Season 4

1. In His Image

While waiting in a subway station, Alan Talbot is approached by an evangelist. Alan is not interested, but takes the pamphlet she offers in order to appease her; however, the evangelist won't leave him alone. He hears strange electronic noises which prompt him to throw her under a train and then flee the scene.

Later Alan, seemingly having no memory of the murder he committed, visits the home of his fiancée, Jessica Connelly. Though he met Jessica only four days before, they have already set a date for their wedding, and Alan is taking her to his hometown of Coeurville to meet his aunt Mildred, who raised him. When they arrive, almost everything in the town is as Alan remembers, but another man is living in his house, the university where he was employed is gone, and all of the people he knew are either said to have died years ago, or else there is no record that they ever existed. In the place where his parents were buried, he instead finds a tombstone with the name "Walter Ryder"; seeing this name seems to trigger a repressed memory in Alan.

Alan and Jessica give up and head back home. On the drive, Alan hears the electrical noises again, and this time is able to make out the sound of himself talking to a "Walter" among them. He tells Jessica to stop the car, runs out, and picks up a rock to kill her with. He fights back this urge and screams at Jessica to get as far away from him as possible. She reluctantly gets back in the car and drives off just as Alan's homicidal urge subsides. Disoriented by his frustrated urge to kill, he lingers in the road until a car hits him. The driver applies the brakes in enough time that Alan is not gravely hurt, but a deep cut in his wrist is bizarrely not bleeding. Alan peels back his "skin" to find metal rods and wiring underneath instead of flesh and bone.

Jessica calls Alan after he returns to the city. She is now convinced that he needs mental help and has made an appointment for him with a psychiatrist. He agrees to go with her to the appointment, but knows from his robotic arm that his problems go beyond mental issues. Intuiting that "Walter Ryder" is the key, he looks up Walter in a phone book and pays him an unannounced visit. Walter turns out to be his physical double. Walter explains that Alan is an android he developed using funds from a calculator he invented, using help from some of the world's greatest scientists, and his own self-professed genius.

He created Alan's memory by using his own memories of Coeurville, which he left 20 years before, and filling in the blanks with a fictional aunt Mildred and a job at a fictional university. Alan was designed to be a perfect version of Walter - to be outgoing, bold and charming, while the real Walter is shy, self-pitying and socially awkward. Walter admits his scientific reach exceeded his grasp, and there are aspects of his creation which he does not understand. A week ago, Alan suddenly tried to kill Walter, stabbed him with a pair of scissors, and ran away.

Alan is outraged that Walter created an artificial human without considering the consequences, in particular the situation with Jessica. Walter is sympathetic but has no idea how to even diagnose the cause of Alan's homicidal episodes, much less correct it, and points out that Alan has no chance of a normal life with Jessica anyway, since he doesn't age. Alan then demands that Walter replace him with a properly functioning android who will love and care for Jessica, and writes down her address for Walter on some scrap paper taken from his pocket. When he recognizes the scrap paper is the pamphlet the evangelist gave him, it triggers another malfunction and he tries to kill Walter.

After the struggle, the survivor goes to Jessica and asks her to forget about his strange behavior of the past couple of days, saying that the nightmare is over and he will tell her what happened someday. In the final scene, it is revealed that the survivor is Walter and that Alan's broken form lies amid the wreckage of the laboratory.

2. The Thirty-Fathom Grave

In April 1963, a U.S. Navy destroyer is on a routine patrol off Guadalcanal when sonar picks up a sound beneath the waves; the crew believe that it sounds like something banging on metal.

They discover a submarine on the ocean floor, but inquiries to naval command reveal no recent sinkings in the area. A joking suggestion from some of the crew that the sub may be haunted sends an anxious and bewildered Chief Boatswain's Mate Bell, who has been feeling unwell for a couple of days, into a frenzy of bizarre behavior, including fainting spells. The destroyer's commander, Captain Beecham, orders the ship's diver, McClure, to investigate. They find out that it is an American submarine, and the metal sound is coming from inside.

When McClure bangs on the submarine hull, the metal banging seemingly responds. Chief Bell begins to see apparitions of dead sailors beckoning him. The ship's doctor unsuccessfully tries to convince Bell that he is just having nightmares, and reports to the captain that Bell is experiencing effects of psychological trauma which could be caused by his wartime experiences. The doctor finds a pile of seaweed in the spot where Bell saw the apparitions.

McClure later discovers the number of the submarine, "714", which Beecham identifies as belonging to a submarine that was sunk during the First Battle of the Solomon Sea in early August 1942, almost twenty years ago. 1 Although stunned at the idea that someone inside the submarine could still be alive, Beecham asks Pacific Fleet command for an emergency-priority rescue operation, giving the location as 09 degrees 30 minutes south latitude and 160 degrees 48 minutes east longitude. McClure goes down again to try to ascertain exactly where the sound is coming from, to help the rescue outfit determine where to enter the boat. The diver receives no response to his bangs on the hull, but he finds a dog tag which he delivers to Beecham. It belongs to Chief Bell.

