The Brain Center at Whipple's 

A heartless CEO completely automates his factory and lays off almost all of his workers over the objections of his employees.

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers:

Rod Serling, Rod Serling (created by)

Stars:

Richard Deacon, Paul Newlan, Ted de Corsia

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Richard Deacon	...	Wallace V. Whipple
Paul Newlan	...	Chief Engineer Hanley
Ted de Corsia	...	Foreman Dickerson
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Technician (as Jack Crowder)
Shawn Michaels	...	Bartender
Burt Conroy	...	Watchman

Storyline

The W.V. Whipple Manufacturing Co. introduces a new automated manufacturing machine that will eliminate 61,000 jobs and the company's president, Wallace V. Whipple, is quite proud of his achievement. Not everyone agrees with him, especially the loyal and longstanding employees who will be out of work. Foreman Vic Dickerson has plans for the machine - plans that land him in the hospital. When the machine is fully operational, it's Wallace V. Whipple who learns just what it is he has created.

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Plot Keywords:

machine | factory | indifference | watchman | technology | 

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Richard Deacon and Rod Serling both grew up in Binghamton, New York and were graduates of Binghamton Central High School. There was a very popular lumber yard on Upper Court Street in Binghamton named "Whipple's Lumber Yard", thus the name for Deacon's character in this episode. Rod Serling would often use names of places in and around Binghamton for names of places and characters in the series.

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Goofs

At the moment Chief Engineer Hanley turns off the projector, the lamps in the background come on at precisely the same moment. Mr. Whipple is standing in the middle of the room. No one else was in the room to turn the lights on.

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Quotes

[opening narration]
Narrator: These are the players, with or without a scorecard: in one corner, a machine; in the other, one Wallace V. Whipple, man. And the game? It happens to be the historical battle between flesh and steel, between the brain of man and the product of man's brain. We don't make book on this one, and predict no winner, but we can tell you that for this particular contest there is standing room only - in The Twilight Zone.

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Alternate Versions

The Netflix streaming version of this episode deletes a scene where Mr. Whipple shoots an aggressive plant foreman.

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Connections

Referenced in Vintage Video: The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980) (2020)

User Reviews

Pure boredom.

Series five had a lot of high points but it had a lot of dreadful lows as well. This unrelenting diatribe against an employer who wont consider the human importance of his workforce is typical of the lows. No doubting the truth of the message here or it's importance, but it does not justify a weak story like this to join the ranks of the Zone- the best TV show ever. The ending is ridiculous so don't have any hopes that this might get better.

TZ was limping towards it's death in season five. Best to remember the highlights it did have, but forget this dire effort.

Woeful.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1964 (USA)

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cayuga Productions, CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1