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Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up is a Rod Serling-penned favorite from
The Twilight Zone's second season. Tracks from a frozen pond where a UFO is reported to have landed lead into a diner where stranded travelers wait out a snowstorm. There were six on the bus. Now there are seven, ranging from an oblivious honeymoon couple to an impatient businessman and a grizzled old coot. Which is the Martian? It is a testament to this series' greatness that knowing the fiendishly funny surprise ending does not mar enjoyment of repeat viewings, as witness
To Serve Man, the second classic episode included on this video.
TV Guide rightfully ranked this as one of TV's top 100 episodes of all time. That's Richard Kiel (Jaws in
The Spy Who Loved Me) as an ambassador of the Canamites, a race of nine-foot-tall super-evolved aliens who offer to transform Earth into a peaceful Eden. But what do they really have cooked up for us? The episode's title is a macabre clue. This is one of three must-own volumes of vintage
Twilight Zone episodes released to commemorate this timeless series' 40th anniversary. Tape 1 features the video premiere of
The After Hours (the one with the mannequins) and
Time Enough at Last starring Burgess Meredith as the post-apocalyptic bookworm. Tape 2 boasts Rod Serling's
The Eye of the Beholder and
Living Doll, one of the series' all-time scariest episodes.
--Donald Liebenson
