What a TWIST!!!!! Thoughts on To Serve Man? Watch the new NC here - th-cam.com/video/tyDd-CZpXrg/w-d-xo.html Follow Walter on Twitter - twitter.com/Awesome_Walter Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
Now that I think about it the Kanamits are like those farmers who only see us as mere cattle. The farmers make their (cattle) environment humane to keep them calm and serene. It's so the meat would be a better quality. Same as to why the Kanamits brought peace on Earth for the humans.
To be honest with you Mr. Tober, the twist is shocking; No debate their. It just when I first saw this episode I was twelve and I miss understood the twist at first! I thought our main character, his female co-worker and the government all thought the book contain the ultimate knowledge of the universe and were eager to decipher it only to discover it just a cook book from their planet that the alien gave to us as a gift so us human can learn to cook & eat alien food 😋
@@matthewbuckley7757 It's fine. There are a few pretty good episodes, some lame ones. They definitely do not match the OG in quality if you were wondering that, but they do have some interesting ideas.
Honestly what creeps me out most is that for that book to exist means that either there were other planets with humans on it with similar anatomy to us, or the aliens somehow knew about earth and humanity and somehow figured out how to eat us and serve us so well that they wrote a book about it. Both raise questions and whatever answers you get they're just scarier than what this episode could've made.
I have to wonder why he left the book on the table as if on purpose. What would be the purpose of letting humans examine it? And why would he have brought the book with him to earth if they planned to "serve" the humans back on their own planet?
The way I view it, is almost the opposite. It's not more terrifying than they could have made it, that's exactly how they made it. Your ideas that are more terrifying were already essentially a part of the story, it just wasn't said out loud through exposition. Do you think that your ideas were oversight by an author, coincidentally an accident & the writers didn't think about the implications or reasons behind the plot device? Perhaps the actor improvised leaving the book and they just kept it in? Your ideas are part of the story, not separate additions they should have made and said outloud to make it "better than it was". You're inferring from subtext , explicitly from the narrative choice and purposeful designed of the writers. This is good it means you're thinking! Just likely not enough. That's how I view myself in your shoes anyways
It makes much more sense to eat cows, chickens, or sheep. They just eat grass and grain, and they get fatter. And with their low intelligence, they are obedient, and don't wast energy on their large brains.
This is undoubtedly 1 of the Darkest Episodes of the Twilight Zone, since the implications are that the Kanamits will eventually start to farm Humans as livestock.
Exactly! The Kanamits was already doing just that for the humans at the beginning of the episode when their technology ended wars and brought world peace.
I remember something very similar happening in The Silver Chair (from The Chronicles of Narnia). Eustace and Jill travel to the "Gentle Giants" who say they'd be delighted to have them at the Autumn Feast. They find a book called something along the lines of "to serve humans" and at first believe that the giants' constant pampering is nice and together with the book shows that they're dedicated to hospitality. Then one of them sees the inside where it discusses pies and spices, and they high-tail it out of there.
If my memory serves me right, the giants constantly state that they would love to have the children (and Puddleglum) for the Autumn feast, constantly pampering them. (The nurse assigned to Jill occasionally sighs that it’s a “pity” whenever remarking on how fond she is of Jill, but never elaborates). The three of them actually resolve to leave before the big reveal as they all realise that they have been wasting time in the giants’ court and almost forgotten their quest. However, they do decide to skedaddle *immediately* when Jill, while poking around, finds a cookbook. She reads sees a few standard recipes while flipping through it for lack of anything better to do, and then finds a recipe for “Man” (and Puddleglum also points out a recipe for “Marshwiggle”)
Oh my goodness my grandfather and I would always recite the “It’s a cookbook” line. Also fun fact, one of the lemurs in Madagascar when they are all in the plane holds a book that says “To Serve Lemur” and says “It’s a Cookbook!!”
that was a reference to the naked gun 2 1/2 when oj simpsons (great casting :P) accidentally mentions a bomb in the building full of people creating panic and then a random guy with the book said the same quote
Kid! Me always thought he was saying: "It's a good book!" For some reason. Lol! It's one of those jokes that really flys over your head when your that young.
I was lucky enough to meet Richard Kiel twice at separate conventions. He was easily the nicest celebrity I ever met, had tons to say about the people he worked with, and was the embodiment of the phrase "gentle giant". I was so sad when he died. He'll be sorely missed.
This episode along with “Eye of the Beholder”, “Terror at 20,000 Feet” and “Time Enough at Last” are what most ppl instantly think of when the Twilight Zone is brought up! And it’s infamy is well earned.
Now this is a classic right here. Even if you've never seen the show and been around in the 90's, you've probably heard about this twist from The Simpsons.
Mr. Chambers taking drags on a cigarette while through voice-over and flashback filling the viewer in on how he came to be Fate's punching bag gives this episode a real noir feel.
