Back There

Last updated

"Back There"
The Twilight Zone episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 13
Directed byDavid Orrick McDearmon
Written by Rod Serling
Featured music Jerry Goldsmith
Production code173-3648
Original air dateJanuary 13, 1961 (1961-01-13)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Dust"
Next 
"The Whole Truth"
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series, season 2)
List of episodes

"Back There" is episode 49 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone . It originally aired on January 13, 1961 on CBS, and was the 13th episode of the second season. It was written by series creator Rod Serling and was directed by David Orrick McDearmon. It involves time travel, and stars Russell Johnson, who had appeared in another time-travel episode the previous season.

Contents

Opening narration

Witness a theoretical argument, Washington, D.C., the present. Four intelligent men talking about an improbable thing like going back in time. A friendly debate revolving around a simple issue: could a human being change what has happened before? Interesting and theoretical, because who ever heard of a man going back in time? Before tonight, that is, because this is—The Twilight Zone.

Plot

On April 14, 1961, young engineer Peter Corrigan is involved in a discussion with colleagues at the elite Potomac Club on the question of time travel. After bumping into William, a familiar attendant, on the way out, Peter feels faint. Confused by the gas lamps and horse-drawn carriages on the street, he notices that he's wearing clothes of a much older style and walks home. He finds that his home is now a boarding house. In discussion with the strangers he meets there, he discovers that he has been transported back in time to April 14, 1865, the date of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth.

Corrigan rushes to Ford's Theatre to warn everyone but is arrested for disturbing the peace. Only one officer believes Corrigan, but is overruled by his superior. After he has been held in the police station a short time, a man who states he is a doctor with expertise in mental illness arrives. He introduces himself as Jonathan Wellington and persuades the police to release Corrigan into his custody. Wellington subsequently drugs Corrigan, before leaving and locking the door. Wellington is later identified by the landlady as Booth, which is confirmed by a handkerchief he left behind bearing the initials JWB; meanwhile outside the news is spreading that the president has just been shot.

Corrigan pounds his fist on a window sill angry that no one listened and finds he is back in 1961 at the Potomac Club. It seems the same, but there is no longer an attendant named William. Back at the table with his colleagues, he finds that the scholarly discussion has moved from time travel to money, and William is also at the table participating. William says that his money was inherited from his great-grandfather, a policeman who had made a name for himself by predicting the assassination of Lincoln, becoming Chief of Police, then a councilman, and eventually becoming a millionaire through real estate. Corrigan's disbelief is amplified further by the JWB handkerchief he had placed in his pocket. He had in fact changed the past, but not in the way he had intended.

Closing narration

Mr. Peter Corrigan, lately returned from a place 'back there', a journey into time with highly questionable results, proving on one hand that the threads of history are woven tightly, and the skein of events cannot be undone, but on the other hand, there are small fragments of tapestry that can be altered. Tonight's thesis to be taken, as you will—in The Twilight Zone.

Cast

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Where Is Everybody?</span> 1st episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"Where Is Everybody?" is the first episode of the American anthology television series The Twilight Zone and was originally broadcast on October 2, 1959, on CBS. It is one of the most realistic Twilight Zone episodes, as it features no supernatural elements and is based on fairly straightforward extrapolation of science.

"Execution" is episode 26 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It features Albert Salmi, who also plays the lead character in the Season 4 episode "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Trouble with Templeton</span> 9th episode of the 2nd season of The Twilight Zone

"The Trouble with Templeton" is episode 45 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone starring Brian Aherne, Pippa Scott and Sydney Pollack. The episode originally aired on December 9, 1960 on CBS.

"The Odyssey of Flight 33" is episode 54 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, the 18th episode of the second season. An unlikely break of the time barrier finds a commercial airliner sent back into the prehistoric age and then to New York City of 1939. The tale is a modern telling of the Flying Dutchman myth, and was written by series creator Rod Serling. It originally aired on February 24, 1961 on CBS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Prime Mover</span> 21st episode of the 2nd season of The Twilight Zone

"The Prime Mover" is episode 57 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 24, 1961, on CBS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Distance Call</span> 22nd episode of the 2nd season of The Twilight Zone

"Long Distance Call" is episode 58 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 31, 1961, on CBS. In the episode, a 5-year-old boy named Billy communicates with his dead grandmother using a toy telephone that she gave him on his birthday. It was one of the six episodes of the second season which was shot on videotape in a short-lived experiment aimed to cut costs.

