I Shot an Arrow into the Air

Plot

A spacecraft carrying eight astronauts crashes on what the crew thinks is a strange asteroid, a landscape of desert and sharp mountains. Only four survive: Commander Donlin, crewmen Corey and Pierson, and Hudak, who is gravely injured and barely clinging to life. Rescue seems impossible. After burying the dead, Donlin and Pierson focus on caring for Hudak, but Corey, thinking only of himself, argues that sharing their meager water with Hudak will hurt everyone else's chances. This puts Corey against Donlin and Pierson, who insist on helping Hudak as long as he lives. Hudak dies soon after. Once he is buried, Donlin sends Corey and Pierson to explore the barren desert for anything useful.

Six hours later, Corey returns alone, saying he does not know where Pierson went. Donlin notices Corey has more water in his canteen than when he left and demands to know what happened. Corey claims he found Pierson dead and took his water. Donlin does not believe him and forces Corey at gunpoint to lead him to the body. At the spot Corey describes, there is no body and no evidence to support his story, making Donlin even more suspicious. They later find Pierson near a mountain edge, alive but badly hurt. Donlin drops the gun and rushes to him. Pierson, unable to speak, gestures that he climbed the mountain and saw something. With his last strength, he draws a simple shape in the sand: two parallel lines crossed by a perpendicular line. Then he dies. Corey grabs the dropped gun, admits he attacked Pierson earlier, shoots and kills Donlin, and heads off alone, believing he will survive longer with all the water for himself.

Corey climbs the mountain and sees a sign for Reno, along with telephone poles—exactly what Pierson had tried to draw. He realizes they never left Earth at all. He killed his crewmates for nothing. Corey breaks down, weeping and begging his dead companions for forgiveness.

Production

The idea for this episode originated with Madelon Champion, who approached Rod Serling in public and proposed a scenario: three astronauts land on what they believe is an asteroid, only to discover they are actually just outside Las Vegas. Serling bought the concept from her for $500, marking the only time he purchased a story idea from someone who approached him in a public setting. The episode's title comes from a line in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Arrow and the Song." Prior to The Twilight Zone's pilot, Serling had written a different, hour-long pilot also called "I Shot an Arrow into the Air," which was not connected to Champion's idea. That earlier script followed a bright boy who is ostracized after his father dies in a homemade rocket explosion; he later helps a wounded alien return home, grows up to become an astronaut, and reunites with the alien. Parts of that script were later adapted into the episode "The Gift." Stuart Rosenberg directed this episode, with George T. Clemens handling cinematography. Filming took place in October. It was the second Twilight Zone episode shot in Death Valley, following "The Lonely." The twist ending, revealing the characters had been on Earth all along, has been noted for its similarity to the twist in "Planet of the Apes," a concept also developed by Serling.