The Rip Van Winkle Caper

This is one of my favorite Twilight Zones because of the thought of jumping ahead 100 years is a wonderful daydream. However, there are silly plot holes as others have mentioned, but it still makes for a fun 30 minutes. It's clear these guys don't trust each other, and how did the genius leader get mixed up with the other three losers? So - here's what I would have done. If I were one of the four people involved at the beginning, the instructions were to count to ten and then press the button to release the sleeping gas. I would be the only one NOT to press my button. Then wait ten minutes or so, and then jump out of my box. Now I have all the gold, the truck, and goodbye to those other three dopes.

The above poster displays a fundamental misunderstanding about the value of gold and how inflation works. Gold has a static "value" - you invest in gold during times of inflation because when you cash back out, that gold will have the same amount of buying power it started with. It's the dollar that loses value, not the gold.

The plan in the episode is sound. The million dollars worth of gold would have bought the criminals roughly the same amount of stuff in 2061 as it would have in 1961.

It is of course still a plot hole in that suspended animation technology would be worth far more than $1M of gold, but it's a TV show, one that has a specific story and point to it, like all Twilight Zones had. It's simply a plot device.

For a quick 25-minute morality play, it was not that bad, as long as you did not look too deep at the situation.

They stole $1 Million in gold bullion. Assuming $35/troy oz, that is about 2040 pounds. The standard bar of gold is 12.4Kg, or 27.28 pounds, so their haul is about 75 bars of gold. The inverse is that each bar is worth about $13,333 at the time they stole them.

Easily moved in one motor vehicle, but rather difficult to move it all on one's back.

So here is where reality begins to rear its ugly head.

Assuming you are the two remaining crooks, how much are you going to walk through the desert with?

Then there are the questions: 1) they stole $1 Million.

How much did it cost to make the knockout gas, and the suspended animation chambers? It costs money to steal that much money, and get away with it.

2) You plan to "sleep" for 100 years.

Has anybody really looked at what various materials look like after 100 years?

You might want to consider an older vehicle with NO solid-state electronics. While tubes might survive, the capacitors in the radio probably would not.

Would the various bearings, such as the wheel bearings and the starter bearings still work, or would the metal pieces stick together after that long of a time? Not to mention the engine bearings and rings.

Note, there are ways to do long-term storage of a vehicle, but it usually requires partial disassembly and special preservatives.

Any natural rubber would be long gone, but the tires might survive if the truck was on blocks. They likely would still need to be inflated, as most/all of the air would have leaked out. I still would not want to drive very far or fast on them.

As for batteries, I think lead-acid might survive, but would need to be recharged. I think they had solar cells that could be used, if they had a charger that survived.

3) water storage

No plastic, but glass or stainless steel containers. I bought two 2.5Gal in the standard #2 HDPE plastic jugs as an "emergency" supply. They did not last five years before the water had leaked out.

And then why the rush to leave once they woke up?

And leave during the day? They had to have know approximately where they were, and how far to what hopefully was a still-existing road. No maps (acid-free paper, of course)?

Fortunately, the episode is short enough and paced well enough that you don't consider questions like these while watching it.

In 1961, a group of four experts steal US$ 1 million in golden bars and bring the treasure to a cave in the desert. Their plan is to go into suspended animation in capsules for one century and awake rich and free. When they awake, they learn the real value of the gold.

"The Rip Van Winkle Caper" is an episode of "The Twilight Zone" with an ironic tale of greed. The plot has many flaws, such as a man that develops such technology would have no need of steeling. Or how the capsule and the truck batteries kept loaded for one hundred years. Or how the fuel of the truck has not deteriorated a century later. De Cruz could have brought as many gold as he wanted. Why the need of exploring his accomplice? Anyway, the story is highly entertaining with a witty and tragic conclusion. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Um Assalto para o Futuro" ("A Heist for the Future")

Mastermind Beregui leads three other crooks in gold bullion heist, planning to come back 100 years hence through use of suspended animation.

Interesting episode with several nice twists. Still and all, why would anyone risk life and limb in a gold bullion heist when he's got a blueprint for suspended animation that's easily worth millions. Oh well, this is the twilight zone. Episode benefits from Death Valley locations and expert make-up that makes mastermind Beregui's face almost crack open with thirst. Futuristic car lends authenticity to time passage; however more imagination should have gone into the futuristic humans. They look too much like suburbanites from the 1960's. Even so, it's an entertaining half-hour with a nice slice of economic wisdom included.