"The Rip Van Winkle Caper" is episode 60 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, and is the 24th episode of the second season. It originally aired on April 21, 1961 on CBS, and was written by series creator and showrunner Rod Serling, and was directed by Justus Addiss.

"The Mirror" is episode 71 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, and the sixth episode of the third season. It originally aired on October 20, 1961 on CBS. The episode was written by Rod Serling, who described it as "the story of a tyrant and his assassins, a shattered dream and the death of a cause."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Profile in Silver</span> 20th episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"Profile in Silver" is the first segment of the twentieth episode of the first season of the 1985 revival of The Twilight Zone television series. In this segment, a time traveler interferes in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and must find a way to repair the resulting damage to the timeline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightmare at 20,000 Feet</span> 3rd episode of the 5th season of The Twilight Zone

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is the third episode of the fifth season American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, based on the short story of the same name by Richard Matheson, first published in the short story anthology Alone by Night (1961). It originally aired on October 11, 1963, and is one of the most well-known and frequently referenced episodes of the series. The story follows a passenger on an airline flight, played by William Shatner, who notices a hideous creature trying to sabotage the aircraft during flight.

<i>Twilight Zone: The Movie</i> 1983 American science fiction horror anthology film

Twilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 American sci-fi horror anthology film produced by Steven Spielberg and John Landis. Based on Rod Serling's 1959–1964 television series of the same name, the film features four stories directed by Landis, Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Landis' segment is an original story created for the film, while the segments by Spielberg, Dante, and Miller are remakes of episodes from the original series. The film's cast includes Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Scatman Crothers, John Lithgow, Vic Morrow, and Kathleen Quinlan. Original series cast members Burgess Meredith, Patricia Barry, Peter Brocco, Murray Matheson, Kevin McCarthy, Bill Mumy, and William Schallert also appear in the film, with Meredith assuming Serling's role as narrator.

"The Jeopardy Room" is episode 149 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, which originally aired on April 17, 1964, on CBS. It is one of the few Twilight Zone episodes to feature no supernatural or sci-fi elements.

<i>The Twilight Zone</i> (1959 TV series) American TV anthology series (1959–1964)

The Twilight Zone is an American fantasy science fiction horror anthology television series created and presented by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from October 2, 1959, to June 19, 1964. Each episode presents a standalone story in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described as entering "the Twilight Zone", often with a surprise ending and a moral. Although often considered predominantly science-fiction, the show's paranormal and Kafkaesque events leaned the show much closer to fantasy and horror. The phrase "twilight zone" has entered the vernacular, used to describe surreal experiences.

Once Upon a Time (<i>The Twilight Zone</i>) 13th episode of the 3rd season of The Twilight Zone

"Once Upon a Time" is episode 78 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on December 15, 1961. It features early film star Buster Keaton in one of his later roles, as an unlikely time traveler, and the opening and closing scenes pay tribute to the silent films for which he was famous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Of Late I Think of Cliffordville</span> 14th episode of the 4th season of The Twilight Zone

"Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" is episode 116 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on April 11, 1963, on CBS. In this episode, an elderly business tycoon buys the opportunity to enjoy amassing his fortune a second time.

"No Time Like the Past" is episode 112 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. In this episode a man tries to escape the troubles of the 20th century by taking up residence in an idyllic small town in the 19th century.

"The Long Morrow" is episode 135 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on January 10, 1964 on CBS. In this episode, an astronaut falls in love on the eve of a 40-year-long space voyage. The story focuses on how he and his lover confront the problem that his 40 years in suspended animation will cause a wide age disparity between them by the time he returns.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy and the subsequent conspiracy theories surrounding it have been discussed, referenced, or recreated in popular culture numerous times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barney Phillips</span> American actor (1913–1982)

Bernard Philip Ofner, better known by his stage name Barney Phillips, was an American film, television, and radio actor. His roles include that of Sgt. Ed Jacobs on the 1950s Dragnet television series, appearances in the 1960s on The Twilight Zone, in which he played a Venusian living under cover on Earth in "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?", and a supporting role as actor Fletcher Huff in the 1970s CBS series The Betty White Show.

Seymour "Buzz" Kulik was an American film director and producer. He directed 72 films and television shows, including the landmark CBS television network anthology series Playhouse 90 and several episodes of The Twilight Zone. Kulik went on to direct made-for-TV movies, such as Brian's Song.

References