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The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone

Every episode of The Twilight Zone ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone!

A 2002 revival of Rod Serling's 1950/60s television series, The Twilight Zone, with actor Forest Whitaker assuming Serling's role as narrator and on-screen host.
Genres:Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryDrama
Network:UPN

Best Episodes Summary

"Cradle of Darkness" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone". It scored 7.6/10 based on 5 votes. Directed by Jean de Segonzac and written by Kamran Pasha, it aired on 10/2/2002. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Placebo Effect".

  • Cradle of Darkness
    7.6/105 votes
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    #1 - Cradle of Darkness

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/2/2002

    Hoping to undo the horrors of WWII, a woman, Andre, sacrifices her own future when she goes back in time to stop Adolf Hitler by killing him when he is a baby.

    Director: Jean de Segonzac

    Writer: Kamran Pasha

  • The Placebo Effect
    7.6/105 votes
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    #2 - The Placebo Effect

    Season 1 Episode 34 - Aired 4/2/2003

    A hypochondriac with the power to manifest his beliefs into reality poses a danger to the entire world.

    Director: Jerry Levine

    Writer: N/A

  • The Pool Guy
    7.5/104 votes
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    #3 - The Pool Guy

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 10/16/2002

    A pool cleaner loses the ability to distinguish dreams from reality.

    Director: Brad Turner

    Writer: N/A

  • Memphis
    7.5/104 votes
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    #4 - Memphis

    Season 1 Episode 32 - Aired 2/26/2003

    A dying man is transported back to the South in 1968 on the day of Martin Luther King's assassination and tries to stop the killing.

    Director: Eriq La Salle

    Writer: N/A

  • It's Still a Good Life
    7.4/105 votes
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    #5 - It's Still a Good Life

    Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 2/19/2003

    In this sequel to the original TZs "It's a Good Life", an adult Anthony Fremont continues to terrorize the town of Peaksville.

    Director: Allan Kroeker

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr, Jerome Bixby

  • Chosen
    7.2/105 votes
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    #6 - Chosen

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 11/6/2002

    A man is annoyed by two tenacious people he believes to be evangelists and refuses to listen to their claims that the day is Armageddon, but as it transpires the day is Armageddon, and the "evangelists" are Angels in need of help...

    Director: Winrich Kolbe

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr

  • The Monsters Are on Maple Street
    7.2/104 votes
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    #7 - The Monsters Are on Maple Street

    Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 2/19/2003

    In this remake of the original TZ's "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", a neighborhood is terrorized by mysterious power outages and begin to turn on each other.

    Director: Debbie Allen

    Writer: Erin Maher, Kay Reindl

  • The Pharaoh's Curse
    7.2/104 votes
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    #8 - The Pharaoh's Curse

    Season 1 Episode 36 - Aired 4/23/2003

    A young magician becomes the protégé of an elderly conjurer to learn the secret of an impossible escape - The Pharaoh's Curse.

    Director: Bob Balaban

    Writer: N/A

  • The Executions of Grady Finch
    7.2/104 votes
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    #9 - The Executions of Grady Finch

    Season 1 Episode 40 - Aired 5/7/2003

    A prisoner, Grady Finch, who insists on his innocence discovers that he can't be killed. He survives multiple execution attempts and his attorney eventually manages to get him released. Finch is elated, but as he emerges he confesses to his attorney that he was really guilty...and then he is finally killed as a statue of Nemesis, the Goddess of Vengeance, falls on top of him.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr

  • Sunrise
    7.2/105 votes
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    #10 - Sunrise

    Season 1 Episode 42 - Aired 5/21/2003

    Several college students are thrust into a virtual nightmare when they discover an Aztec artifact that causes the sun to vanish and the only solution is a human sacrifice.

    Director: Tim Matheson

    Writer: N/A

  • One Night at Mercy
    7.0/105 votes
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    #11 - One Night at Mercy

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 9/18/2002

    A young doctor meets a suicide who claims to be Death incarnate. When Death insists he wants to stop his killing ways, the doctor is forced to contemplate what life would be like without death.

    Director: Peter O'Fallon, Robert Parrish

    Writer: Christopher Mack, Rod Serling

  • Time Lapse
    7.0/104 votes
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    #12 - Time Lapse

    Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 10/9/2002

    After an unconscious high-security patient arrives in his ward, Doctor Zack Taylor finds himself suffering from blackouts. On each occasion he wakes up partway along a byzantine assassination plot to kill the President's daughter with a plastic gun. He gets to the target's location, pulls out his gun, and...shoots an assassin behind the girl...

