"And When the Sky Was Opened" CONTAINS SPOILERS
This episode effectively exploits my greatest fear (which John Carpenter's The Thing made me realize, I might add): what if you not only died, but everything that made you who you are went away as well? If anything, it's a study in anticipation for how you're never sure when each astronaut will exit his dimension. It helps that Serling and company leave it up to the audience to explain why this is happening and of course that the actors are so good at expressing the astronauts' frustration and confusion. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard screams of "Harrington!" in my sleep. The episode provides plenty to think about: the hubris of space exploration, who or what anchors one to their reality, etc., but I did so in a different way than I usually do after watching the typical Twilight Zone episode. Whether it's because this one doesn't have a trademark twist or that it doesn't wear its themes on its sleeve, I was more interested in seeing how the story played out than guessing what Serling would say about it at the end. This is hardly a bad thing, though; besides, even though the most popular episodes of the series such as "Time Enough at Last" have plot twists, there are several standouts like this one that do not. I recommend the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Parallels" if you're in the mood for another story like this because it reminds me of it a lot.
This episode effectively exploits my greatest fear (which John Carpenter's The Thing made me realize, I might add): what if you not only died, but everything that made you who you are went away as well? If anything, it's a study in anticipation for how you're never sure when each astronaut will exit his dimension. It helps that Serling and company leave it up to the audience to explain why this is happening and of course that the actors are so good at expressing the astronauts' frustration and confusion. I wouldn't be surprised if I heard screams of "Harrington!" in my sleep. The episode provides plenty to think about: the hubris of space exploration, who or what anchors one to their reality, etc., but I did so in a different way than I usually do after watching the typical Twilight Zone episode. Whether it's because this one doesn't have a trademark twist or that it doesn't wear its themes on its sleeve, I was more interested in seeing how the story played out than guessing what Serling would say about it at the end. This is hardly a bad thing, though; besides, even though the most popular episodes of the series such as "Time Enough at Last" have plot twists, there are several standouts like this one that do not. I recommend the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Parallels" if you're in the mood for another story like this because it reminds me of it a lot.