Season 1, Episode 22: The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

[TwilightZoneTom@Cult Labs]

Season 1, Episode 22: The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

Airdate: 04/03/60
Writer: Rod Serling
Director: Ron Winston
Starring: Claude Atkins, Barry Atwater

Following a power cut on an average street in America, the neighbours begin to hypothesise on the cause. Gradually the residents’paranoia builds to fever pitch.

Post your thoughts, reviews and comments about the episode and/or BD & DVD release for The Monsters are Due on Maple Street here!

[TwilightZoneTom@Cult Labs]

The first ep I saw in HD, and as with a lot of Twilight Zones with a message, it still is as relevant now as it was when it was written.

I think the only hill it has to climb really was when the young boy starts talking about Aliens in his comics and so on as a catalyst for the whole situation. Perhaps slightly hard to swallow that they'd really take any notice of that, but I guess they don't at first.

Anyway, a minor detail in what's a great, and slightly depressing episode when you think how true it is, episode. Truly deserving of its classic status and Serling's closing narration is one of his less cryptic ones, a firm and direct message.

I'm curious to see the 80's version, I might check that out soon.

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

I've skipped a few episodes to watch this one.A classic example of paranoia and the threat of Communism in the eary '60's in the USA.
The threat of Alien invasion relates to the threat of infiltration from the USSR.

A classic installment!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

The first time I saw this, I was really taken aback by the way it finished but, on repeated viewings, it says so much about the US in 1959 and what it must have been like to live under the threat of MAD. Surprisingly tense and well performed with some excellent writing and direction.

[sauronbaggins]

Serlings message is loud and clear "prejudice can't be confined to the Twilight Zone".....chilling

[The Reaper Man@Cult Labs]

It was chilling.

[sauronbaggins]

Summerisle smiles on you i see lol

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by sauronbaggins

Serlings message is loud and clear "prejudice can't be confined to the Twilight Zone".....chilling

There probably was an element of 'in order to defeat those pesky Russians, we must band together when things become difficult rather than turn on each other'. It's a shame no one told that to Sen Joseph McCarthy!

[The Collector's Room]

Although I know it will never happen, I would love to see Spielberg's take on this episode.

[spaceman]

This is one of the episodes that doesn't date: a savage indictment of mob mentality. I love how the hysteria escalates so rapidly and how quickly people can turn on friends and neighbours that they've known for years until violence ensues. What's even more remarkable is that was shown only a few years after Joseph McCarthy destroyed careers and lives in a similar way.
That's frightening