Zoned Out: Dead Run

We're back and this one is all about a man delivering some strange cargo...

This week, we look at the case of a man in need of a job, a man with a secretive job to offer and two Cast Members from Star Trek: The Next Generation (which would premiere about a year later)  This is a man on a...

A man (Steve Railsback) is looking for work as a Truck Driver.  The problem: he's had too many wrecks and nobody will hire him.

Can you help out, guy in the Bar?

He gets him a job driving a Truck with some...mysterious cargo.

In my experience, if your Boss wants you to ask no questions, you're either working the Mafia, the RNC or Satan.  You can decide what's the worst.

They arrive at the Processing Plant to deliver the Cargo and the people there are...odd-looking.  Steve is a bit concerned.

It turns out that this job is all about transporting Souls to Hell- represented by the Warehouse.  The guy who brought Steve in has a secret of his own- he's actually a lost soul!

After helping him get captured and transported to where he belongs, Steve is greeted by his Boss- Q (not the Winged Serpent)!

He promotes the guy, although our hero has some doubts about the job all the same.

He decides to work within the system and stops his next load in a vacant area.  He asks them why they died and what they did in life.  When he determines that some of them- including Brent Spiner!- should not be going to Hell (which they don't explicitly say), he lets them go and points them to 'the lighter path' (Heaven).

He can't take people there, but he can give them a chance.  The End.

For a segment about people being delivered to Hell, it is surprisingly-optimistic.  It is not quite as silly as the one about a Leprechaun (obviously!), but it is not as bleak as 'Gramma' either.  The Story is certainly interesting, even if they are vague about how it all works.  The Acting is good too, with everyone playing their parts well.  There is certainly some maudlin Acting too, but that is par for the course in TV Shows like this.  They are not always subtle, you know.  As random and esoteric as this whole thing is, I still liked it quite a bit.  One thing The Twilight Zone is good for is giving you a random variety of tales.  Some of them are Classics, while others don't hold up as well.  Someone out there may not like the more famous Episodes, but love the more ridiculous ones.  It remains to be seen how Segments like this will be remembered in the long run.  As for me, I can always enjoy stuff like the precursor to Hell Cop from Highway to Hell.

Next up, 'Herschell' wakes up in the future.  Can he make a new life here or will the truth ruin everything?  Stay tuned...