The Twilight Zone Hall of Fame

I don't think that they came to be aggressors. I think that they were there on an exploratory mission. But I think that they were armed just in case. I do think that the original "attack" comes from them just being afraid of the woman, and once the initial stone is thrown, there's no going back because there's no way to communicate. She knocks the one off the roof, so they can't just get back in and fly away.

I liked that we hear at the end that the astronauts say that they do NOT want Earth to mount an attack.

Also, let's be real about people: wherever we go, we exploit living and non-living things for our own benefit. The idea that they'd want to dominate a new planet is not that out of character.

I don't think they came as aggressors, but they were framed that way...like in the knife attack scene or the door latch opening. For most of the episode they appear and then torment the lady, who's defending her self. And in that way they seemed like a doll come to life, like in another TZ episode or like the movie Chucky. And the reason they appear to be the aggressors is to set up the twist ending...as they really weren't the aggressors, hence the twist.

Though their radio warning to headquarters about not mounting an attack, to me, seems like it's more out of the idea that the giants can kick their butts and an attack would be hopeless. I don't think they were being altruistic.

You did know I was joking around didn't you? That's why I used the dopey smiley green icon...and then I did expand on my post too for you.
I replied:
Sorry if you thought I was being serious, I was just trying to have fun.

Well, they were the aggressors. They were certainly invaders. I think that the point is just to remember that "good guys" and "bad guys" can so often boil down to your own perspective. I imagine that from the astronauts' point of view, they were just defending themselves. From the woman's point of view they are attackers. As they go back and forth, they escalate each others' fear and in response escalate their responses to one another. You could probably film this same episode from their point of view and end up rooting for them and seeing the woman as the villain.

I think it's a bit of a mix of both. I mean, the woman's planet is clearly not technologically advanced if she represents the norm. I agree that the vibe in the broadcast is "this isn't worth it!".

Yeah, agreed with all that...and it's one of my fav episodes.

Two tiny little things I noticed that in no way changes how I feel about the episode: Agnes Moorehead in her raggedy clothes and mussed-up hair, really looked the part...but...she had perfectly manicured nails. My wife noticed that, so then I freeze framed and yup they were buffed to a high gloss.

The other thing is, her cabin looks authentic with rough hewn boards and crude cutlery, and I really dug it...but when we get a closeup of the space ship we can see to the left and bottom of the screen that part of the house is made of plywood.

Just mentioning those for fun.

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Yeah, I really love this episode.

I think it's significant that he only talks to the women in a humane way AFTER he both drinks their water and pours it over himself. I think that it shows something very real about the hierarchy of needs. He is willing to be ruthless (threatening them, pushing over an old woman, intimidating two people who are vulnerable) until he has a need met (the water), and then he is able to act like a "decent person." As much as we might not want to admit it, kindness and compassion are sometimes more like a luxury than a basic human value.

Yay, glad you liked it! I agree that the scene with the intruder is one of the highlights of the episode since the buildup and the execution of his character is really well-done.

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Also, I should have my write-up of The Encounter up by tomorrow.

Spoilers within...

Season 1 - Episode 22 : The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street - This episode of The Twilight Zone had particular relevance for American citizens in 1960 - with paranoia ramping up at nearly the height of the Cold War. In it, a typical suburban street with friendly neighbours, kids and sunshine is disturbed by something flying overhead. A meteor seems to be the verdict, but from what we heard it seems more likely that some kind of extraterrestrial craft has just flown by. The expert, of course, is the kid who has read a lot of science fiction and devoured comic books. He tells everyone that aliens usually infiltrate humanity before invading, and when Les Goodman's (Barry Atwater) car starts starting and stopping for no reason suspicion falls on him. Steve (Claude Akins) is a lone voice of reason, but people are already starting to get carried away. A woman pipes up that Les sometimes wanders around at night looking at the sky (he claims because he has insomnia) and then someone mentions that Steve is building some kind of radio in his basement. Perhaps to "phone home" so to speak! Someone approaches from the distance and is shot due to the rising paranoia and panic - it turns out to be Pete Van Horn (Ben Erway) who had gone to check the next street to see if their power was on. The shooter, Charlie (Jack Weston) has suspicion then fall on him, especially after the lights in his house come on. He calls out the kid, Tommy, and everyone starts to chase him. Panic and chaos ensue, and it's then that we switch to the aliens, who mention to each other that all you have to do is muck around with a human's electricity and machines and they'll turn on each other quicker than you can say "The Reds are coming! The Reds are coming!"


This is probably one of the best episodes of The Twilight Zone, but I often wonder if it wouldn't have been better to have a simple mechanical malfunction on the power grid cause the panic and grief that befalls Maple Street - making it aliens kind of validates the panic a little. It would seem more apt for us to learn a lesson about suspicion and paranoia if it wasn't really warranted. But either way, there's still a lot to take away from it, no matter what era it's seen in context with. Even after September 11 for example, every Arab in the neighbourhood was seen by someone as doing something suspect as some people overstepped the bounds of simply being alert and became paranoid. People do turn on each other in these situations. Personally, it would take one hell of a lot before I started to suspect extraterrestrial involvement when the lights go out - but maybe that's just me.

