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How do you do?
You gentlemen of course, know how to push a product
that essentially is your job.
My presence here is for much the same purpose. Simply to push a product.
To acquaint you with an entertainment product which we hope and which we rather
expect will make your product pushing that much easier.
What you're about to see, gentlemen, is a series called
The Twilight Zone.
We think it's a rather special kind of series. Essentially people watch
television to get entertained,
and the keynote of this series, the thing we're concerned with, the thing
we're aiming for,
the thing we're working towards is entertainment.
This is a series for the storyteller,
because without thinking an audience will always sit still and listen and watch
a well told the story.
Now that I've immodestly gone on record predicting the high quality of
the series
let me very briefly show you what we mean by a special kind of series.
You know writers in general are notoriously bad verbal tellers of stories,
we do much much better behind a typewriter.
So I hope you'll bear with me while I tell you about a few stories that
happen to be the first one's we're shooting in our current production cycle.
This is sand.
Represents desert.
The desert that you'll see on your screen
in a story we call
The Lonely.
The Lonely is about a man sentenced to a lifetime in solitary confinement.
The confinement takes place on a sandy asteroid found in space.
It's the story about a man slowly succumbing to a kind of nightmarish
loneliness,
a gradual disintegration of mind and body because
human beings have that palpable need for companionship.
A most benevolent and compassionate
official sends the prisoner a
long rectangular box containing,
well, a machine.
A machine inside of a robot
built in the form of a woman.
A robot that
talks and acts like a human being.
A robot that thinks like a human being.
Gentlemen, I can only tell you that The Lonely,
which involves a man and a woman made out of plastic and wires, with a machine for a heart
will provide a most bizarre experience.
As to the physiological extensions of their relationship that is
man and female machine
and what they do in their spare time
we're leaving this wide open.
Object in point here a file cabinet containing
a contract
all very legal and proper
except the party of the first part in this case well, what do we call him, he has a
lot of names,
[?], Mister scratch.
Well that happens to be the party of the first part.
The somewhat charred contract.
Only in our story which we call
Escape Clause,
his name is simply mister [?].
As per trade he has all the charm of a well-tipped waiter.
He makes a deal with a little man who has a psychotic fear of dying.
It's really a simple contract,
that [?] supplies the immortality and the little man supplies
his soul
and then our little man pursues to live it up, or down depending on the moral view.
But he gets bored with immortality and he then proceeds to live a very
out of the ordinary kind of a life.
A life best described as simply violent.
He was so bored with constantly being the only survivor.
So he
now turns to homicide
happily aware that while a jury may convict him, there isn't a single legal
modus operandi that the state can use to put him away.
A gas chamber? Impossible.
They can't kill him. Hanging, electrocution, none of these things are
operative on our little friend.
He's immortal.
But what happens, and we'd be most appreciative if you wouldn't tell this to
your friends
is that a very good lawyer pleads his case
and gets him
life imprisonment
poor little guy, yea he has immortality,
he can live forever
right here
behind these things.
We'll hold up on telling you the ending.
Just think about it
it'll come to you.
A parenthetic note here: On The Twilight Zone there will be a variety of stories
and this is a variety that covers not only story type but time, locale, the
nature of the people.
For example this is a western called Death Destry and Mister Dingell
and this
is the principal character in the story
it's a Colt .45.
There's a schoolmaster named Dingell who picks up this gun one day, finding it in the
schoolyard.
Quite accidentally it goes off on a couple of occasions first it hits a rattlesnake
between the eyes at fifty yards.
Then it knocks the gun out of a desperadoes hand and while it's all quite accidental,
the various onlookers make an assumption that Mister Dingell's a pretty fast gun.
They start to build not only a reputation for this spindly little dude but
also almost a reverent tradition
and as any classic western mold, every top gun in and out of the territory
converge on the town ready to invite Mister Dingell, poor little Mister
Dingell, who really does not know how to use a gun
to a showdown, so
Mister Dingell
buys himself
a little vial
full of liquid.
It's simply out of this world
because it comes with a money-back guarantee.
Simply that it will make him the fastest gun in the west for fifteen seconds.
It's this vial he carries into a saloon one night ready to meet at gun point
the gentleman called
Dirty Dan Destry,
a fast gun in his own right,
so fast he makes Hugh O'Brian looked like Charles Coburn.
