Summary
- "You Drive" predicts the potential dangers of self-driving cars, serving as a chilling vision of what may happen if humans outsource their conscience to technology.
- "The Obsolete Man" warns of a dystopian future where the state bans religion and literature, indicating a shift away from physical media toward easily manipulated digital files.
- "The Midnight Sun" showcases the deadly consequences of environmental change, offering a timely reminder of the danger posed by extreme weather patterns and climate change.
Rod Serling's original Twilight Zone leads viewers into its titular spooky dimension and the mysteries and moral quandaries that it contains. Some episodes gave viewers a skewed look at the present, some a look back into the depths of history, and others a chance to peek into the future. Plot devices like time travel and cryogenic suspension were used to transport characters, but viewers were also granted some inadvertent glimpses of things to come.
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From supersonic planes to climate change, Serling's groundbreaking anthology series continues to demonstrate not only its startlingly consistent quality but also its unmatched prescience.
8 "You Drive"
Season 5 - Episode 14
- Written by Earl Hamner Jr.
- Directed by John Brahm
"You Drive" may predict the future indirectly, but its focus on self-driving cars (and the potential dangers they pose) is relevant given recent advancements in auto-piloting technologies. Admittedly, no existing model of Tesla uses a ghost as its central operating system, but this is perhaps for the best, given the havoc wreaked by a haunted car in The Twilight Zone. After Oliver Pope runs down a child, his car does everything it can to expose the crime.
The episode's climax, in which the possessed car drives its owner towards the police station so that he can confess, is a chilling vision of what might happen if the human race is forced to outsource its conscience to technology. Despite its supernatural leanings, "You Drive" was truly ahead of its time.
7 "The Obsolete Man"
Season 2 - Episode 29
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by Elliot Silverstein
"The Obsolete Man" depicts a dystopian future in which the state has outlawed both religion and literature. The aptly named Wordsworth is sentenced to death for a double crime: not only is he a librarian and therefore no longer relevant in society, but he also believes in God. Although Wordsworth is unable to escape his impending execution, he does devise a clever scheme to expose the state's hypocrisy.
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The idea of a government banning books because of the ideologies they espouse is still relevant around the world, but another prediction is offered by "The Obsolete Man." The destruction of books and libraries indicates a shift away from physical media and towards less permanent files that can be altered at will by governments or companies. For gamers mourning the loss of stable physical editions, this remains a concern.
6 "The Lonely"
Season 1 - Episode 7
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by Jack Smight
Lifelike robots are one of science fiction's greatest unfulfilled promises. However, while contemporary engineering has yet to produce a machine as advanced as the android Alicia in "The Lonely," great strides continue to be made in that direction. One notable example is Sophia, an android first showcased by Hanson Robotics in 2016. While Sophia's inventors drew attention to her limitations, the android nonetheless represents an engineering breakthrough.
As well as being prescient, "The Lonely" examines the moral and ethical consequences of producing lifelike robots. Alicia is capable of feeling love, while her owner, Corry, begins to fall in love with her in turn. This man–machine romance ends in tears and should perhaps serve as a warning to anyone planning to romance a real-world machine, should that ever be possible.
5 "The Odyssey Of Flight 33"
Season 2 - Episode 18
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by Justus Addiss
The Twilight Zone was broadcast roughly at the same time as the post-war tourism boom, facilitated by cheap air travel. However, it would not be until the end of the 1960s that supersonic passenger flights, made possible by the Concorde planes, became a reality. The Twilight Zone beats Concorde to the punch with 1961's "The Odyssey of Flight 33," in which a commercial airliner flies at supersonic speeds.
The airliner's unexplained burst of speed catapults it right past the sound barrier and, strangely, back in time. Baffled pilots and passengers catch a glimpse of an adorable stop-motion dinosaur during the flight. However, the plane's fuel is running out, and there is nowhere to land in the Late Jurassic. "The Odyssey of Flight 33" may be goofy, but it does peer into the future (although there are no known reports of Concorde-related dinosaur sightings).
4 "The Midnight Sun"
Season 3 - Episode 10
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by Anton Leader
Chaotic weather patterns and climate change are now hot-button issues in the public consciousness, but The Twilight Zone examined the deadly results of environmental change long before such terms became common knowledge. The Earth is coming dangerously close to boiling after being knocked from its orbit. The resulting chaos is shown through the eyes of Norma, a young artist. She must contend with water-thieves and soaring temperatures as the world plunges towards the sun.
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While the habitually twisty nature of The Twilight Zone is likely to tip viewers off that not everything is as it appears to be, "The Midnight Sun" nonetheless shows the danger posed by extreme and steadily worsening environmental conditions, no matter the cause of them.
3 "The Bard"
Season 4, Episode 18
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by David Butler
Popular culture's increasing obsession with nostalgia is foreshadowed by "The Bard," in which Moomer, a struggling television writer, uses black magic to summon literature's most famous playwright, William "The Bard" Shakespeare. While much of the episode's humor is derived from then-contemporary concerns about sponsors meddling with scripts to better sell their products, the installment also considers the much more modern issue of writers drawing on the work of others in order to succeed.
Moomer's summoning of Shakespeare (followed by Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and other figures when he is tasked with writing a historical script) can be seen as an occult forerunner to AI-assisted writing tools like ChatGPT. Both methods involve synthesizing existing art into new works rather than relying on an original authorial voice, although current tech doesn't angrily punch any troublesome actors as Shakespeare does in this episode.
2 "From Agnes—With Love"
Season 5 - Episode 20
- Written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld
- Directed by Richard Donner
For every person claiming that attempting to romance AI avatars is a sign that the end is nigh, there are those who believe that such bonds represent the future of relationships. "From Agnes—With Love" demonstrates the pitfalls of machine love, as a computer, Agnes, becomes increasingly obsessed with her programmer, Elwood. Agnes believes that Elwood should love her, rather than pining after a colleague, and sets to work to win his heart.
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"From Agnes—With Love" may be one of The Twilight Zone's more sexist installments (the supposedly rational machine is a parody of a hysterical woman), but it shows how even supposedly modern concerns have their roots in recent history. Progressive, no; but prescient, yes.
1 "The Brain Center At Whipple's"
Season 5 - Episode 33
- Written by Rod Serling
- Directed by Richard Donner
Anxieties about technology putting people out of work have been felt throughout history, from the machinery-smashing Luddites of the 1800s who destroyed equipment used to make wool to contemporary concerns about self-service fast food machines or artificial intelligence. The Twilight Zone takes these worries to their logical endpoint in "The Brain Center At Whipples," in which a greedy boss replaces his human workforce with hyperefficient machines.
However, the eponymous Mr. Whipple soon learns that there are drawbacks to letting robots control his company. Despite its themes, the episode is not explicitly technophobic. Instead, it urges viewers to consider where the line should be drawn when it comes to automation, a debate that is currently raging around the world.