Stopover in a Quiet Town

Description: Season 5, Episode 30

Air Date: April 24, 1964

Plot Summary: After a night of drinking, a couple wake up in a mysteriously abandoned town.

Review: I'm not sure if this episode is considered a classic or should be ranked among the underrated. Regardless, it does feel faintly similar to a few other episodes, but it does enough differently with the story to set itself apart from the rest. This time around, we have a goofball couple awaking in a lonely town after they partied a bit too hard the night before. The husband is having a full blown hangover, and the wife insists she didn't drink much as she was the one driving. The last thing the wife remembers is seeing a shadow; the two simply believe they stopped over in some random town for the night and have blacked out the memory.

Exploring the town, the couple comes to the realization that almost everything is a prop. The trees and grass are not real, the animals are stuffed, the food is fake, and even the finer details like cabinets are for show. With no one around to deliver the answers, they suspect that the town is some kind of set or staged for an event. The only problem with their theory is a lingering sense of being watched and a weird laughter from a little girl always just in the distance. After hearing a train, the two board immediately and don't even want to know what was going on in this town. Unfortunately for them, when the train reaches its next stop it is none other than the same town; they are going in circles. Just when the couple can't be more freaked out, they attempt to run away when a giant shadow emerges overhead; this is followed by a giant hand grabbing the couple. It would appear our characters have been abducted by giant aliens and placed in a child's toy town. Ignoring that these aliens look strangely like '60s Americans, the couple is left to an uncertain fate--nothing more than mere playthings for an alien child. I really like the way the atmosphere is handled here. The mystery is hinted at early on in the wife's dialogue, but it's easily brushed over especially when the concept of alien abduction wasn't as commonly understood then as it is today. Lastly, I know modern audiences would scoff at the effects used here, but, considering this was a 50 year old TV show on a limited budget, I was impressed.