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The Twilight Zone
S3.E2
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IMDbPro

The Arrival

  • Episode aired Sep 22, 1961
  • TV-PG
  • 25m
IMDb RATING
7.2/10
3K
YOUR RATING
Robert Karnes, Noah Keen, Bing Russell, Harold J. Stone, and Fredd Wayne in The Twilight Zone (1959)
DramaFantasyHorrorMysterySci-FiThriller

Federal aviation investigator Grant Sheckly must deal with a mystery when a plane lands at an airport without pilots, passengers or luggage.Federal aviation investigator Grant Sheckly must deal with a mystery when a plane lands at an airport without pilots, passengers or luggage.Federal aviation investigator Grant Sheckly must deal with a mystery when a plane lands at an airport without pilots, passengers or luggage.

  • Director
    • Boris Sagal
  • Writer
    • Rod Serling
  • Stars
    • Harold J. Stone
    • Fredd Wayne
    • Noah Keen
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.2/10
    3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Boris Sagal
    • Writer
      • Rod Serling
    • Stars
      • Harold J. Stone
      • Fredd Wayne
      • Noah Keen
    • 29User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos18

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    Top cast8

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    Harold J. Stone
    Harold J. Stone
    • Grant Sheckly
    Fredd Wayne
    Fredd Wayne
    • Paul Malloy
    Noah Keen
    Noah Keen
    • Airline Executive Bengston
    • (as Noah Keene)
    Robert Karnes
    Robert Karnes
    • Robbins
    Bing Russell
    Bing Russell
    • George Cousins
    Jim Boles
    Jim Boles
    • Dispatcher
    Robert Brubaker
    Robert Brubaker
    • Tower Operator
    • (uncredited)
    Rod Serling
    Rod Serling
    • Narrator
    • (uncredited)
    • …
    • Director
      • Boris Sagal
    • Writer
      • Rod Serling
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews29

    7.22.9K
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    10

    Featured reviews

    7AaronCapenBanner

    Where Is Everyone?

    Harold J. Stone portrays FAA investigator Grant Sheckly, who is called in on a most mysterious and perplexing case: a passenger airliner has seemingly landed without incident at an airport, but in reality, all the passengers and crew are missing, making it a ghost plane like the fabled Mary Celeste. Grant(who had one unsolved case on his resume) struggles to come to a logical explanation, along with the other airline personnel, until he hits upon a most fantastic possibility that he will risk all to prove... Uneven episode starts out most promisingly, but final outcome may be a big letdown to some, though this still remains an engrossing outing.
    5Calicodreamin

    The missing link

    Not a strong episode in my opinion, the twist was interesting but in retrospect didn't explain all of what happened. The storyline was therefore anticlimactic and confusing. Acting was decent.
    dougdoepke

    At Least There's No Baggage Problem

    A passenger plane lands and taxis to the terminal. A routine event. Except when the compartment door is opened, there's no one aboard. Unusual entry in that it plays up mystery angle more than the occult. Despite the promising first half, the solution that turns up is difficult to swallow because of the way the story is filmed. To make it plausible, the FAA inspector Harold J. Stone should have appeared in the set-up shots of the plane landing and parking. But he is not. So if you think about the logic, then this first part becomes implausible and with it the solution as well. Nonetheless, the premise is fascinating, as is the central special effect that punctuates a nail-biting half-minute of anticipation. Fortunately for most viewers, Stone delivers the kind of performance that makes it seem believable. Still and all, I have problems with the logic.
    9knicksjr

    Great mystery

    I love the mystery of the movie and his perfection to always solve a case
    6medelste

    Flawed, yes. But...

    The other reviewers are spot-on when it comes to this flawed episode. Serling's self-admitted writing fatigue was definitely beginning to set in. Act One starts out with a great premise -- a plane lands with nobody on it -- but by Act Three the episode nearly collapses under the weight of its logical fallacies.

    And yet...

    Ever since I was 12 years old, every time my plane taxis up to the gate -- and the passengers stand up waiting for the jet bridge to connect and the door to open -- I wonder what would happen if they opened the door and found the plane to be completely empty.

    Every single time.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      A tragic coincidence connected with this episode: at one point Sheckly deliberately walks toward a moving propeller blade. The episode's director, Boris Sagal, would be killed in 1981 when he accidentally walked into a helicopter's moving blades.
    • Goofs
      After Sheckly meets with the airline personnel in Bengston's office, he dismisses them saying "stay around where you can be reached". As the personnel file out the door, the studio lights cast their shadows on the backdrop outside the door of what is supposed to be the airport grounds.
    • Quotes

      [opening narration]

      Narrator: This object, should any of you have lived underground for the better parts of your lives and never had occasion to look toward the sky, is an airplane. Its official designation: a DC-3. We offer this rather obvious comment because this particular airplane, the one you're looking at, is a freak. Now, most airplanes take off and land as per scheduled. On rare occasions, they crash. But all airplanes can be counted on doing one or the other. Now, yesterday morning this particular airplane ceased to be just a commercial carrier. As of its arrival, it became an enigma, a seven-ton puzzle made out of aluminum, steel, wire, and a few thousand other component parts, none of which add up to the right thing. In just a moment, we're going to show you the tail end of its history. We're going to give you ninety percent of the jigsaw pieces, and you and Mr. Sheckly, here of the Federal Aviation Agency, will assume the problem of putting them together, along with finding the missing pieces. This we offer as the evening's hobby, a little extracurricular diversion which is really the national pastime - in The Twilight Zone.

    • Connections
      Edited into Twilight-Tober-Zone: The Arrival (2022)
    • Soundtracks
      Twilight Zone Theme
      (theme song)

      Composed by Marius Constant

      (seasons 2-5)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 22, 1961 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Santa Monica Airport - 3223 Donald Douglas Loop S., Santa Monica, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Cayuga Productions
      • CBS Television Network
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 25m
    • Color
      • Black and White
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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