The Twilight Zone: Ranking Every Version Of “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”

Here’s every version of The Twilight Zone’s most classic tale “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” ranked. Created and hosted by Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone is a now-iconic anthology series that debuted in 1959. The show mixes genres like sci-fi, drama, and horror with a heft dose of social commentary, and episodes often ended with an ironic twist. Famous episodes include “Time Enough At Last” and “To Serve Man,” and the original series lasted for five seasons.

The Twilight Zone was later revived in the 1980s, starting with Twilight Zone: The Movie, which was an anthology featuring segments by four directors, including Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante (Gremlins). The show was first revived in 1985, which featured episodes directed by the likes of Wes Craven and ran for three seasons. The series was brought back yet again in 2002 where it was hosted by Forest Whitaker, and it’s most current incarnation arrived in 2019, which is fronted by Jordan Peele (Us).

One of The Twilight Zone’s most classic episodes is “Nightmare At 20, 000 Feet” which was based on a short story by I Am Legend author Richard Matheson, which involved a businessman who sees a creature on the wing of the plane he’s flying on, but nobody believes him. The story has been reimagined several times within the franchise, so here’s a ranking of every version.

Nightmare at 30,000 Feet (2019)

The Twilight Zone 2019 reinvented the tale as “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet,” which sees Adam Scott as a journalist who learns from a podcast that the flight he’s on disappears. The panicked journalist continues listening for clues to stop this coming to pass – though he discovers its hard to change fate. This version notably omits the gremlin on the wing but while the setup is intriguing, the story is stretched out too long, the twist ending doesn’t work and it lacks the visceral tension of past adaptations.

Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (1963)

The original take on The Twilight Zone’s “Nightmare At 20,000 Feet” was directed by Lethal Weapon’s Richard Donner and starred a young William Shatner. This episode is still one of the show’s best, with Shatner’s ever-increasing mania making for nail-biting viewing. This take also gives the main character a wife who also doesn’t believe his mad tale either, which gives the story an interesting dimension. One thing that hasn’t aged well is the suit for the creature which looks quite goofy, with Matheson himself comparing it to a panda.

Nightmare At 20,000 Feet (1983)

The original show’s take on the story is great, but Twilight Zone: The Movie’s interpretation is the best. Directed by George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road), it cast John Lithgow as the tormented passenger haunted by a mischievous creature on the plane’s wing. Lithgow’s growing, sweaty desperation combined with Miller’s cinematic flair and the genuinely creepy monster makes it the superior version.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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