To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone)
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| "To Serve Man" | |||||||
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| The Twilight Zone episode | |||||||
 Susan Cummings and Richard Kiel in "To Serve Man". |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 89 |
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| Written by | Rod Serling (Based on the story To Serve Man by Damon Knight. First published in the January 1953 issue of If.) | ||||||
| Directed by | Richard L. Bare | ||||||
| Guest stars | Lloyd Bochner : Chambers Richard Kiel : Kanamit Susan Cummings : Pat Joseph Ruskin : Kanamit Voice (uncredited) |
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| Featured music | Stock - taken almost exclusively from Jerry Goldsmith's TZ episode scores for "Back There" and "The Invaders" | ||||||
| Production no. | 4807 | ||||||
| Original airdate | March 2, 1962 | ||||||
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| List of Twilight Zone episodes | |||||||
“To Serve Man” is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
The story is based on a short story To Serve Man written by Damon Knight. The title is a play on the word serve having the dual meanings "assist" and "provide as a meal". The episode is one of the few instances in the series wherein the actor breaks the fourth wall and addresses the viewing audience at the episode's end.
Contents |
[edit] Opening narration
| “ | Respectfully submitted for your perusal: a Kanamit. Height: a little over nine feet. Weight: in the neighborhood of three hundred and fifty pounds. Origin: unknown. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, for in just a moment we're going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with a Christopher Columbus from another galaxy and another time. This is the Twilight Zone. | ” |
[edit] Synopsis
A race of aliens known as the Kanamits lands on Earth and promises to be nothing but helpful to the cause of humanity. Initially wary of the intentions of such a highly advanced race, even the most skeptical humans are convinced when their code-breakers begin to translate one of the Kanamit's books, with the seemingly innocuous title, "To Serve Man."
Sharing their advanced technology, the aliens quickly solve all of Earth's greatest woes, eradicating hunger, disease, and the need for warfare. Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which is supposedly a paradise.
All is not well, however, when a code-breaker discovers the Kanamits’ true intentions: Their book, "To Serve Man", is a cookbook, and all their gifts were simply to make humanity complacent, much like fattening pigs or cows before they are slaughtered.
In the end, Michael Chambers (who's been narrating this story in flashback) is aboard a Kanamit ship, heading for their planet (and certain consumption). He looks at us, and says, "How about you? You still on Earth, or on the ship with me? Really doesn't make very much difference, because sooner or later, we'll all of us be on the menu...all of us."
[edit] Closing narration
| “ | The recollections of one Michael Chambers, with appropriate flashbacks and soliloquy. Or more simply stated, the evolution of man, the cycle of going from dust to dessert, the metamorphosis from being the ruler of a planet to an ingredient in someone's soup. It's tonight's "bill of fare", from the Twilight Zone. | ” |
[edit] Preview for next week's story
Announcer: "And now, Mr. Serling."
| “ | Next week on The Twilight Zone, contributor Charles Beaumont provides us with a most charming tale of an old man and some children - an old man who's an exceptional playmate, exceptional because, well, how many old men do you know who can change into monsters? Mr. Beaumont's excellent tasting stew is further seasoned by an element of mystery. It's called "The Fugitive." We hope to see you next week. | ” |
[edit] Awards
- The short story "To Serve Man" on which this episode is based was retroactively awarded the 1951 "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001.
[edit] Production
The full-size lower portion of the Kanamits' transport spaceship is the adapted version, with retractable stairway, of the saucer-shaped United Planets Cruiser C-57D, seen in MGM's 1956 film Forbidden Planet. The ship used for the episode is also seen on the episode "Third from the Sun," and shots of the ship and/or stairway also appear in the episodes "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street," "Hocus-Pocus and Frisby," and "The Invaders."
[edit] Critical response
Marc Scott Zicree in The Twilight Zone Companion:
- In the show...a staff of cryptographers led by Lloyd Bochner attempts to decipher the alien language as though it were some secret code, which is utterly ludicrous. Without some sort of interplanetary Rosetta stone, deciphering an unknown language would be impossible.
Zicree’s comments have been seconded by many others, including Damon Knight, though an explanation as to how the cryptographers managed to translate the Kanamit language may be found in an early draft of Serling’s teleplay, which included this scene:
- (Close shot Chambers as seen over her shoulder. His eyes narrow.)
- Chambers: What’s the matter, Pat? What's going on?
- (Reverse angle looking toward her. Her lips tremble.)
- Pat: I...I finally deciphered their language. All of it. I read their book.
- (Close shot a suspended speaker overhead. A Kanamit's metallic voice rings out.)
- Kanamit's voice: Please move ahead. You're holding up our departure. Kindly move ahead.
- (Cut to: Two shot Chambers and Pat)
- Chambers: Well?
- Pat: Mr. Chambers...Mr. Chambers, the first page is just a collection of English words with their own translation. But the rest of the book...the rest of the book — It's a cookbook!
[edit] In Popular Culture
- In the movie Madagascar, the lemurs gather in the airplane, and were shown the book "To serve lemur". One frantic lemur screams in the camera, "It's a cookbook, it's a cookbook!"
- The Simpsons spoofed this episode in a segment with the aliens Kang and Kodos. Bart and Lisa discover a book on the aliens' ship titled "How to Cook Humans". However, it turns out that dust has obscured the full title; the book is in fact "How to Cook For Humans". As more and more dust is removed from the book, the title is seen as "How to Cook Forty Humans", then "How to Cook For Forty Humans".
[edit] References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
- DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
- Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090
