Judgment Night

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For the 1993 movie, see Judgment Night (film).

“Judgment Night” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Details

Episode number: 10
Season: 1
Production code: 173-3604
Original air date: December 4, 1959
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: John Brahm
Music: Stock

[edit] Cast

Carl Lanser: Nehemiah Persoff
Captain Wilbur: Ben Wright (actor)
First Officer: Patrick Macnee
Lt. Mueller: James Franciscus

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A man by the name of Karl Lanser appears aboard a British ship in 1942 with no idea of how he got there or who he is. Gradually, through topics brought up and replied to, feelings of déjà vu, and props, it becomes seemingly obvious that he's a German submarine officer. After unsuccessfully trying to convince the crew that they are in danger—he frantically tries to tell the crew and passengers that they are under attack, but to no avail, it is agony for him— the boat is sunk by a German U-boat commanded by Captain Lieutenant Lanser. He appears on the German ship with his second in command who asks him if he thinks they are being judged. He replies that the British may judge them. The first mate questions him on whether God is judging them. Then it all repeats, showing that he's been condemned to sail, be sunk, and drown on the ghost of that ship forever. The episode is Karl Lanser's hell.

[edit] Narration

Opening: "Her name is the S.S. Queen of Glasgow. Her registry: British. Gross tonnage: five thousand. Age: indeterminate. At this moment she's one day out of Liverpool, her destination New York. Duly recorded on this 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 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."

Closing: "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 of that 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 Leutnant, Navy of the Third Reich, this is the penalty. This is the justice meted out. This is judgment night in the Twilight Zone."

[edit] Trivia

"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, 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." —Rod Serling, in an interview with Mike Wallace, September 22, 1959.