"It's a Cookbook!" I heard about the ending before watching the episode, but it's still great. Richard Keal was creepy in the this, although I thought it was Ted Cassidy at first.
Just like The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and The Obsolete Man before, this is my favorite episode I've been looking forward to all year! My favorite episode of Season 3!
Man, this year's Twilight-Tober Zone lineup really is _peak_ Twilight Zone. I knew this was going to be a good year when I looked up the episode list for the show. "The Obsolete Man", "It's a Good Life", "Five Characters in Search of an Exit", "Kick the Can" (and my personal favorite, "The Midnight Sun"), plus quite a few lesser known gems... and now the series' most famous episode of all. And we're not even done yet! There's still a few more days left in October, and at least one of those is _another_ one that I would consider a top-tier episode.
"There's still a few more days left in October" You mean, ONLY a few more days. Seeing a new one everyday gets one hooked, and then what do we do for the next 11 months?
@@etrisb I know what you mean. I'll be looking forward to next year's selection. Sadly, it won't be _quite_ as jam-packed with iconic episodes as this year was (but then, these are so well done that it scarcely matters). Next October, it looks like we'll be finishing up season 3, running through the entirety of season 4 (which was the season with hour-long episodes), and doing the first few of season 5. However, we _will_ get a few famous ones-- "The Dummy" and "He's Alive" are in there, as is a certain episode involving Captain Kirk on an airplane... ;)
I was lucky enough to see this episode long before it became such an icon, that the ending is common knowledge. It was a huge surprise twist and it caught me entirely off guard. Such a shame that many first-time viewers today will miss out on this unique experience.
They've tried to recapture it on other shows, but todays culture is just too expecting. I've never heard of the episode, and I still would see it coming. It's a post Soylent Green world.
@@LegendStormcrow I tend to agree with your sentiments. Modern audiences have learned to seek out clues when a twist is promised. It saddens me to think that you have missed out on the Simpsons Hallowe'en episode which parodies this Twilight Zone Classic. Lloyd Bochner has reprised his role several times in Comedies, just to play the same tired gag. For me personally, I live in a post 'An Inspector Calls', or 'Ten Little Ni@@ers' World. But I am on side with what you say.
@@tomsenior7405 I've seen the first few back in the day. I know I've seen a couple Twilight Zone episodes, but I may have missed the reference back then
I first saw this one in a twilight zone marathon when I was six years old. Even with my memory of that time being blurry from being so young, that big twist stuck with me clear as day for years
I first watched the 2000s version then watched some of the original when I was young I KNEW something was off early on in the episode. It's too good to be true
"To Serve Man" is one of my all-time favorite episodes, and it is definitely worthy of its praise. You are right--it really does seem like a short film that could have been made into a full-length movie--but I think that perhaps making it into a full Hollywood movie would have ruined it, and definitely would if it were made into one today.
I saw the Treehouse of Horror episode "Hungry Are the Damned") before this episode wayyyyyy back when. All I can think about is that episode when I see this. 😄
To Serve Man is an essential episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the classics, up there with the eye of the beholder, and the monsters are due on Maple Street.
It's also the main inspiration for Kang and Kodos' debut segment: Hungry are the Damned from the very first Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons, and the Megamind character is based on the Kanamits.
I really Like when simpson’s Treehouse of horror did this. Lisa: It’s a Cook (To Serve Man) Alien: What!? No. Look there’s Space Dust. *blow* (To serve Man Dinner) Lisa: Wait, there’s Still some space Dust. *Blow* (To serve Man for Dinner) The play on that title was so good.
Lloyd Bochner the main character in this episode, voiced Mayor Hamilton Hill in the Batman Animated Series and is the father of actor Hart Bochner, who played the yuppie scumbag in DIE HARD.
This episode first aired on March 2, 1962. I was nineteen days shy of my third birthday on that date, but I remember watching it with my dad. I have a freaky long memory, but even so, that strikes me as improbable. Maybe we caught the rerun of it later in 1962, during the off-season hiatus. There's a big difference between the sophistication of a two-year-old and a three-year-old. At any rate, it sure left an impression on me! I remember teetering on the brink of being frightened by Richard Kiel's appearance, but he didn't *act* scary, so I managed to tamp that down. The big reveal ("It's a cookbook!") made my dad laugh. That laugh kept the episode from giving me nightmares, I think. I *could* see the humor in it, but it was also terrifying. I still think "To Serve Man" is groundbreaking in the way its conclusion walked a fine line between comedy and horror.
