The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode Fifteen “I Shot an Arrow into the Air”

Original Air Date: January 15, 1960
Writer: Rod Serling (based on a concept by Madelon Champion)
Director: Stuart Rosenberg

“I shot an arrow into the air, it landed I know not where.”

The plot for “I Shot an Arrow into the Air” began with Rod Serling at a dinner party when he was approached by a woman named who gave him the idea for an episode. Her name was Madelon Champion, the wife John C. Champion, director, screenwriter, and friend of the Serlings. Madelon Champion had already written the basic framework and plot-twist for the story about a space crew that crashes into what appears to be a remote asteroid only to eventually discover in horror that they have actually unexpectedly landed back on earth. Serling was so infatuated with the idea that he paid Madelon $500 on the spot (differing accounts say it might have been $750) and gave her a writer’s credit for the episode (this is the only such instance in The Twilight Zone of Rod Serling spontaneously purchasing a story idea that was later made into an episode).

“Her name is the Arrow One. She represents 4 and a half years of planning, preparations and training, and a thousand years of science and mathematics and the projected dreams and hopes of not only a nation but a world. She is the first manned aircraft into space. And this is the countdown, the last 5 seconds before man shot an arrow into the air.”
-Rod Serling

The first manned space flight from a rocket known as “Arrow One” is launched into space, but shortly after liftoff something goes terribly wrong. Mission control loses sight of the spacecraft as a mysterious explosion occurs. The eight astronauts onboard inexplicably veer off-course and crash-land onto what they believe to be a barren asteroid. Four of the men survive (one is in poor health and he dies shortly after the crash). The likelihood of survival for the three remaining astronauts seems bleak. Their names are commanding officer Donlin (played by Edward Binns) flight officer Corey (played by Dewey Martin) and flight officer Pearson (played by Ted Otis).

“Now you make tracks, Mr. Corey. You move out and up like some kind of ghostly billy-club was tapping at your ankles and telling you that it was later than you think. You scrabble up rock hills and feel hot sand underneath your feet and every now and then take a look over your shoulder at a giant sun suspended in a dead and motionless sky like an unblinking eye that probes at the back of your head in a prolonged accusation. Mr. Corey, last remaining member of a doomed crew, keep moving. Make tracks, Mr. Corey. Push up and push out because if you stop…if you stop, maybe sanity will get you by the throat. Maybe realization will pry open your mind and the horror you left down in the sand will seep in. Yeah, Mr. Corey, yeah, you better keep moving. That’s the order of the moment: keep moving.”
-Rod Serling

As time passes, Officer Corey grows recalcitrant toward commanding officer Donlin’s decisions. He starts hogging all the water. He and Pearson then venture out into the desert for some six hours but only Corey returns claiming that Pearson died out there. However, Donlin notices that Corey’s canteen is inexplicably filled with additional water. He pulls out his gun and demands that Corey take him to see Pearson’s body for himself. When they arrive, Pearson is barely alive drawing a diagram of a cross in the dirt. He dies moments later. Corey then attacks and kills Donlin in order to confiscate more water and thereby increase his odds of survival. As he ventures onward alone, he spots something curious over the horizon: telephone wires. In horror, he realizes the Arrow One has actually crash-landed back on Earth, and that Pearson had been trying to communicate via diagram that he had actually seen telephone wires. Corey breaks down in hysterical tears: “we never left the earth… we just crashed back into it…”

“Practical joke perpetrated by Mother Nature and a combination of improbable events. Practical joke wearing the trappings of nightmare, of terror, and desperation. Small, human drama played out in a desert 97 miles from Reno, Nevada, U.S.A., continent of North America, the Earth and, of course, the Twilight Zone.”
-Rod Serling

---

My Thoughts on “I Shot an Arrow into the Air”

This was one of the first episodes I remember seeing as a kid during an epic Twilight Zone marathon on television and it has always stuck with me. It is a survivalist story that is particularly troubling because the astronauts have apparently crashed into a foreign land wherein the long hand of justice has no reach. Here, a malicious self-seeker named Corey decides to steal everyone’s water (believing he will face no consequences for doing so). He doesn’t want to wind up in a Donner Party situation. As an a-moralist, he proudly declares: “you were looking for morality in the wrong place” as he murders his fellow crewmen and steals their water. He is greedy, insatiable, and yet also wasteful of the last few remaining drops of water. He wants all the water not simply because he is thirsty, but because he wants to regain power and control. He wants to be a survivor.

