King Nine Will Not Return story
The sole survivor of a World War II bomber crash cannot find any trace of his crew, but he does see jet planes flying overhead. Directed by: Buzz Kulik. Story by: Rod Serling.
7 total · 1 choice · 1 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| survivor guilt | choice | We are given to understand that severe survivor guilt caused James to experience a (possibly real or imagined) enactment of the event that had killed his fellow crewmen while he himself was sick. |
| what if I had amnesia | major | James struggled to remember how and why he had ended up in a plane crash. |
| loneliness | minor | James seemed distressed when he couldn't find his crewmen at the crash site. |
| stranded without food and water | minor | James saw a dropped water flask and chided his absent crewman for discarding such a necessity. |
| what if I couldn't trust the veracity of my senses | minor | James openly wondered whether he might be hallucinating when he saw some of his fellow crewmen vanish before his eyes. |
| World War II | minor | The story was set during World War II and followed an allied bomber captain. |
| coping with post-traumatic stress | not | This theme does not apply because James did not end up going on the mission. |