The Big Picture The legacy of Jordan Peele’s reboot of The Twilight Zone is undeniably mixed. Paying homage to some of the original Twilight Zone's most iconic episodes with outings like “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” and doubling down on original creator Rod Serling’s love for outlandish sci-fi tinged with political satire, the reboot captures the spirit of its predecessor without capitalizing on its most subversive storytelling.
3:01 Related This 'Twilight Zone' Episode Was Banned From Syndication for Over 50 Years A story of racial disharmony became one of the show's most controversial episodes. “8” Sets a Haunting Mood With Familiar ‘Twilight Zone’ References Working in tandem with the episode’s monstrous premise, “8” also includes several references to the greater Twilight Zone franchise that serve to heighten its horror and underscore its central theme of human greed. The episode opens with two separate narrators, with Dr. Rudd’s reporting of his findings in the expedition overshadowed by the background voiceover of The Twilight Zone’s creator, Rod Serling .
“8” Offers a Warning to Audiences About Humanity’s God Complex Close Just as Whipple acts against the well-being of others to enrich itself in the original Twilight Zone episode, the researchers of the Whipple base are revealed to be concerned only with their own gain after the capture of their new species of octopus. Instead of preserving the creature like their mission was ostensibly meant to do, McHale’s Dr. Rudd and his partner, Dr.