Episode no. Season 5
Episode 35 Written by Rod Serling Original air date May 29, 1964 | Directed by Ted Post Production code 2633 | |
Featured music Stock (including cues from Fred Steiner's "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim") | ||
"The Fear" is the penultimate episode of the American television series The Twilight Zone. It is the last episode written by series creator/host Rod Serling.
Plot
Highway Patrol trooper Robert Franklin and brooding New York City socialite Charlotte Scott (recuperating from a nervous breakdown) find themselves trapped in Scott's remote cabin as unexplained occurrences indicate the presence of a mysterious force. Bright flashes of light are seen, strange craters appear, and the trooper's car moves - on its own. Back inside, Charlotte hears strange noises on the roof; when Robert goes outside to investigate, he finds nothing, but notices that his car is back in place-covered in gigantic fingerprints. The two sleep nervously, and go out into the woods the next morning, seeking the giant monster. They find an enormous footprint, leading the socialite to run away. She soon stumbles and falls directly into the path of a 500-foot-tall "Martian" with one eye. Realizing that no one will believe their story, the pair is left to stand against the beast. Robert shoots it...and it deflates, revealing itself to be an enormous balloon. The true source of the problem is a small alien spacecraft, containing two aliens no bigger than a man's thumb. They reveal that all of their trickery has been foiled by "man's inability to be afraid", beg their superiors to allow them to depart (or, in their eyes, face being crushed), and finally flee. Robert grins and wishes them luck- "maybe the next place they land, they can be the giants." Charlotte asks what will happen if future invaders are giants; Robert informs her that "I think you'd spit in their eye." She smiles and the camera tilts to the skyline as Serling's voiceover begins.