"The Twilight Zone" To Serve Man (1962)

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Director:

Richard L. Bare

Writers:

Damon Knight (story)
Rod Serling (teleplay) ...

TV Series:

"The Twilight Zone" (1959)

Original Air Date:

2 March 1962 (Season 3, Episode 24)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

An alien race comes to earth, promising peace and sharing technology. A linguist and his team set out to translate the alien's language, using a book whose title they deduce is "To Serve Man".

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Linguist | Book | Alien Language | Sink

Cast

Lloyd Bochner	...	Chambers
Susan Cummings	...	Patty
Richard Kiel	...	Kanamit
Hardie Albright	...	Secretary General
Theodore Marcuse	...	Gregori
Bartlett Robinson	...	Colonel #1
Carleton Young	...	Colonel #2 (as Carlton Young)
Nelson Olmsted	...	Scientist
Robert Tafur	...	Señor Valdes
Lomax Study	...	Leveque
Jerry Fujikawa	...	Japanese Delegate (as J.H. Fujikawa)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Cayuga Productions

Trivia:

Damon Knight's short story To Serve Man - which included details on the language-translation cut from the screenplay - was awarded the 1951 "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: In the beginning when Mr. Chambers asks the computer what time it is on Earth and is told twelve noon, he is asking a source aware of Earth's different time-zones, yet is given the answer of his own time, Eastern Standard time, since it is known that this is what he is referring to.

Quotes:

Patty: [SPOILER] Mr. Chambers! Don't get on that ship! The rest of the book, "To Serve Man", it's... it's a cookbook!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Robot Chicken: S&M Present (#1.9)" (2005)

An alien arrives on earth to help stop wars and famine.

This episode of the Twilight Zone is a must see. Bochner and the supporting actors work naturally in under 25 minutes in this teleplay. The story works on our fears and dreams as the alien Kanamits, all wonderfully played by Richard Kiel, tells the earth that they can turn our war and famined ridden world into a "Garden of Eden." The directing and script works so well together that it moves at break neck speed as questions about the Kanamits "good will" unfolds as you unfold them in your own mind. Kiel with bulbous head and darkened eyes doesn't moves his lips as he communicates telepathically. His expressionless face and a tinny Voice Over gives a strange and surreal effect. Good Night Mr. Serling!