The Twilight Zone (1959) S5E18: "Black Leather Jackets" - TV Tropes

Black Leather Jackets

Rod Serling: Three strangers arrive in a small town; three men in black leather jackets in an empty, rented house. We'll call them Steve, and Scott, and Fred, but their names are not important; their mission is, as three men on motorcycles lead us into the Twilight Zone.

Air date: January 31, 1964

Three extraterrestrial beings disguised as men wearing leather jackets (Lee Kinsolving, Michael Forest, and Tom Gilleran) ride their motorcycles into a small town on orders of their planet's ruler (voiced by Gregory Morton). The trio are scouts who have been sent to Earth as part of their army's plans to wipe out humanity, doing so by infecting the water reservoirs of every major city with deadly bacteria that will kill all humans and domestic animals. Their motivation is to colonize Earth for their own race to expand, and deem that humans deserve to be destroyed for being so violent and hateful. Calling themselves "Scott", "Steve", and "Fred", the alien trio rent an empty house in a suburban neighborhood, where they keep in contact with their master.

Unexpectedly, Scott, the youngest and most sensitive of the aliens, finds himself falling in love with Ellen Tillman (Shelley Fabares), the kindly daughter of Stuart and Martha Tillman (Denver Pyle and Irene Hervey), who live next to the rented house. Scott eventually tells Ellen about the aliens' plans to kill her species and tries to convince her to run away with him to escape death, but Ellen naturally thinks his story to be lunacy. Stuart contacts the local sheriff, Harper (Michael Conrad), to take Scott away, but unbeknownst to him, Harper is also one of the alien scouts.

While this happens, Scott contacts his master in an attempt to stop the extermination of humanity. By stating that the reports describing them as inherently violent were made in error, Scott explains that the majority of humans are essentially loving and peaceful. The leader refuses the request and deems Scott a traitor for his refusal to follow protocol. Scott returns to Ellen's house in a final attempt to rescue, but Harper is already there, and takes him away for good. The Tillmans comfort their tearful and distraught daughter, none of them realizing they and the rest of humanity are doomed by the impending alien attack.

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Tropes:

• The Bad Guy Wins: The alien leader's plan to kill humanity goes off without a hitch thanks to having Scott deemed a traitor.
• Cassandra Truth: Scott, who tells Ellen about the alien attack, but is dismissed as a lunatic by her and her parents.
• Downer Ending: Scott is deemed a traitor and taken away by Harper, allowing the aliens to proceed in their plan to kill humanity, while Ellen is last seen crying over Scott's "arrest".
• The End of the World as We Know It: By the end of the episode, humanity is set to die out within the coming days.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: As the aliens succeed in their plot to contaminate the water reservoirs, Rod Serling tells the viewers to check the next glass of water they drink.
• Girl Next Door: Ellen is a nice, sweet girl who lives next door to the house that the alien trio have rented. Scott soon falls in love with her for her trusting attitude, but she and her folks think him to be a kook when he tells them about the invasion, and his fellow aliens deem him a traitor when he wants to abort the plan.
• Greaser Delinquents: The aliens disguise themselves as men wearing leather jackets and riding motorcycles. The opening act of the episode is even set to rowdy 50s jazz music to establish the theme, as the trio get acquainted with their new neighborhood.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Scott, Steve, and Fred wear black leather jackets and ride motorcycles as part of their disguises.
• Human Aliens: The aliens we see here look just like humans, but they think that the actual humans deserve to be exterminated for their race to thrive.
• Humans Are Bastards: The aliens justify their genocide of humanity this way.
• Humans Are Morons: None of the human characters notice anything unusual about the aliens and the word choices they use, likely as a factor of why their leader wants them to die off.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Steve uses his eyes to hypnotize Stuart into thinking that he, Scott, and Fred are nice young men, though the effect is rather short-lived.
• Interspecies Romance: The extraterrestrial Scott falls in love with the human Ellen, wanting her to run away with him to escape humanity's doom.
• Love Redeems: Scott loses his will to proceed with the alien attack once he falls in love with Ellen, but his leader labels him a traitor and likely has him put to death.
• Mind over Matter: Scott, Steve, and Fred are shown to have telekinetic powers, as observed when they set up their temporary HQ.
• Obscured Special Effects: The aliens' leader is depicted as a giant eye that speaks to them over a monitor.
• Sarcastic Confession: When the aliens' transmissions to their leader interfere with the Tillmans' electric appliances, Stuart asks them if they're ham radio operators when he investigates. Scott and Steve tell him that they're monsters from outer space in a sarcastic tone, with Fred using the same tone to take them to Earth's leader.
• Shout-Out: Stuart and Martha are seen and heard watching To Tell the Truth early in the episode, before their electricity goes on the fritz due to the aliens' transmissions next door.
• Take Me to Your Leader: Fred asks Stuart to take him, Scott, and Steve to his leader, while they sarcastically confess to him that they're aliens.
• Totally Radical: The aliens trio speak this way to accentuate their biker disguises.
• Tuckerization: Scott, Steve, and Fred are named after script writer Earl Hamner Jr.'s son Scott, as well as two of his friends.
• Water Source Tampering: The aliens plan to exterminate humanity by contaminating water reservoirs all over the world with deadly bacteria. Steve reports to their leader that these bacteria are lethal enough that every living thing in the state will be dead within 48 hours.
• We Are Everywhere: The trio we focus on are only three of the thousands of advanced troops sent to Earth ahead of time to assist in the reservoir contamination, with the only sign of their allegiance being the aliens' emblem on their clothing. Sheriff Harper is similarly revealed to be an undercover scout, hence why he takes Scott away.

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Rod Serling: Portrait of an American family on the eve of invasion from outer space. Of course, we know it's merely fiction... and yet, think twice when you drink your next glass of water. Find out if it's from your local reservoir, or possibly it came direct to you from the Twilight Zone.