But, when the two men face one another and Mister Dingell drinks his liquid
with the money-back guarantee,
he suddenly sees in the hand of his opponent a very familiar vial
identical with his own.
I won't tell you the ending except it's reasonably happy—if unexpected.
I hope I haven't done these stories an injustice because they'll be much better
told by actors in front of a camera.
As you will soon note in the picture you're about to see.
All I can tell you is that we think The Twilight Zone is pretty unique.
We think it'll be much talked about,
and we think it'll also be enjoyed.
We think it's the kind of a show that will put people on the edge of their
seats.
But only for that one half an hour, we fully expect they'll go to the stores on
the following day
and buy your products.
We think it's that kind of a show.
So now the ham walks off to allow the real object in point to entertain them.
The pilot show of your series.
Earl Holliman,
James Gregory,
starring in 'Where Is Everybody?'.
So gentlemen please sit back and
take your first trip
into The Twilight Zone.
See what I mean?
And this is really nothing compared to the way instant [?] will be disappearing off
grocery counters come this fall.
There is a sixth
dimension beyond that which is known to man
it is a dimension as vast as space
and as timeless as infinity
it is the middle ground between light and shadow
and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the sunlight of his knowledge.
This is the dimension of imagination.
It is an area that might be called
The Twilight Zone
The place is here,
the time is now,
and the journey into the shadows that we are about to watch
could be our journey
This thing loud enough out here for ya?
Hey, can you hear it alright?
It's a bit early for this kinda music innit?
Hey, I noticed that there's a town just up the road, what's the name of it?
Hey, I asked you a question in there, what's the name of the town?
Hey!, got a customer out front.
Customer out --
Hey!, got a customer out front!
Customer!
Ham and eggs!
Eggs over easy!
Hash browns!
Hey!, ya got a customer out here.
Ham and eggs, eggs over easy, hash browns.
Hungry cash customer!
I got two dollars and eighty five cents american money...
sure american money.
Well we got that much settled, I'm an American.
You see there's some questions about my identity
Let me put it too you this way: I'm not sure who I am.
But I got two dollars eighty five cents and I'm hungry, that much is established.
Two dollars eighty five cents and I'm hungry!
I'm gonna wake up in a minute I know it.
I'm gonna wake up.
I wish I had a bit o' noise to wake me up
A little noise please!
(Singing) If a body greet a body, Comin thro' the (rye),
Need a body cry?
Happily laddy, hap--
Anybody here? Hey!
Hey, Miss, over here!
Look, I wonder could ya do me a favour
It's the craziest thing but I've looked and I haven't seen anybody around, maybe their all asleep or something,
but,
heh, literally there hasn't been a soul
Look, I don't want ya to think I'm nuts or anything, it's nothing like that, it's just that... Well...
It's just that I don't seem to remember who I am.
Well it's a real odd ball thing but when i woke up this morning I...
Well I didn't exactly wake up, I just...
I just found myself out on that road, walking.
Heh, amnesia idn' that what they call it?
Well that must be what I got 'cause I just don't remember a thing. I can't find anybody to ask.
Your the first person I've seen
Look, I really don't want you to be frightened but, well if there's a doctor or something --
I'm terribly sorry madam I can assure you that at no time did I mean to be so
upsetting
as a matter of fact
I've always had a secret [?] for the quiet type.
You know what I mean, babe?
Hey!, anybody here?
Haven't got the ignition key have ya doll?
{Phone ringing in distance}
Hello? Hello? Hello, operator. Hello, operator. Hello --
Operator!
Operator!
(Female voice on phone) This is the special operator.
(Man) Operator, look I just want somebody down there to tell me--
(Female voice on phone) Please make sure that you have the right number.
(Man) Operator.
(Man)Operator, will you listen to me please? (Female voice on phone) This is the special operator. The number that you have reached is not a working number. Make sure that...
(Man) Are you out of your heads down there? I didn't dial a number, I dialed the operator. (Female voice on phone) This is a recording. (Man) A recor-- Operator,
(Man)Operator, look, all I wanna know is where I am. (Female voice on phone) ...not a working number. Please make sure that y--
(Man) Operator...
Look boys, where are you? Where do you boys live? [?] this book.
{Reading out names}
[?] gang is watching the store? Who's watching any of the stores?
All right, who's the wise guy that locked the door?
Great gag. How 'bout a hand, somebody? A little assistance?
