For me, one of the more memorable episodes of the original "Twilight Zone" episodes was this, for the time, topical tale regarding the fate of three astronauts who have just had a death-defying return from a space mission where even after falling out of communication with Ground Control for a day, they miraculously get back to earth alive and apparently well. That is until one of them, Charles Aidman, starts to experience a strange feeling of not belonging and that he will soon disappear from existence. Sure enough, when out for a drink with fellow traveller and best buddy, Rod Taylor, best known for his lead role in Hitchcock's "The Birds" three years later, he goes missing right in front of his mate's eyes. Not only that but the people round about Taylor now act as if he had never been there in the first place.
Taylor then goes almost crazy trying to find out what has just happened, contacting their commanding officer, his girl and finally the third astronaut in hospital, played by a young Jim Hutton who I remember best from the short-lived 70's TV series "The Ellery Queen Mysteries", but none of them can now remember ever knowing the missing man. It's not long though before the baton is passed to Hutton as two becomes one...
Whilst I didn't quite get why the spacemen's existences had to be wiped out completely, this was a particularly cleverly written and executed episode with the disappearance of the three men almost following a launch countdown echoing their occupations. I especially liked the way the newspaper headline announcing the men's return from their mission kept changing as events gathered pace.
From a story written by series stalwart Richard Mathieson and a teleplay by Rod Serling, this was a classic head-scratching "Twilight Zone" episode, neatly dispatched, as ever, in under 25 minutes.
Taylor then goes almost crazy trying to find out what has just happened, contacting their commanding officer, his girl and finally the third astronaut in hospital, played by a young Jim Hutton who I remember best from the short-lived 70's TV series "The Ellery Queen Mysteries", but none of them can now remember ever knowing the missing man. It's not long though before the baton is passed to Hutton as two becomes one...
Whilst I didn't quite get why the spacemen's existences had to be wiped out completely, this was a particularly cleverly written and executed episode with the disappearance of the three men almost following a launch countdown echoing their occupations. I especially liked the way the newspaper headline announcing the men's return from their mission kept changing as events gathered pace.
From a story written by series stalwart Richard Mathieson and a teleplay by Rod Serling, this was a classic head-scratching "Twilight Zone" episode, neatly dispatched, as ever, in under 25 minutes.