Revealing mistake: When Franklin leaves the check cashing window and walks to the right, a man with a pompadour haircut walks off screen left. In the next shot, with no time lapse, Franklin returns to his slot machine, and the same extra passes behind him from the right, once again exiting left. No way he could have moved that fast in the time allotted. (00:13:05)
Continuity mistake: After Franklin falls through the window at the end, he lands on the pavement below - on top of the broken window frame. Next shot, when the police are examining the body, the window frame has moved out from under Franklin and is lying about a foot away. One shot later, though, it's back in its original position underneath him. (00:20:00)
Continuity mistake: In the final scene, the position of the silver dollar lying next to Franklin's hand changes several times between shots. (00:23:45)
Factual error: At the end of the episode, Major General George Harper looks out the window, puzzled. As he looks out the window, we see a palm tree in front of the building that is facing the window. Reims, France, is in northern France, where it is too cold to support that kind of tree. (00:23:00)
Factual error: Decker is flying a Nieuport 28, which entered service in early 1918. However, the date is supposed to be March 5, 1917. Furthermore, the Nieuport was a French-built aircraft that was flown by the French and Americans but not the Royal Flying Corps.
Factual error: Decker speaks of Georges Guynemer's disappearance. Decker believes the date is March 5, 1917, but Guynemer disappeared on Sept. 11, 1917.
Continuity mistake: When Decker first exits the aircraft, there is a jeep immediately behind it, a service truck behind the jeep, and a USAF F-100 Super Sabre jet in the background. However, when Maj Wilson escorts him away from the plane, the service truck is gone and the F-100 has been replaced with a large transport aircraft.
Continuity mistake: After Decker escapes from being held and heads back to his plane, he does not have his overcoat or scarf, and does not put them on when he starts his plane and climbs on board. When Major Wilson lets him go and he's taxiing away, in one shot he has the overcoat and scarf on, with no time to do so.
Continuity mistake: When the Ground Crewman runs after Lt. Decker, he reaches him just as Decker is climbing onto the plane. You see the Ground Crewman put his hand (or just about to) on Decker's upper left arm. When they cut to a closer shot, the Ground Crewman's hand is in the process of moving up to Decker's arm.
Continuity mistake: When Decker first gets out of his plane, Maj Wilson begins to question him. Decker's hair is neatly combed. When Wilson asks him "Are you French?" the shot changes to a closeup of Decker only. His hair is now disheveled in the front and hanging down on his forehead. The next shot returns to the wider angle and Decker's hair is more neatly combed again, as it originally was, not hanging on his forehead.
Continuity mistake: The jeep driver is standing behind Lt. Decker's aircraft during the initial conversation between Decker and Maj Wilson. His hands are behind the fuselage in the initial shot. When the shot changes to a close up of Decker, the driver's hands are now on top of the fuselage.
Factual error: Captain Riker and Lt. Fitzgerald are wearing their insignia, which is incorrect. Officers serving in front line units did not wear their insignia because it identified them as high priority targets for Japanese snipers.
Factual error: In his opening narration, Rod Serling says that he is quoting Shakespeare's play Richard the Third. His quotation is actually from Richard the Second, also written by William Shakespeare.
Factual error: The astronauts land on an asteroid said to orbit a binary star 655 million miles from Earth. This is impossible, as that distance would place them well within our solar system. In fact, they'd be inside the orbit of Saturn, where of course there aren't (nor could there be) any extraneous suns. The nearest star to our system is, in fact, trillions (not millions) of miles away. (00:02:15 - 00:04:00)
Revealing mistake: Throughout the episode, the "frozen" people can be seen breathing and moving slightly. This is particularly apparent in the beauty contest tableau.
Revealing mistake: As Peter goes to the fishers, the pair shown on the bridge behind him are obviously photographs.
Character mistake: The "frozen" woman on the stairs during the welcome mayor scene repeatedly blinks her eyes.
Continuity mistake: When he introduces himself to Millicent inside the train station, Paul is wearing a dripping wet raincoat. It stays wet in the close-ups, but in the next several inter-cut two-shots, it's completely dry. (00:11:15)
Continuity mistake: As Millicent starts toward the women's restroom, the door handle is to her right. However, in the next shot showing her in the restroom with the door now behind her, the handle is now to her left. (00:20:00)
The Monsters are Due on Maple Street - S1-E22
Plot hole: The street sign in the beginning is all wrong: it faces the camera rather than the street where the story takes place. In a typical American city, street signs are almost always placed in the direction of the street they are indicating, so drivers on the other street in the intersection know what they are turning onto or passing. In other words, the story is not set on Maple Street! Maple Street is the intersecting street at the end of the road the story is set on.
Answer: It's explained in the episode. The aliens are experimenting to see how humans react to various scenarios. This just happens to involve them using super strength.
Thanks. It's been a long time since I saw the episode so I forgot.