Air date: January 8, 1960
Will Sturka, a scientist who works at a military base, has been reluctantly producing parts for a great number of H-bombs in preparation for imminent nuclear war. Will realizes that there is only one way to escape the upcoming nuclear holocaust: to steal an experimental, top-secret spacecraft stored at the base. He plans to bring his co-worker Jerry Riden, along with their wives and Sturka's daughter Jody. The two fine-tune their plan for months, secretly supplying the ship and making arrangements for their departure.
When production of the bombs sharply increases, Sturka realizes that time is running shorter than he thought. He and Jerry decide to put their plan in action that very night, taking their families to the craft to tour it, and then overpowering the guards and taking off. Unfortunately, Sturka's superior Carling overhears the two men talking. Later that night, everyone pretends to gather for a game of cards, where Riden reveals that he has found a place to go: a small planet 11 million miles away. During the game, Carling unexpectedly appears at the door. Though he smiles and acts polite, he makes it clear that he knows what the Will and Jerry are planning. He also hints at trouble: "A lot can happen in forty-eight hours." After he leaves, Will and Jerry inform the women that they must leave immediately.
When the five arrive at the site of the spacecraft, the men spot their contact, who flashes a light. When the contact steps forward, he is revealed to be Carling, armed with a gun. He forces Will and Jerry away from the gate and prepares to call the authorities. The women, who have been waiting in the car, watch in horror as Carling orders them out. Jody suddenly throws the car's door open, knocking the gun from Carling's hand and giving the men enough time to overpower him. The group rushes into the ship, fighting off the guards that rush them.
Later that evening, the quintent have safely escaped their doomed planet and are on course for their new home. Jerry comments how unbelievable it is that there is a planet full of people just like themselves. Will smiles as he points out on the ship's viewer their mysterious destination, 11 million miles away: the third planet from the Sun, a planet called "Earth".
Third From the Tropes:
- Aliens Steal Cable: Jerry mentions how he and Will have "picked up radio waves" of the similar planet with a similar language. It's Earth.
- Big Brother Is Watching: Implied. Will and Jerry are plotting to steal an experimental spacecraft and settle on another planet in order to avoid an impending nucelar war. When Jerry comes over to Will's house to discuss their plans, Will turns some machinery in his workshop so the authorities won't be able to pick up on their conversation with listening devices they have presumably placed in his house.
- Canon Foreigner: Carling does not appear in the short story by Richard Matheson, and was added to the episode in order to give it a villain.
- Daddy's Girl: Teenaged Jody happily greets her father when he comes home, enjoys father-daughter dances with him, and coaxes him into talking about the problems that are clearly on his mind while showing a lot of sympathy and insight for them.
- Dutch Angle: This episode makes extensive use of them.
- Earth All Along: The twist is an inversion and a straight example. The main characters aren't leaving Earth; they're escaping to it.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The potential fate of Sturka and Riden's homeworld.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Within 48 hours, there's going to be a war that will wipe out all life on... whatever planet the characters live on.
- Foreshadowing:
- Carling's idle chatter about whether or not there may be people just like them on one of the stars they see in the sky.
- Sturka's wife is named Eve.
- Sturka and Riden's workplace is known as the "Ministry of Science", which is not something you'd see in the United States.
- There are very unusual sculptures located throughout Sturka's house.
- The music Jody is listening to when her father comes home sounds odd.
- The Sturka family car is clearly powered by something other than an internal combustion engine.
- The “telephone” answered near the end has an unusual shape and makes a beeping sound unlike contemporary telephones.
- The Government: The government that runs the military base Will and Jerry work for seems to be totalitarian in nature. This is shown when Will gets a call from the head of his department, ordering him to come to work as the production begins to increase. There are also implications that anyone who disobeys them will face serious trouble.
- Homeworld Evacuation: A small-scale example, as two scientists and their families steal an experimental spacecraft to flee their homeworld before a nuclear war that will probably kill everyone else breaks out.
- Human Aliens: The people of this planet look, sound, and act like humans, but they aren't.
- Just Before the End: The nations of the unnamed planet are on the verge of apocalyptic war. The main characters are trying to escape before the bombs start dropping.
- Last of His Kind: Presumably the two families.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: Jerry and Will make weapons of mass destructions for an oppressive government, but they hate doing it and feel trapped by how their work is only a small part of a big chain (making it beyond their ability to stop or control), as well as how their government comes down hard on dissent.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Aliens living on an Earth-like planet say they're going to Earth, which is "11 million miles away".... or about 1/3 of the distance between Earth and Mars. Since it would be impossible for another Earth-like planet to be that close without us knowing about it, the writers must have thought that a planet 11 million miles away could be in another solar system.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Will and Jerry decide to steal the experimental spaceship and leave with their families, as a potential planet-destroying war is just 48 hours away.
- Skewed Priorities: When they decide to leave, Eve decides to put the drinks away before she realizes there's no point.
- Sleeping Single: Two single beds in Mr. and Mrs. Sturka's bedroom.
- Stock Footage: A shot of the C-57D cruiser in space is taken from Forbidden Planet.
- Tuckerization: Jody Sturka and Ann Riden are named after Rod Serling's daughters Jodi and Ann.
