Little Boy Lost
"Carol Shelton, photographer. A modern woman with an age-old problem. She can make the artistic choices of light and shadow, which capture a lifetime of human pain or grandeur on film. But like each of us, she has trouble sometimes choosing which road of life to travel, especially when that road winds deep among the shadows — of The Twilight Zone."
Photojournalist Carol Shelton (Season Hubley) is left to contemplate whether to marry her boyfriend Greg (Nicholas Surovy), or take a prestigious assignment abroad. While at the zoo, Carol meets a young boy named Kenny (Scott Grimes) who seems familiar to her, though she can't place why exactly. As she bonds with Kenny, Carol continually brings up complications from both of her choices, but when she finally makes her decision, she finds out too late why Kenny was hesitant about her job opportunity.
Tropes
- Bittersweet Ending: Carol ultimately chooses taking the job over marrying Greg. She learns too late that Kenny was her and Greg's hypothetical son, who ceases to exist. While Carol is heartbroken at the series of events, she knows that her job now takes top priority, and there's always the possibility of her and Greg having kids after the assignment, even though they won't be Kenny.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Carol and Greg both bring up valid points about Carol's career prospects and the possibility of them having kids. Carol points out that if she takes the job and has kids, they'll hardly see her and she won't get to see them grow. Greg points out that given his age, if they waited to have kids, he'll be too old to do parent/child activities with them.
- Family Versus Career: Carol spends the episode deciding whether to accept a travel assignment or marry her long-time boyfriend Greg and settle down with him. The day after the offer is given to her, she meets a strange boy named Kenny at the zoo, assuming that he was sent by a modeling agency to work with her. The two of them spend the day together and quickly form a special bond. The next day, Carol tells Greg that she has decided to take the assignment. Immediately afterwards, she finds Kenny at her apartment, who pleads with her to remain in the country. Confused, she asks him how he knew about her conversation with Greg and where she lives, but Kenny runs away, mysteriously vanishing before Carol can catch up to him. The following morning, Carol sees Kenny in the park and questions him once more. She discovers that Kenny is the hypothetical son that she would have had if she had chosen to turn down the assignment and marry Greg. Carol explains that she does want children, but there are other things that she wants to do first. Kenny says that she might have kids one day, but they won't be him. He then fades away, calling Carol "Mom" just before he disappears forever.
- Hard Truth Aesop: The biggest decisions in life come at the biggest costs. As noted in Both Sides Have a Point, none of the options Carol had were necessarily bad, but were going to have an inevitable cost. Even the choice she makes comes at the cost of losing the future son she had grown fond of, and just to twist the knife, it's too late to go back, implying he would've been conceived that night had she turned down the job offer of a lifetime.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Carol and Kenny form a pretty strong bond when they first meet. It's somewhat justified considering that he's Carol's theoretical son.
- Pet's Homage Name: Carol's cat is named Ansel, after Ansel Adams.
- Ripple Effect Indicator: A variation. Kenny is the potential son that Carol would have had in a timeline where she stayed in the US and married Greg instead of going abroad on a photography assignment. When she decides to take the assignment, Kenny disappears from the photos that she took of him at the zoo.
- Shout-Out: In the opening scene, Carol and Greg are shown waiting in line to see Beverly Hills Cop at their local movie theater.
"The song unsung. The wish unfulfilled. Even with the dream in hand, there is the chill of an eternal loss ...fading ...fading. For every choice made, wrong or right, a thousand alternatives denied. When tomorrow calls, sometimes the heart must be denied. For Carol Shelton, there will be other tomorrows, other joys, and yet, fading ...fading. For one trembling instant, she was given the opportunity to take snapshots of an alternate future. Snapshots forever undeveloped in the darkness — of The Twilight Zone."
Wish Bank
Divorcee Janice Hamill (Dee Wallace) spends nearly all her time checking out sales to take her mind off her ex-husband. At one such sale, she finds a magic lamp that promises three wishes to those who rub it. When she rubs the lamp, Janice is transported to the Department of Magical Venues, where she is able to cash in her three wishes. Of course, the headaches of bureaucracy stand in the way of her desires.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: Once Janice has her wishes typed out, she's sent to the back of a very long line so her paperwork can be validated. When she finally gets to the clerk, she's rudely told that she's missing a form and is told to settle it with her broker. And then, when she learns that Mr. Willoughby has ensured that Mr. Brent is "no longer", he offers to straighten out her dilemma... only for quitting time to strike and everyone to leave.
- Breather Episode: This short is a light-hearted, comedic outing which comes after the thought-provoking "Little Boy Lost", and before the violent, horror-themed "Nightcrawlers".
- Denser and Wackier: Janice is granted three wishes by taking what is essentially a trip to the DMV, with all the comedic headaches such a trip induces.
- Fictional Counterpart: The Department of Magical Venues, a Vast Bureaucracy staffed by incompetent and unsympathetic employees, is a blatant Parody of the Department of Motor Vehicles.
- Mythology Gag: Mr. Brent's superior at the DMV is Mr. Willoughby, and he asks to speak with Brent about the Jameson account.
- Our Genies Are Different: If the employees at the DMV can be considered genies, they take on the form of unsympathetic or otherwise incompetent office workers who often make mistakes and rebuke their customers.
- Reset Button: After an infuriated Janice wishes that she never found the magic lamp in the first place, she is transported back to the rummage sale where she found it. She has no memory of picking up the lamp or her visit to the Department of Magical Venues, and she instead leaves to check out another sale.
- Take That!: As expected, the short is designed to utterly tear into the Department of Motor Vehicles and all the hassles that come with getting licenses renewed at the place, with the episode changing getting such renewals into cashing in three wishes.
