Dead Run (The Twilight Zone)

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“Dead Run”

The Twilight Zone episode

Episode no.

Season 1
Episode 19, Segment 2

Written by

Greg Bear
Alan Brennert

Directed by

Paul Tucker

Guest stars

Steve Railsback : Johnny Davis
Barry Corbin : Pete
John DeLancie : The Dispatcher
Brent Spiner : Draft Dodger

Original airdate

February 21, 1986

Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"The Leprechaun Artist"	"Profile in Silver"

List of The Twilight Zone episodes

"Dead Run" is the second segment of the nineteenth episode from the television series The New Twilight Zone. It is based on the short story "Dead Run" by Greg Bear, first published in Omni (April, 1985).

Co-stars Brent Spiner and John de Lancie would later have a long working relationship in Star Trek: The Next Generation, with Spiner starring as Data and de Lancie as frequent guest-star Q.

1 Synopsis
2 Closing Narration
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (February 2008)

Johnny Davis (Steve Railsback) is an out-of-work truck driver. His friend recommends a bizarre job that, regardless of its oddity, he accepts: delivery of souls to Hell via truck. He comes to the conclusion that the choice of who gets sent to Hell is unfair and begins to choose which of the dead should go to Hell and which he should free to find a way to Heaven.

When a soul he helps asks why he is doing this, he replies (paraphrased) "When I was a boy, my Sunday school teacher told me a story- that between the Crucifixion and Resurrection, Jesus went down to Hell to give the souls there another chance. So maybe I'm just keeping up an old tradition."

[edit] Closing Narration

“

Centuries ago, hell was reached by chalk-white horses pulling shuttered coaches; by Spanish galleons borne on black sails through uncharted seas. Legend has it Leonardo da Vinci was one commissioned to build a flying machine to carry souls to hell, but it never returned from its maiden flight. But along this particular road to hell lies redemption for the damned as well as for drivers who had found work... in The Twilight Zone.

”