When Beecham shows the dog tag to Bell, he recounts that he was a signalman on a submarine during the war. He dropped a signal light while attempting to change the infrared filter at night, causing the filter to fall off. As a result, Japanese destroyers saw the light and attacked. Bell was blown into the water by the shelling. The captain ordered a dive, but depth charges sank the boat. Bell, the sole survivor, was later rescued by an American destroyer. Bell tells Beecham that he now understands: his dead shipmates know he is above them right now and are demanding that he join them.

Bell is overcome by survivor guilt, and says, "I sunk that sub. I'm responsible." Despite Captain Beecham's efforts to convince Bell that his mistake did nothing, that a boat caught on the surface and surrounded by enemy ships was already doomed, Bell dons the dog tag, races out on deck and jumps overboard, shouting, "They're calling muster on me!" The destroyer's crew are unable to save Bell or find his body.

Later, McClure accompanies the rescue mission into the submarine. Upon returning to the ship, he reports to Beecham that the boat was a wreck inside, and no one was left alive. Inside the control room, he found the periscope shears cut in half, with one section swinging back and forth. When Beecham asks him to confirm that this was the clanging noise they had heard, McClure agrees, but adds that he also saw the remains of eight dead sailors; one was holding a hammer in his hand.

3. Valley of the Shadow

Reporter Philip Redfield gets lost while driving with his dog, Rollie, on unfamiliar back roads, and stops in Peaceful Valley, New Mexico, seeking food, directions, and gasoline. The gas station attendant fills his tank but is curt and claims the only restaurant in town is closed. Rollie leaps out of the car to chase a little girl's cat up a tree. The girl uses a strange device to make the dog disappear. When Philip confronts the girl's father, he pretends to go looking for Rollie, then secretly uses the device to make the dog re-materialize.

Philip and his dog seek food at the town's hotel. Ellen, the proprietor, is as curt as the gas station attendant and insists they have no rooms available even though the keys to all the rooms are still on display at the check-in desk. Philip's suspicions are fully aroused by this time, but questioning Ellen about the residents' strange behavior gets him nowhere. He drives out of town only to run into an invisible wall which totals his car and kills Rollie. A band of Peaceful Valley residents are waiting at the scene and take him to the town elders while another resident brings Rollie back to life.

The town elders question Philip on why he came to Peaceful Valley and whether anyone knows where he is. They show him some of the technology they have, including a replicator which can produce any object given its molecular formula and a ray which can reverse any injury, including death. The elders refuse to share this technology, given to the town 104 years earlier by a scientist from an unknown planet, until "men learn the ways of peace". Philip rebukes them for decreeing themselves the sole people capable of using these extraterrestrial gifts responsibly, and for squandering technology that could be used to cure all illness and end hunger.

The town elders insist that if they shared the technology it would be used for weapons, and tell Philip that due to his chance witnessing of the device used to make his dog disappear, he must either stay forever in Peaceful Valley or be executed to preserve the town's secrets.

Philip is now a prisoner in his new home, with an invisible wall placed to keep him from venturing beyond the yard. He becomes romantically involved with Ellen, and tries to make her realize her own lack of freedom, knowing that the town elders will not let any of Peaceful Valley's residents leave for fear they would reveal the town's secrets. Seemingly persuaded that he cannot reciprocate her love unless she sets him free, Ellen disables the invisible wall and offers to drive Phillip out of town. He arms himself by replicating a revolver and steals a book containing the equations that explain the town's technology, but sets off an alarm in the process. When the three town elders attempt to prevent his escape, he shoots them.

Once Philip and Ellen are outside the town limits, she shows him that the book is blank, then uses a device to de-materialize him. Ellen was a plant, Philip's entire escape a test. The elders, revived by the technology, claim his decision to create and use a gun confirms their belief that the people of Peaceful Valley are the only ones fit to use the alien technology. Ellen confesses her involvement was not entirely a deception, implying that her feelings for him were real. The elders "execute" Philip by rendering him unconscious, erasing his memories of Peaceful Valley, and returning him and his car to the gas station. When he wakes up, the attendant has just finished filling his tank. He asks for directions and drives out of town, experiencing a moment of déjà vu when he sees Ellen, who has tears in her eyes.

4. He's Alive

Peter Vollmer, the leader of a small and struggling American Neo-Nazi group, is mocked and ridiculed by the crowds he preaches to on street corners. Ernst Ganz, the elderly Jewish man with whom Vollmer has had a sympathetic relationship since he was an abused and neglected child, offers him shelter and compassion but not respect. Ernst had spent nine years in Dachau and recognizes that Vollmer's politics stem from a childish desire for the respect of others. This pains Vollmer, who openly confesses that he views Ernst as a father figure, since his real father physically abused him and his mother was neglectful as a result of mental illness.

Beginning one night, Vollmer is periodically visited by a shadowy figure who teaches him how to enthrall a crowd. The figure pays Vollmer's rent at the hall where he holds rallies. He also instructs Vollmer to arrange the death of one of his followers, Nick Bloss, thereby creating a martyr to rally everyone around (a reference to the 1930 murder of Horst Wessel, a low-ranking officer in the Sturmabteilung). Following the figure's instructions and assistance, Vollmer becomes considerably more successful and his group's following grows. Ernst becomes fearful that Vollmer may actually succeed in igniting another Holocaust. He disrupts a rally, accusing Vollmer of being "nothing but a cheap copy" of the German Führer while Vollmer cowers before his surrogate father.