    Director: John T. Kretchmer

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Mr. Motivation
    7.0/104 votes
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    #13 - Mr. Motivation

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 11/20/2002

    A sinister toy doll encourages a timid man to stand up to his boss and take control of his life.

    Director: Deran Sarafian

    Writer: N/A

  • Into the Light
    7.0/104 votes
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    #14 - Into the Light

    Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 2/12/2003

    A teacher on her last few days of teaching high school suddenly starts seeing lights on peoples faces just before they die. When she starts seeing it on most of her students faces, she decides to find out what will happen.

    Director: Lou Diamond Phillips

    Writer: Moira Kirland

  • Shades of Guilt
    6.8/104 votes
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    #15 - Shades of Guilt

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 9/25/2002

    Matt McGreevy is driving when a black man runs up to his car and begs for help. Matt drives away as a gang falls on the man and beat him to death. When he arrives home, Matt first bleeds from the cuts the dead man suffers, then his skin changes. By the time he gets back home he has transformed into the dead man, a college professor...

    Director: Perry Lang

    Writer: Ira Steven Behr

  • Night Route
    6.8/106 votes
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    #16 - Night Route

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/2/2002

    A young woman's seemingly happy life unravels after a close call with a speeding car. The woman, Melina, begins to forget details of her lfie and how she met her fiance. Worse, she is haunted by strange phenomena: a mysterious bus that follows her and people who know her name that she's never met. Finally her fiance disappears without a trace, leaving her in a desolate life where she knows no one.

    Director: Jean de Segonzac

    Writer: Jill E. Blotevogel

  • The Lineman
    6.5/104 votes
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    #17 - The Lineman

    Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 10/23/2002

    Tyler inherits the power to hear people's thoughts after a freak lightening storm. Eventually, he begins to abuse his new gift, using it as a means of acquiring vast wealth and personal gain. But then Tyler learns that his new power comes with a price. Believing Shannon wants a rich man, Tyler uses his ability to play the stock market, but is surprised at the consequences, especially when he tries to touch others' minds when they grow distant from him.

    Director: Jonathan Frakes

    Writer: Pen Densham

  • Upgrade
    6.5/104 votes
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    #18 - Upgrade

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 10/30/2002

    Annie fantasizes about her ideal family, a far cry from the dysfunctional group of people she sees everyday. But when her fantasies seemingly become reality, she is horrored to discover she is next on the replacement list.

    Director: Joe Chappelle

    Writer: Robert Hewitt Wolfe

  • Homecoming
    6.5/104 votes
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    #19 - Homecoming

    Season 1 Episode 41 - Aired 5/7/2003

    A teenager has a brief reunion with his father, returned from the war.

    Director: Risa Bramon Garcia

    Writer: Michael Angeli

  • Sanctuary
    6.4/105 votes
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    #20 - Sanctuary

    Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 11/20/2002

    Stranded in a modern day Garden of Eden, a man and woman cannot resist the temptation of technology.

    Director: Patrick R. Norris

    Writer: James Crocker

  • Gabe's Story
    6.4/105 votes
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    #21 - Gabe's Story

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 12/11/2002

    A man suffering from consistent bad luck is given a surprising chance to change his destiny.

    Director: Allan Kroeker

    Writer: Dusty Kay

  • Evergreen
    6.2/106 votes
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    #22 - Evergreen

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/2002

    When rebellious teenager Jenna and her family move into an exclusive gated community that her parents hope will help them better control the troubled teen, Jenna soon discovers the dark truth behind how her new neighbors deal with discipline problems.

    Director: Allan Kroeker

    Writer: Jill E. Blotevogel

  • Hunted
    6.2/104 votes
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    #23 - Hunted

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 11/13/2002

    A cop pursues the last known criminal in Earth's future society. But as it turns out, the criminal is fighting on the same side of the cop, to rid the world of androids.

    Director: Patrick R. Norris

    Writer: Christopher Mack

  • Future Trade
    6.2/104 votes
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    #24 - Future Trade

    Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 11/27/2002

    A man with a dead-end job and a dysfunctional family is lured into trading his future for that of a seemingly privileged man with his trophy wife.

    Director: Bob Balaban

    Writer: N/A

  • The Path
    6.2/104 votes
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    #25 - The Path

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 1/8/2003

    Ally, a young writer for a tabloid, meets a man who claims he sees others the path they are destined to follow. His predictions for her prove uncannily accurate and she soon becomes dependent on his predictions to guide her life. When he gets hit by a car and killed she finds herself without hope.

    Director: Jerry Levine

    Writer: James Crocker