How 'bout it?
this is an absolutely hysterical [?] and I'm growing very fond of it
This isn't funny any more.
[?]
I wish I could shake that crazy feeling
I'm being watched
Calling all cars, calling all cars. Unknown man walking around police station. Suspicious looking character.
Probably wanted by the F.--
Time to wake up now.
Time to wake up now.
Hey!
Hey!
Where is everybody!?
Anybody want a sundae?
I'm sorry little buddy, I don't recollect the name.
The face is vaguely familiar but the name escapes me.
I'll tell ya what my problew is
i'm in the middle of a nightmare
I can't wake up from,
and your part of it.
You and the ice cream and the police station and the phone booth,
little mannequin,
This whole bloody town, wherever it is.
Whatever it is.
I just remembered something
Scrooge said it. you remember Scrooge old buddy? Ebenezer Scrooge?
that's what he said to that ghost Jacob Marley
he said "you may be an undigested bit of beef,
a crumb of cheese,
a blot of mustard, a fragment of an undone potato
but there's more of gravy than a grave about you
You see that's what you are
Your what I had for dinner last night
you must be
but now I've had it, I'd like to wake up.
I'd like to wake up now.
If I can't wake up, at least I'd like to find somebody to talk too.
Well I must be a very imaginative guy.
Nobody in the whole bloody world could have a dream as complete as mine, complete mine
right down to the last detail.
Hey!, Hey!, Anybody?
Anybody hear me?
Anybody hear me!?
Air Force.
Air Force.
Air Force, I'm Air Force!
Hey, Air Force, I'm in the Air Force! Air Force! Hey, I'm in the Air Force!
I'm in the Air Force! Hey, everybody, I'm in the Air Force!
Air Force.
Air Force... What does that mean? Was there a bo--
That must of been it, a bomb.
But if there was a bomb everything would be destroyed and nothing's destroyed. destroyed
Who's up there?
Who's runnin' the picture?
Who's runnin' the picture?
Hey!, who's up there?
Can't you see me? Who's in here?
Please somebody help me.
Help me, help me. Please help me, help me. Help me, please somebody help me. Help me, please somebody help me. Please somebody help me.
(Sergeant) Be careful Colonel, don't cut his hand, the glass on the clock is broken. (Colonel) I can see that Sergeant
Alright Colonel, go.
He's all right sir,
delusions I think. He's coming out of it now.
Fine, did you get all the data recorded?
Yes sir, got a timing on it.
Four hundred eighty-four hours thirty-six minutes
just of oppressive show yes uh... gentlemen if you don't mind i want to
Do you consider this a success sir?
Very much so.
if
and this was a simulated trip to the moon, is that right General?
For all intents and purposes, yes.
What about these wires attached to him?
Electrodes,
all of his reactions were charted and graphed.
Respiration, hot action, blood pressure.
what happened to him toward the end General before he pushed that button
or whatever it was?
what happens is that he cracked.
Delusions of some kind we assume.
But let me tell you all something gentlemen,
if anyone of you were confined in a box five feet square for two-and-a-half weeks
all by your lonesome without hearing a human voice other than your own
I'll give you especially good odds that your imagination would runaway with you to
Such as his obviously did. 'Scuse me
It's not much better sir. I'm sorry about.. toward the end.
Yea.
What was it like Ferris?
Where did you think you where?
A place I don't want to go again sir.
A town without people, without anybody.
What was the matter with me Doc? Just off my rocker, huh?
Just a kind of a nightmare that your mind manufactured for you.
You see, we can see feed the stomach with concentrates,
we can supply microfilm for reading,
recreation,
even movies of a sort.
We can pump oxygen in and waste material out
but there's one thing we can't simulate
that's a very basic need
man's hunger for companionship
the barrier of loneliness
that's one thing we haven't licked yet.
Next time it won't be just a box in a hangar will it?
No, Mike, next time you'll really be alone.
Hey, don't go away up there
next time it won't be a dream or a nightmare
Next time it'll be for real.
So don't go away
we'll be up there in a little while
The barrier of loneliness
The palpable desperate need of the human animal to be with his fellow man
Up there, up there in the vastness of space,
in the void that is sky,
up there is an enemy known as isolation.
It sits there on the stars, waiting.
Waiting with the patience of aeons.
Forever waiting
in The Twilight Zone.