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The Worst Episodes of The Twilight Zone

Every episode of The Twilight Zone ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of The Twilight Zone!

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This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 3 - The Crossing
    5.3/10(281 votes)

    #1 - The Crossing

    S3:E3

    A stressed-out priest repeatedly encounters a station wagon containing a young girl. The car keeps crashing and bursting into flames.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Ralph Phillips

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  2. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 11 - Song of the Younger World / The Girl I Married
    5.5/10(288 votes)

    #2 - Song of the Younger World / The Girl I Married

    S2:E11

    In 1916 a girl and a young man from a reformatory for wayward boys fall in love and try to get away from her father, the superintendent. He finds out and doesn't approve of their love, locking away his daughter and punishing the boy. With the help of a wandering vagrant the girl finds a way to use a book to transfer both her and the boy into a primordial world where they become wolves and can live free and together. An attorney and his wife have successful careers. They feel something is lacking in their marriage. Soon, they encounter younger versions of their mates.

    Director:Noel Black
    Writers:J. M. DeMatteis, Anthony Lawrence

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  3. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 28 - Crazy as a Soup Sandwich
    5.5/10(274 votes)

    #3 - Crazy as a Soup Sandwich

    S3:E28

    A man sells his soul to a demon for some racing tips. After being terrified by the demon he goes for help from the criminal boss he borrowed the track money from.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Harlan Ellison

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  4. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 4 - The Hunters
    5.7/10(288 votes)

    #4 - The Hunters

    S3:E4

    A young boy falls into an undiscovered cave near a housing project. An archeologist studies strange paintings on its walls and then bizarre things begin to happen. Cave items move around and animals are killed and brought into the cave.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Paul Chitlik

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  5. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 5 - If She Dies / Ye Gods
    5.8/10(450 votes)

    #5 - If She Dies / Ye Gods

    S1:E5

    A year after his wife died a man is involved in a car accident that leaves his young daughter in a coma. On his way home the man has a vision. Cupid arrives in the modern world. A love spell for his target does not work as well as he hopes.

    Directors:Peter Medak, John D. Hancock
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 15 - Appointment on Route 17
    5.8/10(286 votes)

    #6 - Appointment on Route 17

    S3:E15

    After finishing a heart transplant, a man finds his personality has changed. He also discovers that he has a strange attraction to a waitress at a road diner.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 10 - The Trance
    5.9/10(275 votes)

    #7 - The Trance

    S3:E10

    A scam artist purports to channel the spirit of Delos, a former inhabitant of Atlantis. Together with a partner, he makes a living off of it. The day of his big break, he channels another spirit, one who could cause him to lose everything. Is it punishment or a lesson from the twilight zone?

    Director:Randy Bradshaw
    Writer:J. Michael Straczynski

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  8. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 17 - Stranger in Possum Meadows
    5.9/10(278 votes)

    #8 - Stranger in Possum Meadows

    S3:E17

    A young boy playing in a field meets an old man who is really an alien collecting specimens to bring back to his planet.

    Director:Sturla Gunnarsson
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 18 - Street of Shadows
    6.1/10(282 votes)

    #9 - Street of Shadows

    S3:E18

    Walking taking a walk in a wealthy neighborhood an unemployed man living in a shelter experiences an unusual transformation.

    Director:Ryszard Bugajski
    Writer:Michael Reaves

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  10. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 23 - The Wall
    6.1/10(379 votes)

    #10 - The Wall

    S3:E23

    At a lab a dimensional portal appears. Major Alex McAndrews is sent through the portal to learn what is on the other side. He discovers a pastoral paradise. When he returns to Earth, he discovers that the military has plans for the portal.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:J. Michael Straczynski

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  11. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 4 - The After Hours / Lost and Found / The World Next Door
    6.2/10(373 votes)

    #11 - The After Hours / Lost and Found / The World Next Door

    S2:E4

    A Woman goes to a mall for a doll, but encounters strange things after the closing hours... A young college student has been losing personal items for some time. The mystery is resolved when she finds two time-travelers in her closet. A hen-pecked man with a boring life and a secret yearn to build inventions finds a secret door in his basement that leads to a parallel world. In that world, his counterpart is a rich famous inventor in a Victorian-style setting who is equally bored with his life. The two switch lives and are happy ever after.