“I Shot an Arrow into the Air” shows us the frailty of human beings when they believe civilization is gone. How quickly bestial savagery takes hold! In some ways it is reminiscent of the complete moral breakdown displayed in “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” I will say there are a few things that furrowed my brow in this episode. For example, do we really believe that a crew of highly-trained astronauts would mistake the desert on earth for an asteroid? Wouldn’t the breathable atmosphere give them a clue? Or even the position of the sun? And why would the astronauts be armed with rifles in the first place? Would they really need rifles in space? There are some questions worth posing here, but I have always loved this episode and I will continue to defend it against naysayers.

---

Credits:

• Director: Stuart Rosenberg
  • Stuart Rosenberg (1927-2007) was a Brooklyn-born television and film director. He began his career in television, directing episodes of such shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables, Naked City, The Defenders, and others. He won an Emmy for his work on The Defenders. Rosenberg directed three episodes of The Twilight Zone (“I Shot An Arrow Into The Air,” “He’s Alive,” and “Mute“). His break-out feature film as a director was Cool Hand Luke (1967) which won actor George Kennedy an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as well as several other nominations for the film, including a nomination for actor Paul Newman. The success led Rosenberg to exclusively focus on directing feature films. In fact, Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his multiple collaborations with Paul Newman, whom he directed in Cool Hand Luke (1967), WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972), and The Drowning Pool (1975). Some of his other films include Question 7 (1961), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), Brubaker (1980) and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). Later in his career, he taught directing at the American Film Institute, where some of his students included the likes of future directors Todd Field and Darren Aronofsky. Rosenberg and his wife had one son, Benjamin Rosenberg, who also became an assistant director (working on films like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Freaky Friday and others). Stuart Rosenberg died in 2007 of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
• Written by: Rod Serling (based on a concept by Madelon Champion)
• Music: Stock music from “And When the Sky Was Opened” by Leonard Rosenman
• Director of Photography: George T. Clemens
• Production Manager: Ralph W. Nelson
• Art Directors: George W. Davis and William Ferrari
• Film Editor: Bill Mosher
• Assistant Director: Edward Denault
• Set Decorations: Henry Grace and Jerry Wunderlich
• Sound: Franklin Milton and Jean Valentino
• Casting Director: Mildred Gusse
• Starring:
  • Dewey Martin…..Flight Officer Corey
    • Dewey Martin (1923-2018) was a native of Katemcy, Texas and he grew up in Florence, Alabama. He joined the Navy in 1940 and served as a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II, leading an extraordinary military career which saw him serve at the Battle of Midway in 1942. He was later captured by Japanese forces in 1945 and forced to serve the remainder of the war as a prisoner-of-war until Japan surrendered. He weighed a mere 78 pounds when he was finally released. In addition to The Twilight Zone episode “I Shot an Arrow Into the Air,” he also appeared in The Outer Limits episode “The Premonition,” and he played Daniel Boone in four episodes of Walt Disney Presents. He also appeared in films like Knock On Any Door (1949), The Thing From Another World (1951), The Big Sky (1952), The Desperate Hours (1955), among others. He also had a small role in The Longest Day (1962). He was married three times and had two stepsons through his third marriage. He died in April 2018 as confirmed by one of his stepsons.
  • Edward Binns…..Colonel Donlin
    • Edward Binns (1916-1990) had a wide-spanning career in film and television, often portraying competent, hard-working, purposeful characters in various roles. He is best known for his work in such acclaimed films as 12 Angry Men (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Fail Safe (1964), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Patton (1970) and The Verdict (1982). He also appeared in television shows like The Defenders, Dr. Kildare, It Takes A Thief, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Untouchables, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and others. He appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone (“I Shot an Arrow into the Air” and “The Long Morrow“). He was married twice and had one daughter. He died of a heart attack at the age of 74 while traveling from New York City to his home at the time in Connecticut.
