"Black Leather Jackets" is episode 138 of the

American television Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...

anthology series ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, sup ...

''. In this episode, three aliens disguised as young men in leather jackets encounter a kink in their plan to exterminate humankind when one of them falls in love with a human girl.

Opening narration

Plot

Twilight Zone, Alien symbol from Black Leather Jackets

Three beings, disguised as human males wearing leather jackets, are part of an advanced

alien invasion The alien invasion or space invasion is a common feature in science fiction stories and film, in which extraterrestrial lifeforms invade the Earth either to exterminate and supplant human life, enslave it under an intense state, harvest people ...

force, sent to Earth to infect city water reservoirs with bacteria that will kill all humans and domestic animals. Their own race needs room to expand. The pretext given for the extermination is that humans are violent and hateful and therefore deserve to be destroyed. Calling themselves "Scott", "Steve" and "Fred", they rent a house in a suburban American town where they can keep in contact with their planet's leader while setting the plan in motion. The youngest of the three aliens, Scott, falls in love with the girl who lives next door to their rented house, Ellen Tillman. Scott eventually tells Ellen about the alien plan in order to convince her to run away with him so that she will escape death, but Ellen naturally mistakes his story for lunatic rantings. Ellen's father calls the local sheriff to take Scott away. The deputy who answers the call is part of the invasion force. Meanwhile, Scott contacts the leader of his world. Assuming the reports describing humans as inherently violent were made in error, he informs the leader that while violent individuals exist, as in all races, the majority of humans are essentially loving and peaceful, and implores him to call off the invasion. The leader refuses and deems Scott a traitor. Scott returns to Ellen's house in a last attempt to persuade her. The deputy is waiting for him and takes him away. The Tillmans comfort their daughter, not realizing they are doomed by the upcoming alien invasion.

Closing narration

References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. *Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.

External links

* {{The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series) episodes 1964 American television episodes The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 5) episodes Television episodes about alien invasion