The Arrival (The Twilight Zone)

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"The Arrival"
The Twilight Zone episode
The Arrival.jpg
Scene from "The Arrival"
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 67
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Boris Sagal
Featured music Stock
Production no. 4814
Original airdate September 22, 1961
Guest stars

Harold J. Stone: Grant Sheckly
Noah Keen: Bengston
Fredd Wayne: Paul Malloy
Bing Russell: Ramp attendant
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"Two" "The Shelter"
List of Twilight Zone episodes

"The Arrival" is the second episode to the third season of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Contents

[edit] Opening narration

“ This object, should any of you have lived underground for the better parts of your lives and never had occasion to look toward the sky, is an airplane, its official designation a DC-3. We offer this rather obvious comment because this particular airplane, the one you're looking at, is a freak. Now, most airplanes take off and land as per scheduled. On rare occasions they crash. But all airplanes can be counted on doing one or the other. Now, yesterday morning this particular airplane ceased to be just a commercial carrier. As of its arrival it became an enigma, a seven-ton puzzle made out of aluminum, steel, wire and a few thousand other component parts, none of which add up to the right thing. In just a moment, we're going to show you the tail end of its history. We're going to give you ninety percent of the jigsaw pieces, and you and Mr. Sheckly here of the Federal Aviation Agency, will assume the problem of putting them together, along with finding the missing pieces. This we offer as an evening's hobby, a little extracurricular diversion which is really the national pastime in the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Synopsis

After flight 107 from Buffalo arrives without a crew or passengers the FAA sends Grant Sheckly, an inspector with 22 years of experience and a flawless record of solving cases, to investigate the matter. He is assisted by the airport staff — Vice President Bengston, PR man Malloy, mechanic Robbins, and ramp attendant Cousins — but despite their combined efforts no one can explain how an empty plane could safely land and taxi into the hangar.

The investigation continues to prove fruitless until Robbins remarks on the plane's blue seats, which puzzles Sheckly since he quite clearly remembers them as being brown when he first entered the plane. Bengston adds that he remembers them as being red, and after the three of them examine the plane's tail and each see different registration numbers Sheckly comes to a conclusion: the plane is not real, but merely an illusion.

In order to prove his theory, as well as to break the illusion, Sheckly proposes a simple, if potentially fatal, test: he will put his arm in the path of the plane's running propeller. Despite the objections he convinces the staff to go along with it, and Robbins starts the plane's engines. After some hesitation Sheckly places his arm directly into the path of the spinning propeller; just as he predicted his arm remains completely intact, and the plane disappears in front of his eyes. However, when Sheckly turns to reassure the others he is met only with silence, and seconds later they too disappear as the plane did.

Calling out for the staff, Sheckly makes his way back to the Operations room and meets up with Bengston and Malloy, only to discover that they have no recollection of the empty plane or Sheckly's investigation. When asked, Bengston states that flight 107 from Buffalo landed safely earlier in the day, but further questions by Sheckly reveal that the only plane the airline ever lost was a flight 107 from Buffalo, roughly 17 years ago; the case was investigated by Sheckly but was never solved, closed as "presumed crashed for reasons unknown." Sheckly slowly makes his way out of the Operations room, weakly repeating that he has a perfect record of solving cases. As he wanders through the airfield he calls out, demanding to know where flight 107 is, what happened to it, and why it went down. "Why didn't you ever tell anyone what happened to you??", he finally sobs, sagging onto the runway, as the sound of a jet engine is heard above him...

[edit] Closing narration

“ Picture of a man with an Achilles' heel, a mystery that landed in his life and then turned into a heavy weight, dragged across the years to ultimately take the form of an illusion. Now, that's the clinical answer that they put on the tag as they take him away. But if you choose to think that the explanation has to do with an airborne Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship on a fog-enshrouded night on a flight that never ends, then you're doing your business in an old stand in the Twilight Zone. ”

[edit] Preview for next week's story

Announcer: "And now, Mr. Serling."

“ Next week on The Twilight Zone, we use a camera like an X-ray and look under the skin of a neighborhood of men and women. It's a little experiment in human nature and behavior on the night that a CONELRAD broadcast shatters their composure with an announcement of terse terror - a bomb is coming. Most of our stories are a little far out. This one is very close in. You'll see what I mean next week when we present "The Shelter." ”

[edit] Critical response

"The show now seems to be feeding off itself. Last Friday's episode, unless it proves to be an exception in the new skein, doesn't augur well for the future of the series. Twilight Zone seems to be running dry of inspiration." —from the Variety review.

[edit] References

  • Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
  • DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
  • Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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