"The Twilight Zone" Death Ship (1963)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Don Medford

Writers:

Richard Matheson (writer)
Rod Serling (creator)

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

7 February 1963 (Season 4, Episode 6)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

A 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? |

Plot Keywords:

Planet | Spaceship | Vision Of The Future | Based On Short Story | Astronaut

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

Runtime:

51 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Cayuga Productions

Trivia:

According to "Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Vol. 1", writing Richard Matheson claimed, "That (the short story and "Twilight Zone" episode Death Ship) was my first attempt to write a 'standard' science fiction story, because at the time I was simply trying to sell as many stories as I could. I just got the idea that what if these guys went down to investigate a crash ship and went in and saw themselves dead. I had to extend the idea by having the captain present all sorts of possibilities as to why it was happening. I thought the last line was very good--'The Flying Dutchman takes to the universe.' I don't know when the last line occurred to me, but that's what the whole concept was, basically. And they made a pretty nice The Twilight Zone out of it, too. Again, writing this story in the early fifties, 1997 was, to me, the distant future."

Movie Connections:

Version of Countdown (2009/I)

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.