Judgment Night

For the 1993 movie, see Judgment Night.

Judgment Night is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Details

Episode number:3

Season:1

Production code: 173–3604

Original air date: December 4, 1959

Writer: Rod Serling

Director: John Brahm

Music: stock

Cast

Carl Lanser: Nehemiah Persoff

Captain Wilbur:Ben Wright

First Officer:Patrick Macnee

Lt. Mueller: James Franciscus

Synopsis

A man by the name of Carl Lanser appears aboard a British ship in 1942 with no idea of how he got there or who he is. Gradually, though topics brought up and replied to, feelings of deja vu and props it becomes seemingly obvious that he's a German submarine officer. After unsucessfully trying to convince the crew that they are in danger (They all disappear when he tries to warn them), the boat is sunk by a German U-boat commanded by Kaptain Leutnant Lanser. Then it all repeats, showing that he's been condemned to sail, be sunk, and drown on the ghost of that ship forever.

Trivia

"We changed, in eighteen scripts, Mike, we have had one line changed, which, again, was a little ludicrous but of insufficient basic concern within the context of the story, not to put up a fight. On a bridge of a British ship, a sailor calls down to the galley and asks in my script for a pot of tea, because I believe that it's constitutionally acceptable in the British Navy to drink tea. One of my sponsors happens to sell instant coffee, and he took great umbrage, or at least minor umbrage anyway, with the idea of saying tea. Well, we had a couple of swings back and forth, nothing serious, and we decided we'd ask for a tray to be sent up to the bridge. But in eighteen scripts, that's the only conflict we've had." Rod Serling, in an interview with Mike Wallace, September 22, 1959.

• Even though the Glasgow is supposedly a British ship all of the life preservers say SS rather than HMS.

Themes

A message of peace, as offered by classic karmic retribution (That is, what goes around comes around). Similar themes are explored in The Purple Testament, Two and A Quality of Mercy.

External link

• TV Tome episode page

References

• Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 1