After the failed rally, the shadowy figure rebukes Vollmer for his failure and says that from now on he will be ordering Vollmer rather than instructing him. Vollmer demands to know who his mysterious benefactor is. The man steps forward from the shadows to reveal himself to be Adolf Hitler. He orders Vollmer to kill Ernst, and Vollmer steels himself enough to complete the task. Hitler congratulates him and asks how it felt; Vollmer replies that he felt immortal. Hitler responds, "Mr. Vollmer, we are immortal!"

Police officers arrive soon after, to arrest Vollmer for conspiracy to murder Nick. Shot while fleeing, Vollmer is astonished by the sight of his own blood. Hitler's shadow appears on the wall behind Vollmer as he gasps out, "There's something very wrong here... Don't you understand that I'm made out of steel!? " As Vollmer dies, alone and forgotten, the Führer slinks away to search for a new mouthpiece.

5. Mute

Firefighters respond to a blazing fire in a family home. The fire is so extensive that they immediately write off the house as a loss, and a search of the building turns up no survivors. However, twelve-year-old Ilse Nielsen is found outside, having escaped unscathed from the blaze that killed her parents. Sheriff Harry Wheeler and his wife Cora take in Ilse until her relatives can be found. Ilse does not speak, even though medical examinations show she does not have a speech disorder. The Wheelers deduce that her parents prohibited her from talking, and they conclude it was a case of parental neglect.

In actuality, Ilse's parents were part of a secret society who learned how to use what they believe are latent telepathic abilities possessed by all humans. They agreed to raise their children to communicate solely with telepathy. Ilse was two when the agreement began. The members of the society stayed in touch through the mail.

Using the return addresses from the recent society letters, which the postmaster did not allow the sheriff to open, Harry writes inquiries about Ilse's relatives. Ilse now lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds. Having been taught to communicate in pure meaning instead of words, she finds the sound of human speech alien and painful. She looks forward to being reunited with the other telepathic children after Harry finds them. But Cora, still grieving over her own long-dead daughter, does not want Ilse to leave, so she takes the letters from the mailbox and burns them to prevent Ilse from being taken away. Ilse witnesses this sabotage but, lacking the ability to speak or write, cannot tell Harry.

When weeks go by without reply to his letters, Harry enrolls Ilse in school. Her teacher is patient with her inability to speak, but firm, and daily prompts Ilse to say her name. She deduces that Ilse has telepathic abilities by the end of her first day, telling her that her father tried to also raise her to be a telepath and in the end, become a medium. Over time, her teacher is able to teach Ilse to speak instead of using her telepathic abilities.

Karl and Frau Maria Werner, society members from Austria, are alarmed by the lapse in the Nielsens' regular communications and come to check on them. After being informed of the situation, the Werners meet with Ilse and talk to her telepathically. Their telepathic speech is incomprehensible to Ilse, and after continued telepathic prodding she begins sobbing and repeatedly saying, "My name is Ilse! My name is Ilse!" The Werners realize that over her weeks in a non-telepathic society, she has lost all knowledge of how to communicate telepathically. They decide to allow the Wheelers to adopt Ilse, even though the Werners are her godparents.

Though saddened by Ilse's loss of telepathy, they take comfort in telling themselves that Cora Wheeler loves Ilse more than her parents did. The Werners reveal that Ilse escaped the fire because her parents, though trapped themselves, telepathically guided their daughter from the house.The scene ends with Ilse and her new mother walking out of her new home and family.

6. Death Ship

The Space Cruiser E-89, crewed by Captain Paul Ross, Lt. Ted Mason, and Lt. Mike Carter, is on a mission to analyze new worlds and discover if they are suitable for colonization. While orbiting a planet, Mason sees a metallic glint in the landscape. He conjects that this might be a sign of alien life, but Captain Ross disagrees. Nevertheless, the Cruiser prepares to land next to the mysterious object.

After landing, the men find that the gleaming comes from the wreck of a ship exactly like their own. Inside the craft, they discover their own lifeless bodies. Mason and Carter go numb with shock. Ross, struggling for an explanation, decides they have bent time in such a way as to get a glimpse of the future. He says to avoid their fate they must refrain from taking off again. Mason and Carter fiercely object to this plan, especially once they find that atmospheric interference prevents their contacting anyone for help, and that the frigid night-time temperatures of the planet will force them to rapidly exhaust the ship's energy reserves on heat. Ross pulls rank to make them comply.

While looking out the viewport, Carter is transported back to a country lane on Earth. There, he encounters people from his past. He runs to the house that his wife and he shared, and finds it empty except for a telegram notifying her that he has died in the line of duty. Carter is wrenched from his vision by Ross; as Carter describes what he has just experienced, he realizes that the people he encountered are dead. Ross insists it was a delusion. The two then find Mason has vanished.

