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Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
SKETCH-O-VISION
A VERY GOOD USE OF YOUR TIME.
The setup
Watch on YouTube
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The premise
Here’s the bit.
Rod Serling introduces a stormy flight on which Bob, a jittery passenger, glimpses a furry gremlin on the plane's wing. Each time he looks again, the creature is busy with something more mundane and absurd — smoking, grilling fish, working out, wrestling a tiered cake through the wind and even posing with members of Pearl Jam — while Bob's wife and a flight attendant insist nothing is there. When Bob threatens to go outside, the gremlin comes into the cabin himself, grumbles about the cold and politely asks the couple to swap seats so he can sit beside his own gremlin wife. Serling closes with an equally silly twist on the ground.
The funny people
Meet the cast. 6
Say it with us
Highly quotable.
Sir, everyone here is smoking on the plane.
It was making grilled cedar plank salmon. I think it likes fish.
I hate to be a pain, but would you guys mind moving so that my wife and I could sit next to each other?
A little extra
Notes from the archive.
A spoof of the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," in which William Shatner's passenger sees a gremlin on the wing. Musical guest Pearl Jam make a cameo on the wing alongside the gremlin.
Script
Automatically generated script; wording may contain errors. Speaker labels are inferred.
- 00:01
Rod Serling
A man journeys from point A to point B, but this is no ordinary journey, for little does this man know, but this trip ends in a dark, mysterious, terrible place. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. And also, the Twilight Zone.
- 00:19
Bob
When will this storm ever end?
- 00:25
Wife
Oh, it's fine, dear. Hundreds of planes fly through this kind of weather every day.
- 00:31
Bob
Yeah, but I'm not on those planes.
- 00:33
Wife
Oh, relax. Relax. It'll be better if you just try to sleep.
- 00:37
Bob
Okay. All right. I'll try.
- 00:51
Bob
Honey! Honey, there's something out there!
- 00:53
Wife
What? Where?
- 00:54
Bob
On the wing! I saw something.
- 00:57
Wife
Let me see. I don't see anything.
- 01:01
Bob
I saw it! I swear, I did! Didn't I?
- 01:18
Bob
There's something out there on the wing! There's something out there! There's something out there!
- 01:23
Stewardess
Sir, what is going on?
- 01:24
Bob
There's a creature on the wing. It was smoking. Smoking on a plane.
- 01:28
Stewardess
Sir, everyone here is smoking on the plane.
- 01:32
Bob
But the thing, it was...
- 01:34
Stewardess
I don't see anything, sir. Now, you try to get some rest, okay?
- 01:39
Bob
I swear I saw it.
- 01:40
Wife
Honey, it's nothing. Just please get some rest.
- 01:43
Bob
Okay. All right.
- 01:46
Bob
God, it's out there!
- 02:00
Wife
What is?
- 02:01
Bob
I don't know. It. Look. Look! It was making grilled cedar plank salmon. I think it likes fish.
- 02:11
Wife
Oh, Bob, Bob, stop. This is crazy. This storm is getting to you. Just go to sleep.
- 02:19
Bob
All right, I'll try.
- 02:20
Bob
Oh, it's exercising. It's doing this. It's exercising.
- 02:34
Stewardess
Sir.
- 02:34
Bob
It's exercising.
- 02:35
Stewardess
Sir, stop it. Calm down. Nothing is out there.
- 02:38
Bob
You can't see it. It's toning up. It seems healthy and dangerous.
- 02:43
Stewardess
Sir, do you need a pill? Well, because unless you calm yourself, we are going to have you arrested when we get on the ground. Now, can you settle down, sir?
- 02:51
Bob
Yes. Yes, I think I can. I'm okay.
- 02:57
Stewardess
Now, we have a long flight. Just don't look out the window from now on. Can you do that for me, sir?
- 03:03
Bob
I think so.
- 03:04
Stewardess
Good. Good night, sir.
- 03:17
Bob
No, no. No, he's going to drop the cake. He's trying to get it to the judge's table. He can't transfer that. Not with all that wind. It's impossible.
- 03:26
Bob
Oh, it's fine. There's nothing there. Nothing. There's nothing there. It's okay.
- 03:31
Pulse
- 03:55
Monster
off out there! Jeez, make decisions much?
- 04:01
Monster
Oh, man. Okay, I'm in 23C. Sorry.
- 04:06
Bob
Oh, hey, I'm in 23C. That's my seat.
- 04:10
Monster
Oh, uh... I'm in 23D.
- 04:12
Monster
Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I hate to be a pain, but would you guys mind moving so that my wife and I could sit next to each other?
- 04:17
Oh, I'm so sorry. Hi. Oh, no, no, no, no. Of course. Thank you. Oh, thank you so much. Oh, thank you so much. Oh, I'm so sorry to bother you. Oh, excuse me. Excuse me. No, no, excuse me. Excuse me. Oh, thank you. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. I'm sorry.
- 04:30
Thing
Nice people. Here we are.
- 04:31
Monster
Oh, wow. Finally, I can relax.
- 04:37
Rod Serling
The nightmare in the sky is over, but on the ground, a man who has decided to exercise for the very first time is killed by a falling elliptical machine, and also members of Pearl Jam. Another coincidence that can only happen in the Twilight Zone.
The rabbit hole continues
One more couldn’t hurt.
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