  • Ted Otis…..Flight Officer Pearson (whose name I’ve also seen spelled Pierson)
    • Ted Otis, Sr. (1936-?) had a fairly short-lived acting career between 1952 and 1962, making small appearances in television shows like The Rifleman, Maverick, Route 66, and One Step Beyond. He also appeared in a handful of uncredited roles in feature films like Stars and Stripes Forever (1952), The Best of Everything (1959), Ocean’s Eleven (1960), and Hands of a Stranger (1962). I was unable to find further information about him.
  • Harry Bartell…..Langford from mission control
    • Harry Bartell (1913-2004) was known for being an old-time radio performer prior to his acting career in films and television. He was once one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the end of network radio drama in the 1960s. He then appeared in television shows like Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel, Get Smart, I Love Lucy, The Wild Wild West, The Untouchables, and The Fugitive. Apart from his acting work, Bartell was an active photographer (many of his photos of the Gunsmoke cast appeared in a 1990 book on the series). In his later years, he was a frequent presence at old-time radio conventions and recreations, wrote online articles about the medium and his experiences, and even participated in radio-themed chat rooms. He and his wife had a son. He died in Ashland, Oregon in 2004 at the age of 90.
    • Harry Bartell’s character Langford actually recites the titular passage from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem in this episode: “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I knew not where.” He calls it a “nursery rhyme for the age of space.”
  • Leslie Barrett…..Brandt from mission control
    • Leslie Klein, or “Leslie Barrett” (1919-2010) was born on Staten Island. He led an extensive career in theater, on Broadway, and in feature films and television. He performed in a variety of Shakespearean stage productions. He appeared in television shows like One Step Beyond, Dennis the Menace, Dark Shadows, and others. He co-starred in “Incident at a Corner” a 1960 television program which became the only TV episode directed by Alfred Hitchcock in color. It was made only days after Hitchcock finished shooting Psycho (1960) and with the same crew. Leslie Barrett died in 2010 at the age of 90. He was married twice.
  • Boyd Cabeen…..man charting or writing on a board at mission control center (uncredited)
    • Charles Boyd Cabeen (1921-1984) was a legendary stand-in and double for actors Robert Mitchum and Lee Marvin (he was often a studio handler for the more hard-drinking stars). He made small appearances in numerous films and television shows. He made two uncredited appearances in The Twilight Zone (“I Shot an Arrow into the Air” and “Cavender is Coming“). He was married twice (his second wife Carmen was Jane Russell’s stand-in) and they had one child.
  • Bob McCord…..stunt man (uncredited)
    • Robert “Bud” Leigh McCord III (1915-1980) appeared in a variety of television shows, particularly in small uncredited roles in Westerns, in addition to The Twilight Zone. His first role was an uncredited appearance as an office clerk in the 1947 movie The Shocking Miss Pilgrim, and his first credited role was in an episode of the 1956 television series Schlitz Playhouse. After a couple more uncredited roles and minor appearances, he joined The Twilight Zone in 1959 (he was presumably hired by Cayuga Productions). In fact, he set a record for most appearances on The Twilight Zone (75 times, mostly uncredited). He was also a stunt double on the show. He had a son named Robert IV (1938-2008) and a daughter named Penny. McCord died in 1980.
    • In this episode, Bud McCord plays Colonel Donlin when he tumbles down a hill. He was also slated to perform Pearson falling down a hill but this scene was cut from the final production.
  • Paul Denton…..Navigator Jim Hudack who dies of his wounds (uncredited)
  • Kenneth DuMain…..unnamed dead astronaut (uncredited)
  • Kenner Kemp…..launch technician (uncredited)
  • John Clarke…..man at mission control center (uncredited)
  • Tom Murray…..man at mission control center (uncredited)

---

The Twilight Zone Trivia:

