The Wall (The Twilight Zone)
| "The Wall" | |
|---|---|
| The New Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 3 Episode 56 |
| Directed by | Atom Egoyan |
| Written by | J. Michael Straczynski |
| Original air date | February 25, 1989 |
| Guest actors | |
|
John Beck : Alexander McAndrews | |
"The Wall" is the fifty-sixth episode and the twenty-first episode of the third season (1988–89) of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Opening narration
| “ | Alexander McAndrews, former test pilot, with a paper trail of commendations and a closet full of broken records. A man for whom the unknown is to be faced, not feared; conquered, not surrendered to. Alexander McAndrews, who is about to face yet another unknown, but this one is unlike all the others, for this one burns at the very heart...of the Twilight Zone. | ” |
Plot
A military officer is escorted into an extremely secure facility, where he meets with a General Greg Slater. The general explains that two months prior the facility was just a research lab with a government contract, working on particle physics, wormholes, theoretical subspace corridors. Things got out of hand and once the rubble was cleared, a hole appeared and a bright light started coming out of it. Every great mind was brought in to study it. They think it's a gate to somewhere. The researchers fear that if they close it, they may not be able to open it again. And they want the officer, Alex, to go in there. Slater goes on to explain that four volunteers have gone in, but never returned. Some garbled communications came through, but nothing else. The government is debating about what to do; some want to shut it down and declare them missing, others want to go ahead in the interest of national security. Alex may be the last one to go, but Slater believes he'll come back.
Alex, dressed in something akin to a NASA spacesuit, enters the bay. His mission is to go into the hole, look around, then come back. Alex enters a frenzy of light and flashes but then blacks out. He awakens in what looks like a meadow on Earth and finds the atmosphere to support life, but no sign of the "gate". He continues to enter logs, unsure if he is being received. Soon, he encounters Kincaid, one of the volunteers, with a strangely dressed woman named Baret. He seems okay and not surprised to see another come through the gate. He claims that where they are is "heaven". The other volunteers meet with them and discuss where they are. According to the navigational specialist, the stars are not even close to being near Earth. Also, there appears to be no way to return from this side. The indigenous people don't mind welcoming them to their peaceful idyllic community. Alex claims to reserve judgment without more study, but apparently there is no way back. Back on Earth, Slater believes that they must close the gate and stop losing people, but the government decides to send another.
Alex discovers that the volunteers lied about the gate; it is still there, but only seen at night. The volunteers claim that if they were able to go back, the government would send swarms of military men and ruin the paradise they've found. Alex disagrees and fights with Kincaid and escapes to go back. Baret follows him and begs him not to go back. Alex's honor seems to win out so he goes back to report what he found and discovers that the government will indeed use the gate technology to further war and war-like goals. Suddenly, Alex decides to go against them and return to the idyllic community. But first he must destroy the gate and the ability to re-create it. He destroys the computer and runs through the gate. Alex explains to Baret that without the information of how the gate was created, they couldn't possibly create another.
Closing narration
| “ | Major Alexander McAndrews, retired, who learned that there is a better world and that sometimes heaven is a place better left untouched by human hands. There may be one more commendation yet to come for the major. One that says 'for services rendered in the Twilight Zone'. | ” |
Themes
This episode is vaguely similar to the final episode of the original Twilight Zone series called "The Bewitchin' Pool", where two children living with rich, yet emotionally negligent parents about to divorce each other escape their miserable life by diving in their backyard pool and swimming to a parallel universe where a poor, yet caring woman looks after children in an isolated meadow.