon the videotaping project. The six "videotape episodes" are "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E44TheLatenessOfTheHour The Lateness of the Hour]]", "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E47TheNightOfTheMeek The Night of the Meek]]", "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E50TheWholeTruth The Whole Truth]]", "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E53TwentyTwo Twenty-Two]]", "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E56Static Static]]" and "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E58LongDistanceCall Long Distance Call]]".
** The entire fourth season which CBS expanded into an hour, creating scripts that were for the most part overly padded, and signaled to many the ''Zone'' Jump the Shark moment.

* YouMakeMeSic: The English language title of ''[[Literature/AnOccurrenceAtOwlCreekBridge La Riviere du hibou]]'' was originally ''An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge''. The re-edited ''Twilight Zone'' version correctly spelled it "occurrence."

* SpookySilentLibrary: "Time Enough at Last" ends with a lone man, an empty library, and a broken pair of glasses. Possibly [[WeirdAlEffect better known by now through parodies than through the original.]]

** "Third From the Sun". Aliens living on an Earth-like planet say they're going to Earth, which is 11 million miles away. Since it would be impossible for another Earth-like planet to be that close without us knowing about it, the writers must have thought that a planet 11 million miles away could be in another solar system.[[note]]That is, assuming that a "mile" in the characters' language is the same distance as a "mile" in Terran English.[[/note]]

* YourCheatingHeart: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E144WhatsInTheBox What's in the Box]]", Joe Britt confesses to his wife Phyllis, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, that he has been having an affair for some time but that he is ready to return to her. She sarcastically tells him that she is touched to hear that her husband of 27 years loves her.

** In "On Thursday We Leave For Home" an Earth colony is stranded on a hellish planet orbiting two suns. The planet is described as being two billion miles from Earth, which would make it closer to the Sun than Neptune.

* SleazyPolitician: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E50TheWholeTruth The Whole Truth]]", Harvey Hunnicut tries to sell the Model A Ford to a local politician named Honest Luther Grimbley in order to [[CannotTellALie escape its effects]]. However, his inability to lie means that he is forced to reveal the fact that it is haunted. Grimbley refuses to buy it on the grounds that he would not be able to deliver a single speech if he could not tell a lie.

* SociopathicSoldier: Lieutenant Katell in "A Quality of Mercy" wants to be one, wanting to prove himself and completely destroy the enemy (in this case, the Japanese during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII). The KarmicTwistEnding forces him to the other side, where a gung-ho Japanese soldier does the same thing he was about to do to some wounded Americans hiding in the very same cave. He doesn't like it.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E131AShortDrinkFromACertainFountain A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain]]", Flora Gordon refers to her brother-in-law Raymond, whom she hates and vice versa, as "the poor man's ''[[Film/DrKildare Kildare]]''" and later says "I ask for Vince Edwards and look what they send me."

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]", Julius Moomer describes Jeremy, the protagonist of the rewritten version of ''The Tragic Cycle'', as "kind of a ''Film/DrKildare'', ''[[Series/BenCasey Dr. Casey]]'' type." He tells Creator/WilliamShakespeare that [[MedicalDrama doctor shows]] are very big this season.

* TranslatorMicrobes: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E25PeopleAreAlikeAllOver People Are Alike All Over]]", Sam Conrad believes that the [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Martians are speaking English]] but he is told that he is speaking their language as a result of unconscious transference, a sort of hypnosis.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E11AndWhenTheSkyWasOpened And When the Sky Was Opened]]", Colonel Clegg Forbes is the only person to remember that Colonel Ed Harrington ever existed after he fades from existence. Similarly, Major William Gart is the only one to remember Forbes after he disappears.

** In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E82OneMorePallbearer One More Pallbearer]]", Paul Radin exhibits one as he believes that the world has been destroyed by a [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]] and he may be the SoleSurvivor. [[spoiler:The nuclear devastation is in fact a hallucination that he is experiencing.]]

* TranslatorMicrobes: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E25PeopleAreAlikeAllOver People Are Alike All Over]]", Sam Conrad believes that the [[AliensSpeakingEnglish Martians are speaking English]] but he is told that he is in fact speaking their language as a result of unconscious transference, a sort of hypnosis.

** 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.

* 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."

* 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]].

** Also, the comedy episodes, such as 'Mr. Bevis', 'A Penny For Your Thoughts' and 'Once Upon A Time'. The most sitcom-like one of all (complete with HereWeGoAgain ending, even) is probably "The Bard", which, as mentioned above, is one giant AuthorTract about the pitfalls of network television.

