"Time Enough at Last", Poll and discussion thread

A meek bank teller named Henry Bemis (Burgess Meredith) longs for time to read.
Originally aired November 20, 1959.

Full video of the episode on CBS.com
TZ Cafe credits list
List of musical cues

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Let the discussion begin!

*More specific instructions and suggestions about posting questions/comments related to this episode are located here.

Classic Zone. 'Nuff said. Except for maybe another bitch exists in this one.

Leen

this is a great one. though i'm tired of it. seems that whenever ever it is mentioned or shown (when i would try to watch the show, this is the one that came on. gives me an attitude against it). still voted it a 7, i think.

It's a 10 in my book. It's always been one of my favorites.

The ending is just perfect.

Best damn episode ever.

I'm sick of it also but it's a slam dunk 10. I've just seen this one more than most. Seeing the uncut version helps as it has some footage we usually don't see.

***SPOILERS***


As you probably have noticed, usually in the Twilight Zone the good guys have happy endings and the bad guys don't. There's been some great discussion on earlier boards about why Bemis was "punished" so harshly in this one. I don't believe that there's one single, simple answer to that question--part of the reason for the episode's enduring interest, I think.

One theory that I recently came across for the first time is that Henry really did shoot himself, and that what follows is his punishment for committing suicide. Sounds a bit harsh to me, but interesting.

I don't think he deserved it of course, but the ending was just another cruel twist in the Twilight Zone.

It's also a sad, happy, sad again story. Humanity as he knows it including his wife is gone; then he finds thousands of objects of his first love reading; then his glasses which he needs for reading break.

It could have been a line in Alanis Morrisette's song, "Isn't it Ironic?"

Leen

The ending may be cruel, but it's also pure genius, took incredible guts and amazing imagination to write that way, and it's my favorite TZ twist. 10+ for me.

I like it a lot. But I rank at least 50-55 episodes ahead of it. 8.

One explanation for the undeserved fate Bemis suffers is that Lynn Venable wrote it. Rod simply adapted Venable's story. He fleshed it out a lot, but the basics of the story, particularly the ending, are Venable's. I'd credit Rod mostly for providing the characterizations of Bemis and his adversaries. The near suicide is also Rod's idea; Venable's Bemis doesn't waste too much time finding the library.

Of course, it was Rod's idea to make this ready-made ending a part of TZ lore, even though it contradicts the usual TZ brand of cosmic justice. Then again, since it was only the eighth episode to premiere, it could be argued that such cosmic justice had yet to be established in the series.

By the way, I'm convinced that Rod made a cultural reference that would probably escape the notice of most viewers today. It occurs in one of the Sci Fi Channel cuts, when we first see the Bemis living room. It's the way Helen calls him: "Hen-REEEEEEE!! HEN-ry!!" This was a catchphrase in the Henry Aldrich radio programs and movies circa 1940. Henry was a typical teenager, and this is how his mother got his attention. In the movies Henry was played by the same James Lydon who appeared in "Back There" as the policeman who believed Corrigan and turned out to be William's great-grandfather. Lydon is a member of the Bergenfield Hall of Fame in my northeast New Jersey hometown.

Also (and I think this was noted on the 5D site), the newspaper with the H-bomb headline is reused in "What You Need" as what the bellboy brings to Renard's room so that Renard can use the leaky pen a second time.

I've never read the original story, I must do that sometime. I wonder how Rod felt about the ending, whether he had reservations about it or if he thought it was a brilliant stroke the way I do. I also wonder what other twists could have been used instead of that one, and used with the same stunning impact. It's such a subtle, simple little act of clumsiness, and yet the effect is breathtaking. He survives nuclear destruction, and then a little moment of "oops" drives a stake through his heart. It's mad, it's brilliant, and it's perfect.

I'd also like to read the original story some time. One thing seems fairly clear to me, that whatever Rod might have changed the ending to, he would never have changed it to one where Bemis lives happily ever after reading his books, as pleasant a thought as that might be. I also think that if Venable had ended her story happily, Rod would either have changed the ending, or would not have adapted the story at all. It was not in Rod Serling's nature to write a "How To Prosper During The Coming Nuclear Apocalypse" kind of episode.

Here is Venable's ending (by the way, Venable named Henry's wife Agnes, not Helen):

But now he steadied away. From the pile about him, he selected one volume, sat comfortably down on an overturned shelf, and opened the book.

Henry Bemis smiled.

There was the rumble of complaining stone. Minute in comparison with the epic complaints following the fall of the bomb. This one occurred under one corner of the shelf upon which Henry sat. The shelf moved; threw him off balance. The glasses slipped from his nose and fell with a tinkle.

