"Portrait of a frightened man! Mr. Robert Wilson, 37, husband, father, & salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent 6 months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home. The difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilsons flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he's travelling all the way to his appointed destination, which, contrary to Mr. Wilsons plan, happens to be in the darkest corner of The Twilight Zone."
The Twilight Zone - Nightmare At 20,000 feet (1963)
I guess it doesn't take a mind-meld to figure out why I chose this one to be the next chapter in the Twilight Zone range of my blog/reviews. Yes, that's Captain Kirk, William Shatner, a not-so distant future Starship Captain that can't even handle being a passenger on a plane! Maybe a few snakes might help (?) I hope I do this one justice for my Trekkie brethren. Meanwhile Bob as mentioned, has just been released from the nut house for his fear of flying which made him go bonkers on his last flight. Now, he's back on a plane with his wife Julie. You're cured, things should be fab, right? Of course not, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here, typing this!
Things go crashing down (yeah, sue me!) when Bob notices a strange figure outside his window which just happens to be on one of the plane wings. All attempts to warn his wife, the air - stewardess, & a co-pilot that, "there's a man out there." are as futile as trying to get Spock to laugh & sing, without being under the influence of strange flower spores! His wife as well as the stewardess attempt to shut him up with a sleeping pill, (Valium?) still, he just cannot resist the temptation to open the curtains for a good peak. SURPRISE! Q (alright, couldn't resist!) que, a nice face to face 'hello' from a monster, outside the plane! This is really begins to p**s him off, as the lout creature is a bit of an unruly vandal, wrecking one of the engines of the plane, & no one seems to give a crap when he tries to warn them, they'd rather crash, for crying out loud?!
Can I help you? Whaddya lookin' at, already?! Bigfoot surf!
Robert decides to do a Charles Bronson or Bruce Willis by stealing another passengers gun, seriously?! A passenger with a gun?! Does the word "hijack" mean anything to the crew of this plane? Even if that was a security guard, it didn't take 'Kirk' much effort to steal his gun whilst he was snoozing a siesta, He starts firing at the creature (not on stun) & almost goes on a flight of his own, causing obvious chaos. One thing is certain, from now on, not just the rest of the passengers, but the crew too will be suffering nervous breakdowns of their own. He's carted off on, in a first class, white-coat van, complete with luxury bed with wheels & a fashionable strait jacket. But he'll get the last laugh once evidence of the punk monsters criminal damage is discovered. Put out an APB on an ape-like Gremlin, Police Chief Wiggum!
This is such a major classic of this franchise that it was repeated again for The Twilight Zone Movie in 1983, minus William Shatner. I suspect he was busy fighting genetically enhanced Khan on Star Trek 2 & a bonkers, homicidal maniac, even by Klingon standards via Star Trek 3. The Movie may have spawned the 80's series.
"The flight of Mr. Robert Wilson has ended now, a flight not only from point A to B, but also from the fear of recurring mental breakdown. Mr. Wilson has that fear no longer, though, for the moment, he, as he said, alone in this assurance. Happily, his conviction will not remain isolated too much longer, for happily, tangible manifestation very often left as evidence of trespass, even from so intangible a quarter as The Twilight Zone."
Ironically, after I switched this off, there was a trailer for Air Disasters on the tele, go figure!
Borgduck aka Stewart.