Nightmare
- Episode aired Dec 2, 1963
- 51m
A stranded team of soldiers are captured and experimented on by demonic-looking aliens.A stranded team of soldiers are captured and experimented on by demonic-looking aliens.A stranded team of soldiers are captured and experimented on by demonic-looking aliens.
- Krug's Grandfather
- (uncredited)
- Control Voice
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Ebonite Guard
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Joseph Stefano
- Leslie Stevens(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis episode was one of John Erman's earliest jobs as a director and depicts Earth soldiers who have been captured and are being tormented by aliens on a mostly barren set, consisting of a few rock-like props and doorways. It bears many striking similarities to The Empath (1968), also directed by Erman, in which Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the titular empath Gem, played by Kathryn Hays, spend the majority of their screentime on a mostly bare set consisting of a few props and dark curtains, also being tormented by aliens. Willard Sage appeared in both episodes, playing the Chief of Staff in this episode and Thann, one of the alien tormentors, in that episode.
- GoofsThe identification numbers on the space ship at the beginning were reversed.
- Quotes
Ebonite Interrogator: Are you ready to talk, Dix?
[Dix tries to speak, but no words come out]
Ebonite Interrogator: Perhaps you could speak if there was someone here you really wanted to speak to.
Dix's Mother: [Appears in a hallucinatory vision] Arthur. Arthur. You can talk to your mom, can't you, baby?
Pvt. Arthur Dix: Mom?
Dix's Mother: [Hugging and affectionate] Oh. Oh. You can talk. Tell me what they want to know.
[Dix shakes head]
Dix's Mother: Then whisper it to me then, baby. Whisper all about it.
[Dix whispers in her ear]
Ebonite Interrogator: Private Dix. You may go.
- ConnectionsEdited into Incubus (1966)
"Nightmare" is a new view of this situation; the quotes of the general in the episode are essentially correct about the number of American prisoners who were broken in the war. Serling couldn't imagine American soldiers permitting torture, especially on other Americans. This despite such things as the Tuskeegee Syphillis Project and the exposure of soldiers to atomic blasts to determine the effects of radiation. One wonders how he'd react to Abu Gareb, water torture, and the show "24" in which torture is approved as standard American heroic action.
For those who think these "old TV shows" were simplistic compared to today's shows with CGI, sexual content and viral-marketing web sites, consider this; have there been any modern shows that dared raise a debate about their premises like the ones raised by Stefano and Serling? Would anyone produce a series arguing against the right-wing paranoia presented in "24?"
Details
- Runtime51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3