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Ranking The Twilight Zone episodes that featured main Star Trek actors

By Chad Porto

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26: Greg Kinnear attends CBS All Access New Series "The Twilight Zone" Premiere at the Harmony Gold Preview House and Theater on March 26, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 26: Greg Kinnear attends CBS All Access New Series "The Twilight Zone" Premiere at the Harmony Gold Preview House and Theater on March 26, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) /
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Best known for his role of Sulu on the original Star Trek television series, stage and film actor George Takei waves to the crowd with a ‘live long and prosper’ sign on Friday, June 8, 2018 after receiving the Life Worth Living Legend Award from festival founder and executive director Jerusha Stewart at the 2018 Vero Beach Wine + Film Festival at the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach. Takei spoke of his early years as a young actor, working with prominent film actors and his advocacy for the LGBTQ community. “You got to have the strength, even after many rejections, to spring back and be able to approach that next interview with all the enthusiasm, the freshness and determination to do the best you can,” Takei said when asked what advice he would give to aspiring actors. “Hang in there, be strong.”Tcn 0608 Sa Vbwff Takei 01
Best known for his role of Sulu on the original Star Trek television series, stage and film actor George Takei waves to the crowd with a ‘live long and prosper’ sign on Friday, June 8, 2018 after receiving the Life Worth Living Legend Award from festival founder and executive director Jerusha Stewart at the 2018 Vero Beach Wine + Film Festival at the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach. Takei spoke of his early years as a young actor, working with prominent film actors and his advocacy for the LGBTQ community. “You got to have the strength, even after many rejections, to spring back and be able to approach that next interview with all the enthusiasm, the freshness and determination to do the best you can,” Takei said when asked what advice he would give to aspiring actors. “Hang in there, be strong.”Tcn 0608 Sa Vbwff Takei 01 /

4. Nick of Time (William Shatner)

Many remember William Shatner screaming about gremlins on a wing, but that wasn’t his first appearance on The Twilight Zone. Don (Shatner) and his wife Patricia end up in a diner in nowheresville Ohio, where they find a fortune-telling machine that will tell them their future for just a penny. Don becomes obsessed with the machine but his wife Patricia eventually talks him out of his obsession, getting him to leave the diner and the city. This is then juxtaposed by an older couple who keeps coming back unable to break their reliance on the device.

It’s a fine episode and one that may be more timely today, as it tackles the idea of being obsessed with technology and the fear of the unknown, which many deals with today in spades.

3. The Encounter (George Takei)

George Takei plays Arthur (Taro) Takamori, a man who’s looking for work, and arrives at the house of a former World War II vet, named Fenton. Fenton owns a mysterious samurai sword, that allows those who wield it to see things, as well as compels people to admit the truth. It’s revealed that both men have guilt about their involvement in the war, with Fenton having murdered a Japanese soldier out of cold blood during the war, and Taro having to live with the fact that his father was a traitor and was partially responsible for the bombing at Pearl Harbor.

The ending of the episode sees Taro murder Fenton and then commit suicide due to the influence of the blade. The episode tries to highlight how carrying guilt will kill you, but it was a bit too on the nose. Though, the acting in the episode was superb.

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