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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!

Binge this in 15h 55m•Peaking at 7.6/10

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.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 5 - Cradle of Darkness
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #1 - Cradle of Darkness

    S1:E5

    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

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  2. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 34 - The Placebo Effect
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #2 - The Placebo Effect

    S1:E34

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

    Director:Jerry Levine
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 9 - The Pool Guy
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #3 - The Pool Guy

    S1:E9

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

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 32 - Memphis
    7.5/10(4 votes)

    #4 - Memphis

    S1:E32

    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:Unknown

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  5. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 30 - It's Still a Good Life
    7.4/10(5 votes)

    #5 - It's Still a Good Life

    S1:E30

    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
    Writers:Ira Steven Behr, Jerome Bixby

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  6. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 31 - The Monsters Are on Maple Street
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #6 - The Monsters Are on Maple Street

    S1:E31

    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
    Writers:Kay Reindl, Erin Maher

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Twilight Zone

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  7. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 36 - The Pharaoh's Curse
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #7 - The Pharaoh's Curse

    S1:E36

    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:Unknown

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  8. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 40 - The Executions of Grady Finch
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #8 - The Executions of Grady Finch

    S1:E40

    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:Unknown
    Writer:Ira Steven Behr

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  9. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 42 - Sunrise
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #9 - Sunrise

    S1:E42

    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:Unknown

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  10. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 2 - One Night at Mercy
    7.0/10(5 votes)

    #10 - One Night at Mercy

    S1:E2

    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.

    Directors:Peter O'Fallon, Robert Parrish
    Writers:Rod Serling, Christopher Mack

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  11. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 7 - Time Lapse
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #11 - Time Lapse

    S1:E7

    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

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  12. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 15 - Chosen
    7.0/10(6 votes)

    #12 - Chosen

    S1:E15

    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

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  13. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 18 - Mr. Motivation
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #13 - Mr. Motivation

    S1:E18

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

    Director:Deran Sarafian
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 29 - Into the Light
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #14 - Into the Light

    S1:E29

    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

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  15. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 3 - Shades of Guilt
    6.8/10(4 votes)

    #15 - Shades of Guilt

    S1:E3

    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

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  16. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 6 - Night Route
    6.8/10(6 votes)

    #16 - Night Route

    S1:E6

    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

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  17. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 11 - The Lineman
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #17 - The Lineman

    S1:E11

    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

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  18. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 13 - Upgrade
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #18 - Upgrade

    S1:E13

    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

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  19. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 41 - Homecoming
    6.5/10(4 votes)

    #19 - Homecoming

    S1:E41

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

    Director:Risa Bramon Garcia
    Writer:Michael Angeli

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  20. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 19 - Sanctuary
    6.4/10(5 votes)

    #20 - Sanctuary

    S1:E19

    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

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  21. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 22 - Gabe's Story
    6.4/10(5 votes)

    #21 - Gabe's Story

    S1:E22

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

    Director:Allan Kroeker
    Writer:Dusty Kay

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  22. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 1 - Evergreen
    6.2/10(6 votes)

    #22 - Evergreen

    S1:E1

    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

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  23. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 17 - Hunted
    6.2/10(4 votes)

    #23 - Hunted

    S1:E17

    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

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  24. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 20 - Future Trade
    6.2/10(4 votes)

    #24 - Future Trade

    S1:E20

    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:Unknown

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  25. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 24 - The Path
    6.2/10(4 votes)

    #25 - The Path

    S1:E24

    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

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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".