The Twilight Zone: Season 3
1988 · 30 episodes · ★ 6.1
What Season 3 of The Twilight Zone
Beyond the Limits is an anthology series broadcast by CBS that mixes science fiction, fantasy and horror. Rod Serling created it to explore everyday life through strange stories. Each episode is self-contained, and there is no continuous plot tying the stories together. Its protagonists are ordinary people who suddenly run into something paranormal. A man collects scrap metal following the orders of a mysterious voice, a former baseball player can enter a 1909-card, and a doctor discovers that a patient lives in terror of what appears on her walls. Charles Aidman, Robin Ward, Martin Balsam and Richard Mulligan headline the cast, and each conflict is presented in a different way.
Season 3 Episodes
3x01 The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon
A woman tries to get her Uncle Edgar committed, believing that he is senile. The investigating doctor finds Edgar living in an apartment containing all kinds of junk. Edgar claims that a mysterious Voice tells him what junk to collect, and to assemble it into a device that constantly keeps the world in balance. The doctor has him committed, only to realize when a small Pacific island is destroyed as Edgar predicted that the "insane" man is anything but. The doctor has Edgar released, only to discover that he has been chosen to replace Edgar as the new "balancer" of the world.
Directed by: René Bonnière · Written by: Haskell Barkin · Starring: Cedric Smith, Harry Morgan
3x02 Extra Innings
Ex-baseball player Ed Hamner, lame from an injury and forced to retire early, is given a 1909 baseball card of a player that looks exactly like him, Monte Hanks. The card is magical in that he becomes drawn into it and lives out the life of the player in the past. Hamner must choose between being healthy and playing his favorite sport in the past, or live in the present with his despairing wife who fears he'll never grow up.
Written by: Tom Palmer · Starring: Marc Singer, J. Winston Carroll, Amber Lea Weston, Tracy New
3x03 The Crossing
A stressed-out priest repeatedly encounters a station wagon containing a young girl. The car keeps crashing and bursting into flames.
Directed by: Paul Lynch · Written by: Ralph Phillips · Starring: Ted Shackelford, Gerard Parkes, Seirge LeBlanc, Shelagh Harcourt
3x04 The Hunters
A young boy falls into an undiscovered cave near a housing project. An archeologist studies strange paintings on its walls and then bizarre things begin to happen. Cave items move around and animals are killed and brought into the cave.
Directing: Paul Lynch · Written by: Paul Chitlik · Starring: Jonathan Potts, Louise Fletcher, Michael Hogan, Leslie Carlson
3x05 Dream Me a Life
Roger, a curmudgeonly man in a retirement home, has nightmares of an unknown woman trying to hold back some strange creature behind a door in a room filled with candles. He is shocked when that woman, a cataleptic, becomes his next-door neighbor. Roger soon comes to realize that he is somehow tied to the woman, and that even in the dream he can be hurt and possibly killed. The next time he is drawn into the dream he tries to help her, only to realize that she is holding something in - the spirit of her dead husband, as she can't let go of his memory. Roger releases him to pass on to the other side, and slowly begins to reconcile with the woman as she comes back to life.
Directed by: Allan King · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Eddie Albert, Frances Hyland, Barry Morse, Jack Mather
3x06 Memories
A hypnotist who specializes in helping people relive their past lives tries to find her own history. She hypnotizes herself and when she awakens, she learns that everyone can now remember their past lives. They also desperately want to forget them.
Directing: Ryszard Bugajski · Starring: Barbara Stock, Nigel Bennett
3x07 The Hellgramite Method
An alcoholic, Miley Judson, is approached by a doctor who offers to provide him with a unique cure. Desperate, Judson agrees and is secretly given a "hellgramite" insect. The insect in his stomach will keep him sober no matter how much he drinks, and will feed on any alcohol he does drink. The more Judson drinks, the larger it will get until it is fatal. Judson can stop drinking, but if he does the insect will force him through terrible withdrawal pains until it goes into hibernation. Judson manages to make it, and offers a card for the doctor to another alcoholic buddy.
Directed by: Gilbert M. Shilton · Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Julie Khaner, Alec Willows, Illya Woloshyn
3x08 Our Selena is Dying
A young woman, Diane, comes to live with her family, including the dying patriarch Sylena. Much to the doctor's astonishment, Sylena begins to make an astonishing recovery, while Diane begins to show all the signs of rapid aging. The doctor soon deduces the truth: the Brockman's have discovered a way to assure immortality, at the sacrifice of their younger members. When the doctor confronts Sylena, a fire breaks out burning down the house. Diane is restored to her normal youth, and Sylena is taken in as a Jane Doe, and begins to heal herself as a nurse nearby complains of inexplicable burn injuries.
