
Rod Serling delivering the opening narration for the Twilight Zone episode: “Nick of Time” – Season 2, Episode 7
“Mr. Don S. Carter, male member of a honeymoon team on route across the Ohio countryside to New York City. In one moment, they will be subjected to a gift most humans never receive in a lifetime. For one penny, they will be able to look into the future. The time is now, the place is a little diner in Ridgeview, Ohio, and what this young couple doesn’t realize is that this town happens to lie on the outskirts of the Twilight Zone.”
That is the opening narration of “Nick of Time”, one of my favourite episodes of The Twilight Zone. Starring a young William Shatner, it is a clever tale of two people, who after their car breaks down in Ridgeview, decide to have lunch at the local diner, the Busy Bee Cafe, while awaiting repairs. In the diner is a fortune-telling machine, the Mystic Seer. For a penny, it dispenses cards which provide answers to yes or no questions.
During the episode, the Mystic Seer provides a number of fortunes to the young couple. Here are the words of wisdom the Mystic Seer gives to Shatner’s character, Don Carter in “Nick of Time”:
- It is quite possible
- It has been decided in your favour
- You may never know
- If you move soon
- That makes a good deal of sense
- Try again
- There’s no question about it
- Do you dare risk finding out
- What do you think?
- Your chances are good
- It has already been taken care of
- If that’s what you really want
- The answer to that is obvious
- That’s up to you to find out
- It all depends upon your point of view
Aside from being fun and maybe slightly disturbing, there is an important lesson to be learned from this episode. As Don’s superstitious mind becomes increasingly dependent on the Mystic Seer, we see how easy it is to surrender our free will. Fortunately, his wife helps him realize that they don’t need a machine to foretell their future. The future is what they make it. She tells him, “I don’t want to know what’s going to happen. I want us to make it happen together.” Just as they leave town, another couple returns to the diner and begins feverishly feeding pennies to the Mystic Seer and begging to know if there’s “any way out — any way at all?”
Serling masterfully sums it all up with the following concluding narrative:
“Counterbalance in the little town of Ridgeview, Ohio. Two people permanently enslaved by the tyranny of fear and superstition, facing the future with a kind of helpless dread. Two others facing the future with confidence – having escaped one of the darker places of the Twilight Zone.”
If you haven’t seen Nick of Time, I strongly urge you watch it. And if you’re like me and have watched it dozens of times, well, what’s one more viewing?
*deposits penny in Mystic Seer*
Should I watch “Nick of Time” again?
Great post, Wendy! Not only is your analysis sound, but you’ve supplied us all with a handy list of Mystic Seer answers. This post is worth bookmarking for that alone! Keep up the good work.
Glad to be of service! Actually, the whole reason for writing this post was to create a list of the Mystic Seer’s fortunes for fans to reference. They can be fun to quote and I couldn’t find a list of them online, so I figured I might as well make one myself. It meant having to watch “Nick of Time” for the umpteenth time — oh, the humanity! — but we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. :)
Thank you for your sacrifice! You’re so noble and selfless. ;)
You are very welcome! It’s a tough job but hey, someone had to do it, so why not me? Thanks for stopping by and for the *like*. :)
I know what you mean. All the extra TZ watching I have to endure for my Twitter page and my blog? Just awful. The sacrifices I make for my fans! ;)
Reblogged this on Reality Check and commented:
Why am I posting this?
I think the answer to that is obvious.
Thanks for reblogging! Happy TZ watching!
You’re most welcome–thanks for posting TZ–I’m a huge fan of the show. :-]
Always a pleasure to meet a fellow TZ fan! Stay tuned! I’m planning a post dedicated to my favourite episode, “The Howling Man”, in the near future!
I can’t name a SINGLE favorite, but some of my very favorites include “And When The Sky Was Opened,” “The Arrival,” “Judgment Night,” and “After Hours.”
Really? Not one in particular? Now that is a true fan! You just love ’em all! I like that the ones you did list are not the obvious episodes which top many people’s favourites. As far as the lesser-know episodes go, I’m very fond of “Black Leather Jackets”, possibly makes my top 10 even. I do love “The After Hours”, and “Judgment Night” is truly a masterpiece.
Have you been over to the “Shadow & Substance” blog? Paul just posted a list of his top 25 TZ episodes.
http://thenightgallery.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/my-top-25-twilight-zones/
It’s a great blog, I know you’ll enjoy it! Cheers!
Yeah, hard to come up with just one. But I DO visit that blog, thanks! I actually post to it as frequently as he posts. Guess I missed this one, so heading over….
Thanks, Wendy!
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OK, Wendy, here’s my list of 25: http://fpdorchakrealitycheck.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/twilight-zone-my-25-favorite-episodes/
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Great post. I actually think this episode is the stronger of Shatner’ s two Zone appearances!
Thanks, Michael! I agree completely. “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” was good but it’s a bit lacking in the moral/lesson department.
Pingback: My Top 25 Twilight Zones « Shadow & Substance
I’ve always enjoyed this episode…seemingly lighthearted at first, but revealing things lying just below the surface of our lives…such as superstition in this instance. I liked the mystic seer so much that I had one built for my mancave. It’s a great conversation starter.
I’ll bet it is! Very cool! I actually got my own little Mystic Seer this past Christmas. It looks great next to my “Howling Man” Devil doll!
And yes, this is a wonderful episode. It ranks number 2 on my Twilight Zone favourite episodes list.
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Would you consider making me a couple of sets of cards? I have #208, the one right after yours ! I also have a later numbered one.
Ron, I’m so terrible with replying to blog comments sometimes, and I apologize for that. I just spent 20 minutes reading and rereading the comments on my OTHER Mystic Seer post, trying to find this comment of yours. I remembered that you had written it, but I thought for sure it was on the post that’s all about my Mystic Seer!
As for your inquiry, (and sorry, this will probably sound ridiculous now coming some four MONTHS after you wrote this comment), I would like to get to the point where I could offer replica cards for other Mystic Seer owners to buy. At the moment, I haven’t made cards for anyone but myself, and summer months are always pretty busy for me, but this IS something I am interested in offering, so I’ll certainly let you (and everyone else) know when/if this venture comes to fruition. Might be good for Christmas, in fact!
And super cool that we have sibling Seers! I’m so glad you commented and told me that!
Hello Wendy:
Thank you for the template. Do you have a template with each of the individual answers printed on the cards so the set of cards with answers can be printed and cut to size? Please let me know if that’s available as a template or in any printable format.
Thank you
Stay safe
Hi, Dav! In my post “Penny for Your Thoughts?”, you’ll find the new correct size (I discovered that the Entertainment Earth templates were NOT sized properly, so I made my own that is) blank template where you can created the fortunes yourself. However, I HAVE now printed myself a full set of cards, so I DO have a sheet of complete fortunes which are properly sized for printing.
If you follow my blog and just keep watching during the month of June, I intend to write a new post and it will have in it my completed template with all the fortunes. I’ve decided to just share them, not sell them, so you’ll be able to save the image and then take it to be printed. I’m not positive when this post will go up exactly, but I’m really going to try and do it sometime in June. Your best bet is to follow the blog (you can follow via email, no need for a WordPress account), and then you won’t miss it when it goes live!