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The Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1

Every episode of The Twilight Zone Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Twilight Zone Season 1!

Binge this in 9h 22m•Peaking at 7.4/10

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
    The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 1 - Evergreen
    6.4/10(616 votes)

    #1 - 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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  2. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 2 - One Night at Mercy
    7.1/10(526 votes)

    #2 - 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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  3. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 3 - Shades of Guilt
    6.6/10(517 votes)

    #3 - 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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  4. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 4 - Dream Lover
    6.1/10(460 votes)

    #4 - Dream Lover

    S1:E4

    To help overcome his writer's block and make his life easier and more relaxed, an artist named Andrew wills his dream woman Sondra to life, but the lines between reality and fantasy quickly begin to blur. Sondra soon starts hitting on the cable guy and gaining a life of her own.

    Director:Peter O'Fallon
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 5 - Cradle of Darkness
    7.4/10(556 votes)

    #5 - 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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  6. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 6 - Night Route
    7.0/10(463 votes)

    #6 - 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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  7. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 7 - Time Lapse
    6.5/10(390 votes)

    #7 - 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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  8. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 8 - Dead Man's Eyes
    6.5/10(401 votes)

    #8 - Dead Man's Eyes

    S1:E8

    A distraught widow and former rehab patient on the verge of a total mental collapse, heavily invested in finding her husband's killer, discovers that her murdered husband's eyeglasses reveal the last moments of his life and possibly the identity of his killer...

    Director:Jerry Levine
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 9 - The Pool Guy
    7.2/10(429 votes)

    #9 - 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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  10. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 10 - Azoth the Avenger is a Friend of Mine
    5.7/10(411 votes)

    #10 - Azoth the Avenger is a Friend of Mine

    S1:E10

    A bullied boy, Craig, deciphers a coded message that allows him to summon his comic book hero, Azoth the Avenger. This long-haired Conan-like barbarian beats up the bullies that plague Craig, but is defenseless against his abusive father. Azoth returns to whence he came but inspires Craig to take a stand against his father - intoning the same spell as before and sending his father...somewhere, leaving him and his mother in peace.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Hans Beimler

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  11. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 11 - The Lineman
    6.5/10(387 votes)

    #11 - 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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  12. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 12 - Harsh Mistress
    6.1/10(351 votes)

    #12 - Harsh Mistress

    S1:E12

    A struggling musician named Cory purchases a rather infamous guitar, which leads to him gaining vast international stardom and wealth, but both come with a surprising price tag.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writers:Bradley Thompson, David Weddle

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  13. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 13 - Upgrade
    7.1/10(376 votes)

    #13 - 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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  14. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 14 - To Protect and Serve
    5.7/10(352 votes)

    #14 - To Protect and Serve

    S1:E14

    A young cop falls madly in love with a prostitute, and he continues to protect her even when they are both killed.

    Director:Joe Chappelle
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 15 - Chosen
    6.9/10(385 votes)

    #15 - 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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  16. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 16 - Sensuous Cindy
    6.6/10(358 votes)

    #16 - Sensuous Cindy

    S1:E16

    A man buys a "virtual girlfriend" online simply to satisfy his carnal needs, but ends up becoming somebody else's sex slave.

    Director:John T. Kretchmer
    Writer:James Crocker

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  17. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 17 - Hunted
    6.7/10(329 votes)

    #17 - 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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  18. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 18 - Mr. Motivation
    6.9/10(377 votes)

    #18 - 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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  19. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 19 - Sanctuary
    6.8/10(380 votes)

    #19 - 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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  20. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 20 - Future Trade
    6.8/10(414 votes)

    #20 - 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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  21. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 21 - Found and Lost
    6.4/10(359 votes)

    #21 - Found and Lost

    S1:E21

    A successful businessman is given a second chance - to go back and be with his first love

    Director:Vern Gillum
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 22 - Gabe's Story
    6.7/10(352 votes)

    #22 - 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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  23. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 23 - Last Lap
    5.3/10(338 votes)

    #23 - Last Lap

    S1:E23

    A terminally ill young man and his best friend take a final ride in their souped-up racer that results in unexpected consequences for both.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 24 - The Path
    6.6/10(347 votes)

    #24 - 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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  25. The Twilight Zone Season 1 Episode 25 - Fair Warning
    6.1/10(339 votes)

    #25 - Fair Warning

    S1:E25

    Tina, a flower shop clerk, finds herself threatened by a seemingly-deranged man named George who mysteriously disappears after asking him to stop from killing her. When she finds him he has a perfect alibi and claims he doesn't know her. George keeps visiting her and no one ever sees him except Tina. Tina begins to question her sanity.

    Director:John T. Kretchmer
    Writers:Bradley Thompson, David Weddle

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Evergreen" is the best rated episode of "The Twilight Zone" season 1. It scored 6.4/10 based on 616 votes. Directed by Allan Kroeker and written by Jill E. Blotevogel, it aired on 9/18/2002. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "One Night at Mercy".