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Gather 'round folks, if you don't mind Spoilers

Series 1 - Episode 2 : One for the Angels - This episode, directed by Robert Parrish who also helmed the A Stop at Willoughby episode, features the good natured Ed Wynn as pitch-man Lou Bookman, and our favourite Mayor of Amity, Murray Hamilton as Death. Basically, Death does pre-exit interviews (I didn't know any of this) and during these interviews you can put in for a life extension if you have any new scientific discoveries and/or inventions near-completion or if there's something big on Earth you haven't done yet and would like to do. Lou would like to make one big pitch - one "for the angels" before he dies - and although Death is skeptical he won't close the beaches I mean lets Lou off the hook. But there's a catch. Instead of taking Lou he has to take someone else in his place and decides on the little girl that lives near Lou - one he's especially fond of. She's hit by a car and Death has until midnight to get her ready and take her to the ever-after. That's when Lou springs into action, opens his suitcase and starts making pitch after pitch, convincing Death to buy all kinds of merchandise with his sales tactics and charm. When he runs out of things to sell, he even offers to sell himself to Death as some kind of servant - and keeps on blabbing until the clock strikes midnight. Death has missed his appointment with the little girl, and Lou has succeeded in making him do that by making that pitch "for the angels" - the ultimate pitch. Of course, in doing so he's done that special thing that gave him a temporary exemption from death. As Death leads him away he explains to Lou that he made it into heaven in the end as well. Awww.


I get a real kick out of seeing Murray Hamilton years before he was explaining to Brody how much Amity needed summer dollars. He has the stern exterior that seems perfectly suited to Death - and of course Ed Wynn is jovial and fun enough to be a believable pitch-man, especially one popular with children. Although I don't normally like stuff with angels and heaven and people clocking out like in a cartoon this was a sweet story - one where someone who didn't want to die decides to go just the same if that means saving an angelic little girl with her whole life before her.

If the astronauts were only afraid of her, they wouldn't have gone into her house. But they went in, and struck the first blow when they attacked her foot with a knife. It certainly seemed to me that they were the aggressors.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

I knew that you were only joking, but you still didn't expand on your review. You mentioned Johnathan Winters as a comedian in a dramatic role, but you didn't mention anything about the actual episode.

I know that you did actually watch the episode, but that's the type of writing a student does when they have to write an essay, but they haven't read the course material. It skirted around the subject matter, but left out any specifics.

Sorry you didn't like my review. I did rewatch the episode. I like what I wrote too.

A simple mechanical malfunction on the power grid wouldn't have caused the kind of chaos that the aliens caused because the car wouldn't have started and stopped on its own, and the battery operated radios would still work, etc.

I think the idea is that the aliens can eventually take over the world without actually having to be violent at all. All they have to do is cause strange things to happen, and people will turn on each other and eventually wipe each other out.

And remember, they suspected extraterrestrial involvement because they saw what they thought was a meteor fly over at the beginning of the episode, and then the boy, (Tommy?), put the thought of aliens into their heads from the comic books that he read.

It's not that I didn't like your review. I just wanted you to expand on it a bit to connect it to the episode.

For those of you who liked the episode "A Stop at Willoughby", there's a movie based on this episode.

For All Time (2000) starring Mark Harmon. It's not a remake. It's a romantic drama TV movie that's based on the episode. And it's free to watch on YouTube.

I think that having there be a real threat is a powerful part of the message of the film. For example, Facebook admitted that it sold targeted ad space to Russian firms who posed as being Americans, who then used those posts to inflame disagreements around BLM.

Part of the warning of the episode is that it's so easy to get people to turn on each other out of fear and bias, that it can blind them to other threats. It's essentially pointing out that a house will divide itself out of fear and prejudice, and that someone who is aware of this can destroy a neighborhood/state/country/planet just by sowing discord.

However, I think that if there was no threat (or if the aliens were benign, like they were just here to observe and accidentally had the electricity going haywire) the message would have felt more centered on the idea of just how quickly people will turn to fear and suspicion if they feel threatened, even in the absence of anything overtly threatening.

My impression was always that they were trying to fight their way back up to the roof to get to the ship, because she knocks one of them off the house.

It took me a while to digest the message of The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street because for most of the time I was happily marrying it up with the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy hearings and the presence of real aliens at the end made me have to abandon the "jumping at shadows" interpretation. Regardless, I still reckon it's one of the best episodes of the series - and I know it's pretty strange to say "I wish it had of been completely different" and "I loved it" at the same time. I think that pretty much sums up my opinion of life as a whole as well.