Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (26 May 1961)
"The Twilight Zone" Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? (original title)

Following a frantic phone call about a crashed spaceship, two policeman try and determine who among the passengers of a bus at a snowed-in roadside diner is from another world.

Director:

Montgomery Pittman

Writers:

Rod Serling (creator), Rod Serling

Stars:

John Hoyt, Jean Willes, Jack Elam

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
John Hoyt	...	Ross
Jean Willes	...	Ethel McConnell
Jack Elam	...	Avery
Barney Phillips	...	Haley the Bartender
John Archer	...	Trooper Bill Padgett
William Kendis	...	Olmstead (as Bill Kendis)
Morgan Jones	...	Trooper Dan Perry
Gertrude Flynn	...	Rose Kramer
Bill Erwin	...	Peter Kramer
Jill Ellis	...	Connie Prince
Ron Kipling	...	George Prince

Storyline

After an anonymous phone call about a spacecraft that crashed in a frozen wood, two police officers find evidence that the event really happened. Apparently one alien had walked away from the spot. They drive to the nearby highway Café and they find a bus with seven passengers waiting for the reopening of a snowed in bridge. However the driver says that he had only six passengers when he parked the bus. While interrogating the travelers, weird things happen in the diner, with the lights switching on and off and the turntable turning on and off. When the passengers are released and the bus follows his travel, one passenger returns to the diner and discloses a plot of the invasion of the Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

bus | diner | police officer | alien | spaceship | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 May 1961 (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:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first draft was entitled "Night of the Big Rain," the second was called "Nobody Here But Us Martians".

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Quotes

[opening narration]
Narrator: Wintry February night, the present. Order of events: a phone call from a frightened woman notating the arrival of an unidentified flying object, then the checkout you've just witnessed, with two state troopers verifying the event - but with nothing more enlightening to add beyond evidence of some tracks leading across the highway to a diner. You've heard of trying to find a needle in a haystack? Well, stay with us now, and you'll be part of an investigating team whose mission...

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Connections

Spoofed in Weird Science: Sci-Fi Zoned (1995)

User Reviews

A Sort of Childish Portrayal

When I was in junior high, my friends and I used to write stories. They always had to have surprise endings. When I see the plot of this offering, it reminds me of the stories we would write. Oh, they weren't as polished, and we didn't know what an exotic dancer was, but we had Martians and Venutians and all these people sparring with each other. This is an OK episode with a good deal of tension, though like "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" it happens a little fast. I guess it's just a half hour show. Anyway, the acting is just fine and Serling has a lot of fun with the camera. It has one of those memorable last moments too.