User Reviews

People who call this episode "god-awful" or a "turkey" really have no concept of what the Twilight Zone was when it came out, the era when it was shown, etc. While by no means one of the stronger episodes of the "Twilight Zone", "Black Leather Jackets" is also certainly not on the same dreadful level as episodes like "The Fever" or "A Thing About Machines". Think about this episode in the context of the early 60s: guys wearing leather jackets and riding motorcycles were the stereotypical bad boys, the out-of-control, dangerous guys in "The WIld One", the people that upstanding parents didn't want their daughters dating, the rebels immortalized a few months after this episode first aired in the song "Leader of the Pack." Hamner obviously wanted to have some fun: he knows the audience at the time is thinking upon seeing the three guys, yeah, there goes the neighborhood, here comes real trouble; and then the writer throws in the zinger: you have no idea just how much trouble! Dated-looking alien equipment? You bet -- welcome to the 1960s vision of sci-fi, found in every TV and movie of the time. Weak ending? sure -- it's more like they couldn't really think of an ending. Great episode? No way -- but no where near as bad as what's been implied.

Well if you like your Twilight Zone with a healthy helping of "The Wild One", this might be the episode for you. There's also a borrowed plot element from 1951's "The Day The Earth Stood Still", whereby aliens from another planet decide that the inhabitants of Earth are so dangerous to themselves that they might also form a threat to the rest of the solar system. This was my first viewing of the episode, but even before the bikers revealed where they were from, I somehow intuitively knew they were from outer space. How? I don't know, but it's giving me the creeps.

When I was a teenager there was a diner in the next town over from where I lived called 'The Hungry Eye'. It had a logo that resembled that big old eyeball that appeared on screen as the aliens' big kahuna, imparting it's wisdom and directives like the all-knowing invasion leader it was supposed to represent. It was probably meant to be scary, but watching today it just seemed goofy. That diner I mentioned isn't around anymore either.

That whole idea of the invaders being bacteria units placed strategically around the country to contaminate the water supply and eradicate the human population was actually pretty unique. I can't think of a sci-fi flick to use the same premise but there's probably one out there. I'll keep looking. But in the meantime, if this one grabbed you, I have to recommend a 1959 flick that's bound to thrill you as it did me called "Teenagers From Outer Space". No black leather jackets in that one, but it's got lobster aliens about to invade Earth and take over. I wonder if Rod Serling ever saw it.

I'd call this one a guilty pleasure. For all it's weird seriousness, it's one of the silliest TZ episodes, but a very fun one, I think. It's another one of those, where I'll stop whatever I'm doing just to watch it again and again, if for no other other reason than the fact that it's just so odd, even by TZ standards. The music especially, which ranges from erie, cheesy sci-fi sound effects to("yeah, like crazy, man") beat-generation hipster music is, in itself interestingly weird.

First, you need to get past the - frankly - dumb premise that aliens, who are coming to this planet to quietly and surrupticioulsy poison our water supply so they can take over, would engage in such a covert mission by moving into a sedate, middle class neighborhood disguised as leather-clad bikers. Yeah, who'd notice that ? The biker theme really just seems to have been a forced attempt to awkwardly marry some pop culture relevance from the moment, ala, "the wild one" into a more traditional TZ story line. With such an odd hybrid of two themes, I doubt even stronger writing would have made it better than it is. It's basically very much like one of those mediocre horror movies of the time compressed into 25 minutes.

I think it still holds it's own as one of those episodes that's weird, even for the TZ, although not necessarily weird in a good way. Despite what appears to be an uninspired script and an ill-advised blending of themes, it's not very good, but it is a lot of fun. You be the judge if that's enough.

Two very cute and hunky (and one less developed but ultimately nicer) leather jacket-clad dudes ride into a small town and rent a house. The house is empty except for a large computer that is primitive by even 1980s standards. The three always dress the same, and never seem to eat or sleep. Next door live Ellen Tillman (played by Shelley Fabares) and her parents. She gets the hots for them when they first arrive. Her dad tells her to lay off. Later that night, after their television and lights start acting erratically, Stu Tillman (Ellen's dad) goes next door, thinking the young men are ham radio operators. They push him around, none too gently, but finally stop, without ever satisfying his curiosity and erasing the memory when he threatens to call the police. The tallest of the pack (played by Michael Forest, standing well over six feet) shows his knowledge of the alien invasion zeitgeist by telling Stu they are from outer space and will "disintegrate" him with their "ray guns". Stu goes back home and, his memory of the incident erased, tells his wife, Martha, that the three are good "boys".

