The 25 Best Twilight Zone Episodes...#16 - "And when the Sky was Opened"

"Her name: X-20. Her type: an experimental interceptor. Recent history: A crash landing in the Mojave Desert after a thirty-one hour flight nine hundred miles into space. Incidental data: The ship, with the men who flew her, disappeared from the radar screen for twenty-four hours. But the shrouds that cover mysteries are not always made out of tarpaulin, as this man will soon find out on the other side of a hospital door."

Once again, Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, master authors both, collaborate on a richly detailed, wonderfully-knit story...in this case, the former adapting the latter's short story. Legend, rumor and speculation indicate that "And When The Sky Was Opened," number 16 on this "best of" list, was one of Serling's favorite "Twilight Zone" episodes.

"And When The Sky Was Opened" features several stirring performances. Rod Taylor, veteran actor still active today (he appears this year in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds") has had many critically-acclaimed roles through the years, including the lead role in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." Here, he plays Colonel Clegg Forbes, who returns with two other astronauts from a test flight...or does he?...or do they? Also appearing is Timothy Hutton's father, Jim Hutton, as Major William Gart, and Charles Aidman as Colonel Ed Harrington.

The story is another drawn out of the era's controlled apprehension about space flight and the unexpected results that might occur from wandering into the unknown. Yes, everyone was excited about the prospects of venturing beyond our world, but they also reserved a small corner of their soul for the fear that comes with that territory. In "And When The Sky Was Opened," we are introduced to Colonel Forbes as he wrestles with an enigma. He visits Major Gart in the hospital room from which he was discharged the day before and he is clearly distraught. He insists he left with Colonel Harrington, a 15-year friend and associate who accompanied them on their aborted space flight. Gart insists he doesn't know any Colonel Harrington. In fact, there are only two beds in the room now, not three. The newspaper heralding their return, now speaks of two astronauts, not three. Forbes then relates in flashback the series of events that occurred since the previous day.

Did you ever get the sense you didn't belong? A detached feeling, as if you're invisible? The 1962 movie of that era, "Carnival of Souls," covers this issue beautifully, and terrifyingly, as the soul of a girl who dies tragically in an auto accident emerges from the river to hauntingly resume life until the souls of those passed come to retrieve her. Forbes and Harrington enter a tavern and it is here that the latter begins to feel the ultimate detachment, and calls his parents to get his bearings...only his parents have no idea who he is. George Bailey had a similar problem in "It's A Wonderful Life," but for a far different, less ominous reason. Forbes tries to calm his shaken friend, heads off to get him a stiff drink, and returns to an empty phone booth. Where is Harrington? He's evaporated. He considers the possibility of an elaborate joke until he references the newspaper he brought with him, at which time he first sees the two astronaut story.

Is he going insane? Every attempt to legitimize Harrington's existence results in failure... even a telegram he sent the day before to his girlfriend which Forbes insists read, "Ed and I will meet you at the bus station," now reads simply "I will meet you at the bus station." He is adamant, "I wrote Ed and I! Ed and I!"

Back in Gart's hospital room, he ends the story and begins to fade, just as Harrington had. He leaps to the mirror where he finds no reflection (other than the unintentional arm clearly visible...chalk this up to faulty late '50's effects). He leaves screaming, and Gart frantically summons a nurse to find Forbes and care for him. Unfortunately, she doesn't know a Forbes. The newspaper now chronicles only Gart's return from a single-astronaut mission. Clearly, he's next to be "yanked outta here," as Forbes had described it. And, indeed he is, as a hospital administrator's cursory review of available space in the next scene reveals an empty room where the three once had been convalescing.

Again, Rod Serling's teleplay provided ample room for extraordinary performances, compelling the viewer to crawl under Rod Taylor's skin and feel his growing angst as Colonel Forbes. One story flaw, uncommon to Twilight Zone episodes and clearly debatable even here, involves their disappearances. If they weren't meant to return from this test flight, as was advanced by both Harrington and Forbes, why is their very existence erased. Why don't Harrington's parents even know they have a son? Even in the cortex of the Twilight Zone, this seems to be an anomaly. But once again, this apparent irregularity does not influence the final result...awe-inspiring television.

As Rod Serling concludes: "Once upon a time, there was a man named Harrington, a man named Forbes, and a man named Gart. They used to exist, but don't any longer. Someone or something took them somewhere. At least they are no longer a part of the memory of man. And as to the X-20 supposed to be housed here in this hangar, this too does not exist. And if any of you have any questions concerning an aircraft and three men who flew her, speak softly of them, and only in the Twilight Zone."

To best chronicle and commemorate this television institution, an unscientific poll of 250 people in the New York metropolitan area gave rise to the best 25 Twilight Zone episodes of all time. In order of importance, criteria included writing, performance, and compelling subject matter.