    Directors:Paul Lynch, Bruce Malmuth, Gus Trikonis
    Writers:Rockne S. O'Bannon, Rod Serling, George R. R. Martin

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  12. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 5 - Dream Me a Life
    6.2/10(298 votes)

    #12 - Dream Me a Life

    S3:E5

    Roger, a curmudgeonly man in a retirement home, has nightmares of an unknown woman trying to hold back some strange creature behind a door in a room filled with candles. He is shocked when that woman, a cataleptic, becomes his next-door neighbor. Roger soon comes to realize that he is somehow tied to the woman, and that even in the dream he can be hurt and possibly killed. The next time he is drawn into the dream he tries to help her, only to realize that she is holding something in - the spirit of her dead husband, as she can't let go of his memory. Roger releases him to pass on to the other side, and slowly begins to reconcile with the woman as she comes back to life.

    Director:Allan King
    Writer:J. Michael Straczynski

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  13. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 3 - The Storyteller / Nightsong
    6.3/10(320 votes)

    #13 - The Storyteller / Nightsong

    S2:E3

    In the early 20th century a young woman takes a job as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse. One of her students, Mica, secretly takes extra books home to read. When the teacher confronts him, she finds that the boy is reading the books to his ailing grandfather - who claims to be more than a hundred and forty years old! A young DJ working the graveyard shift at a radio station rediscovers a record album by her boyfriend who disappeared five years ago. When he suddenly appears again, she is surprised and upset.

    Directors:Paul Lynch, Bradford May
    Writers:Michael Reaves, Rockne S. O'Bannon

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  14. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 7 - The Road Less Traveled
    6.3/10(318 votes)

    #14 - The Road Less Traveled

    S2:E7

    A man who dodges the Vietnam draft is haunted by visions of his other life as a soldier during the war.

    Director:Wes Craven
    Writer:George R. R. Martin

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  15. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 6 - Memories
    6.3/10(281 votes)

    #15 - Memories

    S3:E6

    A hypnotist who specializes in helping people relive their past lives tries to find her own history. She hypnotizes herself and when she awakens, she learns that everyone can now remember their past lives. They also desperately want to forget them.

    Director:Ryszard Bugajski
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 26 - Many, Many Monkeys
    6.3/10(281 votes)

    #16 - Many, Many Monkeys

    S3:E26

    An epidemic breaks out and many people are struck blind. Something more happens, however: People have become cold and heartless toward each other.

    Director:Ryszard Bugajski
    Writer:William Froug

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  17. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 30 - Father and Son Game
    6.3/10(275 votes)

    #17 - Father and Son Game

    S3:E30

    A 79-year-old man wants to keep on living so he transplants his brain into a younger body. His son, however, resents his father's continued life and tries to wrestle power from him.

    Director:Randy Bradshaw
    Writer:Jeremy Bertrand Finch

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  18. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 24 - A Day in Beaumont / The Last Defender of Camelot
    6.4/10(334 votes)

    #18 - A Day in Beaumont / The Last Defender of Camelot

    S1:E24

    In the 1950s a flying saucer crashes on Earth. The crash is seen by a couple. They run into town, but no one believes them. "The Last Defender of Camelot" takes place in 1986 in London and, eventually, Cornwall. An extension of the story by Sir Thomas Mallory, a mid-50's man is drawn toward Cornwall with a sense of urgency. He is jumped by 3 young men, who are thrown aside like playthings. The old man forces one of the younger ones to take him to the boss. The boss is a late-30's woman, who reveals herself as Morgana. Lancelot is quested by her to see Merlin, who is asleep in a cave in Cornwall. Lancelot finds Merlin awakened. Merlin has different plans to resurrect a new king. What does the world's oldest magician have up his sleeve? Who can save mankind? Perhaps the Last Defender of Camelot?