He is having an emotional reunion with his wife and child. When Ross pulls him back, Mason is enraged and wants to be allowed back, maintaining that his encounter with his family was real. From Mason's pocket, Ross pulls a newspaper clipping about the death of Mason's wife and child. The captain then posits a new theory about what is going on: The planet is inhabited by telepathic aliens who are using illusions to keep them from reporting back to Earth, thus averting colonization of their home. Ross says that if they take the E-89 back up to space, that should break the spell.

The men take E-89 back into orbit. Mason and Carter admit that Ross may have been right about the aliens. Ross then insists on landing the craft again to gather foreign samples to bring back to Earth. When they land again, the wreck of their craft is still present. The successive disproving of Ross's theories, combined with an intuitive knowledge of their condition, brings Mason and Carter to the realization that they already crashed and are dead. Their afterlife visits were real, and their current situation is the illusion. Ross refuses to accept this. He rejects his crew's pleas to be allowed to embrace their deaths and be reunited with their loved ones, and says that they will "go over it again and again" until he figures out an alternative explanation.

The scene then resets to the moment where Mason first spotted the E-89's wreckage, the crew doomed to repeat the past several hours of investigation forever.

7. Jess-Belle

Jess-Belle, determined that ex-boyfriend Billy-Ben Turner and his fiancee Ellwyn Glover not marry, enlists the aid of local witch Granny Hart. Granny casts a spell that makes Billy-Ben forget Ellwyn and fall madly in love with Jess-Belle. There is a price for the spell: Jess-Belle will transform into a leopard from midnight until dawn. Jess-Belle also feels herself growing colder and more heartless with each transformation. The witch explains that Jess-Belle's soul has been extinguished, and she has been transformed into a witch herself.

Horrified by her waning humanity, Jess-Belle considers running away from Billy-Ben. His devotion to her remains unwavering, and she finds herself unable to give up her selfish desire. They arrange to be married. A hunting party including Billy-Ben finds the leopard and shoots it, and it disappears in a cloud of smoke. Billy-Ben finds Jess-Belle's ring on the ground where the leopard had stood.

A year later, Billy-Ben marries Ellwyn. Jess-Belle reappears in various threatening forms. Billy-Ben learns from Granny that to kill Jess-Belle, he must make a figure of her using clothing she has worn and stab it through the heart with silver. He returns home to find Ellwyn has been possessed by Jess-Belle. Jess-Belle then asks Billy-Ben to "dance in the moonlight", which means she wants to kill him. He runs into the house and locks the door. He puts one of Jess-Belle's dresses on a mannequin and stabs it with one of Jess-Belle's own silver hairpins. Jess-Belle appears in the dress, her eyes roll back, and she disappears. After this, Ellwyn does not remember anything that happened since the wedding, but claims, upon seeing a falling star that "it means a witch has died."

8. Miniature

Charley Parkes believes that he sees a figure in a museum dollhouse that comes alive. He returns to the museum numerous times and gazes into the dollhouse, repeatedly witnessing the doll in the house become animated. A guard tells him that the doll is not mechanical, but merely carved from a single block of wood, but this does not dissuade Charley.

Charley gradually falls in love with the figure, a woman portrayed by Claire Bradley Griswold, who is in an abusive relationship with a male figure in the dollhouse. In an attempt to rescue the female doll from the male doll, Charley breaks the glass and is subsequently committed to a psychiatric hospital. He pretends to be rehabilitated and is returned to the care of his mother.

On the evening of his return home, Charley's family discovers that he has secretly left the house. They contact Charley's psychiatrist and surmise that he has returned to the dollhouse. At the museum, Charley reveals his feelings for the doll.

The family, psychiatrist and museum guards search the museum for Charley but find nothing. However, one guard glances into the dollhouse and sees Charley, now a miniature figure, finally together with his love in the dollhouse. Smiling, the guard resolves to never reveal what he has witnessed, knowing no one would believe him.

9. Printer's Devil

Douglas Winter, the editor of a newspaper called The Dansburg Courier, is being pushed out of business by a big conglomerate paper, The Gazette. Though Douglas is an exceptionally kind and accommodating boss, his staff begin abandoning him when he becomes unable to pay them. After the linotype operator quits, the only remaining employees of The Courier are Douglas himself and his girlfriend, Jackie Benson. Douglas is an earnest dreamer who sees The Courier as his purpose in life; faced with its demise, he drives to a bridge to contemplate suicide.

There he is approached by a strange man who introduces himself as "Mr. Smith", and says he came to town hoping to join The Courier as a linotype operator and reporter. Even after witnessing Mr. Smith's speed and precision with the linotype machine, Doug tries to talk him out of it, saying he cannot pay him or even resume operation of The Courier due to an overdue debt payment to the bank of nearly $5,000. Mr. Smith immediately lends him the $5,000.

Shortly after his hiring, Mr. Smith produces a report of a bank robbery that occurred just a half hour before. Business booms for the little newspaper, as Mr. Smith scoops The Gazette on dramatic news stories, with special editions which sometimes hit the streets barely two hours after the events happen. The owner of The Gazette, Mr. Franklin, offers to buy out The Courier. Though Douglas himself doubts that The Courier can stand up to Franklin's monopolizing tactics, assuming his recent success is down to luck, he refuses his offer. The day after, a fire burns down The Gazette building. When an edition of The Courier goes on sale just two hours after, Franklin accuses Doug of arson. Doug has witnesses to account for his whereabouts at the time, and when he asks Mr. Smith if he caused the fire, Smith successfully dodges the question.

