It’s been nearly 60 years since William Shatner flew the un friendly skiesin “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” — one of the most famous installments of RodSerling’s seminal horror series, The Twilight Zone. Directed by RichardDonner, the episode features the Star Trek icon as Bob Wilson, who is flyinghome with his wife Julia (Christine White) after being discharged from thesanitarium, where he’s been recovering from a nervous breakdown. But in themiddle of the flight, he notices a strange figure on the wing of the planethat only he can see. What he’s witnessing is a gremlin attack — and not ofthe “don’t feed them after midnight” variety.
Premiering on Oct. 11, 1963, “Nightmare” is the first episode many think ofwhen The Twilight Zone theme starts playing. And to this day, Shatner stillfinds himself gremlin-spotting when he gets on an airplane. “I used to playthat game with my kids,” the actor tells Yahoo Entertainment with a laughduring a conversation about his new memoir, Boldly Go. “They’d bring thehostess over and, and I’d be looking at that window and everybody would roarwith laughter.” (Watch our video interview above.)
That’s not how Shatner felt when he originally filmed the episode, though.Instead, he spent much of his time on set concerned that “Nightmare” would bea career-killer. At the time, the Montreal-born Shatner was a regularsupporting player in American television, with a résumé that included suchshows as Naked City and Alfred Hitchock Presents. In fact, “Nightmare” washis second appearance on The Twilight Zone , having previously starred inthe 1960 episode, “Nick of Time,” as one-half of a honeymooning couple who runafoul of a devilish fortune-teller machine. (Both episodes were penned byRichard Matheson, author of the hugely influential vampire novel, I AmLegend.)
Shatner and Patricia Bresline in The Twilight Zone episode, “Nick of Time.”(Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection)
“Nightmare” was a more ambitious episode than the small-scale “Nick of Time,”which also meant that The Twilight Zone ‘s budgetary restraints were moreevident, at least to Shatner. Specifically, he found himself skeptical of theepisode’s gremlin, who was played by stuntman Nick Cravat in a costume thatdidn’t exactly strike fear into the star’s heart. “What was amusing was theacrobat who was in a little furry suit on the wing of the [plane],” Shatnersays now. “There were times when I looked at him, and I thought: ‘This ismaybe the worst thing I’ve ever done!'”
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Still, when you’re a working actor that’s a few years off from his big break —Star Trek: The Original Series wouldn’t take flight until 1966 — you’reusually just glad to be collecting a paycheck. “I was so filled with gratitudethat I was being paid and could pay my bills,” Shatner says of how he offsethis concerns about the creative quality of the episode. “The fact that itmight be beyond laughable never occurred to me.”
The Gremlin (Nick Cravat) bedevils Shanter in the “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”episode of The Twilight Zone. (Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection)
Donner, of course, would later go on to direct blockbusters like Superman:The Movie and The Omen , but Shatner says that the young director didn’texactly have the time on the “Nightmare” set to talk to him about his artisticapproach. “The directing was like, ‘Why don’t you say that louder or faster?’I don’t think that [art] occurred to anybody. I think what was occurring topeople was get the shot before the sun set!”
While Shatner spends the majority of “Nightmare” frozen in his chair, theactor — whose fisticuffs as Captain Kirk are still unmatched in sci-fi TVhistory — did get physical in the climax, when Bob shatters his airplanewindow to take a shot at the gremlin. “I’ve done a lot of stunts and takingterrible risks … putting myself through a window was nothing,” he saysmodestly. “Sometimes I’ve done foolish things, and I don’t know why. I don’tknow what I’m proving to myself or anybody else, but it never occurs to methat I’m going to get hurt.”
“I was on the West Coast one time, and we were shooting a motorcyclesequence,” Shatner continues, recalling one particularly dangerous stunt. “Ihad to jump the motorcycle, and I came to the lip and stopped. The stuntmangot on, jumped the motorcycle and broke his back! It could have been me.”
Shatner and Christine White in the “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” episode of TheTwilight Zone. (Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection)
Instead of tanking Shatner’s career, “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” ended upentering the pantheon of all-time great episodes of television. It’s beenreferenced and parodied countless times in everything from sharknado to TheSimpsons and so thoroughly defines The Twilight Zone that it’s been remadetwice in subsequent franchise continuations. John Lithgow played Shatner’srole in the George Miller-directed “Nightmare” installment that appeared in1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie and Adam Scott played a variation on thepart in an episode of the 2019 Paramount+ series overseen by Jordan Peele.
For Shatner, the longevity of “Nightmare” can be chalked up to one very simpleexplanation: Flying still freaks many people out, even if the idea ofsitting in a metal tube thousands of miles up in the air strikes others asbanal. “One of my daughters has a phobia of flying,” he says. “When we go onfamily trips, she sits beside me … and I’m explaining [what’s happening] toher. So there are people who are fearful of flying when there’s no reason. Inall the flying I’ve done, I may have had a lightning strike or there was aloud bang, but nothing approaching the ‘I’m gonna die here’ feeling. So Ithink that’s what the show fastened onto — our fear of flying.”
— Video produced by Kyle Moss and edited by Jason Fitzpatrick
The Twilight Zone is currently streaming on Paramount+