** 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]].]]

* UnexpectedlyAbandoned
** ''[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S1E1WhereIsEverybody Where Is Everybody]]'' takes place in a town that seems recently abandoned.
** ''[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E67TheArrival The Arrival]]'' Is about a plane that arrives with no passengers, crew, or luggage.
* Main/UnexpectedlyRealMagic In [Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E152MrGarrityAndTheGraves Mr. Garrity And The Graves]], Mr. Garrity cons people into thinking he can resurrect the dead. [[spoiler: Not even HE knows he can actually do it.]]

** ''[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E67TheArrival]]'' Is about a plane that arrives with no passengers, crew, or luggage.

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E7TheLonely The Lonely]]", Captain Allenby gives James A. Corry, who is serving in solitary confinement on an asteroid, a RobotGirl named Alicia in order to combat his loneliness. At first, Corry rejects her as JustAMachine who was sent to mock him but realizes that AndroidsArePeopleToo when Alicia begins to cry, indicating that she is capable of the same feelings as any human.

* ShoutOutToShakespeare:
** Three of the episode titles are "[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Perchance to Dream]]", "[[Theatre/RichardII The Purple Testament]]" and "[[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice A Quality of Mercy]]"; Rod Serling even quotes Portia's words to Shylock at the end of the latter episode ("The quality of mercy is not strained, / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath: it is thrice blessed, / It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes"; ''The Merchant of Venice'', IV.i).
** A running joke in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]" (in which the hack would be TV writer Julius Moomer brings Shakespeare to life and puts him to work writing for television) has Shakespeare quoting his plays, title and verse. At one point the Bard says, "To be or not to be - that is...." looks confused, and then exits.
** The closing narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E18TheLastFlight The Last Flight]]" is "Dialogue from [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} a play]], Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in Main/{{Heaven}} and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky: There are more things in heaven and earth and in the sky than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between Heaven, the sky and the Earth lies the Twilight Zone."
** In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E69ThePassersby The Passersby]]", [[spoiler:UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln]] quotes the following line from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', Act II, Scene II: "Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]", Paula Harper says that her mother Emily has done nothing but complain ever 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.

* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Several SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance examples.

* SecondPlaceIsForWinners: Invoked in the ending of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E70AGameOfPool A Game of Pool]]", alongside BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor. Yeah, Jesse Cardiff defeated the legendary Fats Brown and is the best pool player ever. What prize does he get? [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream Spending eternity defending his pool title until he loses.]]]]

** {{Invoked|Trope}} in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E103InHisImage In His Image]]". The miserable genius Walter Ryder, Jr. creates the android lookalike Alan Talbot specifically as an improved version of himself, with a nervous system that will function just like a human one. The chief glitch is Talbot's [[CrushKillDestroy uncontrollable urge to kill]].

* [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare Referenced By: William Shakespeare]]:
** Three of the episode titles are "[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Perchance to Dream]]", "[[Theatre/RichardII The Purple Testament]]" and "[[Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice A Quality of Mercy]]"; Rod Serling even quotes Portia's words to Shylock at the end of the latter episode ("The quality of mercy is not strained, / It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven / Upon the place beneath: it is thrice blessed, / It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes"; ''The Merchant of Venice'', IV.i).
** A running joke in "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E120TheBard The Bard]]" (in which the hack would be TV writer Julius Moomer brings Shakespeare to life and puts him to work writing for television) has Shakespeare quoting his plays, title and verse. At one point the Bard says, "To be or not to be - that is...." looks confused, and then exits.
** The closing narration of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E18TheLastFlight The Last Flight]]" is "Dialogue from [[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} a play]], Hamlet to Horatio: 'There are more things in Main/{{Heaven}} and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Dialogue from a play written long before men took to the sky: There are more things in heaven and earth and in the sky than perhaps can be dreamt of. And somewhere in between Heaven, the sky and the Earth lies the Twilight Zone."
** In the final scene of "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E69ThePassersby The Passersby]]", [[spoiler:UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln]] quotes the following line from ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', Act II, Scene II: "Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E145TheMasks The Masks]]", Paula Harper says that her mother Emily has done nothing but complain ever 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.

* SingleBiomePlanet: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]", V9-Gamma is a desert planet due to the fact that its [[BinarySuns two suns]] [[EndlessDaytime shine perpetually]].

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E108DeathShip Death Ship]]", Lt. Mike Carter has one after he, Captain Paul Ross and Lt. Ted Mason [[DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody discover their own bodies]] in a crashed duplicate of the E-89 on the thirteenth planet of Star System 51.

** 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.

* ScarecrowSolution: In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E155TheFear The Fear]]", [[spoiler:tiny aliens use a balloon of a 500 foot alien, magnetism and fabricated giant footprints to fool Charlotte Scott and Robert Franklin into believing that Earth is being invaded by giants. Their ultimate goal is to trick humanity into surrendering.]]

* 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.