Death Ship (7 Feb. 1963)
"The Twilight Zone" Death Ship (original title)

An interplanetary expedition from earth finds an exact duplicate of their ship and themselves crashed on the planet they were surveying. Should they stay or risk taking off and crashing?

Director:

Don Medford

Writers:

Richard Matheson, Rod Serling (creator)

Stars:

Jack Klugman, Ross Martin, Fred Beir

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Jack Klugman	...	Capt. Paul Ross
Ross Martin	...	Lt. Ted Mason
Fred Beir	...	Lt. Mike Carter (as Fredrick Beir)
Mary Webster	...	Ruth Mason
Ross Elliott	...	Kramer
Sara Taft	...	Mrs. Nolan
Tammy Marihugh	...	Jeannie Mason

Storyline

An interplanetary expedition from earth finds an exact duplicate of their ship and themselves crashed on the planet they were surveying. Should they stay or risk taking off and crashing?

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Plot Keywords:

planet | spaceship | vision of the future | based on short story | astronaut | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 1963 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cayuga Productions, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

51 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some of the score was taken from Jerry Goldsmith's music used in the episode "Back There".

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Quotes

Narrator: [Closing Narration] Picture of a man who will not see anything he does not choose to see - including his own death. A man of such indomitable will that even the two men beneath his command are not allowed to see the truth; which truth is, that they are no longer among the living, that the movements they make and the words they speak have all been made and spoken countless times before - and will be made and spoken countless times again, perhaps even into eternity. Picture of a latter day Flying ...

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Connections

Referenced in Atop the Fourth Wall: Twilight Zone #9 (2011)

User Reviews

Mind-Blowing Spaceship Show

The spaceship from Forbidden Planet is used again. I even think of this as Forbidden Planet 2...well almost. This is all about a pain-in-the-bum Captain (Jack Klugman) who can't understand what is going on with his "death ship". I first viewed this episode when I was 17 (in 1983) and it never really escaped my memory...the closing narration plays in my head whenever I encounter stupid people doing the same thing all the time. But is the episode a classic? No. The teaser, act one and the end are classic but a good part of it is crap. It feels like a 51 minute episode that should of been a 25 minute show.

It gets high marks for the use of stock Jerry Goldsmith music played during the bit where Klugman glares at the dead crew. And, as I said, the closing narration is a mind-blower.

I love spaceship shows on television and Death Ship would have to go down as one of the first produced to really capture my imagination. Twilight Zone was not the only series to steal from Forbidden Planet, it is common knowledge that Star Trek/Lost In Space stole from Forbidden Planet but the underground city in The Time Tunnel pilot (1966) was designed after the underground city seen in Forbidden Planet.