The scene opens with four men and an eighteen-wheeler out in the desert near some hills.\u00a0 We are told it\u2019s Death Valley California and they\u2019ve just robbed a train that was carrying gold bullion from Fort Knox.\u00a0 The leader is a scientist named Farwell who used gas to render the train crew unconscious.\u00a0 His assistant Erbie is an engineer who helped build the equipment and Brooks and DeCruz are criminals who provide the muscle and the nerve for the crime.<\/p>\n
The men unload the gold into a hidden cave and get rid of the big truck and stash a smaller truck in the cave.\u00a0 Now we learn the reason why this is a Twilight Zone story.\u00a0 Falwell has perfected a gas that renders its users asleep in a state of suspended animation.\u00a0 Erbie has built four glass boxes that will retain the gas for one hundred years while the gang outlive the arrest warrants for them and makes the gold, they stole much more valuable.<\/p>\n
DeCruz is unwilling to be treated with the gas but Brooks, who doesn\u2019t like him at all, threatens him at knife point.\u00a0 Farwell has the boxes (or as they appear coffins) wired for sound and he walks the others through the steps to accomplish the plan.\u00a0 The boxes fill with gas and the scene fades out.<\/p>\n
In the next scene they wake up and seem a little dazed.\u00a0 DeCruz complains that they look exactly alike, their hair and fingernails haven\u2019t grown at all.\u00a0 So, he concludes that it must be just a few hours later.\u00a0 But then they find that Erbie\u2019s box contains a skeleton.\u00a0 A rock had shattered the glass top after falling from the roof of the cave.\u00a0 The condition of Erbie\u2019s body proves that an enormous amount of time has passed.\u00a0 The plan worked and it\u2019s a hundred years in the future.<\/p>\n
Their plan is to take the truck to the nearest town and figure out the best way to cash in their gold.\u00a0 Immediately Brooks and DeCruz start arguing about who will drive and who will sit in the back with the gold.\u00a0 Once again Brooks uses his knife to win the argument.\u00a0 But when Brooks goes down the road a little to look at a barrel of water, they will take with them, DeCruz runs him over with the truck.\u00a0 But as DeCruz attempts to brake the truck after the killing he finds that the brakes won\u2019t work.\u00a0 He jumps out of the truck just as it hurtles down a cliff.<\/p>\n
Now the gang is down to Farwell and DeCruz and they will have to walk thirty miles to the nearest town through the searing heat of Death Valley lugging as much of the valuable but incredibly heavy gold bars as they can carry.\u00a0 Farwell is old and very out of shape.\u00a0 After a while they stop to rest and Farwell discovers he has dropped his canteen somewhere.\u00a0 He begs DeCruz for water and laughingly DeCruz agrees.\u00a0 But the deal is one drink of water for one bar of gold.\u00a0 As the day progresses much of Farwell\u2019s gold ends up with DeCruz.\u00a0 Finally, DeCruz ups the ante and changes the equation to two bars per swallow.\u00a0 While DeCruz is stowing his new gold, Farwell takes one of his last bars and knocks DeCruz down and kills him with the heavy weight.<\/p>\n
Now Farwell takes as much gold as he can carry and walks on.\u00a0 Eventually he collapses from heat stroke.\u00a0 A futuristic car with a man and a woman inside finds Farwell and the man goes over to try and help.\u00a0 Farwell is on the point of death but he tries to use the gold as a means of getting the man to give him some water and take him to a hospital.\u00a0 But before anything can be done Farwell expires.<\/p>\n
The man goes back to the car and tells his wife what happened.\u00a0 He is confused how the man ended up in the desert but he wonders why the man would think gold would be a convincing incentive to get help.\u00a0 She asks, \u201cWasn\u2019t it used as money back a hundred years ago?\u201c\u00a0 He replies, \u201cYes, but then we figured out how to manufacture it.\u201d\u00a0 And he throws the bar over by Farwell.<\/p>\n
To my way of thinking, this is a terrible episode.\u00a0 None of the characters are likable, not even the couple who find them at the end.\u00a0 The surprise ending is not that surprising.\u00a0 And who except for a complete psychopath would be willing to give up everything he values for some money?\u00a0 Meh.\u00a0 D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The scene opens with four men and an eighteen-wheeler out in the desert near some hills.\u00a0 We are told it\u2019s Death Valley California and they\u2019ve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[237,4,244,240,1661],"tags":[38,1355,1194,44,309,265,1691,1801,154,1692,838],"class_list":["post-6456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-tv-reviews","category-tv-reviews","category-twilight-zone","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-rod-serling","tag-sci-fi","tag-sci-fi-tv-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-sff-tv-show-reviews","tag-the-rip-van-winkle-caper","tag-tv-review","tag-tv-reviews","tag-twilight-zone"],"yoast_head":"\n