• Marc Scott Zicree’s The Twilight Zone Companion was justifiably critical of the science in this episode: “Any astronaut who crash lands on a body within our solar system that has the same atmosphere and gravity of Earth and doesn’t immediately realize he is on Earth had better go back to astronaut school.”
• Some credit listings for this episode list “Alan Smithee” as the director. The was a pseudonym used by Stuart Rosenberg from time to time. Typically, the name “Alan Smithee” was used by a director who did not want their name associated with the production.
• This episode marks the only time Rod Serling purchased a random story from a stranger. “I got 15,000 manuscripts in the first five days. Of those 15,000, I and members of my staff read about 140. And 137 of those 140 were wasted paper; hand-scrawled, laboriously written, therapeutic unholy grotesqueries from sick, troubled, deeply disturbed people. Of the three remaining scripts, all of clearly poetic, professional quality, none of them fitted the show.” —Rod Serling quoted in The Twilight Zone Companion.
• Madelon Champion was the wife of a friend of Rod Serling’s (director and screenwriter John C. Champion who most notably produced the Western show Laramie). According to Rod’s brother, she proposed this story idea during a dinner party at Rod’s house. He liked it so much that he paid her back with a new refrigerator, so to speak (i.e. presumably by purchasing the story idea). Cayuga Productions acquired the story as an agreement between Rod Serling and John Champion for $750, no agents were involved (though there are some conflicting accounts that suggest the story was actually purchased for $500 instead of $750).
• The opening lines of this episode are: “Ready?” “Water systems ready? I have a request for a green light.” “LOX tanking secured?” “LOX tanking secured.” Note: LOX tanks are the forward liquid oxygen (LOX) tanks.
• The Cayuga Productions crew returned to Death Valley to shoot this episode amidst the craggy and barren hillsides, but this time they learned their lesson after the miserable experience of previously shooting “The Lonely” in the blistering heat in Death Valley. This time no one passed out due to heat stroke. The crew revised their procedure which included a two hour lunch beside the hotel pool and packing copious amounts of water among other things.
• The Twilight Zone episode “The Lonely” also features a protagonist named “Corey” (albeit James Corry, whose name is spelled slightly differently from the character Corey in this episode).
• Permission to shoot the episode in Death Valley for three days was granted by Mr. Danielson, assistant superintendent of parks at the time. Cayuga Productions paid a fee of $1,740 to the government for use of the park. The cast and crew stayed nearby at the Furnace Creek Ranch.
• The footage of the rocket lifting off was apparently lifted from stock footage of a U.S. missile launch.
• While providing background research for this episode, De Forest Research noted that there was already a Captain William E. Donlon in the U.S. Air Force, so instead of changing the character’s name in the episode, his rank was simply moved from captain to colonel.
• The title of this episode comes from the opening line of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem entitled “The Arrow and the Song” which reads: “I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I knew not where.” The title was one that Rod Serling considered for a screenplay the plot of which would later air as an episode of The Twilight Zone (“The Gift“). Apparently, it was almost considered for the pilot episode of the show.
• The props used in the background of the mission control Space Agency in this episode were borrowed from the previous episode “Third From The Sun.” As an example, one sign reads: “Project X X 2.”
• Navigator Jim Hudack is the name of the crewman who has been seriously injured in this episode (he dies shortly after crash-landing).
• This was the first episode of the season not to feature Rod Serling on the set for filming.
• At the end of this episode, one sign reads: “Nelson’s Motel: Eats, Gas & Oil” –a nod to production manager, Ralph W. Nelson. The other two signs read: “Reno 37 Miles” and “Nevada 383.”
• After watching a re-run of this episode, a man named Col. Gordon claimed to have written a script identical to this story and submitted it for consideration to The Twilight Zone. His attorney Martin Stolzoff leveled accusations of plagiarism against Serling, but further review showed there was actually very little in common between Gordon’s script and the episode. Eventually Cayuga Productions confirmed they never actually received his submission in the first place and the matter was dropped.
• The plot twist of astronauts thinking they had crashed onto an unknown planet only to discover that it was Earth all along was later adapted by Rod Serling in his draft work for the initial screenplay of the classic 1968 film Planet of The Apes.

Click here to return to my survey of The Twilight Zone series.