A Hundred Yards Over the Rim

I am a big fan of the 30 minute Twilight Zones and this one ranks near the top of my list of favs. I would say it more the theme than anything else; I have always been fascinated by time travel...

While all Twilight Zone episodes are somewhat dated; the beginning of this episode has a realistic western appeal to it - much the same as a John Wayne movie. Another interesting aspect is the portrayal of the '60s era diner/quick stop in the middle of nowhere that allows the viewer to suspend any pre-conceived notions of the actual time change (which leaves many theoretical and scientific holes, believe me.)

All in all, a solid episode, with better than average twilight Zone (this series ) acting and an above average theme. A solid 7

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.

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

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.

I feel bad for not liking this as much as most people. I just felt that it should have had more of a twist. Now, I actually do find this a good episode because it actually ends up being pretty hopeful in the end. Most of these episodes end on a downer of some kind or at least bittersweet but this was actually quite positive. It did seem like it wasn't as good. The story's pretty basic with a guy from the 1800's time traveling a hundred years into the future to get medicine for his ill son.

The main character is pretty likable in this story. It does seem kind of odd for an episode of "The Twilight Zone". It ends by saying that we should acknowledge how much we've advanced with technology and how our forefathers truly worked hard in their day. That is a pretty positive and unique moral. It does seem like they could have just done more with this plot. Well, the pacing isn't bad. I just personally didn't love it as much as most people. ***