The Invaders (The Twilight Zone)
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Template:Infobox TTW season two "The Invaders" is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.
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Details
Episode number: 51
Season: 2
Original airdate: January 27, 1961
Writer: Richard Matheson
Director: Douglas Heyes
Music: original score by Jerry Goldsmith
Cast
Woman: Agnes Moorehead
Invaders: Douglas Heyes
Synopsis
An old woman is accosted by small intruders that come from a flying saucer that has landed on her house. She battles them for many minutes, finally killing one and following the other back to his ship. There she hears him send off a desperate warning to other potential invaders, after which she destroys the ship with an axe. A close up on the side of the ship reveals a decal that reads "U.S. Air Force".
Themes
By fooling the audience into cheering for what later turns out to be a monstrous, giant alien Matheson may be trying to communicate that there are always two sides to each battle and that one should not simply root for one's own race, or country, or species in every conflict. A similar theme is addressed in the episode "People Are Alike All Over."
Trivia
- The original closing narration for this episode (as it appears in Richard Matheson's teleplay) reads: "This is one of the out-of-the-way places; until now, one of the unvisited places in our solar system — the planet Mars. Bleak. Wasted. Dying. But not quite dead yet."
References
- Zicree, Marc Scott. The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition).
Back to: The Twilight Zone, Episode List, Season 2