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Five Characters in Search of an Exit

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"Five Characters in Search of an Exit"

"Five Characters in Search of an Exit" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Opening Narration

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Clown. Hobo. Ballet Dancer. Bagpiper. And an Army Major. A collection of question marks. Five improbable entities stuck together into a pit of darkness. No logic, no reason, no explanation. Just a prolonged nightmare in which fear, loneliness, and the unexplainable walk hand in hand through the shadows. In a moment, we'll start collecting clues as to the whys, the whats, and the wheres. We will not end the nightmare, we'll only explain it, because this is the Twilight Zone.

Synopsis

An Army Major in dress uniform wakes up, to find himself trapped inside in a giant cylinder ; Along with him is a hobo, a ballet dancer, a bagpiper and a clown who, ironically, seems to have the most sense of all five. Each of them has no memory of who they are or how they got there. The Major is the newest arrival, and is the most determined to escape. The others point out that they have a very odd existence: they do not ever need or desire food and drink; in fact, they seem to be totally devoid of feeling. As far as they can see, there is no way out, except the ceiling, which is too high to reach. Many guesses are made about where they could be. The ballet dancer speculates that they might be on a spaceship, while the Major thinks that they are in Hell. Eventually, the other characters believe that this could be true.

Finally, the ballet dancer suggests forming a tall tower on each other's shoulders to escape. The plan almost works, but a loud sound and vibration shakes the cylinder and sends the five tumbling to the ground. Now even more determined, the Major fashions a sort of grappling hook by tying together loose bits of clothing and attaching the links to his sword. By reforming the tower, he manages to escape, but tumbles to the ground....

The scene then cuts to a little girl picking up a doll in the snow - a doll in the dress of an Army Major. A kindly woman tells her to "put it back in the barrel with the rest of them." It is revealed that the cylinder is a toy collection bin for a girls' orphans home, and that all five characters are nothing more than dolls. The loud noise was the kindly woman shaking her bell to attract people to give more toys.

The final shot is of the five characters, now seen as dolls with painted faces and glass eyes. The ballet dancer, though, moves her hand to hold the hand of the major, and a tear is visible on her cheek.

Closing Narration

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Just a barrel, a dark depository where are kept the counterfeit, make-believe pieces of plaster and cloth, wrought in the distorted image of human life. But this added, hopeful note: perhaps they are unloved only for the moment. In the arms of children there can be nothing but love. A clown, a tramp, a bagpipe player, a ballet dancer and a major. Tonight's cast of players on the odd stage known as the Twilight Zone.

Preview for Next Week's Story

Next week, Mr. Dean Stockwell makes his journey into The Twilight Zone playing the role of a platoon lieutenant on Corregidor during the last few hours of World War II. What happens to him provides the basis of a weird, and yet, we think, haunting excursion into the shadowland of imagination. On The Twilight Zone next week, Mr. Dean Stockwell stars in "The Quality of Mercy."

Production notes

The last shot of the episode, in which the five characters are seen in doll form, does not feature the actors; rather, specially made dolls were crafted that closely resembled the five actors who played the parts are shown.[1]

The little girl who appears at the end of this episode was portrayed by the daughter of longtime Twilight Zone producer Buck Houghton.[1]

Impact

The death metal band Five Characters in Search of an Exit[2] took its name from the title of this Twilight Zone episode.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Zicree, Marc Scott (1982). "The Twilight Zone Companion" (Second ed.). Sillman-James Press. p. 234.
  2. ^ [ http://www.myspace.com/insearchofanexit ]
  3. ^ [ http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=111527 ]
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