What You Need
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Template:Infobox TTW season one What You Need is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
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Details
Episode number:12
Season:1
Production code: 173-3622
Original air date: December 25, 1959
Writer: Rod Serling adapted from the story of the same name by Lewis Padgett (pseudonym for Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore), first published in the October 1945 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction
Director: Alvin Ganzer
Music: original score by Nathan Van Cleave
Cast
Fred Renard: Steve Cochran
Pedott:Ernest Truex
Synopsis
Pedott, a salesman, has the curious ability to give people exactly what they need before they need it. He gives Renard, a two-bit thug, a pair of scissors. The scissors save Renard's life when his tie get caught in an elevator's doors. But Renard then starts threatening Pedott to give him more. Sensing that Renard will eventually kill him, Pedott gives him a pair of new shoes. When a truck suddenly heads directly toward Renard, he tries to run, but the new soles are so slippery that he cannot escape on the wet pavement. He is struck and killed.
Trivia
- Original story featured a machine that could foretell individual's probable futures. Serling replaced this science-fiction element with a street peddler who could magically perform the same function.
- The last scene before the first commercial is actually shot backwards, as one can see the smoke returning to Renard's cigarette.
Themes
Warns against using others for personal gain. Similar themes are explored in The Prime Mover.
External link
- TV Tome episode page (http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-237/epid-12596)
References
- Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 1