Jackie, still suspicious of Mr. Smith, prods Douglas for information on where he came from, and says he should get rid of him now that the $5,000 loan has been repaid. Douglas refuses, and becomes irritable when she asks what he was doing at the bridge where he met Smith.

At last Mr. Smith reveals why he joined The Courier: he wants Doug to sign a contract assuring Mr. Smith's continued services in exchange for Doug's soul. When Doug is reluctant, Mr. Smith uses a variation of doublethink, arguing that while he believes himself to be the devil, he is clearly mad, and to a sane sophisticated man like Doug things like souls and the devil clearly do not exist. Doug signs the contract.

Eventually, however, he comes to the conclusion that Mr. Smith is somehow causing the events that he writes about, and tells Mr. Smith he wants him gone. Smith says that is impossible now that the contract has been signed, and writes a story about Jackie being injured in an auto accident at 11:30—an hour and a half in the future. He tells Douglas that when he joined The Courier he modified the linotype machine so that anything typed on it happens, and will write that Jackie died of her injuries unless Douglas kills himself.

In this way Smith could immediately claim his soul and move on to other clients, instead of having to work at The Courier for the rest of Douglas's natural life. Douglas tosses aside the offered gun and goes frantically searching for Jackie. Meanwhile, she confronts Mr. Smith. He agrees to leave town if she gives him a lift, and asks to drive.

Unable to find Jackie, Doug returns to The Courier building and uses the linotype machine to write a new story. The car with Jackie and Mr. Smith runs off the road, but Jackie is uninjured, and Mr. Smith has vanished. Doug shows a confused Jackie the story he wrote, which says that Mr. Smith left town at 11:29, and that his contract with Doug was declared void due to Doug's not fully understanding the terms of the agreement. Douglas resumes running The Courier after having the infernal linotype machine destroyed, and hauled away.

10. No Time Like the Past

Disgusted with 20th century problems such as world wars, atomic weapons and radioactive poisoning, Paul Driscoll solicits the help of his colleague Harvey and uses a time machine, intent to remake the present by altering past events.

Paul first travels to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and attempts to warn a Hiroshima police captain about the atomic bomb, but the captain dismisses him as insane. Paul then travels to a Berlin hotel room to assassinate Adolf Hitler in August 1939 (immediately before the outbreak of World War II the following month), but is interrupted when a housekeeper knocks on his door and later calls two SS guards to his room. On his third stop, Paul tries to change the course of the Lusitania on May 6, 1915, to avoid being torpedoed by a German U-boat, but the ship's captain questions his credibility.

Paul accepts the hypothesis that the past cannot be changed. He then uses the time machine to go to the town of Homeville, Indiana in 1881, resolving not to make any changes, but just to live out his life free of the problems of the modern age. Upon his arrival, he realizes that President James A. Garfield will be shot the next day, but resists the temptation to intervene. He stays at a boarding house in town and meets Abigail Sloan, a teacher. At one of the boarding house's dinners, a boarder named Hanford, vehemently espouses American imperialism.

Paul delivers an angry rebuttal in which he accuses Hanford of speaking from ignorance of war and a certainty that he himself will not have to take part in any fighting, while dropping numerous allusions to wars that have yet to take place. Abigail is impressed and privately tells him that she shares his views, having lost her father and two brothers in the American Civil War. He kisses Abigail, but she becomes alienated when he refuses to explain his earlier remarks about future wars.

A passing remark from a local musician jogs a memory from Paul's vast historical knowledge: Homeville's schoolhouse will burn down because of a kerosene lantern ejected from a runaway wagon, badly injuring twelve children. He resolves to keep his vow not to change the past, but when he spies the lantern in question, he tries to unhitch the horses. The resulting altercation with the wagon owner causes the horses to run wild, inadvertently causing the fire he intended to prevent.

Afterward, Paul tells Abigail that "the past is sacred" and belongs to those who are native to it. He knows too much of the future and fears that he will inevitably cause more mishaps like the schoolhouse fire because of it. He returns to his own time and declares that instead of continuing to fixate upon the past, he will now try to do something to make a better future.

11. The Parallel

An astronaut, Major Robert Gaines, is orbiting Earth in his space capsule. Suddenly, his communication systems stop functioning and he blacks out, waking up on Earth with no memory of his return. He appears to be none the worse for his experiences and is released to the custody of his family.

However, inconsistencies quickly pop up. His house has a white picket fence that he has never seen, though his wife, Helen, insists that it was there when they bought the house. He sees his rank insignia on his collar and in a photograph have changed to Colonel when he knows himself to be a Major, although Helen insists he's been a Colonel for months. Helen kisses him to reassure him and instantly knows he isn't the same. She tries to call Gaines's friend, a fellow officer, but Gaines interrupts her and she says she was just calling him to invite him and his wife over to dinner.

