A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

A family traveling west in hopes of striking it rich in a mysterious paradise that they've heard about called California suffers more and more every day, until they can think of nothing but the heat and thirst and sickness that they deal with on a daily basis. Serling gives us a pretty obvious story where he imagines what would have happened if one of those people traveling west all those years ago were to have been able to experience modern convenience for just one afternoon during that torturous journey.

It's not the wildest stretch of the imagination as far as a story idea, but the entertainment is high and the performances are some of the best I've seen so far in the series. The couple in the diner hit the nail right on the head with their subdued reactions to the strange stranger's story, not sure to react with shock or to hide their surprise from someone who must be a little crazy.

There's a cute twist at the end and an interesting paradox that calls your attention of the episode thus far into question, the time travel is not presented as anything more than simply walking over a sand bank, and the 100-years-in-the-future theme is done again the following week, but this is an excellent example of how good the twilight zone can be.

Wagon train master stumbles across time warp and into truck stop 100 years in the future. Finds out that his trip was no accident

One of the more interesting time travel episodes, though nothing special. Direction and story telling are pretty straightforward, without ornament. However, encounter between time traveler Robertson and married couple at truck stop is nicely handled, especially by John Crawford as Joe. There's a persuasive naturalness about his performance that again demonstrates the reservoir of talent behind those anonymous credit-crawl names . Robertson is also effective, while his top hat is not only distinctive, but oddly appropriate head-gear for a bygone era. Episode's main interest, of course, lies in seeing how the characters will react to contrasting time periods. There's none of the grim humor of Albert Salmi's dislocated cowboy in 1960's "Execution", for example. But there is an interesting conceptual wrinkle posed near the end. Slightly better than average.

This episode is good because of the realistic portrayals of its characters. They are human and act with compassion and concern. Cliff Robertson plays the leader of a small group of wagons, heading for California. They are nearly done in by the sweltering heat of the New Mexico desert. Robertson goes "over the rim" looking for water and game. He is suddenly transported a hundred years into the future. He meets some nice people who help him, but he is confused and bewildered. Still, he plays the stoic leader that he is and tries to piece things together. Unfortunately, the authorities get involved but he comes to realize the grander plan involved. This is a nice treatment of a story Serling used many times.

Written by Rod Serling, directed by Buzz Kulik, starring Cliff Robertson, John Crawford, Evans Evans and Ed Platt.

Set in 1847 in New Mexico territory, story finds a party travelling West from Ohio to hopefully prosper. The leader is Christian Horn (Robertson), whose son is very sick. It seems hopeless and the party are close to the end of their tethers. Christian decides to trek over the rim in the distance to see if he can find supplies, once over there he of course enters The Twilight Zone.

It's one of Serling's tales that pitches a protagonist into a completely different period of time, a fish out of water scenario, but this one is not played for laughs and it's a very strong episode. Robertson is excellent as the stovepipe wearing leader and fretting father who has to try and comprehend the situation he finds himself in. Nicely filmed out at Lone Pine in California, and with supporting performances and direction backing Robertson up, this is one of the better episodes from Season 2. 7.5/10

A well told story, the scifi was kept simple and the characters were well developed. The storyline flowed easily and felt authentic.