6.6/103,140 votes#1 - King Nine Will Not Return
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1960
A WWII captain finds himself in the desert, next to his crashed plane, and desperately tries to find out what happened to the rest of his crew.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: Rod Serling
7.4/103,288 votes#2 - The Man in the Bottle
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1960
A discontented curio shop owner thinks he's finally found happiness when a genie he discovers in an old bottle grants him four wishes.
Director: Don Medford
Writer: Rod Serling
6.6/102,971 votes#3 - Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/1960
Ordered to commit a murder he doesn't want to perform, a smalltime hood nervously looks in the mirror and sees the man he could have been--confident, strong...and determined to get out.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Rod Serling
6.4/102,934 votes#4 - A Thing About Machines
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/28/1960
A writer feels that the machines in his house are conspiring against him.
Director: David Orrick McDearmon
Writer: Rod Serling
8.2/104,308 votes#5 - The Howling Man
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/1960
A man on a walking trip of post-World War I Europe gets caught in a storm. He comes across a remote monastery with a mysterious prisoner.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Charles Beaumont
9.1/106,570 votes#6 - Eye of the Beholder
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/11/1960
A young woman lying in a hospital bed awaits the outcome of an experimental treatment in an attempt to make her look normal.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Rod Serling
8.3/104,316 votes#7 - Nick of Time
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/1960
A superstitious newlywed becomes obsessed by a penny fortune-telling machine when he and his new wife are stranded with car trouble.
Director: Richard L. Bare
Writer: Richard Matheson
7.1/102,999 votes#8 - The Lateness of the Hour
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 12/2/1960
Jana, the daughter of inventor Dr. Loren, struggles with her parents' reliance on lifelike robot servants, urging her father to dismantle them despite his attachment to his creations.
Director: Jack Smight
Writer: Rod Serling
7.1/102,843 votes#9 - The Trouble with Templeton
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/1960
Booth Templeton is an aging actor who longs for the old days when his wife was alive. Miraculously, he is given a sobering glimpse of the past he holds so dear.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: E. Jack Neuman
7.5/103,280 votes#10 - A Most Unusual Camera
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/16/1960
Chester Diedrich and his wife Paula, after burglarizing a curio shop, end up with a camera that takes pictures of events five minutes into the future.
Director: John Rich
Writer: Rod Serling
7.9/103,777 votes#11 - The Night of the Meek
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 12/23/1960
A down-on-his-luck department store Santa Claus discovers a bottomless sack of toys.
Director: Jack Smight
Writer: Rod Serling
6.9/102,803 votes#12 - Dust
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/6/1961
After selling the rope for a hanging, a greedy peddler, tries to sell the condemned man's father a bag of "magic dust."
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Rod Serling
7.5/102,998 votes#13 - Back There
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/13/1961
It's April 14, 1961. Peter Corrigan and friends are discussing time travel at their men's club. Corrigan suddenly becomes dizzy. When his head clears, he has moved back to April 14, 1865 - the date of Lincoln's assassination.
Director: David Orrick McDearmon
Writer: Rod Serling
6.4/102,692 votes#14 - The Whole Truth
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 1/20/1961
A peculiar Model A automobile compels a used car dealer to tell only the truth.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Rod Serling
8.1/104,231 votes#15 - The Invaders
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 1/27/1961
An old woman in an isolated farmhouse encounters tiny, hostile aliens.
Director: Douglas Heyes
Writer: Richard Matheson
8.0/103,355 votes#16 - A Penny For Your Thoughts
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 2/3/1961
The lucky flip of a coin seems to give a mild-mannered bank clerk the power to read minds. But he soon learns that you can't believe everything you read.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: George Clayton Johnson
7.8/103,329 votes#17 - Twenty Two
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 2/10/1961
Miss Powell has a recurring nightmare about room 22 – a morgue.
Director: Jack Smight
Writer: Rod Serling
7.8/103,507 votes#18 - The Odyssey of Flight 33
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 2/24/1961
A commercial aircraft mysteriously travels back through time.
Director: Jus Addiss
Writer: Rod Serling
6.6/102,809 votes#19 - Mr. Dingle, the Strong
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 3/3/1961
Martians give Luther Dingle the strength of 300 men.
Director: John Brahm
Writer: Rod Serling
6.7/102,645 votes#20 - Static
Season 2 Episode 20 - Aired 3/10/1961
Ed Lindsay hates television, so he gets his old radio out of the basement of the boardinghouse where he lives. He soon finds he can receive programs from the past when he's alone.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: Charles Beaumont
7.0/102,576 votes#21 - The Prime Mover
Season 2 Episode 21 - Aired 3/24/1961
Ace Larsen discovers his business partner has the ability to control objects with his mind. The pair head to Vegas to win big.
Director: Richard L. Bare
Writer: Charles Beaumont, George Clayton Johnson
7.5/103,095 votes#22 - Long Distance Call
Season 2 Episode 22 - Aired 3/31/1961
A young boy find he can communicate with his dead grandmother through a toy phone.
Director: James Sheldon
Writer: Charles Beaumont, Bill Idelson
8.1/103,393 votes#23 - A Hundred Yards Over the Rim
Season 2 Episode 23 - Aired 4/7/1961
In 1847 a western settler sets out to find medicine for his dying son - and stumbles into modern-day New Mexico.
Director: Buzz Kulik
Writer: Rod Serling
7.6/102,914 votes#24 - The Rip Van Winkle Caper
Season 2 Episode 24 - Aired 4/21/1961
Thieves put themselves into suspended animation for 100 years after hiding a million dollars worth of gold bars.
Director: Jus Addiss
Writer: Rod Serling
8.4/103,538 votes#25 - The Silence
Season 2 Episode 25 - Aired 4/28/1961
A talkative man takes an offer to keep silent for a year for $500,000.
Director: Boris Sagal
Writer: Rod Serling
The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 2
Every episode of The Twilight Zone Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 2!
A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryDrama
Network:CBS
Season 2 Ratings Summary
"King Nine Will Not Return" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 2. It scored 6.6/10 based on 3140 votes. Directed by Buzz Kulik and written by Rod Serling, it aired on 9/30/1960. This episode is rated 0.8 points higher than the second-best, "The Man in the Bottle".