Judgment Night (The Twilight Zone)

"Judgment Night"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 10
Directed by	John Brahm
Written by	Rod Serling
Featured music	Stock
Production code	173-3604
Original air date	December 4, 1959
Guest appearance(s)
Nehemiah Persoff as Carl Lanser Ben Wright as Captain Wilbur Patrick Macnee as First Officer James Franciscus as Lt. Mueller Hugh Sanders as Potter Leslie Bradley as Major Devereaux Deirdre Owens as Miss Stanley Kendrick Huxham as Bartender Barry Bernard as Engineer Richard Peel as 1st Steward Donald Journeaux as 2nd Steward
Episode chronology

"Judgment Night" is episode 10 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

Opening narration

“

Her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: Interdeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on the ship's log is the sailing time, course to destination, weather conditions, temperature, longitude and latitude. But what is never recorded in a log is the fear that washes over a deck like fog and ocean spray. Fear like the throbbing strokes of engine pistons, each like a heartbeat, parceling out of every hour into breathless minutes of watching, waiting and dreading... For the year is 1942, and this particular ship has lost its convoy. It travels alone like an aged blind thing groping through the unfriendly dark, stalked by unseen periscopes of steel killers. Yes, the Queen of Glasgow is a frightened ship, and she carries with her a premonition of death.

”

Plot summary

A man is seen standing aboard the deck of a British passenger liner crossing the Atlantic in 1942. The man's name is Carl Lanser and he appears disoriented, with no idea of how he got aboard or who he really is. He is staring into a thick fog when a man calls him to dinner. He enters the ship's dining cabin and joins the crew and passengers. The captain discusses German U-boats seen in the area and tries to reassure the nervous passengers that there is no sign that the ship has caught the attention of any lurking "wolfpacks." Lanser becomes annoyed and, displaying an unusually comprehensive knowledge of submarines, explains in great detail that a single ship would be of no interest to a wolfpack and instead would most likely be pursued by a single submarine. The diners ask Lanser about his profession and how long he has been in England. Lanser hesitantly tells them that he has not been there long and that he was born in Frankfurt, Germany. Lanser appears confused, claims that he is ill and takes his leave.

While still on deck, he speaks to a female passenger that he met at the dinner. Lanser explains to her that he has no memory of how he came aboard the ship – he knows who he is and finds each of the passengers and crew dimly familiar but can't recall specific details. His irritation grows and he begins to rant about impending doom. The captain, suspicious due to Lanser's claims of German nationality, sends an officer to escort him to the bridge. His suspicion is compounded when Lanser cannot provide details of his life and does not have his passport on hand to verify his identity. A steward is sent to Lanser's cabin. The steward finds the cap of a German naval officer among Lanser's possessions as he helps him unpack. Inspecting it in private, Lanser discovers that sewn into the lining of the cap is his own name. Disturbed, he leaves for the ship's bar.

On the bridge, the captain and first officer are faced with a dilemma posed by the ship's engines. They are long due an overhaul and cannot maintain top speed without generating noise and thus giving away their position to any lurking U-boats. Stopping for repairs will leave them without chance of escape should they be attacked. Down in the bar, Lanser is drinking but remarks to the bartender that the engines "don't sound right" and that they are laboring. The ship comes to a halt to effect repairs at 12:05 which causes Lanser to undergo a moment of realization. Despite the crew's reassurances, he becomes certain that the ship will be attacked and announces that they will all be killed at 1:15. Unable to convince the crew of the danger, Lanser runs throughout the vessel desperately trying to persuade the other passengers to abandon ship only to find the corridors and cabins now mysteriously empty. At 1:15, a searchlight illuminates the deck and Lanser watches in horror as a surfaced U-boat, commanded by a Captain-Lieutenant Carl Lanser, immediately begins shelling the British ship. Lanser and the other passengers, now having reappeared, are killed as the ship sinks with Lanser suffering the agony of watching the innocent people die at precisely the time that he had predicted and being powerless to help them.

Some time later, Captain Lanser is in his cabin aboard the U-boat, recording that night's kill. With him is the second-in-command who is deeply disturbed by their merciless killing of civilians and speculates whether the crew of the U-boat are now damned. Lanser replies that they are surely damned in the eyes of the British but the first mate clarifies that he fears they are now damned in the eyes of God and believes that they may be condemned to relive the final moments of the passengers on the doomed ship for eternity. The first mate's fears are realized – the attacking U-boat and its crew are condemned to sink the defenseless vessel over and over, with Lanser as an unwitting victim among those slaughtered without mercy. The story thus recounts Carl Lanser's private hell as the former U-boat commander re-materializes on the deck of the ship and the nightmare begins again...

Closing narration

“

"The S.S. Queen of Glasgow, heading for New York, and the time is 1942. For one man it is always 1942—and this man will ride the ghost ship every night for eternity. This is what is meant by paying the fiddler. This is the comeuppance awaiting every man when the ledger of his life is opened and examined, the tally made, and then the reward or the penalty paid. And in the case of Carl Lanser, former Kapitan Lieutenant, Navy of the Third Reich, this is the penalty. This is the justice meted out. This is judgement night in the Twilight Zone."

