The Twilight Zone

Quotes

[opening narration - season 1]
Narrator: "There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

[opening narration - season 1 alternate]
Narrator: "You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

[opening narration - season 2]
Narrator: "You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

[opening narration - season 3]
Narrator: "You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

[opening narration - season 4 & 5]
Narrator: "You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone."

Pat: "Mr. Chambers! Don't get on that ship! The rest of the book, 'To Serve Man', it's... it's a cookbook!"

Bob Wilson: "There's someone on the wing!"

Talky Tina: "My name is Talky Tina, and I'm going to kill you."

Anthony Fremont: "No kids came to play with me today, not a single one, and I wanted someone to play with!"
Mr. Fremont: "Well, Anthony, you remember what happened the last time some kids came over to play. The little Fredricks boy and his sister."
Anthony Fremont: "I had a real good time."
Mr. Fremont: "Oh, sure you did, you had a real good time, and it's good that you have a good time, it's real good. It's just that..."
Anthony Fremont: "It's just that what?"
Mr. Fremont: "Well, Anthony, you uh... you wished them away into the cornfield, and their mommy and daddy were real upset."

Mr. Fremont: "It's snowing outside! Anthony, are you making it snow?"
Anthony Fremont: "Yes, I'm making it snow."
Mr. Fremont: "Why that'll ruin half the crops! You know that, don't you, half the crops! That's what that... But it's good that you're making it snow, Anthony, it's real good. And tomorrow, tomorrow's going to be a real good day too!"

Charlie: "Look! Look, I swear it isn't me! I swear it isn't! But I know who it is! I know who the monster is! I know who it is that doesn't belong among us! I swear I know who it is!"
Don: "Alright, Charlie, let's hear it."
Charlie: "It's... it's..."
Les: "Well, what are you waiting for!"
Don: "Come on Charlie, come on!"
Old Man: "Who is it, Charlie? Tell us!"
Charlie: "It's the kid! It's Tommy! He's the one!"

Chris Miller: "What is it?"
Bill: "The opening."
Ruth Miller: "To what?"
Bill: "I think... to another dimension."

Narrator: "A word to the wise - to all the children of the 20th century: whether their concern be pediatrics or geriatrics, whether they crawl on hands and knees and wear diapers, or walk with a cane and comb their beards. There's a wonderous magic to Christmas and there's a special power reserved for little people. In short, there's nothing mightier than the meek."

Narrator: "This is Mr. Henry Corwin, normally unemployed, who once a year takes the lead role in a uniquely popular American institution, that of a department store Santa Claus, in a road-company version of The Night Before Christmas. But in just a moment, Mr. Henry Corwin, ersatz Santa Claus, will enter a strange kind of North Pole, which is one part the wonderous spirit of Christmas and one part the magic that can only be found in the Twilight Zone."

[at dinner]
Hanford: "...So what are your world views, Driscoll?"
Paul Driscoll: "...I don't have any, Mr. Hanford."
Hanford: "Of course you do, man. We ALL do! Like all this nonsense about giving the Indians land. What we need are twenty General Custers and a hundred thousand men! What we should have done is swept across the prairie, destroying every redskin that stood before us. After that, we should have planted the American flag deep, high and proud!"
Abigail: "I think the country is tired of fighting, Mr. Hanford. I think we were bled dry by the Indian Wars. I think anything we can accomplish peacefully, with treaties, we should accomplish that way."
Hanford: "Now, I trust this isn't the path you spoon-feed your students. Treaties, indeed! Peace, indeed! Why, the virility of a nation is in direct proportion to its military prowess. I LIVE for the day when this country SWEEPS AWAY..."
[notices Driscoll's disapproving look]
Hanford: "...You some kind of a pacifist, Driscoll?"
Paul Driscoll: "No, just some sick idiot who's seen too many boys die because of too many men who fight their battles at dining room tables... and who probably wouldn't last forty-five seconds in a REAL skirmish if they WERE thrust into it."
Hanford: "...I take offense at that remark, Mr. Driscoll!"
Paul Driscoll: "And I take offense at 'armchair warriors', who don't know what a shrapnel, or a bullet, or a saber wound feels like... who've never smelled death after three days on an empty battlefield... who've never seen the look on a man's face when he realizes he's lost a limb or two, and his blood is seeping out. Mr. Hanford, you have a great affinity for 'planting the flag deep'. But you don't have a nodding acquaintance of what it's like for families to bury their sons in the same soil!"

