This episode has gained fame because William Shatner did it and when a movie version was done years later, John Lithgow redid Shanters role. There can be no doubt Shanter did it better. Lithgows has been sold at a discount on Price-Line to compare. The movie had the tragic death of Vic Morrow in another segment which made more headlines than the actual movie which was okay.
The story here is done well as we are not quite sure if Shatner is crazy, or not. When he did another Zone with the fortune telling machine in the diner, there is no doubt he is crazy and obsessed. Here, he appears to have plenty of reason to be just crazy. He makes the people around him wonder about his behavior and gives the stewardess and crew a very difficult time.
Richard Donner did a lot of tv directing, and he does well here though I prefer "The Night of The Murderess Spring", the Dr. Lovelass episode of The Wild Wild West he directed as a better effort among his 1960's TV work. Ironically it was the influence of The Wild Wild West that later caused Shatner to do so many fights on the original Star Trek series. They had to compete.
There's something on the wing, trying to disable an engine and bring down the plane. Shatner's character is the only one who seems to see it. He finally finds a way to stop it, despite all the efforts of everyone around him to paint him as crazy and stop him from doing anything about it. This still holds up as a good episode.
The story here is done well as we are not quite sure if Shatner is crazy, or not. When he did another Zone with the fortune telling machine in the diner, there is no doubt he is crazy and obsessed. Here, he appears to have plenty of reason to be just crazy. He makes the people around him wonder about his behavior and gives the stewardess and crew a very difficult time.
Richard Donner did a lot of tv directing, and he does well here though I prefer "The Night of The Murderess Spring", the Dr. Lovelass episode of The Wild Wild West he directed as a better effort among his 1960's TV work. Ironically it was the influence of The Wild Wild West that later caused Shatner to do so many fights on the original Star Trek series. They had to compete.
There's something on the wing, trying to disable an engine and bring down the plane. Shatner's character is the only one who seems to see it. He finally finds a way to stop it, despite all the efforts of everyone around him to paint him as crazy and stop him from doing anything about it. This still holds up as a good episode.