Directed by: Bruce Pittman · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Charmion King, Terri Garber, R.H. Thomson
3x09 The Call
A lonely man accidentally phones the wrong number and finds an intriguing female to whom he grows attached. When she refuses to meet him, he investigates and finds the phone in a museum next to the statue of a woman.
Directed by: Gilbert M. Shilton · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: William Sanderson, Julie Khaner, Jill Frappier
3x10 The Trance
A scam artist purports to channel the spirit of Delos, a former inhabitant of Atlantis. Together with a partner, he makes a living off of it. The day of his big break, he channels another spirit, one who could cause him to lose everything. Is it punishment or a lesson from the twilight zone?
Directed by: Randy Bradshaw · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Peter Scolari, Neil Munro, Ted Simonett, Hrant Alianak
3x11 Acts of Terror
A woman terrorized by her abusive husband finds some small consolation in a statue of a dog given to her by her sympathetic sister. The woman soon discovers that she can summon the dog to life as a huge ferocious beast that will respond when her husband abuses her. He manages to break the statue but the dog is not sent away. Begging for his life, she decides to simply leave, accepting the dog into herself. He tries to stop her but the dog is still there when she needs it.
Directed by: Brad Turner · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Melanie Mayron, Kenneth Welsh
3x12 20/20 Vision
Newly promoted bank loan officer Warren Cribbens cracks his eyeglasses and discovers he can see the future through them. Faced with seeing the future of the farmers whose farms he must foreclose on, Warren can't bring himself to foreclose. Right away he's torn into doing his job or standing up for the people he helps. He manages to get his way by using his knowledge of the future to blackmail his conniving boss and convincing him to let things go.
Directing: Jim Purdy · Written by: Robert Walden · Starring: Cynthia Belliveau, Michael Moriarty, David Hemblen
3x13 There Was an Old Woman
A famous children's book writer visits a sick boy and reads him one of her stories. Later, at home, she is disturbed by children's voices throughout her house and learns from his parents that the boy has died.
Written by: Tom J. Astle · Starring: Zachary Bennett, Colleen Dewhurst, Karl Pruner, Maria Ricossa
3x14 The Trunk
A young man at a motel discovers an empty trunk that grants any wishes. He uses it for popularity, but at a party he discovers who his true friends are.
Starring: Rummy Bishop, Bud Cort, Tobey Maguire
3x15 Appointment on Route 17
After finishing a heart transplant, a man finds his personality has changed. He also discovers that he has a strange attraction to a waitress at a road diner.
Starring: Paul Le Mat, Marianna Pascal, Rosemary Dunsmore
3x16 The Cold Equations
A shuttle pilot on the outer fringes of space finds a stowaway on board his ship. Because of the extra weight, he does not have enough fuel for his journey and faces a dilemma forcing him to consider jettisoning her into space.
Directing: Martin Lavut · Written by: Alan Brennert · Starring: Terence Knox, Barclay Hope, Michael J. Reynolds, Nicky Guadagni
3x17 Stranger in Possum Meadows
A young boy playing in a field meets an old man who is really an alien collecting specimens to bring back to his planet.
Directing: Sturla Gunnarsson · Starring: Steve Kanaly
3x18 Street of Shadows
Walking taking a walk in a wealthy neighborhood an unemployed man living in a shelter experiences an unusual transformation.
Directed by: Ryszard Bugajski · Written by: Michael Reaves · Starring: Lisa Jakub, Charles Haid
3x19 Something in the Walls
A doctor arrives at his new job in a sanitarium. He discovers the case of a woman who is terribly frightened of things that appear on her walls.
Directing: Allan Kroeker · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Lally Cadeau, Deborah Raffin
3x20 A Game of Pool
Young Jesse has spent his entire life mastering pool, and wants to beat the best: the deceased Fats Brown. Summoned, Fats Brown appears to challenge him to a game of pool. The stakes: Jesse's life. After a tense match, Jesse fails to make a critical shot. Fats tells him that he will indeed "die": he'll die as the second-rate player he always is. Fats departs as Jesse vows to keep playing until he's good enough to beat Brown.
Directing: Randy Bradshaw · Written by: George Clayton Johnson · Starring: Esai Morales, Maury Chaykin
3x21 Room 2426
Martin Decker is confined to a special room for acts and thoughts against the state. They want the formula for a weapon he does not want to reveal. Escape for Martin comes from the mind.