The briefest and tenderest of oddball romances ensues between Ellen Tillman and "Scott" (played by Lee Kinsolving, who died tragically of a heart attack in his 30s a decade later), the youngest and least intimidating of the three aliens. He begins to realize that not all earthlings are ignorant savages and tries to get their leader (with whom the three communicate via their computer) not to go through with their sinister plan of poisoning the earth's water supply to kill off the human population quite quickly so that the burgeoning population of whatever planet the invaders are from can settle Earth. The invaders (minus Scott now) and their leaders justify this to themselves because of their ingrained belief that earthlings are inferior, uncivilized barbarians. The plans are not going to be called off and Scott flees to try to warn Ellen and her family, who, of course, do not understand or believe anything he is saying. A deputy sheriff (played sinisterly by Michael Conrad, best-known for his well-loved character, Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, he of "Let's be careful out there" fame on "Hill Street Blues" decades later), who claims the sheriff is on vacation, shows up at the Tillman house in response to Stu's call. He turns out to be another alien (Scott identifies him as one of the "advance guard"), who brings three young men dressed in white (probably aliens also, although dressed like hospital orderlies) to take Scott away to get "help".

It all ends on a particularly bleak note of impending world-wide doom yet too many posters on IMDb have dismissed this episode as silly or self-referential. The latter ("self-referential") may be true but only in a way that benefits the narrative. The episode is just as good, in my opinion, as another bleak -- although not as bleak as this one -- episode, "To Serve Man".

This is one of the Twilight Zone episodes that hardly ever plays when there is a marathon running on the sci-fi channel. Along with Mr. Garrity and the Graves, this is my favorite episode. I would go along with others that say the Twilight Zone was not always great, but I disagree with them about this episode. It starts out with three strange young men in Leather Jackets who rent the house next door to Shelley Fabares and her family. Her dad is played by Uncle Jessie from the Dukes of Hazzard. She gets the hots for them when they first arrive. Her dad tells her to lay off. Later that night, dad visits them to see why they are ham radio operators. They end up playing with him and erasing his memory of the event. We see their leaders eye on a screen beamed from their planet. They are their to poison all of the water supply and destroy the human race. The next night Shelley misses the bus and she gets a ride from Scott, one of them. There are plenty of close ups of her face as they talk in the park. She has the most beautiful face I have ever seen. She also has a great body as we would later see in Girl Happy. She falls in love with Scott, but he starts to talk about her and people like they are no good. His other partners decide he is under her influence and they don't let him join in with their plan. He ends up escaping and trying to warn Shelley about the invasion. She has her dad call the police. They show up and we find out the officer is one of the aliens. He tries to warn the family about him and they take him away. This episode is great and I can't believe the bad reputation it has. The worst episode of this series is Midnight Sun. It's the most boring piece of trash I have ever seen. Some people seem to like it.

Look the plot is is simple. Three biker-clad aliens from outer space come into a neighborhood. They have plans to help fellow alien members take over Earth. They make contact on a simple looking computer to their faraway leader (only an eye up close is seen for this leader--perhaps a dig at the CBS Network logo).

One of the biker-aliens, calling himself Scott, falls in love with the ultra-beauty and appealing Shelley Fabares (in her excellent and sole excellent guest-starring performance on TZ). When she and Scott start getting to know each other she reveals that she is deeply upset he has lived in the neighborhood a week and never said "Hello" to her once. This is a great moment. Her character reveals her inside hurt. It is very believable after knowing this outstanding lady briefly that Scott comes to realize that his alien race is somewhat wrong about Earth. While there are indeed super-bad humans (like communist leaders such as Josef Stalin of the Soviet Union and North Korea's Kim II Sung) many humans are warm and loving. Scott tells the "eye" something like this but the leader just deems the biker a traitor. After trying to tell Shelley about the impending poison-water alien invasion a deputy sheriff (actually one of "them") is called in and Scott is hauled off leaving Shelley (who, again, was upset about him not talking to her the first week he moved in) now broken-hearted to tremendous irreparable proportions about seeing Scott carted away. The invasion will soon be carried out and will be presumably successful.

Now to some plot holes.

1) Why did the aliens dress in a way that would attract attention in a suburb?

Probably so people would leave them alone. They most likely saw biker films back on their home planet and thought that bikers were scary to average people on Earth.

2) Why did Scott make no attempt to show beauty Shelley his super telekinetic powers when he revealed he was alien?

He did. He caused her light to go on while she was upstairs in her bedroom and he was outside. She then, without having turned on the light herself, goes over to the window and sees him. In her frantic state upon hearing his alien-confession Shelley never thought to ask him how her got her room light on from outside.

3) Why did the computer the bikers use to contact their leader look so simple?

Because they were on Earth and if someone broke into the house when they were not home they did not want them to find a more sophisticated looking device.

4) Why did Scott not show beauty Shelley the computer he used to contact his alien leader to add credence to his alien confession?

It no longer worked for him to receive images from far in outer space now that he was branded a traitor. If it worked at all it just would have picked up local TV stations.

