Thanks to both Richard Matheson (who wrote it) and William Shatner (who played it), NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET is one of the more memorable episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Richard Donner (who would go on to infamy as the man who helmed the Christopher Reeve version of SUPERMAN) does a decent enough job as director, though there are several rough spots here and there (not the least of which is the gremlin himself, who, as everybody and his brother has pointed out, looks like a giant teddy bear). Shatner plays it as written, with his initial nervousness and paranoia giving way to self doubt and, finally, outright fear. It's a tour-de-force performance by Shatner. The idea of "gremlins" would later be misappropriated by lesser lights in a series of lackluster Big Budget films.
Review of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
