Decades after its original run, The Twilight Zone still remains one of the most imaginative and creative TV shows to ever grace our television sets. In fact, since the revival of the sci-fi genre, new fans are popping up all over the place.
Although every fan might have their own ideas about which episodes are the freakiest or most entertaining, we’ve created our own list of must-watch Twilight Zone episodes for you to check out.
Where to watch The Twilight Zone online
Before we jump into the list, you’re probably wondering how you can watch each of the episodes. Fortunately, most of the original 1959 series is available through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and CBS All Access.
Interested in the 2019 reboot? The 10-episode season is available on CBS All Access and comes with a separate mastering of the entire season in monotone to drive home that nostalgic feeling. CBS has already renewed the series for a second season.
As for the other series, the 1985 version of The Twilight Zone is available on CBS All Access, but the 2002 series isn’t available on any streaming service. Now, let’s talk about the best episodes!
Eye of the Beholder (1960)
The sixth episode from season 2 of the original series, Eye of the Beholder, chronicles the aftermath of an operation to surgically repair a young woman’s facial deformity. For most of the episode, patient Janet Tyler (played by The Beverly Hillbillies actress Donna Douglas) has her head and face covered with bandages, and the audience is privy to conversations between her character and many of the doctors and nurses involved in the complicated procedure that — they all hope — will allow her to live a more comfortable life. When the bandages finally come off, however, the final moments of the episode challenge everything we know about beauty and society in a brilliant shift of perspective.
Time Enough at Last (1959)
The eighth episode of the series, Time Enough at Last, has inspired countless parodies and homages in one form or another over the years with its tragic tale of a man who finds something positive in surviving a nuclear war that leaves him alone in the world. Celebrated actor Burgess Meredith famously portrays farsighted bookworm Henry Bemis in the episode, which is based on a short story penned by Lynn Venable for the sci-fi magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction. Serling himself considered it one of his favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, and it touches on themes of anti-intellectualism, overreliance on technology, and the value of solitude that still carry weight today, more than half a century after it aired.
It’s a Good Life (1961)
Rather than explore complicated moral or existential issues, The Twilight Zone occasionally offered audiences a story that was just plain, old scary — but still comfortably (or perhaps uncomfortably) set within the tonal framework of the series. That description fits the eighth episode of the series’ third season well, as it tells the story of an Ohio town separated from the rest of the world and ruled by a six-year-old boy with godlike powers (Bill Mumy, later of Lost in Space). The community and his own family attempt to carry on with their lives, but the whims of a child are unpredictable, to say the least — and the brief look inside this world presented by the episode is one filled with terror from a very unlikely source.
Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963)
William Shatner starred in this wildly popular episode from the fifth season of the original series, portraying a passenger on an airplane who sees something (or more accurately, “some … thing … “) on the wing of the plane, only to have his seemingly unbelievable claims dismissed by his fellow passengers. The fact that he recently suffered a nervous breakdown doesn’t help his cause, and Shatner’s character struggles to prove that the gremlin he sees is really there, not just to the people around him, but also to himself. The episode is based on a short story penned by I Am Legend author Richard Matheson, and was later adapted for the 1983 movie The Twilight Zone.
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street (1960)
One recurring theme throughout The Twilight Zone in all of its incarnations is that humans often pose a greater threat to each other than any external entities. No episode hammered that point home better than this season 1 story about a neighborhood that swiftly descends into violence and anarchy when residents begin to believe the power outage affecting their street might herald an alien invasion. Written by Serling, the episode doesn’t even need to reveal the true cause of the outage (although it does) in order for the message to come through loud and clear: It doesn’t take much for people to turn on each other.
The Shadow Man (1985)
This episode from the first season of the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone doesn’t get mentioned on many “Best of” lists, but it’s an underappreciated gem of the later iterations of the series. Directed by celebrated filmmaker Joe Dante (who helmed Gremlins, Innerspace, and a segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie) from a story penned by Farscape creator Rockne O’Bannon, The Shadow Man follows a bullied young boy who discovers that a terrifying entity emerges from under his bed each night to terrorize the neighborhood. The episode brilliantly blends traditional childhood fears with all-too-real adult scares, and is one of the high points of the show’s ’80s revival.
Living Doll (1963)
Long before Chucky turned talking children’s dolls into nightmare fuel, The Twilight Zone gave audiences this fifth-season episode, which revolves around a “Talky Tina” doll that begins to add threats of murder to its vocal repertoire when it’s gifted to a young girl in a dysfunctional family. Kojak star Telly Savalas plays the girl’s emotionally abusive stepfather in the episode, which leaves you uncertain until its very final moments about whether the doll’s threats are real, or if it’s all in his head. Living Doll went on to inspire countless murderous-doll stories on the big and small screens in the years that followed, ensuring nightmares for years to come.
Into the Light (2003)
While the 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone may not have been well-received, it took great strides to address modern-day issues through the show’s unique dark sci-fi lens. There were some knockout stories in the 43-episode run, including Into the Light— a tragic episode starring Samantha Mathis as a high school teacher who can tap into a grim psychic ability. Through her eyes, viewers can see people who are facing imminent death. A spotlight begins to glow around each character who will soon meet their final moments. When the teacher begins to see the light glow around her students’ faces, she anticipates a potential tragedy at her own school, which only feels all too familiar for many students, families, and teachers in recent years.
Dealer’s Choice (1985)
Comedy might not be the most robust tool in The Twilight Zone’s toolbox, but Wes Craven undoubtedly taps into it throughout his directed episode from the ’80s. The premise is straightforward: a group of friends meets up one night for a game of poker. Quickly, though, the friends determine that the devil is among them, and he’s arrived to take one of them away. This surprisingly funny story features a young Morgan Freeman, Barney Martin, Garrett Morris, and M. Emmet Walsh as the four friends. The plot is approached with light-hearted humor and wit, but it also explores a deeper, profound idea of what life could be like after death.
The Invaders (1961)
The Invaders is another standout favorite of series creator Serling. This second season episode features almost no dialogue and is basically a one-woman show by actress Agnes Moorehead. The four-time Academy Award nominee portrays an older woman whose calm and quiet life is flipped upside down when a group of miniature invaders arrives in a flying saucer. This story quickly unravels into really compelling, complicated, and suspenseful moments. After a rollercoaster buildup, the episode finally reaches an unexpected and dismal end.
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