You unlock this door with the key of imagination.
Beyond it is another dimension.
A dimension of sound.
A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
And you?
All right, fine. Enjoy your flight.
Well, hello.
Those all right?
Yeah. They're fine. Give me that.
Do you want me to sit next to the window?
No. I'm fine.
I can f...
Honey, what is it?
The emergency window?
You wanna move?
No, no, no. Doesn't matter.
What's the difference where I sit?
It's not the seat. It's the airplane.
Honey, don't smoke that now. Wait till the plane takes off.
I'm not acting much like a cured man, am I?
Honey, you are cured.
Dr. Martin wouldn't let you fly if you weren't, would he?
I suppose not.
I mean, if you weren't well, dr. Martin just wouldn't let you fly all the way back home.
It's just that simple.
Well, you make it sound simple anyway.
It is, bob.
Yeah.
Here I am hogging the whole state and you're so tired.
I've missed you these last six months.
It's all over now, though, and mama's taking you home.
It must have been awful for you.
Taking care of the kids, bearing the full responsibility.
Well, everything is still intact.
Except me.
Oh, bob, I'm not going to let...
Cabin door secured.
What?
Just a little abject cowardice, that's all.
I'm gonna be all right.
Had a teensy weensy breakdown, but now I'm cured.
Understanding. It's wonderful.
It isn't the airplane at all.
Overtension and overanxiety due to underconfidence.
Your seat belt, sir.
Portrait of a frightened man.
Mr. Robert Wilson, 37. Husband, father and salesman on sick leave.
Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent the last six months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson Is about to be flown home.
The difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, mr. Wilson's flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown.
Tonight, he's traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to mr. Wilson's plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of the twilight zone.
Fasten your seat belt, sir.
Fasten your seat belt, sir.
I'm sorry, darling. Go back to sleep.
I shouldn't have taken that sleeping pill.
I should stay awake with you.
No, no, I don't want you to, sweetheart. Go back to sleep. I'm all right.
Can't you sleep?
I will. Don't worry about me.
Okay.
Here, quickly!
May I help you?
There's a man out there.
What?
Look. Look, he's crawling on...
I'm... I'm sorry.
Must have been the...
Bob? What is it?
Oh, it's nothing, mrs. Wilson.
Can I get you anything?
A-a glass of water.
Surely.
Is something wrong?
No. I-I thought I saw something out there.
What?
Nothing.
I guess I need a little sleep.
Are you all right?
Yeah, fine.
Don't you think you ought to take a sleeping pill now?
Yeah, I... I'll take one of those.
Here you are.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Can I get you a blanket?
No. Honey? Uh...
Oh. No, thanks.
You gonna be all right now?
Yeah. Fine.
Will you wake me if you need me?
I will.
It isn't there.
It isn't there.
Honey? Would you wake up, honey?
Quickly.
Yes, Mr. Wilson?
Can I help you, mr. Wilson?
Are we going into a storm?
Just a small one. Nothing to worry about.
Honey.
Would you wake up, please, honey?
Honey.
Julia, wake up.
What?
What are you looking at?
Bob?
Is it the storm?
Does it bother you?
No.
Honey, you remember what I told you before about seeing something outside?
Yes.
Julia, there's a man out there.
Don't mean a man. I mean a...
I don't know what I mean. I mean...
Maybe a... what did they call them during the w*r?
You know, the pilots...
Gremlins.
Gremlins!
You remember the stories in the...
Julia, don't look at me like that.
Bob.
I am not imagining it.
I'm not imagining it. He's out there.
Don't look! He's not there now.
He.
Jumps away whenever anyone might see him.
Except me.
Honey, he's there.
I realize what this sounds like.
Do I look insane?
No, darling, no.
I know I had a mental breakdown. I know I had it in an airplane.
I know it looks to you as if the same thing's happening again, but it isn't.
I'm sure it isn't.
Look, the reason I'm telling you this,
isn't just to worry you. You notice I didn't tell you before.
I want you to tell me.
I didn't tell you before because I wasn't sure whether it was real or not, but I am sure now. It is real.
There's a man out there! Or a...
A gremlin, or... whatever it...
If I described him to you, you'd really think I was gone.
No, darling, it's all right, it's all right.
Julia, I know your intentions are good.
I know you love me and sympathize with me, but don't patronize me. I am not insane!
Did I say...
It doesn't have to be said. It's in your face, in your...
Look, for the last time, that creature's out there, and the reason I'm telling you is, he's starting to tamper with one of the engines.
Look. Look.
Look. Think anything you want. Think...
I belong in a straitjacket if it pleases you.
If it pleases me?
No, no, no. I-I didn't mean that. What I mean Is, whatever you think of me, that I'm losing my mind, anything, all I'm asking you to do is to tell the pilots what I've said.
Ask them to keep an eye on the wings.
If they see nothing,
all right.
All right, then I'll commit myself. I'll...
But if they do,
won't you even allow the possibility.
I'll tell them.
I know it's asking a lot. I...
It-it's like asking you to advertise your marriage to a lunatic.
No, I'll tell them. You just sit tight, and I'll go tell them.
Mrs. Wilson, what's the problem? May I help you?
Oh, yes, my husband wants to see the flight engineer.
All right, if you stay right here, I'll have him with you.
Thank you. It's very important.
Hurry, please.
Hurry! Hurry!
He's out there!
What's going on?
He's pulling up one of the cowling plates.
"h e"?
Didn't my wife...
There's a man out there!
Keep your voice down.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I...
I don't know what's going on here.
Will you look?
Mr. Wilson, I'm warning you.
Will you please look? In the name of...
Well?
No, wait a minute.
I saw him pull that plate up.
I said I saw him pull that plate up!
Mr. Wilson, please. All right, you saw him.
But there are other people aboard. We mustn't alarm them.
You mean, you've seen him, too?
Of course we have, but we don't want to frighten the passengers.
You can understand that.
Of course. Of...
I understand.
Now, the thing we've got to remember...
You can stop now.
Bob.
Get out of here.
Mr. Wilson...
I said you can stop.
Honey, what is it?
I won't say another word. I'll see us crash first.
Bob!
Mr. Wilson, try to understand our position.
Honey, I'll be right back.
He did pull it up.
He did.
Honey, I was going to tell them when you...
Were you?
For me?
Please, bob.
You'll sleep. You'll sleep now, darling.
Sure.
Oh, boy.
What did you do? Get his wife to give him those pills?
He'll be out for hours.
I hope so. The way the storm is coming up.
Don't worry, Betty everything's fine.
I hope so.
Honey?
Honey, would you get me a glass of water, please?
A glass of water, please. Hurry.
Nuttiest way of trying to commit su1c1de I ever heard of.
It's all right now, darling.
I know.
But I'm the only one who does know right now.
The flight of mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a flight not only from point "a" to point "b," but also from the fear of recurring mental breakdown.
Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer.
Though, for the moment, he is, as he has said, alone in this assurance.
Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much longer, for happily, tangible manifestation is very often left as evidence of trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as the twilight zone.
And now, Mr. Serling.
Next time on the twilight zone, we probe into the element of time and present a very oddball opus entitled, a kind of a stopwatch.
We tell the story of a man, a stopwatch, and an incredible deviation from the norm, said norm being the usual 24 hour day, said deviation involving what happens when a stopwatch is pushed and everything stop, not just time.
To titillate and intrigue a kind of a stopwatch.
Next on twilight zone.