When does Trek channel the Twilight Zone

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by The Squire of Gothos, Mar 16, 2013.

  1. The Squire of Gothos

    The Squire of Gothos Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Late here, so this is a half formed thought, but are there many episodes of Trek that come close to being a Twilight Zone episode?

    There are a few episodes that put crew members in an alternate reality (or what they think is an alternate reality) like The Inner Light, but they just don't seem Zoney enough.

    Time Squared though, seems more like it. There was something more personal about the better TZ episodes, where our protagonist learns something about their deepest thoughts or fears. Seeing Picard look upon himself in the episode and doubt himself lends itself well to that. I can imagine Rod Serling introducing the episode.
     
  2. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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    TNG's "The Survivors" always felt like it could have been a TZ episode to me.
     
  3. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    "Charlie X" seemed rather Zonish.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Brandonv

    Brandonv Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I watched the DS9 episode "Whispers" the other day, and was thinking that it seemed a lot like a Twilight Zone plot.
     
  5. yousirname

    yousirname Commander Red Shirt

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    ^ I went to look up that episode because I couldn't remember its name. Yeah, Whispers is pure Twilight Zone/Outer Limits.
     
  6. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The Empath would have made a good TZ episode.

    There was a DS9 episode where they're racing to rescue a woman, only to arrive to find there had been a time-loopy, and she was dead before they got there. Forget the episode's title.

    :)
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2013
  7. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Off the top of my head, TNG "Cause and Effect", "Remember Me", VOY "Flashback", and ENT "Extinction", "Twilight", and "Hatchery" come to mind...
     
  8. Enterprise is Great

    Enterprise is Great Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It's called "The Sound of Her Voice".
     
  9. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    "The Corbomite Maneuver." The twist ending, that the scary alien is just a mannequin and the REAL alien is this cherubic baby, feels like something Rod Serling might have written . . . .
     
  10. lurok

    lurok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The concept behind VOY Scientific Method - invisible aliens performing experiments. Or TNG The Royale...
     
  11. Gaith

    Gaith Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Ooh, yeah. Also "Schisms".
     
  12. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Maybe not the whole episode, but in City on the Edge of Forever, there's a scene right before the comercial break where they're stuck on the planet, and have just discovered that all of the past has changed, and their present is gone. As Kirk looks up the scene blends into a scene of the stars. Always reminded me of Twilight Zone.
     
  13. Tracer Bullet

    Tracer Bullet Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I'll answer the question a little differently than other posters--I think that TOS especially has many episodes that are structured like Twilight Zone episodes--something eerie is going on, we're not sure what, and there's a twist or surprising ending.

    The rest of the franchise mostly stayed away from that sort of plot structure.
     
  14. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    "The Squire of Gothos" has a very TZ ending. He's just a child playing with his toys!
     
  15. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    There was an old episode where Capt. Kirk was back in time and riding an airplane. He looked out the window and there was that creature on the wing...
     
  16. Metryq

    Metryq Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but your post is ambiguous. That was an old TWILIGHT ZONE episode (not STAR TREK) titled "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" where William Shatner played a man recently released from a psych hospital.

    So, yes, that story is rather Twilight Zonish.
     
  17. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    And then he wandered into a diner and became obsessed with a novelty fortune-telling device . . . .
     
  18. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    So I'm not the only one who's seen it!
     
  19. xortex

    xortex Commodore Commodore

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    Charlie X was TZ's It's a Good life ten years later. Matheson wrote for both series anyway.
    Braga's Parallels was similar to RS' The Parallel, don't you think.
     
  20. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    True, although Matheson only wrote a single Star Trek episode, "The Enemy Within," and was much more of a TZ guy . . .

    As I understand it, Matheson prefered writing for anthology series, where he could invent his own characters and situations, as opposed to trying to fit his stories into a dramatic series that featured the same characters every week.

    (I have fuzzy memories of him telling me as much during a conversation many years ago.)