"The Odyssey of Flight 33", Poll and discussion thread

The crew of a jetliner travels backward in time. With John Anderson.
Originally aired February 24, 1961.

Full video of the episode on CBS.com
List of musical cues

This is the preferred thread for any and all of your "The Odyssey of Flight 33" posts--facts, opinions, questions, speculations, and whatever else you can think of.* You can also give your opinion of the episode on a 1 to 10 scale, in the poll shown above.

Let the discussion begin!

*More specific instructions and suggestions about posting questions/comments related to this episode are located here.

another great episode. john anderson is one of my favourites so, he alone made this good.

I wholeheartedly agree, but this reminds me of a personal question, if you'll excuse my impertinence, Bobby.

You normally use British spellings, as you do here, but you said you're from North Carolina. Are you a native of the UK, Canada, or some other British Commonwealth nation?

to be honest, not really. my lineage does go back to western europe but that is well over a century ago, from what i have been told. i don't know if it's a bad habit or what, but i have found myself doing that a lot of times. i "see" words in my mind as i type and this is how i see them.

is there anythng john anderson has done that wasn't good? or maybe that was bad that he made better? his characters are always great. he brings a touch of importance to his characters. has he ever played a wimp?

I really like this ep. Even if the dinosaur is campy Sci-fi it packs the punch it needs to.

I find the cockpit full of crew still pretty funny today.

I, too, like John Anderson. He was all over the character actor map for years.

I went to the 1964 World's Fair when I was in the second grade, does that count? Funny enough so did my husband. I wonder if we saw each other? We didn't meet until 10 years later. Something that could only happen...in the Twilight Zone.

Idlewild, ha. I remember that too.

Leen

Doesn't knock me out, but I still enjoy it. There's no one part of it that I would point to as being outstanding. But I still rate it a solid 7.

LeenZone wrote: "I think it's pretty funny they had so many people in the cockpit!!"

I have no immediate knowledge of aviation to back this up, but I have a hunch this is an accurate depiction of a 1961 cockpit. Rod's brother Robert was an aviation writer who supplied technical advice. Zicree writes how the Serling brothers collaborated to ensure the most accurate possible cockpit dialogue given the crazy circumstances in which the characters find themselves. I imagine there was a similar attempt to populate the cockpit properly.

GreenGuysMama wrote: "Yes, there probably would have been airfields capable of handling a large plane in 1939."

I agree, although force of logic is the only evidence I have. Craig says that LaGuardia's "longest runway is less than five thousand feet. Do you think we ought to take a chance?" Farver, without answering, takes that chance until he realizes that it's 1939. Keep in mind that Craig, like the others, thinks it's 1961 when he asks his question. So if the dialogue is as accurate as the Serling brothers tried to make it, the following must have been true:

1. LaGuardia's longest runway was less than 5000 feet even as late as 1961.

2. Farver feels that a 1961 jet has a good enough chance to land on such a runway.

By the way, I've also thought they should land in 1939. Considering the number of millennia through which they travelled in both directions, they were extremely fortunate to miss their return target by only 22 years. At worst they'd be alive and have a chance to regroup. Who knows -- maybe they'd cross paths with Terry Decker's biplane on the way down.

I watched the premiere of this episode at age eleven with my parents. I had never heard of the 1939 World's Fair, and its futuristic look made me think that Flight 33 had overshot its mark. Frankly, that might have been a more interesting development. Of course, the dialogue set me straight a few seconds later, and my parents told me even more about the Fair. Part of what I learned is that the two prominent structures around which the Fair was built were called the Trylon and Perisphere. Here are some photos and history:

http://www.newsday.com/extras/lihistory/7/hs733a.htm

I acknowledge that it was most likely based on actual fact. It's just funny to see how times have changed.

Leen

This one was pretty good... the dinosaur was pretty corny, but not too much so. Solid story, 7/10.

This is kind of a surreal episode. 7 zones.

A very good episode. I love it.

I wouldn't have realized that Betty Garde played the talkative passenger if I hadn't read it here. She looks so different from her Midnight Sun character.

I also like how they leave the ending up to your imagination.

I thought about doing a fanfic about the plane's final fate, but decided not to--it wasn't a happy ending.

i love this ep, one of my fave eps ever and tops in season 2 for me. plus i have a thing for time travel anyways, so those types of eps on TZ stand out for me. and a few yrs ago i went to an actual TZ play and they performed this ep as well as The Monsters are Due on Maple Street. it was all very interesting since there was no sets at all, so u had to use ur imagination, very good performances though, and it was directed by Trek's Walter Koenig. i had posted ab out this way back when i first went, back on the old board, anyways good ep, good play as well.

One of my favorites. Gave it a 10.

This was also one of the "Kentucky windage" episodes...

love this episode

This is a good episode but I thought it was extremely slow moving and the technical jargon sputtered by the crew made it seem even longer. I'm glad it's technically accurate but give me a break. Why do I need to know the plane has 45,346 pounds of fuel left or whatever it was! How about "we have half a tank left" or something?!?

Another thing that gets me is that the shot of the dinosaur seems a little too close to the ground.

I did enjoy the ending and how it left us with an opportunity to imagine what may have happened to the flight.

