The Arrival (The Twilight Zone)

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Arrival
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "The Arrival"
Season = 3
Episode = 67
Airdate =September 22, 1961
Production = 4814
Writer =Rod Serling
Director =Boris Sagal
Guests =Harold J. Stone : Grant Sheckly
Noah Keen : Bengston
Fredd Wayne : Paul Malloy
Bing Russell : Ramp attendant
Music = Uncredited
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = Two
Next = The Shelter

"The Arrival" is the second episode to the third season of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone".

Opening narration

ynopsis

After flight 107 from Buffalo arrives without a crew or passengers the FAA sends Grant Sheckly, an inspector with 22 years of experience and a flawless record of solving cases, to investigate the matter. He is assisted by the airport staff — Vice President Bengston, PR man Malloy, mechanic Robbins, and ramp attendant Cousins — but despite their combined efforts no one can explain how an empty plane could safely land and taxi into the hangar.

The investigation continues to prove fruitless until Robbins remarks on the plane's blue seats, which puzzles Sheckly since he quite clearly remembers them as being brown when he first entered the plane. Bengston adds that he remembers them as being red, and after the three of them examine the plane's tail and each see different registration numbers Sheckly comes to a conclusion: the plane is not real, but merely an illusion.

In order to prove his theory, as well as to break the illusion, Sheckly proposes a simple, if potentially fatal, test: he will put his arm in the path of the plane's running propeller. Despite the objections he convinces the staff to go along with it, and Robbins starts the plane's engines. After some hesitation Sheckly places his arm directly into the path of the spinning propeller; just as he predicted his arm remains completely intact, and the plane disappears in front of his eyes. However, when Sheckly turns to reassure the others he is met only with silence, and seconds later they too disappear as the plane did.

Calling out for the staff, Sheckly makes his way back to the Operations room and meets up with Bengston and Malloy, only to discover that they have no recollection of the empty plane or Sheckly's investigation. When asked, Bengston states that flight 107 from Buffalo landed safely earlier in the day, but further questions by Sheckly reveal that the only plane the airline ever lost was a flight 107 from Buffalo, roughly 17 years ago; the case was investigated by Sheckly but was never solved, closed as "presumed crashed for reasons unknown." Sheckly slowly makes his way out of the Operations room, weakly repeating that he has a perfect record of solving cases. As he wanders through the airfield he calls out, demanding to know where flight 107 is, what happened to it, and why it went down.

Closing narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Critical response

“The show now seems to be feeding off itself. Last Friday’s episode, unless it proves to be an exception in the new skein, doesn’t augur well for the future of the series. "Twilight Zone" seems to be running dry of inspiration.” —"from the Variety review."

References

*Zicree, Marc Scott: "The Twilight Zone Companion". Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

*imdb title|id=0734629|title=The Arrival
* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone/the-arrival/episode/12651/summary.html TV.com episode page]
* [http://www.cbs.com/classics/the_twilight_zone/video/video.php?cid=649562032&pid=nf53ZnEP9AWOmA44Dp3UXRE6HEv5iPae&play=true&cc=2 Full video of the episode at CBS.com]

ee also

*The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
*Episode List
*Season 3