This is hands down a super satisfying and interesting ep. And very well-acted by Fabares especially. There is also a great scene where she puts Scott's hands off of her arms --a good sign that she is feisty indeed. Probably a feisty lady in real life too. Excellent! Shame and utter tragedy she was not in more Twilight Zone eps.

In contrast to many other reviewers, I found the story line to Black Leather Jackets quite good, and in a frightening way. Basically, this was a much better version of the movie "Teenagers From Outer Space." But instead of ridiculous lobster monsters and multichannel multiplexers, these teens had much more believable equipment as well as a plan that predated "Battlefield Earth." The acting was good, the plot believable, and fortunately it was not a documentary. One reviewer pointed out that this was a CBS show, which would explain the eye on the communications set, something I didn't catch on my own.

Bottom line is you are sure with any long-term series to get a few mediocre episodes that fade from memory not long after you watch them. "Black Leather Jackets" is such the case. It concerns three leather-jacketed, motorcycle-riding aliens who have driven into a suburban neighborhood, chosen a home as their headquarters, and plot to poison the town's drinking water to kill the human population. This is a grand design by the alien race to annihilate the humans throughout the entire world so they can colonize it. Yawn. To put it bluntly, this episode suffers from uninspired, lazy writing. One of the three aliens falls in love with a pretty female neighbor, tries to tell her that his race is behind a great masterplan to kill every human being, and is considered insane. Appropriately enough, the town's deputy sheriff happens to be one of the head aliens throwing a wrench in the plans to save the human girl he loves. That's it in a nutshell. Not typical of a quality Twilight Zone episode, "Black Leather Jackets" has the aliens depicting bikers right out of the Brando classic The Wild One, except they spend most of their time inside a room, contacting their fearless leader (the monitor shows an eye, as he speaks in a robotic tone), surrounded by a group of machines right off a cheesy sci-fi picture. I would like to say that the performances help lift this episode out of the doldrums but that is not the case. The characters and those that portray them are just as "going through the motions" as the plot and dialogue. You can skip this one and be none the wiser.

While this episode is not exactly bad, it is a bit too cheesy to be taken seriously. Especially as a fan of MST3K, if you have seen their take on the movie 'Teenagers From Outer space'. The storyline is much the same- aliens who look human and speak English land on earth with intentions of wiping out humans, albeit with different reasons and different methods. In this episode, the aliens want to kill all living creatures on earth with germ warfare because of our hatefulness (or something...) instead of just not caring about collateral damage while looking for grazing land for their "gargon herds" (giant lobsters). But most of the elements are roughly the same- the youngest of the aliens disagrees with the others about their plan to kill everyone, falls in love with an attractive teenage girl, and tries to sabotage the other aliens' plans, and is branded a traitor and is hunted down. While "Teenagers" ends with the young alien heroically dying to save the humans, this one ends with the young alien being assumed insane because of his warnings the humans of what's about to happen. And being dragged away by a sheriff's deputy who happens to also be an alien. While the humans are oblivious of what will happen in a short time....

This is a classic teen, drive in movie, true sci fi type true classic!

But not only that, it has another profound message, like most of the episodes of course do. Having Shelley Fabres is to me a bonus in everything and is so suited to this character.

I really unfortunately cannot add much to the review which I must to get word count up. But it's simply entertaining, sublime and suspenseful like so many B grade invasion movies of the era. To me what places this above is that it has the Twilight Zone stamp of atmosphere. And these days a world where the world is going to end by contamination and germ warfare is unfortunately not far fetched. However it's coming from our own planet and not from people from outa space... or who knows? How many conspiracy theorists have drunk the wrong kool aid mmm.

I saw this episode when it first aired in 1964 and thought at the time it was a lot like the 1959 movie "Teenagers from Outer Space". Sure enough 54 years later I watched both again and yes Earl Hamner just ripped off the plot and condensed it into a 30 minute format.

I'm going to jump into the fray here. Looking at the reviews here, I think both extremes are wrong. This is not a terrific episode, but it hardly represents the nadir-- or the death knell-- of the series. It suffers mainly from being a "premise" episode: interesting premise, but not much done with it in terms of story. And I do think the premise itself works: as someone else stated it, here comes trouble, and brother, you don't know how *much* trouble! The ending *is* weak, but still creepy, in that we know that humanity is doomed.

Yeah, it's not profound, and I agree it's poorly written in places. The alien dialog is pretty weak. It is a indeed too derivative of stock alien invader movies of the period.

But to rant that one lesser episode clearly proves that the series had lost all value and deserved to be canceled is ridiculous. Let's take things in context, please: this episode came a mere one week after the fabulous "Number 12 Looks Just Like You". And one of my favorites, "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" was still to come (no, not a profound episode, but certainly a lot of fun).

So, in short, this was not a great episode. But there are definitely worse ones.