Back into The Twilight Zone

Lessons weren’t learned, so we are returning to…

One of my favorite series is The Twilight Zone, the Rod Serling version. It was five seasons of greatness. (Jordan Peele’s version was two seasons of disappointment).

The Twilight Zone provided viewers with a look into our society and even into our own mirrors.

The highlight of every episode of this anthology series was Rod Serling’s opening and closing narration for each episode.

I’ll highlight three episodes for your consideration as we transition into another four years of uncertainty.

One of my favorite episodes is “The Obsolete Man.” In this episode, people deemed unnecessary are put to death. The government has decided that librarians are unnecessary, and viewers follow a librarian sentenced to death.

Below is the opening and closing narration of that episode.

Opening Narration 

“You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world; it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. – This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He’s a citizen of the State but will soon have to be eliminated, because he’s built out of flesh and because he has a mind. Mr. Romney Wordsworth, who will draw his last breaths – in The Twilight Zone.”

Closing Narration 

“The chancellor, the late chancellor, was only partly correct: He was obsolete; but so is the State, the entity he worshiped. Any state or entity becomes obsolete when it stockpiles the wrong weapons: when it captures nations, but not minds; when it enslaves millions, yet convinces nobody; when it dons armor and calls it faith, when in the eyes of God it is naked, having no faith at all. Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of humanity… That state is obsolete. A case to be filed under “M” for Mankind — in The Twilight Zone.”

The next episode I would like you to consider is “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.” Many of my middle school students read this one in class with me, as some of Serling’s episodes are included in literature books that are to be read just like Shakespeare’s plays. I also had students watch the episode. You don’t even have to get parents or the principal approval when watching a black-and-white episode (pro-teacher tip 😉)

The episode explores what happens when suspicion and hate quickly spread and how the enemy doesn’t have to do much work to cause us to destroy each other. 

Here is the opening and closing narration of that episode.

Opening Narration 

“Maple Street, U.S.A. Late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 P.M. on Maple Street. This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moment – before the monsters came.”

Closing Narration 

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to The Twilight Zone.”

I’m no Rod Serling, but here’s one possible version of what he might say in this picture I included for the opening narration:

Portrait of a man who is perpetually hungry for power and prestige who ascended not once but twice to the highest office in the land. His supporters cast their lots for fleeting promises and his opposers are tangled in discord, pointing fingers, claiming to be different. In reality, the supporters and opposers are different wings on the same bird. It doesn’t matter which side’s leader is in power; the greatness America seeks is never realized. And, that delusional bird is flying on a one way trip right into the Twilight Zone. 

I hope four years from now the closing narration will be similar to that of The Twilight Zone episode “Steele.”

“Portrait of a losing side, proof positive that you can’t outpunch machinery. Proof also of something else: that no matter what the future brings, man’s capacity to rise to the occasion will remain unaltered. His potential for tenacity and optimism continues, as always, to outfight, outpoint and outlive any and all changes made by his society, for which three cheers and a unanimous decision rendered from the Twilight Zone.”

TikTok disappearing and returning, Snoop Dogg and Nelly performing at the inauguration, and the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively lawsuits aren’t worth our time. 

Misguided focus got us to where we are right now.

If I recommended anything, it is to stay informed, make an impact in your community, take care of your family, and protect your physical and mental health.

…and give a head nod or a wave whenever you see me out and about in The Twilight Zone.