The Twilight Zone Reboot: 10 Classic Episodes It Should Remake
6. Number 12 Looks Just Like You
The Story:
In a technologically advanced future everybody on entering adulthood must undergo "The Transformation", a process in which their body is transformed into one of a limited selection of fit, beautiful models, extending their lifespan and making them immune to disease. One young woman, whose father committed suicide due to the conformity and loss of personal identity engendered by the Transformation, refuses to go through the process.
Why Remake It?
The original Twilight Zone found a lot of creative ways to utilise the fact that its budgetry limitations meant that it could only use limited locations and small casts. This episode, in which everybody has to choose one of a limited number of beautiful bodies to transform into (and most of the protagonist's friends and family are the most popular model, Number 12), is perhaps the one that best turns that limitation into a creepy asset.
The story's themes of an increasingly superficial, image-obsessed society, one where people continuously modify their bodies in pursuit of perfection, have only become more relevant as time has passed.
It would be interesting, as the new episode would be twice the length, also to consider how the standards of what makes the "beautiful people" can change and how Number 12 (Suzy Parker, then the world's most popular real-life model, played all the characters using the Number 12 body in the original episode) would not always be the most desired. So a new version could see other body types come in to replace Number 12 as the popular standard. How would the permanently-12s feel about that fashion shift?