“’We’re dead,’ Mickey said hollowly. ‘That’s us on the deck. We’re dead.’”
Inspired by legends of the “Flying Dutchman,” Richard Matheson’s science fiction short story “Death Ship” was the basis for the Twilight Zone episode of the same name. Astronauts Mason, Ross, and Mickey Carter stumble upon an “inhabitable” planet. “He was thinking, in spite of himself, that maybe the moment had arrived at last. The moment in which Earthmen would come upon life beyond Earth, a race evolved from other cells and other muds” (83).
Suddenly, they spot a ship and decide to land on the planet in order to investigate. After entering the ship, they are shocked at what they find: “How does a man react when he is standing over his own corpse? The questing plied unconsciously at his mind” (89). The astronauts wonder: are they truly dead? Is this a vision from the future? Should they try to exit this planet’s atmosphere? Paranoia begins to take hold among the crew. They toy with the idea of remaining on this planet to avoid a potential crash before voting to leave.
However, shortly after flying out of orbit the mind games continue and Ross decides they need to return to the planet because there was likely some form of alien life trying to persuade them to leave by showing them an illusion of their dead bodies. He screams maniacally as they re-enter the atmosphere of the planet. And when they land in the exact same spot again, the trio realizes it was likely a phantom ship “Progress… The Flying Dutchman takes to the universe.”
This short story is a nice example of how The Twilight Zone was able to successfully old shipman’s folklore with modern science fiction in the age of space exploration. However, I would sublimit that Richard Matheson has better stories than this one.
Matheson, Richard. The Best of Richard Matheson. Edited with an introduction by Victoria LaValle. Penguin Classics. New York, NY (2017).
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One of the most disappointing Twilight Zone episodes for me. Though I’d heard at the time rumors that a movie adaptation was being considered. I suppose they could have given that version a better outcome.