Why is "Nightmare at 20K Feet" so popular?
-
doug65oh — 9 years ago(September 06, 2016 04:34 PM)
Exactly. One other thing to remember: In those early days, Bill Shatner was primarily a character actor. Apart from occasional television appearances in various roles, the biggest thing he'd ever been in up to the time "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" aired was
Judgment At Nuremberg
as Captain Harrison Byers. -
Jennie_Portrait — 9 years ago(September 06, 2016 07:47 PM)
I have always like "nightmare" because it plays on a very real sort of fear. Let's face it being squashed into an airplane seat is never very fun. It's one of those things that make you think- "well, what's the worst thing that can happen?" I think the first
Final Destination
film also made excellent use of this type of fear.
And yes, Shatner was good in
Judgement at Nuremberg
, but it's not really a standout performance.
Never say never
-
doug65oh — 9 years ago(September 06, 2016 08:00 PM)
Oh - well, no, Shatner's performance in
Judgment at Nuremberg
wasn't a standout, but he was good enough - well suited to the role. In a very real sense, alongside Tracy, Dietrich and the others he was a very small fish you might say.
I don't really have time at the moment, but some time tomorrow I'm planning to sit down and watch the second episode of
The Defenders
, which premiered on CBS in September, 1961 and starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed. Shatner had a part in that show also - several parts throughout the run of the series but in the second episode I believe he's cast as a killer. -
telegonus — 9 years ago(September 08, 2016 12:59 PM)
Good, for sure, but there's more than Shatner that makes it work, even as he's very much in his (hysterical) element in it.
It's not even close to my favorite
Zone
but
Nightmare At 20K Feet
is kind of spooky fun, could almost be a Halloween episode (as in "boo"). There's a subtle, humorous undercurrent that's just beneath the surface; and yes, the hysterical and well cast Shatner help sell it. He's very good. The writing is excellent, and my favorite bit is the pilot trying to humor Shatner, and the Shat half-believing him, then realizing he's being patronized. This short scene actually feels like real life.
One issue I have with the episode is the ending, after the plane lands. Something in the damaged airplane wing and Rod Serling's final comments don't quite gibe with what we have just seen. With the gremlin gone, there could be another explanation for the damage that has nothing to do with the supernatural. It might have been better (and a lot funnier
) if they'd showed nothing specific, just Shatner on the gurney-in a strait-jacket-whatever, with no closure, not in a formal sense, leaving open the possibility that the Shatner guy really
could be
crazy. A nice, Hitchcockian "twist", with nothing concrete one way or the other. -
Globalcharmer — 9 years ago(September 11, 2016 05:55 PM)
It's both scary and funny. Watching Shatner play a nervous nellie, white-knuckled passenger who has to be comforted by his wife and female flight attendants as opposed to his macho, male chauvinist, always in control, alpha male Capt. Kirk character is hilarious. Who said this man can't act? Shame on them!
I was 11-years-old when I saw this episode during its original broadcast. It scared the beep out of me then and it never gets old. -
Tresix — 9 years ago(September 12, 2016 09:57 PM)
The ending is slightly different in the version shown in "Twilight Zone: The Movie". I read the original story right before taking my first plane ride. On top of that, I also had a window seat!
Annoying the world since 1960! -
domester82 — 9 years ago(September 17, 2016 08:31 PM)
It could be because of Shatner and his later Kirk fame that this one gets a lot of attention. Could be because it was one of the episodes remade in the movie. Or because it was spoofed years later on
The Simpsons -
sevenlilxenos — 9 years ago(October 07, 2016 07:37 PM)
I think one factor is, even though we know Captain Kirk just got out of the nuthouse, we see what he sees and given the fact it is a TZ ep we the audience aren't sure if its real or not, at least not until the big teddy bear starts tearing apart one of the airplane's wings and wiring and the plane seems to be unaffected.
Shatner is such as ham
.