Private Channel
| "Private Channel" | |
|---|---|
| The New Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 33c |
| Directed by | Peter Medak |
| Written by | Edward Redlich |
| Original air date | May 21, 1987 |
| Guest appearances | |
| Scott Coffey : Keith Barnes Andrew Robinson : Mr. Williams | |
"Private Channel" is the third segment of the thirty-third episode and the ninth episode of the second season (1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Opening narration
Modern technology has staged a revolution in the art of isolation. Turn up the volume on your headphones, and the world outside drops away. Sixteen-year-old Keith Barnes has lived in this public seclusion for some time now. But tonight, the tiny radio on which he depends to keep people out is about to start pulling them in, thanks to a very special frequency that can only be picked up...in the Twilight Zone.
Plot
Aboard an airplane, obnoxious teenager Keith Barnes is annoying those around him with his radio. A lightning storm, however, transforms his Walkman into a telepathic tuning device. He begins to hear the voices of all the people around him in the plane, and then he finds out that Mr. Williams, the man sitting next to him, is carrying a bomb.
It turns out that Mr. Williams is distraught over the death of his wife and child in a similar airplane, due to the negligence of an indifferent airline. As revenge and as a way of teaching the airline how to be more careful, he intends to destroy the plane with a bomb. Keith, knowing his plan after reading his mind, tries to talk him out of it. Mr. Williams cannot understand how Keith knows his plot but is still determined to detonate the bomb on the airplane.
Mr. Williams tries to put his plan into effect, frightening the passengers. Keith manages to sneak up behind him and put the headphones over his ears. Hearing the pleading thoughts of the other passengers, especially those of a young man who has a daughter about the age of Mr. Williams' child, he is immediately filled with remorse and he relents. As Mr. Williams is taken away, however, he accidentally steps on Keith's radio and crushes it.