He bent down, clawing blindly, and found, finally, their smashed remains. A minor, indirect destruction stemming from the sudden, wholesale smashing of a city. But the only one that greatly interested Henry Bemis.

He stared down at the blurred page before him.

He began to cry.

I don't know for sure, but I think Lynn Venable was (is?) a man. Lynn can be a man's name, as it is for Lynn Nolan Ryan.

All right, I decided to do a Web search. I found a site called "The Locus Index to Science Fiction," and it says that the author's full name is Marilyn Venable. Never mind!

Thanks for posting the ending, Dan. That has a very different feel to it than the episode. From reading that it seems the author had nothing but contempt for Henry, probably for forgetting about Humanity so quickly.

I actually just read the original story last week. I have the Twilight Zone book of originals and have been reading them during free time from the courseload at school. They're all really good. I love to see the similarities and differences between the original and Rod's adaptations. 'Time Enough At Last' - a good read as well as an excellent episode (my fav TZ episode). I think Henry would've been interested in reading it too!

My mom is an original Zoner and absolutely LOVES this one, so I had high expectations of it. But it never grabbed me, I think it's just okay.

Anyone see the Simpsons episode that spoofed this one? I heard it was funny.

It's not a complete segment such as those in the "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes. It's just a brief bit where a postal carrier is delivering "Twilight Zone" magazine, and he breaks his glasses as we hear the TZ theme.

Off the top o' the head, I think the paper showed itself in "Ring-A-Ding Girl" and "Last Night Of A Jockey" as well...

It's not a complete segment such as those in the "Treehouse of Horror" Halloween episodes. It's just a brief bit where a postal carrier is delivering "Twilight Zone" magazine, and he breaks his glasses as we hear the TZ theme.

They spoofed it on Futurama too. They're watching "The Scary Door", and we see Bemis in the library about to start reading, and his glasses fall and break. He starts to cry, "It's not fair!", and then says "wait a minute - my eyes aren't that bad", and then his eyes pop out. He cries "It's not fair!" and then "good thing I know how to read braile" and then his hands fall off.

I picked up a copy of the original stories book (something I've been meaning to do in the back of my mind for about 20 years!), and read the orignal story to this episode. It's awfully short. I think it could really use more depth of character. Henry never really comes alive on the page, he's just a little thumbnail sketch and you never feel like you know him at all. The writing was so-so, nothing to get excited about. I still think the twist is brilliant, and without the story we wouldn't have the episode, so I'm greatfull to the writer. But there are so many rich possibilities in a story like this, you hate to see them go to waste. I'm still glad I read it. I'm looking forward to reading the other stories.

Yeah I was surprised it was so short too. It sort of flew through the events in the story, whereas Rod Serling gave Henry some character depth so we could truly feel sorry for him. As for another inspiration, 'Family Guy' baby! In my favorite episode, "Wasted Talent", there are so many references I was losing it. Kazoo from the Flintstones, Cap'N Crunch talking to the Godfather, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the theme song to 'The Incredible Hulk' television show, and of course, towards the end of the episode, we get a look at the damage to Peter's brain cells from all the alcohol, one lonely brain cell left with large glasses excited to read his books - it made that episode even greater for me.



Carnivale Season 2 January 9th

TV Guide and TVLand are currently involved in the joint promotion "The 100 Most Memorable TV Moments."

No. 25: Bookworm in The Twilight Zone (11/20/59)
A man who wants only to be left alone to read gets his wish -- in a world that's sadly out of focus.

I'm watching TVLand's countdown as I write this. We're treated to clips of the episode, including the climax, plus celebrity commentary, most notably by Keith Olbermann.

No. 1: South Tower Collapses (9/11/01)

See also http://www.ibforfree.com/members/index.php...r&showtopic=307 in the Entertainment Discussion forum.

Edit: Some time after I made this post, the Entertainment Discussion forum was replaced by separate forums for Television, Movies, and several other fields of entertainment. The thread is now in our Television forum. The link still works.

This post has been edited by James B. W. Bevis on March 04, 2006 10:20 am

This is one of those episodes thats just played to death to me, but I still give it an 8. Meredith is awesome as usual, and his gentle nature compared the shrewish wife was interesting to me. I do agree that his fate was awfully harsh given that all the man ever wanted t do was read......

Not surprisingly, "Time Enough At Last" was one of the first episodes mentioned in the recently-started "Poetic Injustice" thread, here: http://www.ibforfree.com/members/index.php...r&showtopic=384. There's a little bit of "TEAL" discussion in that thread and there may be more later.

I received the "Twilight Zone" original stories book for Christmas, and yes, that book is terrific, although I still haven't spent an awful lot of time with it.

