1.48 --- Dead Run

Directed by : Paul Tucker Written by : Alan Brennert (story by Greg Bear) Starring : Steve Railsback, Barry Corbin, Ebbe Roe Smith First aired : 21st of February, 1986. After his umpteenth traffic cockup, Johnny (Steve Railsback, The Stunt Man, Lifeforce), a hapless young trucker, is freshly out of work. He inquires about job possibilities with Pete (Barry Corbin, Dallas, WarGames), who is initially reluctant to take him on, but eventually relents and invites him for the initial run. The following day, Johnny is amazed to find out what sort of a run this is going to be - Pete is actually shuttling sinners to hell. After picking up a fresh batch of damned souls at the arranged checkpoint, the two truckers proceed down to road to hell. During a break at the roadside inn, they overhear there were some disturbances "down there" and are advised to be cautious. Arriving into hell, Johnny and Pete stumble upon full-scale riot staged by the damned. Johnny gets into the thick of it, and winds up rescued by Gary Frick (Ebbe Roe Smith, Turner & Hooch), former "company" trucker who died and got to hell himself, who explains him that hell is, right now, in a state of anarchy. He informs Johnny that the selection process is not being overseen by "the boss" (God, that is), and begs Johnny to try and make the difference, as there is a bunch of undeserving people getting tossed into hell for no good reason. He also reveals him the location to "the high road" before the hell security intervenes. The security officer finds the whole incident suspicious, and sends Johnny to the "manager". The manager, a youngish looking fellow who only recently got this position, is a man of stern beliefs and principles. He tells Johnny that God indeed is too busy to bother himself with such trifle work as eternal damnation, and that he is in charge of hell as it stands. His mission : to banish all souls not conforming to his age-old standards. After listening to his sermon, Johnny decides to keep the job - but not for the reasons his boss might suspect. On his very next run, he stops after the first checkpoint and starts randomly querying the damned, and is surprised to find that within this batch of condemned are an elderly librarian who fought for freedom of speech, a junkie, a draft-dodger and a homosexual. He escorts them from his trailer and shows them the high road, saving them from eternal damnation, explaining them how he will continue to play this role and therefore reverse the injustice done to the undeserving. *** As I mentioned before, the new Twilight Zone occasionaly had a political agenda. Dead Run, adapted from a short story by Greg Bear by Alan Brennert, is probably the most powerful of new TZ's "message" episodes so far, tackling at the time a very ticklish subject of opposition to vocal conservative majority. Steve Railsback's Johnny is basically a clueless, but good-hearted character, who finds salvation in his work and decides to take a one-man crusade against divine injustice. An episode which is pro-gay would probably be enough on its own - however, Johnny also absolves a draft-dodger who fled to Canada, a liberal librarian and a drug addict of their sins, as Bear & Brennert really go for the jugular here. Dead Run made a definite impact, and was commended by the Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Artists. And even though its message was broadcast 20 years ago, it still, it seems, didn't become fully accepted by some. For shame. TZ Trivia : Gertrude Flynn, very effective in her portrayal of the tormented librarian, is a veteran of classic Twilight Zone episode Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up ? (26th of May, 1961.). It's probably also worth mentioning that Rod Serling would likely hate this episode - according to the folks in the know from the TZ Café forums, Rod was an old-school homophobe. Enterprise Trivia : did the cast of The Next Generation meet on a TZ set, what ? After Jonathan Frakes in But Can She Type ?, not one but two TNG'ers appears in Dead Run - John de Lancie, oh so memorable as Q, is the mean right wing manager of Hell, Inc., while Brent Spiner, better known as the mortally pale android Data, appears in the role of the condemned draft dodger.