Adam Grant: "Well, Jiggs, don't you think that all of this is just a little bit too much the way it should be?"
Jiggs: "I don't get you."
Adam Grant: "Well, I mean it's so pat. I got tried and sentenced the same day. It doesn't work like that! But you see, that's the way that I saw it in my mind, and so that's the way it is! Or you take this place here, you and Coley and his harmonica or Phillips and his mother. It's like a movie. Real death houses aren't like that, but you see I've never been in a real death house, so that's my impression of it!"
Paul Carson: "Fifteen more minutes. That's another thing. Why does this always happen around midnight?"
Henry Ritchie: "Because that's when it happens!"
Paul Carson: "Yeah, but why?"
Henry Ritchie: "You tell me why."
Paul Carson: "According to Grant, he doesn't know anything about these matters except what he sees in the movies, and in the movies it always happens at midnight."
Henry Ritchie: "Because movies are technically accurate."
Paul Carson: "Yeah, that's strange too when you come to think of it."

[referring to the Mardis Gras masks he has presented them with]
Emily: "...Father, you don't mean we have to WEAR these ugly things...?"
Jason Foster: "Only for a few hours, my dear. Only until the unmasking at midnight."
Paula: "Well, I won't wear mine."
Wilfred Jr.: "Me neither. It's stupid."
Wilfred: "Well, Father... It seems we're somewhat at odds here."
Jason Foster: "Not really, Wilfred. You all came here for one purpose, and one purpose only: to watch me go and cry 'Bon Voyage!' To put coins on my closed eyes, and with your free hands start grabbing things from my shelves!"
Emily: "Father, that's cruel!"
Jason Foster: "That's TRUTH! You came like the IRS: to reap everything I've sown, to collect everything I've earned, to claim everything I've built! Well, I shall not disappoint you. Everything is yours! The will is prepared, and the four of you inherit everything I own: money, house, property holdings, stocks, bonds, everything."
Wilfred: "Father, you're breaking our HEARTS!"
Jason Foster: "Well, that's the most touching thing you ever dredged up by way of conversation, Wilfred... But I must include this addenda, this small proviso: You shall wear your masks, as directed, not taking them off until midnight. Should even ONE of you commit the SLIGHTEST DEVIATION from this proviso... from my estate you shall each receive train fare back to Boston. And that's IT!"
Wilfred: "...Well, we won't be spoil-sports! If this is your pleasure, Father, we'll indulge you!"
[they all don the masks]

[dying]
Jason Foster: "...It's the moment you've all been waiting for, I believe. Now you can dig deep in the treasury."
Emily: "Are you feeling weaker, Father?"
Jason Foster: "At last... a note of hope in your voice, Emily?"
Emily: "Why must you always say such cruel and miserable things to me?"
Wilfred: "I quite agree, Father!"
Jason Foster: "Why indeed, my loved ones! Because you're cruel and miserable people! Because none of you RESPOND to love! Emily responds only to what her petty hungers dictate, a prime example of this being her marriage to Wilfred... a marriage which broke her dear late mother's heart, in every sense! Wilfred responds only to things that have weight and mass and gaugeable value! He MEASURES novels, he doesn't experience them! He JUDGES artwork, he doesn't seek out its beauty or its meaning! And Paula lives in a mirror; the world is nothing more to her than a reflection of herself. And her brother... Humanity to him is a small animal, caught in a trap, waiting to be tormented! His pleasure is the giving of pain, and from this he receives the same sense of fulfillment most people get from a kiss or an embrace! You're CARICATURES, ALL of you! Even without your masks, you're CARICATURES!"