- Three Wishes: When Janice rubs the magic lamp, she is transported to the Department of Magical Venues, and is told by Mr. Brent that she has three wishes. She specifically uses the wishes for $10,000,000, looking ten years younger, and her ex-husband Craig to suffer from moderate sexual dysfunction for a year and a half. Mr. Brent also warns Janet of the typical "three wishes" formula: the first wish will turn out fine, the second wish will not turn out as expected, and the third wish will most likely be used undo the first two. Eventually, Janice becomes so frustrated at the Department of Magical Venues being a Vast Bureaucracy that she wishes she never found the lamp in the first place, which is instantly granted. Apparently, it's not the first time a customer of the DMV made such a wish.
- Uncertain Doom: Mr. Brent disappears in a flash of light after Mr. Willoughby tells him that he's "done". His phrasing of how the former broker is "no longer" after Janet questions him about it implies that Brent was wiped from existence.
- Vast Bureaucracy: The Department of Magical Venues, where the old adage of getting three wishes is put through the 20th century grind. Mr. Brent hands Janice a stack of papers and tells her to bring them to the validation window before her Three Wishes can be granted, while also noting that she has to pay tax on the $10,000,000 that she wished for. After standing in line for hours, the Jerkass clerk tells her that she's missing her 604 form and needs to get one from her broker. When Mr. Brent is made "no longer" by his superior Mr. Willoughby, Willoughby himself offers to help her out, only for closing time to come, prompting Willoughby to tell Janice to come back tomorrow. She is so frustrated by the whole thing that she screams about wishing that she never found the lamp in the first place.
Nightcrawlers
Price (Scott Paulin), a Vietnam veteran with severe trauma, travels to a diner for some coffee in the hopes of avoiding going to sleep. When asked why, Price tells the diner's staff and customers about how his nightmares manifest in the real world whenever he sleeps, thanks to some kind of experimental chemical the Viet Cong sprayed him with. He shows great fear towards a recurring nightmare of his old unit, the Nightcrawlers, hunting him down and killing him as revenge for when he left them all to die. As one of the patrons in the diner is a police officer investigating a shooting at a nearby motel, he believes Price is responsible and nearly puts him under arrest. When Price is knocked unconscious, the cop, staff, and other patrons learn that he was telling the truth all along.
Tropes
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Nothing is revealed about the waitress in Big Bob's diner. In the short story by Robert R. McCammon, she is a former hippie named Cheryl Lovesong who lived in San Francisco and experimented with drugs.
- Adapted Out: Price mentions that he's met four other 'Nam veterans with the same ability to manifest their thoughts that he has, but none of them appear. In the short story by Robert R. McCammon, one of them, calling himself Tompkins and claiming to be from a veterans' association, visits Big Bob at his farm two months after his diner is destroyed.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Nightcrawlers finally kill Price as revenge for his cowardice, allowing them to disappear once and for all. In the process, however, they kill Officer Wells, grievously wound Big Bob, and tear his diner to shreds with their rifles. As he's being loaded into an ambulance, Big Bob, now traumatized himself, reminds his waitress that Price said he met four other vets with the same ability, who are no doubt causing further destruction with similar nightmares.
- Bottle Episode: The episode takes place entirely in and around Big Bob's diner.
- Broken Record: Price endlessly repeats "Charlie's in the light!" just before he's killed.
- Composite Character: Patrons Ray and Lindy have a son named Ricky. In the short story by Robert McCammon, they have two unnamed children, a boy and a girl.
- Cop Killer: Officer Wells is shot to death by the Nightcrawlers as they tear up the diner. Thankfully, he's the only onscreen casualty of the episode.
- Dirty Coward: Price ran as fast as he could when his unit was attacked by the Viet Cong, and he dreams about them coming back from the dead to hunt him down every night since then.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By knocking Price unconscious when he resists arrest, Dennis allows the Nightcrawlers to manifest in the real world and cause another massacre like the one he was originally investigating, even getting shot to death in the process.
- Recurring Dreams: Price has a recurring nightmare about his old unit from 'Nam, the Nightcrawlers, hunting him down after he deserted them when they came under attack by the Viet Cong. Thanks to his ability to manifest his thoughts, the Nightcrawlers appear in the real world and cause havoc whenever he falls asleep, as demonstrated when they shoot up the diner (after having done so to a nearby motel).
- Sole Survivor: Price is the only member of his old unit who survived. Because he deserted all the others to save himself.
- Trauma Button: Price's last moments, where he endures a very real flashback to Vietnam, has him screaming "Charlie's in the light!" again and again before his old unit kills him.
- The Vietnam Vet: Price is a traumatized Vietnam veteran who, thanks to some kind of experimental Soviet chemical, has the ability to manifest any person or object that he can imagine.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Price is a 'Nam vet who suffers from severe PTSD as a result of deserting his unit while they were under attack in order to save himself. After getting sprayed by an experimental chemical, he has the ability to manifest anything that he can imagine into reality. The first indication of this power is when he briefly turns his cup of coffee into a Budweiser, and later demonstrates the ability to the other people in Big Bob's diner when he makes a T-bone steak appear on the grill. He also says that he has met four other veterans with the same ability, and that one of them speculated that their powers were indeed the result of being sprayed with the chemical by the Viet Cong. While he is awake, Price's creations last only a few seconds, but they last far longer when he is asleep. As a result, when he fell asleep at a motel, he had his recurring nightmare about the Nightcrawlers hunting him out of revenge for his desertion, which prompted them to manifest, shooting up the place and killing four people. Upon hearing this, Officer Wells arrests Price, thinking him to be responsible for the massacre, and when he resists, knocks him unconscious with a ketchup bottle. As a result, the Nightcrawlers once again manifest from Price's thoughts and attack the diner, killing Dennis and Price in the process. With Price dead, the Nightcrawlers disappear for good.