    Director:Jeannot Szwarc
    Writers:David Gerrold, George R. R. Martin

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  19. The Twilight Zone Season 2 Episode 1 - The Once and Future King / A Saucer of Loneliness
    6.4/10(402 votes)

    #19 - The Once and Future King / A Saucer of Loneliness

    S2:E1

    An Elvis impersonator is transported to the 1950s where he meets the real Elvis who thinks that the impersonator is his long dead brother. A quiet waitress sees a glowing UFO, which gives her a message that everyone wants to know. She refuses to reveal exactly what the message is.

    Directors:Jim McBride, John D. Hancock
    Writers:David Gerrold, George R. R. Martin, Theodore Sturgeon

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  20. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 13 - There Was an Old Woman
    6.4/10(290 votes)

    #20 - There Was an Old Woman

    S3:E13

    A famous children's book writer visits a sick boy and reads him one of her stories. Later, at home, she is disturbed by children's voices throughout her house and learns from his parents that the boy has died.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Tom J. Astle

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  21. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 20 - A Game of Pool
    6.4/10(297 votes)

    #21 - A Game of Pool

    S3:E20

    Young Jesse has spent his entire life mastering pool, and wants to beat the best: the deceased Fats Brown. Summoned, Fats Brown appears to challenge him to a game of pool. The stakes: Jesse's life. After a tense match, Jesse fails to make a critical shot. Fats tells him that he will indeed "die": he'll die as the second-rate player he always is. Fats departs as Jesse vows to keep playing until he's good enough to beat Brown.

    Director:Randy Bradshaw
    Writer:George Clayton Johnson

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  22. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 18 - Gramma / Personal Demons / Cold Reading
    6.5/10(475 votes)

    #22 - Gramma / Personal Demons / Cold Reading

    S1:E18

    A young boy is left to care for his old, scary grandmother. He finally confronts his fears and steps up to her, finding that she has no pulse. Then Gramma reaches out and grabs him... A screenwriter is having writer's block when strange impish creatures start haunting him. Sadly, only he can see them. An actor arrives at a radio station to perform a radio play. An old voodoo stick is accidentally activated and the play becomes more real that anything anyone expected.

    Directors:Peter Medak, Gus Trikonis, Bradford May
    Writers:Martin Pasko, Rockne S. O'Bannon, Stephen King, Harlan Ellison

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  23. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 19 - The Leprechaun-Artist / Dead Run
    6.5/10(383 votes)

    #23 - The Leprechaun-Artist / Dead Run

    S1:E19

    Vacationing in the United States, an Irish leprechaun is caught by three boys. To be freed, he must grant them three wishes. An out-of-work trucker takes on a bizarre job upon the recommendation of a friend: deliveryman of souls to Hell. He soon begins to realize that Hell is essentially out of control, running on momentum, and that the current regime is way too harsh. Resolved, he decides to begin choosing which among the supposed "damned" should try to make their way to Heaven.

    Director:Paul Tucker
    Writers:Alan Brennert, Greg Bear, James Crocker

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  24. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 14 - The Trunk
    6.5/10(300 votes)

    #24 - The Trunk

    S3:E14

    A young man at a motel discovers an empty trunk that grants any wishes. He uses it for popularity, but at a party he discovers who his true friends are.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. The Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 21 - Room 2426
    6.5/10(281 votes)

    #25 - Room 2426

    S3:E21

    Martin Decker is confined to a special room for acts and thoughts against the state. They want the formula for a weapon he does not want to reveal. Escape for Martin comes from the mind.

    Director:Ryszard Bugajski
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"The Crossing" is the worst rated episode of "The Twilight Zone". It scored 5.3/10 based on 281 votes. Directed by Paul Lynch and written by Ralph Phillips, it aired on 10/8/1988. This episode scored 0.2 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Song of the Younger World / The Girl I Married".