The Twilight Zone: Nightmare At 30,000 Feet - 7 Big Changes To The Original

The original passengers were completely alone in their fear. In two versions, the short story and the 1963 episode, the flight engineer at least pretends to have seen the creature. By this point, however, the passenger has become so paranoid of looking crazy that he won't buy the engineer's ruse. Arthur and Bob both feel patronized, even though they technically have no evidence that the staff is lying about having witnessed the gremlin themselves.

Each version of Nightmare At 20,000 Feet does eventually result in the rest of the plane experiencing concern, but this doesn't happen until the passenger fires a gun at the window and depressurizes the cabin. Prior to that, the rest of the plane is mostly just frightened for the main character's mental health.

Justin is still alone in believing the threat, but his utter paranoia spreads like wildfire. He convinces a Russian man that the mob is out to kill him, and he inadvertently convinces many others that he himself might be a terrorist. They may fear for his safety at first, but most are beginning to fear for their own well-being by the time of his arrest.

At the end, the passengers are all truly united in their fear when Joe drops the oxygen masks. Justin, on the other hand, becomes significantly calmer. Whereas the original versions ended with a main character who was alone in believing that the plane was in danger, Justin is the only one who believes that Joe's takeover will allow the plane to land safely. He's wrong, and the mass hysteria he's created leads to all-out mob aggression.