William Shatner and Patricia Breslin play a honeymooning couple who stop to get a bite to eat at a small-town diner while their car is being repaired. In their booth, a strange penny-for-your-fortune machine (complete with a wobbling devil's head) attracts their attention while they await their food order. Shatner decides to insert a penny to see how his luck is going. The brief and terse answer that pops out turns out to be exactly what happens to the couple after they leave the diner. Intrigued by the possibility that the machine may have some innate power, Shatner and his new wife head back to the diner to find out some more information about their "future." It doesn't take long before Shatner becomes a slave to the devilish device and can't wait for the next answer, and the next...
"Nick of Time," written by Richard Matheson, explores many psychological areas, the most obvious being the nature of superstition itself and a lesser one involving thought inducement from suggestive persuasion. The answers Shatner and his wife receive are nothing but ordinary statements (e.g. "You'll find out soon enough," "That is to be determined" etc.). Unfortunately, they misinterpret them as all-knowing and all-omniscient and begin to completely fall under the control of the inanimate machine. It takes all their collective will-power to finally break free from the diner and resume their lives. As they leave the scene, another much older couple enter the diner and put a penny into the devil's slot. It appears the honeymoon is over for them.
Shatner does a great job as the young and confident married man who seems to have all the answers until he meets his match with the devil's own device. Patricia Breslin provides fine support as his loving but increasingly desperate wife who tries her best to tear him away from the diner before he loses his soul. "Nick of Time" is truly an original premise that has plenty to say about man's fears, superstitions and psychological problems. It's one of the more interesting episodes in the Twilight Zone series and has a real "hidden" message for viewers.
"Nick of Time," written by Richard Matheson, explores many psychological areas, the most obvious being the nature of superstition itself and a lesser one involving thought inducement from suggestive persuasion. The answers Shatner and his wife receive are nothing but ordinary statements (e.g. "You'll find out soon enough," "That is to be determined" etc.). Unfortunately, they misinterpret them as all-knowing and all-omniscient and begin to completely fall under the control of the inanimate machine. It takes all their collective will-power to finally break free from the diner and resume their lives. As they leave the scene, another much older couple enter the diner and put a penny into the devil's slot. It appears the honeymoon is over for them.
Shatner does a great job as the young and confident married man who seems to have all the answers until he meets his match with the devil's own device. Patricia Breslin provides fine support as his loving but increasingly desperate wife who tries her best to tear him away from the diner before he loses his soul. "Nick of Time" is truly an original premise that has plenty to say about man's fears, superstitions and psychological problems. It's one of the more interesting episodes in the Twilight Zone series and has a real "hidden" message for viewers.