I am currently on 'Death Ship' in that book. I have enjoyed the stories very much.

Lazyboy please be careful. I suggest you don't look out the window until you are safely in space.

Leen

Thanks Leen!

I have New Stories From The Twilight Zone, and I'm up to The Midnight Sun.

I have another book called Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone; it's mostly new stories, with three episode adaptations. I'm up to Back There in that one.

Last week, a woman that I work with was talking about her New Year's resolution, which was to try to stop reading all of the time. She said it consumed her, she was late to events and many times was late to work because she couldn't put her books down. Amazingly, she had never seen "Time Enough At Last". I loaned the DVD to her and she loved it. She said she felt so sorry for Henry and that the punishment was so unfair.

I remember how shocked I was the first time I saw this episode as a kid. The ending is still fun upon repeat viewings. One thing I had forgotten is how great Burgess Meredith is in this. He is funny and sad at the same time. I love the part where he is in the vault and the nuke goes off. The way the shock wave causes the book to flip open and watch to shatter is very cool.

Hard to believe for us diehards isn't it? What a great thing you did to loan her that DVD and have someone enjoy a Zone as much as we do.

I had actually forgotten over the years about the gun since the ending was so memorable.

Leen

It was pretty cool. She is in her late 20's and has never seen any TZ episodes. This I can't understand, it's hard to believe. I remember watching reruns of TZ as a kid. It seems strange that she would have never seen any (of course, she does read all of the time). She has expressed interest in watching other episodes.

I am working my way through the new Season 1--Definitive Edition DVDs and it is such a blast! There are a lot of episodes that I have never seen ("Mirror Image" was a great surprise) and the DVD set has so many great extras. I can hardly wait for Season 2's release at the end of March.

I have also been watching the Season 1 set of the 1985 version of the Twilight Zone. It pales in comparison to the Original, but it still has some decent episodes.

I will not touch the Forrest Whitaker TZ...

Isn't it convenient that Henry's glasses don't shatter at the same time?

Isn't it convenient that Henry's glasses don't shatter at the same time?

I've always figured that this was because they were on Henry's face, not on the floor as the watch was, but who knows if that would actually make a difference. It certainly is very convenient, anyway.

I also sometimes have trouble being on time because I can't get my nose out of a book. It's comforting for me to know that someone else has the same problem, though in another way I'm sorry someone else has it, of course. There ought to be a group for us, Biblioholics Anonymous. I guess we couldn't have a "big book" or a "red book" like some of the other twelve-step programs, though.

I'm just as bad!

I have about twenty (yes, you read that right!) books waiting to be read, and that's not counting the five that I'm currently trying to get finished.

Isn't it convenient that Henry's glasses don't shatter at the same time?

Not to be a simpleton, but that would kind of ruin the episode...

Just a note about Rod's closing narration: "The best laid plans of mice and men ... and Henry Bemis ..."

This is a paraphrase from the 1785 Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse," which ends thusly:

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.

Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But, och! I backward cast my e'e
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see
I guess an' fear!

The entire poem is written in Scottish dialect that's a bit hard to understand, but it's the aftermath of the narrator's plowing his field, uncovering a live mouse, and remorsefully realizing that he has wrecked the mouse's simple nest that would have served as protection from the harsh weather. "Gang aft agley" means "often go awry."

Of Mice and Men then became the title of a John Steinbeck novel. In 1939 it was turned into a movie starring Lon Chaney, Jr., and ... Burgess Meredith! I strongly doubt that Rod's use of the phrase is a coincidence, and if I'm right, then this may be the only example of TZ dialogue or narration written as a specific reference to one of the actors.

Thanks for all of the literature lately, Dan. I've been finding a lot of it very rewarding.

You could well be right about that phrase being intended as a reference to Burgess Meredith. Something I didn't know until recently, though, is that this was not this formulation's first appearance in a Serling episode. According to the Fifth Dimension site, Rod also used it in "The Time Element":


Peter Jenson: The best laid plans of mice and men and Pete Jenson. I just struck a blow for law and order and missed, so what's left to do? Simple. Nothing. Just sit in a bar feeling that kind of sweet, sad glow that comes with realizing that most people aren't as bright as you are. The next morning they'd probably all come back and measure me for a brass statue, but it would be too late. I didn't care anymore. But it was kind of a crazy feeling, though, to watch these kids relax over their dates and their drinks when tomorrow morning there'd be a couple of odd thousand of them taking a miserable route through hell to get to heaven.


I don't have a copy of the teleplay handy (it's in Volume 1 of As Timeless As Infinity), but I don't believe that phrase appears in it. If it did, I missed it.

As many if not most readers of this post may be aware, the same formulation also appears in "Mr. Bevis."