”

Episode notes

In the first 18 episodes, Serling only had one minor conflict with CBS regarding episode content. In an interview with Mike Wallace on September 22, 1959, Serling said, "We changed, in eighteen scripts, Mike, we have had one line changed, which, again, was a little ludicrous but of insufficient basic concern within the context of the story, not to put up a fight. On a bridge of a British ship, a sailor calls down to the galley and asks in my script for a pot of tea, because I believe that it's constitutionally acceptable in the British Navy to drink tea. One of my sponsors happens to sell instant coffee (Sanka), and he took great umbrage, or at least minor umbrage anyway, with the idea of saying tea. Well, we had a couple of swings back and forth, nothing serious, and we decided we'd ask for a tray to be sent up to the bridge. But in eighteen scripts, that's the only conflict we've had."

In the 1960 issue of Broadcasting, Serling complained: "You can't 'ford' a river if it's sponsored by Chevy; you can't offer someone a 'match' if it's sponsored by Ronson lighters." And The Twilight Zone Companion joked that it was a good thing the sponsor didn't figure out people could drink water else the episode would have happened on dry land.

References

Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 ISBN 0-553-01416-1 (second edition)
DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0
Broadcasting (1960) Broadcasting Publications pg 42

External links

"Judgment Night" at the Internet Movie Database
"Judgment Night" at TV.com

The Twilight Zone (1959) episodes

Season 1	"Where Is Everybody?" "One for the Angels" "Mr. Denton on Doomsday" "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" "Walking Distance" "Escape Clause" "The Lonely" "Time Enough at Last" "Perchance to Dream" "Judgment Night" "And When the Sky Was Opened" "What You Need" "The Four of Us Are Dying" "Third from the Sun" "I Shot an Arrow into the Air" "The Hitch-Hiker" "The Fever" "The Last Flight" "The Purple Testament" "Elegy" "Mirror Image" "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" "A World of Difference" "Long Live Walter Jameson" "People Are Alike All Over" "Execution" "The Big Tall Wish" "A Nice Place to Visit" "Nightmare as a Child" "A Stop at Willoughby" "The Chaser" "A Passage for Trumpet" "Mr. Bevis" "The After Hours" "The Mighty Casey" "A World of His Own"

Season 2	"King Nine Will Not Return" "The Man in the Bottle" "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" "A Thing About Machines" "The Howling Man" "The Eye of the Beholder" "Nick of Time" "The Lateness of the Hour" "The Trouble with Templeton" "A Most Unusual Camera" "The Night of the Meek" "Dust" "Back There" "The Whole Truth" "The Invaders" "A Penny for Your Thoughts" "Twenty Two" "The Odyssey of Flight 33" "Mr. Dingle, the Strong" "Static" "The Prime Mover" "Long Distance Call" "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim" "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" "The Silence" "Shadow Play" "The Mind and the Matter" "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?" "The Obsolete Man"

Season 3	"Two" "The Arrival" "The Shelter" "The Passersby" "A Game of Pool" "The Mirror" "The Grave" "It's a Good Life" "Deaths-Head Revisited" "The Midnight Sun" "Still Valley" "The Jungle" "Once Upon a Time" "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" "A Quality of Mercy" "Nothing in the Dark" "One More Pallbearer" "Dead Man's Shoes" "The Hunt" "Showdown with Rance McGrew" "Kick the Can" "A Piano in the House" "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" "To Serve Man" "The Fugitive" "Little Girl Lost" "Person or Persons Unknown" "The Little People" "Four O'Clock" "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby" "The Trade-Ins" "The Gift" "The Dummy" "Young Man's Fancy" "I Sing the Body Electric" "Cavender Is Coming" "The Changing of the Guard"

Season 4	"In His Image" "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" "Valley of the Shadow" "He's Alive" "Mute" "Death Ship" "Jess-Belle" "Miniature" "Printer's Devil" "No Time Like the Past" "The Parallel" "I Dream of Genie" "The New Exhibit" "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" "On Thursday We Leave for Home" "Passage on the Lady Anne" "The Bard"

Season 5	"In Praise of Pip" "Steel" "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" "A Kind of a Stopwatch" "The Last Night of a Jockey" "Living Doll" "The Old Man in the Cave" "Uncle Simon" "Probe 7, Over and Out" "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain" "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" "Ring-a-Ding Girl" "You Drive" "The Long Morrow" "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" "Black Leather Jackets" "Night Call" "From Agnes—With Love" "Spur of the Moment" "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" "Queen of the Nile" "What's in the Box" "The Masks" "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" "Sounds and Silences" "Caesar and Me" "The Jeopardy Room" "Stopover in a Quiet Town" "The Encounter" "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" "The Brain Center at Whipple's" "Come Wander with Me" "The Fear" "The Bewitchin' Pool"

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