When Maggie brings coffee to Gaines, he stops her from putting sugar in his cup and she says he's different and something is wrong. When Helen tells him that he's just different but she can't explain it, he insists on turning himself in for examination. When he also insists that the President of the United States is John F. Kennedy, a man whom no one else has ever heard of, Gaines concludes that he has slipped into a parallel universe. His acquaintances see this as nonsense until a mechanic reports his space capsule is not completely identical to the one he was sent out in. Gaines is summoned to examine the capsule, but when he approaches it he is gradually returned to the point at which he left his own universe.

He lands his craft safely and reports what happened to his superiors. They are prepared to write it off as a nightmare, but controllers on the ground subsequently receive another transmission—from Colonel Robert Gaines. The transmission cuts out a few seconds later, and the Colonel disappears from radar. The Major returns home and happily confirms that his daughter now recognizes him and the white picket fence is absent.

12. I Dream of Genie

George P. Hanley, a shy office worker, shops for a birthday gift for Ann Lawson, the secretary in the office where he works. The gift store has just received a heavily soiled oil lamp as part of a random assortment from a distributor. Believing it to be worthless, the owner smooth-talks George into buying the lamp for $20. He takes it to work, but is beaten to the punch by his brash co-worker Roger, who gives Ann a skimpy nightgown. After Ann thanks Roger with a kiss, a despondent George takes the lamp home. When George rubs the lamp while cleaning it, a genie emerges. While he only offers one wish rather than the traditional three, he gives George time to consider what he should wish for.

Throughout the evening and next day, George considers his choices through various daydreams. He first thinks about wishing for love and dreams of being married to Ann as a successful movie star who will not be torn away from her career. However, George discovers she is having an affair with fellow movie star Roger. He concludes that in any circumstance, he would ultimately lose a woman like Ann.

The next day, as Roger is in the boss's office discussing a promotion to head bookkeeper – a position George believes he is up for as well – George contemplates having money. He dreams of being wealthy tycoon G. Peter Hanley, with Roger as his chauffeur and Ann as his financial assistant. However, he slowly realizes that being able to immediately buy anything he wants without having to wait or struggle for it, and having the capacity to give away vast sums is unsatisfying. He awakes from this fantasy to the news that Roger has won the promotion.

While taking his dog Attila on a walk, George considers power as his third prospective wish and imagines being President of the United States. Though initially successful, he is soon paralyzed by indecision when faced with a global UFO crisis. George realizes the problem with all three wishes is that while his circumstances change, he himself remains a loser, and that he can only improve his life by changing himself. This inspires him to finally decide on a wish.

Sometime later, a homeless man finds the lamp in a garbage can and polishes it. The genie who emerges is George, accompanied by Attila, who offers three wishes to the finder on the condition that the lamp be returned to the alley afterwards for another needy person to find.

13. The New Exhibit

Martin Senescu works at a wax museum as curator of its "Murderers Row" exhibit. His boss and best friend, Ernest Ferguson, informs him that he has decided to sell the museum due to a long-term decline in attendance and his desire to retire. The new owners are planning to demolish the building and construct a supermarket in its place. Martin, dispirited and desperate to save the Murderers Row figures - Jack the Ripper, Albert W. Hicks, Henri Désiré Landru, William Burke and William Hare - volunteers to keep them at his house until a buyer can be found for them.

Martin's wife, Emma, becomes frustrated at having the figures in their basement. They require an air conditioner to keep from melting, and due to the hot weather, the resultant electric bills quickly wipe out their savings. Martin makes only perfunctory efforts at finding a buyer for the figures, instead spending most of his time tending to them. Emma is disconcerted by this, especially when he begins talking about and to them as if they were alive. Her brother, Dave, advises her to shut off the air conditioning so that the figures will melt. After one last effort to convince Martin to return the figures to Ferguson's care, Emma sneaks out of bed one night and goes down to the basement. When she tries to shut off the air conditioner, the Jack the Ripper figure stabs her.

The next morning, Martin discovers Emma dead and her blood on Jack's knife. Realizing no one will believe a wax figure killed Emma, he buries her under the basement floor. The next day, Dave pays a visit. Martin nervously claims to have gotten rid of the wax figures, which arouses Dave's suspicions when he hears the air conditioner hum and finds the basement door locked. When he presses Martin further about Emma's whereabouts, Martin rushes him out of the house. Dave then sneaks into the basement through the back entrance. While he is examining the area, the Hicks figure strikes Dave with its axe. Martin comes down later to find the carnage.

A few weeks later, Ferguson comes by to tell Martin that he has sold the figures to Marchand's Wax Museum in Brussels. However, Martin is still reluctant to give up the wax figures he has so greatly cared for. While he goes upstairs and makes tea, Ferguson takes measurements of the figures for the buyer. When he makes a passing remark about Landru's width, the latter strangles him. Martin comes downstairs with the tea and finds Ferguson's body. Deeming this the last straw, Martin rebukes the figures and grabs a crowbar, planning to smash them. Suddenly, the wax figures come off their pedestals and advance on him, claiming he murdered Emma, Dave, and Ferguson even though he was not in the basement when any of them died. Martin screams as the figures close in.

Sometime later, at Marchand's, the five murderer figures are now accompanied by a wax figure of Martin, whom the curator describes as "a remarkable and certainly most versatile murderer" for killing each of his victims in a different way.

