People Are Alike All Over (25 Mar. 1960)
"The Twilight Zone" People Are Alike All Over (original title)

A crash landing on Mars leaves fretful scientist Sam Conrad as the lone survivor of an expedition. After something starts banging on the outside of the spaceship, he opens the door to ... See full summary »

Director:

Mitchell Leisen

Writers:

Rod Serling (teleplay by), Paul W. Fairman (based on a short story by),

Stars:

Roddy McDowall, Susan Oliver, Paul Comi

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Roddy McDowall	...	Sam Conrad
Susan Oliver	...	Teenya
Paul Comi	...	Mark Marcusson
Byron Morrow	...	Martian
Vic Perrin	...	Martian
Vernon Gray	...	Martian

Storyline

A crash landing on Mars leaves fretful scientist Sam Conrad as the lone survivor of an expedition. After something starts banging on the outside of the spaceship, he opens the door to discover a race of human-like Martians, who comfort him, temporarily, in homey settings.

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Plot Keywords:

martian | outer space | alien | zoo | conspiracy | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 March 1960 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cayuga Productions, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Marcusson mentions they have traveled 35 million miles to Mars. The distance between Earth and Mars ranges between 36 million and 250 million miles due to both having slightly elliptical orbits and different lengths of time to orbit the sun.

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Quotes

Narrator: [Closing Narration] Species of animal brought back alive. Interesting similarity in physical characteristics to human beings in head, trunk, arms, legs, hands, feet. Very tiny undeveloped brain. Comes from primitive planet named Earth. Calls himself Samuel Conrad. And he will remain here in his cage with the running water and the electricity and the central heat as long as he lives. Samuel Conrad has found The Twilight Zone.

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Connections

Referenced in My Favorite Martian: Man or Amoeba (1963)

User Reviews

Bold Statements In Changing Times

The subtlety of the episode is well crafted for those times I am sure most of the message is wasted on the similar plot like "The Cage" in Star Trek. The story, on the other hand, has a message about people and how we find any reason the isolate and ostracize others who look like us but have some unique distinction. Whether color, religion, or origin, we tend to keep people categorized when in fact we are all human beings. this message was boldly presented with McDowall's last lines. Many of the staff writers for TZ were victims of McCarthism and Nazism. The world was also turning upside down with equal rights emerging as a social concern. Writers like Roddenberry and Serling knew change was coming. They wrote these concepts of a world where everyone was considered equal and people accepted you as a peer based upon you and not what you looked like. On the other hand, the fact that the astronaut thought they were speaking English and instead he was speaking their language, maybe they only looked like humans from his point of view. Great episode which speaks volumes.