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The Twilight Zone
1985 · TV series · 30 min episodes · 3 seasons
Created by Rod Serling
Science FictionFantasyDramaMystery
This 1980s revival of the classic sci-fi series features a similar style to the original anthology series. Each episode tells a tale (sometimes two or three) rooted in horror or suspense, often with a surprising twist at the end. Episodes usually feature elements of drama and comedy.
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3 comments on Hacker News
> I mentioned the above scenario to my wife and she said she thinks the majority of people would take the $100
I would of course decline, both on general morality grounds and also because I saw the episode "Button, Button" from the '80s revival of "The Twilight Zone".
Summary: a couple in a low-rent apartment who are having serious financial trouble receive a delivery of a locked box with a button on top. That night a man arrives and gives the wife the key to the box, and tells them that if she presses the button someone she does not know will die, and she will receive $200 000. The man leaves.
The couple debate whether or not the offer is real or just some weird joke, and weather or not press the button. They unlock the box and lock inside and find that it is empty. The button is not connected to any machinery or electronics, and they toss the box in the trash but later the wife retrieves it.
The next day the husband sees the wife just staring at the button. He tells her to push it just to get it off her mind. She does so.
The next day the man from the first day returns, hands them $200 000 cash, and takes the box. He tells them that the box will be reprogrammed and offered to some other person with the same conditions, and tells the wife that the person it will be offered to will be someone the wife does not know.
The “phantom time hypothesis” is a central point in one of the better Twilight Zone (1985—or 1688, depending on who you believe) episodes, called Paladin of the Lost Hour. Written by Harlan Ellison, starring Danny Kaye and Glynn Turman. In this story, precisely one hour was lost during the switch to the Gregorian calendar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin_of_the_Lost_Hour
You can find it on YouTube.
>Years ago, and it might have stolen the story from somewhere else,
Yes they did. It was Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star"[0]. And it was "The Twilight Zone" (1980s version).
While the TV episode was interesting, the short story itself is much better. I highly recommend it.
The story was in the "The Nine Billion Names of God" collection[1]. The title story is also interesting in its religious focus.
[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20080718084442/http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God_(collection)