The Last Flight

I've always enjoyed "Twilight Zone". I've seen only a couple of episodes that I didn't think were winners, most were excellent, and probably all are watchable to this day. I would venture to guess that I've seen 40 different episodes in my lifetime, and at least 20 in the last 4 months. But, I wanted to write this, my first IMDb comment ever, to let as many people know that this is the most enjoyable "Twilight Zone" episode I've ever seen. I am kind of a military history buff, but in a very minor way, so I believe the episode would rank high on anyone's list. It may not have as much "horror" to it as some episodes, but I was farther out on the edge of my seat than I've been on any other. I simply wanted to recommend it, so here you go. I'm giving it a "9" only because I haven't seen every episode. I do doubt that any "Twilight Zone" episode will top this one for me, but I'm saving the "10" rating, just in case. Enjoy!

--P.S., the episode sequence number for this episode (1.18) has somewhat of a "Twilight Zone" twist: I searched for this episode by episode name on IMDb. Only one other television series had an episode with the exact same title "The Last Flight". "Twilight Zone's" episode numbered 1.18 had this name, and guess which season & episode of "Armchair Theatre" had the identical name three years prior? That show's episode number 1.18 was also called "The Last Flight". (que the TZ drama track...)

This is wonderful television. Sometimes Serling got a little maudlin. In this, he cooks up a situation, puts his characters into play, and treats them with respect. We have the RAF with its codes of honor, its fighting spirit, suddenly thrust into the future. One can't help but say, "This is the way a British officer would act under these circumstances." Once he comes to realize that there is little hope for him in this world, he fights to return. There are elements of time travel that are tricky, but this episode deals with the real humanity of the characters. The modern brain trust is pretty much as we would imagine. They don't know what to do with this guy and they feel for him. It's a really good story.

Cowardly World War I pilot Lt. William Terrance Decker (Kenneth Haigh) is lost, not only in terms of maps and miles, but also in time. Having fled from a dogfight, leaving his friend Alexander 'Leadbottom' Mackaye seriously outnumbered, Decker loses his way in a strange white cloud, after which he lands his biplane—in Lafayette Air Base, 1959.

After a few rather weaker episodes, The Twilight Zone is back on form with a really great Richard Matheson story, a neat time-twister of a tale that not only smartly handles the paradoxical issues that go with the territory, but which also deals with the classic theme of redemption, Decker given a second chance to prove his worth and save the life of a pal.

Performances are strong, with a particularly fine turn from Haigh, and the pacing is superb, with not a dull moment despite this being quite a talky episode. All in all, a well-told story with a satisfying conclusion that ranks among the best of them.

Granted, this episode was only the 18th in the first year of the Twilight Zone; but it is a classic in more ways than one, and one of the best Twilight Zone episodes I have ever seen, in terms of imagination and messages about human failings, human fears, and confronting those failings and fears, even when death is the obvious end result awaiting one.

Time travel has always made for a compelling, no-possibilities-barred sci- fi subject; the way it was handled in this episode was masterful and exceptionally thought provoking. My only regret about the episode is that it had to end at the point that it did.

What a wonderful episode! A British fighter pilot passes through a white cloud. When he comes out the other side he has time traveled 42 years into the future. There he discovers that the choices he made in the past have effected hundreds of lives. The fighter pilot must also deal with the culture shock of modern jet fighters and helicopters while trying to prove he is who he says he is. In the end, "The Last Flight" relates a strong message of how one's actions can have unintended effects on lives of people you might never meet. The one lapse in this episode is the action sequences which are somewhat far fetched. Overall a great episode I'll award a mark of 9.3. Certainly one of the best of the season.