Did anyone else notice the abundance of well placed sweat beads on the crew during the tense moments of the final act?

If I remember correctly, Rod had a brother was a pilot, and he wrote the technical jargon I guess he wanted to make it as accurate as possible. By the way, the dinosaur scene is one of my favorites!

Jayo, I would be interested to see what you wrote, do you think you could PM or E-mail me the ending? This has always been in my top two, it was the first one I ever saw! Thaks, Fan

Why are the crew outfitted to look like real pilots, flight attendants, etc.? Why do the cockpit and passenger area look as if they're part of a real airplane? Why was genuine footage of the 1939 World's Fair included? Why does the cast act as if they are really in mortal danger?

It's all part of the magic of the world of theater, extended to motion pictures and television. The more accurately the situation is presented, the more thoroughly we're transported in our thoughts to a world that previously existed only in the minds of its creators.

We don't need to know the exact number of pounds of fuel, but doesn't hearing that number make Flight 33's cockpit seem more realistic than the "half a tank" that no professional crew would say? It's just a nice decorative touch, not unlike the pictures hanging on the wall of a typical TZ residence, which serve no purpose except to make the residence look more genuine.

Looking at it another way, I cringe whenever I hear Captain Benteen talk about going "a billion miles" from Earth to establish a colony in another solar system that must really be many trillions of miles from Earth at a bare minimum. It's a flaw in an otherwise outstanding story, and it's one that could have been fixed so easily.

Why are the crew outfitted to look like real pilots, flight attendants, etc.? Why do the cockpit and passenger area look as if they're part of a real airplane? Why was genuine footage of the 1939 World's Fair included? Why does the cast act as if they are really in mortal danger?

It's all part of the magic of the world of theater, extended to motion pictures and television. The more accurately the situation is presented, the more thoroughly we're transported in our thoughts to a world that previously existed only in the minds of its creators.

We don't need to know the exact number of pounds of fuel, but doesn't hearing that number make Flight 33's cockpit seem more realistic than the "half a tank" that no professional crew would say? It's just a nice decorative touch, not unlike the pictures hanging on the wall of a typical TZ residence, which serve no purpose except to make the residence look more genuine.

Looking at it another way, I cringe whenever I hear Captain Benteen talk about going "a billion miles" from Earth to establish a colony in another solar system that must really be many trillions of miles from Earth at a bare minimum. It's a flaw in an otherwise outstanding story, and it's one that could have been fixed so easily.

Geez...okay, okay...I see the point of being accurate.

I just thought the technical jargon, while perhaps accurate, made this episode s-l-o-w.

Whits...as is usually the case, you're right on target. The jargon is impressive and adds to the realism, but it does slow things down a bit. Maybe it has to do with too many viewings of the ep, but I do find myself thinking "ok...let's get on with it...."

I like the technical jargon, it was interesting.

Me too. I thought it certainly added to the realism of the cockpit. I actually believed that it was a real plane in flight.

Excellent episode in my top 20. Nice air of mystery and I agree the technical terminology adds a nice touch of realism. Have a bit of a problem about them going back in time, then forward almost back to their original time by the same method. You would think they would just go further back. But since the whole idea is absurd anyway, I guess it doesn't matter.


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always liked this episode too. i like the way the cockpit crew stayed calm throughout the whole ordeal.

i thought it was funny when the stewardess comes into the cockpit and says 'i know you're busy but..' and then goes on to complain about panicking passengers and that she wanted one of the crew to talk to them, but the crew just totally ignores her. funny.

Yeah, she acts like they don't have any concerns!

Well one of the gals did have a hot date ya know.

this is the best episode

Good point!

Damin, I think there have been at least six or seven episodes that you've called "the best" over the last 24 hours. In your opinion, which one episode really is?

my best one is PROB 7 OVER AND OUT cause they play that music i like

That's what I was thinking until your recent flurry of posts. Nevertheless, if your primary reason for liking "Probe 7" is the music, then pay attention to the episodes from which this music was derived, mostly from "And When the Sky Was Opened," "Back There," "The Invaders," and "The Trouble with Templeton." You'll hear the music in its intended context, you'll hear a lot more of it, and most people would probably say that you'll see a better collection of episodes.

i will

Did you happen to see Flight 33 back then Leen? And I noticed the tension on the crew's faces when they were getting ready to go through again! I find the conversation between Flight 33 and the tower amusing also

Did I happen to see Flight 33 back then? No. I didn't see any first run. Or did I see the lost airplane flying around?

Did I happen to see Flight 33 back then? No. I didn't see any first run. Or did I see the lost airplane flying around?

I meant the lost plane, silly!

Did I happen to see Flight 33 back then? No. I didn't see any first run. Or did I see the lost airplane flying around?

I meant the lost plane, silly!

But here's Lt. Decker

That's a cute smiley Leen! Did you happen to Lt.Decker in his plane flying around when you were in France?

I saw this for the first time the other day and I love time travel type episodes. I love them in Trek, and I love them in the Zone. Touchee!

No, but that was the biggest friggen airport I had ever seen. We had to take shuttle buses all the way out to get on the plane old timey style. Like outside and up the stairs! Imagine! Just like in room for one more, honey!