A guy who is an absolute schmuck is hated by his wife, treated disrespectfully at his two bit job, and in general has little to offer the world. So he goes to a place called Future Trade after seeing their ads all over the place. He is suspicious about signing up, but the promise of exchanging places with someone meeting his criteria (money, cars, women) gets him to put it down on the dotted line. And he gets what he wants. The thing is we know it's the Twilight Zone and so he is going to pay dearly for his fun. Every show we've ever seen where a guy signs a contract to have all he wants are going to end in disaster, even death. Not much new territory here.
4 Reviews
This is one deal you can't talk yourself out of
kapelusznik187 December 2014
****SPOILERS****With things going, both personal & professional, downhill for him hardware store clerk Martin Donner, Frank Whaley, keeps getting on his computer this advertisement about this firm called "Future Trades" that has nothing to do with the stock market but promises him a better future if he accepts, for a price, their unique services. With curiosity getting the best of him Donner goes to the firms' office and meets salesmen Gordon, Dean Winters, who promises him the world if he signs his John Hancock on dotted line. What Donner in fact did was sign his life away for what he thought at first was a far better existence. The truth is that he was far better off before and the person who traded his life for his got the best of the bargain.
Finding himself living the high life with luxury cars million dollar mansions as well as a 150 foot yacht not to mention his new and improves, in every department, wife Francesca, Sofia Milos, Donner now for the first time in his life feels that he has it made in the shade. With the beautiful Franceace even cooking him up his favorite meal without the help of the housemaid who's paid to do the cooking!. That's until the time,the bewitching hour of 8:00 PM, expires where he can't turn back to his previous life. An existence what was pure heaven compared to what he was soon to face.
****MAJOR SPOILERS*** You soon realize why Francesca's husband wanted out from her and the lifestyle he had. And that poor schmuck Martin Donner was to find out why he did. Spiking his drink with a muscle relaxing drug, Curare, before the deadline, 8:00 PM, came into effect Donner now helpless and unable to defend himself is thrown into the mansion's swimming pool by Francesca's boyfriend Edwardo or Eddie Boy and without being able to stay afloat is left to his fate. As for the person who switched lives or futures with Donner his problems, with Francesca & her boyfriend Eddie Boy, are now history together with the now departed Martin Donner.
Finding himself living the high life with luxury cars million dollar mansions as well as a 150 foot yacht not to mention his new and improves, in every department, wife Francesca, Sofia Milos, Donner now for the first time in his life feels that he has it made in the shade. With the beautiful Franceace even cooking him up his favorite meal without the help of the housemaid who's paid to do the cooking!. That's until the time,the bewitching hour of 8:00 PM, expires where he can't turn back to his previous life. An existence what was pure heaven compared to what he was soon to face.
****MAJOR SPOILERS*** You soon realize why Francesca's husband wanted out from her and the lifestyle he had. And that poor schmuck Martin Donner was to find out why he did. Spiking his drink with a muscle relaxing drug, Curare, before the deadline, 8:00 PM, came into effect Donner now helpless and unable to defend himself is thrown into the mansion's swimming pool by Francesca's boyfriend Edwardo or Eddie Boy and without being able to stay afloat is left to his fate. As for the person who switched lives or futures with Donner his problems, with Francesca & her boyfriend Eddie Boy, are now history together with the now departed Martin Donner.
"Well, to new things to come."
classicsoncall11 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode starts out a little bit like a prior one titled 'Mr. Motivation' but ends up in the 'be careful what you wish for department'. When Martin Donnor (Frank Whaley) contracts the services of a company called 'Future Trade', he winds up with a huge new home, a gorgeous wife (Sofia Milos), and an in-house swimming pool. Immediately the alarm bells should have gone off, because the counterpart whose life was switched with his wound up with Frank's shrew of a wife, screaming kids and an unsatisfactory job as a department store clerk. Eventually those alarm bells did toll, however it was too late to make a call to cancel his contract; the poor schmuck couldn't do a thing about it. Only thing is, we don't know how Martin's replacement made out in his new setting. All things being equal, chances are he might have killed himself!
How could Martin be THIS stupid??!!
planktonrules15 February 2022
I really disliked "Future Trade". Why? Because if the twist is so obvious that the viewer anticipates it like they do in this one, there really is no suspense. And, in order to accept it, you need to accept that the main character is a complete idiot.
Martin is a guy with a dead-end job and not much of a life. Out of the blue, a company begins sending him ads for their service. He decides to investigate and they promise to let him switch lives with other people who have used the service. Others will THINK you are the person who you switched lives with and you'll live happily ever after. Martin tries it and, surprise, surprise, there's a catch and he gets more than he bargained for.
Having Martin going from a working class slob to a mega-millionaire with a great job and hot wife should have set off a few bells in Martin's thick head. Why would ANYONE give up this life unless there is something REALLY awful about it. Now Martin has 24 hours to decide whether to keep this new life and he never investigates to see the down side...and there surely must be a down side. He did not check to see if the new him was terminally ill, the subject of an assassination plot, is a child molester or any number of other things. He just blindly assumes life will now be perfect...which makes no sense. Having a plot rely on a character who is a complete idiot isn't an example of good writing...and the episode really annoyed me.
Martin is a guy with a dead-end job and not much of a life. Out of the blue, a company begins sending him ads for their service. He decides to investigate and they promise to let him switch lives with other people who have used the service. Others will THINK you are the person who you switched lives with and you'll live happily ever after. Martin tries it and, surprise, surprise, there's a catch and he gets more than he bargained for.
Having Martin going from a working class slob to a mega-millionaire with a great job and hot wife should have set off a few bells in Martin's thick head. Why would ANYONE give up this life unless there is something REALLY awful about it. Now Martin has 24 hours to decide whether to keep this new life and he never investigates to see the down side...and there surely must be a down side. He did not check to see if the new him was terminally ill, the subject of an assassination plot, is a child molester or any number of other things. He just blindly assumes life will now be perfect...which makes no sense. Having a plot rely on a character who is a complete idiot isn't an example of good writing...and the episode really annoyed me.
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