"If the ghosts of people can haunt a house, well, why can't the ghost of creatures haunt where they once lived?"
A pair of traveling salesmen happen upon something extraordinary when they are stranded in the Arizona desert. Based on the short story of the same name by Joe Landsale.
Kirk Thornton voices the old man and Yuri Lowenthal voices the young man.
Tropes:
- The Alleged Car: The plot is kicked off when the car that the two men are driving in breaks down in the middle of the Arizona desert, forcing them to spend the night there.
- Ambiguous Situation: If the fish are from the past and have been long since deceased, how was the Young Man able to become a ghost, like them? In the original short story, the Old Man was able to do this by ridding himself of the impurities of the modern world, even removing his own teeth, but here the young man was able to join them just by removing his clothes.
- Anachronism Stew: Justified, since the prehistoric animals are the ghosts of every animal that lived in the place since the dawn of time.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: This happens when the shark eats the young man, even though there's no water.
- Death by Adaptation: The young man survived the original short story as it was the older man who decided to join the sea-life; here he is eaten instead.
- Downer Ending: Unable to hear the Old Man's warning, the Young Man is eaten by a ghost shark, leaving the Old Man devastated and alone. It's also unclear what will become of the Old Man, as the radiator of the car they were traveling in is still busted, meaning he will have to walk back several miles to the nearest station.
- Flying Seafood Special: The sea-life flies through the air. Justified, since the animals are ghosts.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: A mind-screwy Ghost Story in a predominately sci-fi anthology, applying a unique style of animation to it.
- Fossil Revival: Not exactly, since the prehistoric sea-life are all ghosts, but the idea is similar.
- Giant Eye of Doom: The first sight of the sea creatures is a shot of a huge eye staring at the old man through the car window.
- Icarus Allusion: The young man, overjoyed at the concept of swimming with the prehistoric creatures, ventures upward to join them despite the old man's warning. Cue the shark about to eat him.
- If It Swims, It Flies: The ghostly fish have no trouble 'swimming' through the air.
- Mind Screw: Ghostly fish come out at night, the young man somehow swims up to join them, then a ghost shark eats him.
- Minimalist Cast: Only two characters and some animals appear.
- Nameless Narrative: The protagonists are just credited as "Old Man" and "Young Man".
- Our Ghosts Are Different: There are ghosts of many marine animals that lived in the place over the course of Earth's history.
- Skinny Dipping: Since they didn't bring any swimsuits, the young man strips naked when he decides to join the ghost fish for their nighttime swim.
- The Sky Is an Ocean: The ghostly fish and other marine life swim through the sky as if it were still an ocean. Somehow, the young man is able to join them.
- Stock Desert Interstate: The episode begins with the traveling salesmen's car breaking down somewhere in the Arizona desert. Since it's too hot to walk back to a gas station in the day, they plan to wait the night out there and start walking in the early morning.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the original story it was the old man who got eaten, not the young one. Here the young one gets the chomp while the old one lives.
- A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: The Young Man's excitement to swim with the fish without considering the consequences of it is ultimately what seals his fate.
- Threatening Shark: The young man is ambushed and consumed by a ghostly, prehistoric shark; despite numerous other prehistoric marine predators being among the ghosts, the shark is the only one to be actively hostile.