Directing: Ryszard Bugajski · Starring: Brent Carver, Dean Stockwell, Peter Boretski, Walter Massey
3x22 The Mind of Simon Foster
In an impoverished future, Simon Foster goes to a pawnshop to sell some personal items to raise money for rent. The shop owner offers to buy some of his memories. In Simon Foster's life, what could be possibly be valuable?
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Bruce Weitz, Ilse von Glatz, Géza Kovács, Alyson Court
3x23 The Wall
At a lab a dimensional portal appears. Major Alex McAndrews is sent through the portal to learn what is on the other side. He discovers a pastoral paradise. When he returns to Earth, he discovers that the military has plans for the portal.
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: John Beck
3x24 Cat and Mouse
Andrea, a plain, shy, secluded girl longs for love. One day, love comes to her in the form of a cat who transforms into the man of her dreams. The man was cursed to become a cat by a scorned woman centuries ago. Unfortunately, the cursed prince is a little more than Andrea can handle, particularly when he starts "catting around". Andrea gets revenge by drugging him and then taking him to the vet to be neutered.
Directing: Eric Till · Written by: Christy Marx · Starring: Gwynyth Walsh, Peg Christopherson, Pamela Bellwood, Page Fletcher
3x25 Rendezvous in a Dark Place
An old woman with an obsession with death attends funerals for entertainment. One night when an injured thief breaks into her home, she lets him die and waits for Death to come and collect him.
Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Janet Leigh, Stephen McHattie, Malcolm Stewart, Robin Ward
3x26 Many, Many Monkeys
An epidemic breaks out and many people are struck blind. Something more happens, however: People have become cold and heartless toward each other.
Directed by: Ryszard Bugajski · Written by: William Froug · Starring: Jackie Burroughs, Karen Valentine, Ken Pogue, Robin Ward
3x27 Love is Blind
In a bar, a very mysterious blind man plays the piano, and gives some very special advice to a jealous boyfriend.
Directing: Gilbert M. Shilton · Starring: Ben Murphy, John Novak, Cindy Girling, Eric Keenleyside
3x28 Crazy as a Soup Sandwich
A man sells his soul to a demon for some racing tips. After being terrified by the demon he goes for help from the criminal boss he borrowed the track money from.
Directed by: Paul Lynch · Written by: Harlan Ellison · Starring: Wayne Robson, Anthony Franciosa
3x29 Special Service
A normal, everyday guy discovers a camera in his closet. Puzzled, a repairman shows up to fix it, and secretly informs him that his life is being televised, and is a top-ratings grabber. The guy, John, doesn't want his life to be aired, and decides to quit. He soon finds that he misses the fame and popularity, albeit was kept secret from him. He has the repairman secretly reinstall the camera, begins to go back to his everyday "popular" televised life, and the ratings start pouring in again.
Directed by: Randy Bradshaw · Written by: J. Michael Straczynski · Starring: Susan Roman, David Naughton, Keith Knight, Marlon McGann
3x30 Father and Son Game Season Finale
A 79-year-old man wants to keep on living so he transplants his brain into a younger body. His son, however, resents his father's continued life and tries to wrestle power from him.
Directing: Randy Bradshaw · Written by: Jeremy Bertrand Finch · Starring: Ed Marinaro, Eugene Robert Glazer, Richard Monette, George Touliatos
Season 3 Cast
Robin WardNarrator30 episodes
Julie Khaner2 episodes
Cedric SmithEpisode 1
Ted ShackelfordFr. Mark CassidyEpisode 1
Barbara StockMary McNealEpisode 1
Jackie BurroughsMrs. ReedEpisode 1
Timothy BottomsEpisode 1
Melanie MayronEpisode 1
John BeckEpisode 1
Susan RomanEpisode 1
Rummy BishopEpisode 1
Steve KanalyEpisode 1
Eddie AlbertRoger LeedsEpisode 1
Wayne RobsonEpisode 1
Lally CadeauEpisode 1
Terence KnoxEpisode 1
Bruce WeitzSimon FosterEpisode 1
All Seasons
Season 11985 · 24 eps · 
Season 21986 · 11 eps · Where to Watch Season 3 of The Twilight Zone
It is currently not available on the major streaming platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Season 3 of The Twilight Zone have?
Season 3 of The Twilight Zone has 30 episodes.
When did season 3 of The Twilight Zone premiere?
Premiered on September 24, 1988.
Where to Watch Season 3 of The Twilight Zone?
Currently not available on the major subscription platforms (availability may vary by country).