14. Of Late I Think of Cliffordville

William J. Feathersmith, the 75-year-old president of a major corporation, is a ruthless businessman who has built his wealth by exploiting others. One night, a drunken Feathersmith confesses to the janitor, Mr. Hecate, that having reached the height of success, he is left feeling empty and purposeless, and dreams of returning to his small hometown of Cliffordville, Indiana, to start life anew. Hecate says that Cliffordville happens to be his hometown, as well.

Attempting to go home for the night, Feathersmith is instead taken by the elevator to the 13th floor, where he finds a travel agency that was not there the day before. The agency's increasingly two-horned head, "Miss Devlin", is revealed to be the Devil. Devlin offers to fulfill his wish to return to 1910 Cliffordville, agreeing to his terms that he will look the same as he did then, but retain all memories of his first life, in exchange for almost all his liquidated worth, leaving him with $1,412. As he knows which investments have succeeded and which have failed in the last 50 years, Feathersmith agrees.

Back in 1910 Cliffordville, Feathersmith tries to woo the daughter of a bank owner, but is startled that rather than being the charming girl he remembers, she is plain, plays the piano poorly, chatters incessantly, and insists on entertaining guests with her shrill singing. He uses $1,403 to buy 1,403 acres of land which he knows to contain deposits of oil. He forgets, however, that the drill needed to access oil so far beneath the ground will not be invented until 1937. He tries to "invent" devices such as a self-starter for automobiles, but does not know how to design them.

The townspeople ridicule this, which causes Feathersmith to suffer palpitations. He realizes that following the strict letter of his terms, Devlin has made him appear 30, but he is still biologically 75. When Devlin appears, Feathersmith accuses her of altering the past, even though she says that all is as it was, and that he just remembered it differently. She needles him for living off the work of others and being unable to create anything himself.

He pleads with Devlin to send him back to 1963, even after she warns him that his actions in 1910 have changed things, and it can no longer be the 1963 he knew. She agrees to fulfill his wish for just $40. Having no money left, Feathersmith hastily sells the deed to his land to Hecate for the $40.

In the altered 1963, Hecate is the president of the corporation, having amassed his fortune with the money earned from the oil dug up in 1937, while Feathersmith now works as the building's janitor. Hecate mocks Feathersmith for having been in his position for over forty years.

15. The Incredible World of Horace Ford

Horace Ford is a 38-year-old toy designer whose life is dominated by blissfully happy memories of his childhood. His colleagues, wife, and mother have all become increasingly frustrated with his obsession.

One day, he decides to revisit his childhood neighborhood. Ford discovers, to his amazement, that it has not changed. He recognizes the boys he played with in his childhood—who have not aged. Frightened, he returns to his apartment, but he visits his old neighborhood again on each of the next several nights. Each night the same scene plays out and he stays slightly longer, before returning to his apartment.

On his last visit, he hears his old friends complaining that he didn't invite them to his birthday party. He tries to talk to them, and suddenly turns into a boy again. His friends bully and assault him, as Horace realizes that his childhood was not as pleasant as he would nostalgically recall. After his wife finds him, he "grows up"—returning to his own time period and age group with a new-found appreciation for life as an adult.

16. On Thursday We Leave for Home

In 1991, 113 people built a settlement on the desert planet V9-Gamma, hoping to escape the frequent wars on Earth. However, life proved difficult under the perpetual heat and daylight of two suns, so in 2021 the settlers sent out a transmission requesting transport back to Earth. The group's leader, Captain Benteen, was 15 when the expedition left Earth. Through firm authority, ardent faith, and willingness to make tough decisions, he has kept the group of (now) 187 men, women and children from descending into anarchy, giving up hope, or falling victim to the planet's hazards, including overheating, dehydration, and meteor showers.

Life is very hard and suicide is not uncommon. Following the discovery of another one, a young woman who has hanged herself, they bury her, and Benteen delivers a stern sermon and lecture. A meteor shower forces them into the main cave, and he's again asked to tell stories about home. The settlers, most of whom were born on V9-Gamma, hang on his every word when he tells them about Earth.

Six months after the transmission, a rescue mission from Earth arrives, led by Colonel Sloane. Sloane tells them they have three days to prepare for their journey home. The settlers are jubilant. However, Benteen and Sloane soon begin butting heads. Benteen is upset to see that his power over the settlers is already dwindling; they are entranced by Sloane's stories of the modern Earth and disregard Benteen's warnings when Sloane encourages them to play an impromptu game of baseball in the extreme heat. Sloane implores Benteen to relax and relinquish command of the settlers, but Benteen stubbornly refuses, insisting that as long as they are on V9-Gamma, he is in command. Sloane seeks to preserve peace by agreeing to Benteen's demand that his crew be isolated from the colonists until the day of departure.

When Benteen tells Sloane that he intends to petition the US government for a land grant so that the colonists can remain together as an intentional community, Sloane is aghast at the idea and says he should discuss it with the colonists rather than assuming their approval. When he does so, Benteen learns the colonists have already made plans to settle in different states, and have no enthusiasm for his plan to stay together. Benteen accuses Sloane of bringing selfishness into the community but Sloane argues that he brought nothing more than a means of escape from V9-Gamma: the settlers have never had any choice but to follow Benteen's leadership and can now act for themselves.

Benteen is unfazed by Sloane's words. He attempts to persuade everyone to stay on V9-Gamma by characterizing Earth as a place of violence and hardship, saying none of them belong there. Sloane, finally fed up with Benteen's stubbornness, tells the settlers that while Earth isn't a paradise, it at least will give them the opportunity to think and act for themselves. Everyone, save for Benteen, chooses to return home. Benteen, in desperation, attacks the ship with a length of pipe, only to be stopped physically by Sloane and his men. Having convinced himself of his new negative image of Earth, Benteen says that he will remain behind, alone if he must.

As the colonists board the ship, Sloane and the colony's engineer, Al Baines, search for Benteen to give him one last chance to change his mind, but he hides in the cave that had sheltered his people. As the ship takes off, Benteen tells his stories of Earth to the settlers as if they are still sitting with him. Remembering the beauty of Earth, he realizes that he wants to go home. He rushes out screaming for the ship to come back, but it is too late. Benteen is now stranded on V9-Gamma for the rest of his life, completely alone.

17. Passage on the Lady Anne

When successful financier Alan Ransome makes plans for a business trip to London, his wife Eileen insists on coming with him and taking the slowest passenger ship available, the Lady Anne. Eileen hopes the estimated 13-day voyage from New York City will allow them to rekindle their marriage. When they board, two male passengers express dismay at their presence, stating that the voyage is a private cruise, and offer the Ransomes the equivalent of 10,000 US dollars if they get off. The Ransomes refuse, and chalk up the offer to anti-American snobbery.

During the trip Alan is taciturn and grouchy about the lengthy voyage, while Eileen maintains a forced playfulness in an effort to spark their old feelings. Both their tempers are worsened by the discovery that the entire crew and all the other passengers are elderly. A quarrel culminates with the Ransomes agreeing to separate when they reach London.

The next day they accept an invitation to tea from Millie and Toby McKenzie, who apologize for their earlier hostility. They explain that the 50-year-old Lady Anne is a ship for honeymooners, and is being retired following the voyage. Most of those on board are repeat passengers enjoying a farewell cruise. They had not expected newcomers since the Lady Anne has had no new passengers in 15 years. The passengers all speak of the Lady Anne as if it were a sentient being, and credit "her" with enhancing their love for their spouses. Eileen is saddened to learn that one of the passengers is newly widowed, and in attempted reassurance the passenger informs her that he and his wife "will be together again soon".

While the Ransomes are out on deck, Eileen disappears. Alan searches the ship with no success, but the other passengers and crew remain nonchalant about the matter. Toby tells Alan that Eileen isn't really gone, but only seems that way because Alan has "been missing her". When Alan retires to his room, Eileen is there wearing the nightgown that Millie wore on her honeymoon. She says she has been in the room the whole time, even though Alan had already searched there. Overcome with passion, Alan begins kissing her and symbolically throws his pocket watch overboard through their room's porthole, later explaining that he had become so focused on rushing all the time that he lost sight of what was most important.

The Ransomes find their love rekindled, and agree with the other passengers that the Lady Anne has a magic that strengthens love. They are in the ship's ballroom when the engines stop. The captain enters and forces the Ransomes off the ship at gunpoint, telling them there isn't time for lengthy explanations. The Ransomes are put into a lifeboat stocked with provisions and set adrift in mid-ocean. Toby assures them that their position has been radioed. The Ransomes are picked up by a cutter after a few hours, but they can find no report of the Lady Anne docking in England or anywhere else.

18. The Bard

Julius K. Moomer, a bumbling screenwriter, is becoming desperate for a sale after years of working on unproduced scripts, such as ones about a woman being unaware that her husband is a zombie, a romance between a female scientist and robot, and Belle Starr being president of the Union Pacific Railroad. His agent, Gerald Hugo, mentions a television series to his secretary which causes Julius to beg to write a pilot episode for it. Gerald derides Julius as the show is about black magic and Julius knows nothing about it. However, Julius convinces Gerald to let him research the subject and submit a pilot.

On his arrival at a used bookstore, a book of black magic pulls itself off the shelf, to the confusion of the bookstore owner and Julius. After multiple failed attempts at using the book, Julius accidentally summons William Shakespeare, who says he is at the command of the conjurer and will provide any service. Shakespeare's script The Tragic Cycle is accepted by the television producers despite its archaic language.

Shakespeare is annoyed at Julius' egotism and claiming of sole credit for the scripts. He threatens to leave, stating that his task is finished, but Julius argues that if he stops writing now, Shakespeare will lose his chance at Hollywood fame and become forgotten. Shakespeare says he will attend a rehearsal and continue working for Julius if it does justice to his script. At the rehearsal, Shakespeare is so horrified at the revisions by the sponsor and producers that he assaults lead actor Rocky Rhodes and storms out. Julius's next assignment, a TV special on American history, seems doomed to failure until he remembers his book on black magic, and uses it to conjure up Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Pocahontas, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin, and Theodore Roosevelt to act as consultants.