I have a complex relationship with this episode. I grew up watching it in syndicated re-runs, so it appeals deeply to my nostalgia. As a kid, it was one of my favorite episodes of "The Twilight Zone.." It still occupies a warm place in my heart, but my perception has changed. As I grew older, learned more about history & the world and became more cynical, the twist seemed sillier to me. Jaded old me has come to believe the Kanimets would just offer to take unwanted people (the poor, oppressed minorities, seditionists, the disabled, etc.) in exchange for petty baubles. They wouldn't even have to offer super-advanced technology, just precious metals & gems. Or maybe certain medical technologies like cures for cancer or age reversal serums. In which case, the twist would be the people being loaded onto the spaceships would be told soon after takeoff that they were actually being evacuated to a new Earth the aliens had built for them and that the humans who had sold them out were being left on a planet doomed to experience a mass extinction event caused by humanity itself.
This episode was my first episode of the twilight zone. I remember seeing an ad about Syfy’s New Year’s Eve marathon and when I turned to the marathon this episode showed. it was really got me into the show because the twist was so good as well the kaminate costumes were awesome to see. I tend to show this episode when people are curious about the show.
This is a good example of the fact that some things ARE too good to be true. That there are people who can and will exploit you if you put blind trust in whatever carrots they wave in front of you, and you will have no idea until it’s too late.
Even without knowing the twist, just knowing the Twilight Zone so much at this point, And the line "we have no ulterior motive" is a dead give away. Still a great story. I'm sure I'd have been a person on that ship in my early day's.
I read the Damon Knight short story long before I saw the TZ episode. It's such a great story. Also, I love that the "Naked Gun 2 1/2" joke has the same actor (Lloyd Bochner, father of Hart "Ellis" Bochner) from the episode appearing still yelling about it being a cookbook.
I remember watching this episode with my dad when I was around 7 years old. I got up super early and he was watching TV so I joined him and he was telling me about the show throughout the episode. I've been a fan since that day lol.
I always wondered why Lloyd Bochner's character didn't just jump off the side of the stairs. The Kanamits would never have stopped him, seeing as they just let the other guy just nope right out of there. And yes, of course, I know the reason why from a filmmaking POV. He couldn't because his character was _supposed_ to be on that ship, as seen in the beginning of the episode, so they had to get him on there somehow. Personally, I think they could've had it where he was almost on the ship before she said anything. Have the stairs be closing, and have her shout out "It's a cookbook!!" just before the stairs close. He still gets the message, we still get the twist, and yet it's far too late for him to escape.
One thing I really liked about this episode was that Kiel was in it. He did great in this episode and I liked him in James Bond movies and Happy Gilmore.
I still remember when I first saw this ep when I was a kid watching TZ reruns at my grandmother’s house. The twist was fresh to me and caught me by complete surprise, what a jaw-dropping revelation!
Remembered in one of the What-A-Cartoons in the day. Old Gramps. Never got it until later when the aliens were invading and some man comes up to him with a book. "To serve man! It's a cook book! IT'S A COOKBOOK!!" "It's been done!" The last bit having gramps put him on a tee and knocking him away with a golf club.
I guess I’m one of the fortunate few. I saw that episode before everyone knew the ending. One of the rare benefits of being old. It’s hinted at in the beginning. You know something is coming because you can see the guy regrets his decision to get on the spaceship and they keep telling him to eat but he keeps refusing.
there's lovely subtext in the fact that the Kanamits want us to be healthy and safe and able to thrive, ending wars and conflict so we don't spend so much energy needlessly killing each other. We don't like it when or cows or pigs hurt each other, right? We want them to be healthy and strong, otherwise they're no good to anyone.
I love how all the "help" the Kanamites give us are all hints of what's to come. The new crops to end world hunger are animal feed. The force field emitters to end war look like animal fences. That creepy smile as each human is being weighed on a big meat scale.
I remember reading a theory somewhere about the "How can you translate a language you've never seen before" question - perhaps one of the Kanamites is a rebel who disapproves of his people's behaviour and left hints about the language (along with the book itself), so that humans would ultimately figure out the truth and do something about it.
I actually saw this referenced in a What a Cartoon short on Cartoon Network and the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror before seeing the actual episode. And after seeing it, I completely understand it becoming part of our pop culture enough to be referenced as much as it has. ^__^
I'd like to think that the aliens killed her after the ship took off and covered up her disappearance so they can continue to ship humans to their planet for food.
This was the very first episode of the Twilight Zone I saw. I saw it with my grandparents who saw it when it first came out and they still remembered the twist all those years ago.
I'll always remember this one, and a few others. I always liked "The Howling Man", and "Stopover in Quiet Town". So many great episodes with many twists.
One of the most famous twists in sci fi and still worth talking about 60 years later. What I'd give to actually see the reactions of viewers at the time.
I can't remember its name, but the episode where the woman gets facial reconstruction and has her head wrapped up most of the episode has an insane, well-known twist too. I'd put it up there with the ones you mentioned :)
This is the episode I’ve been waiting for a discussion on all month. What an absolute classic. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t know that was Richard Kiel as the aliens. That’s such a fun detail, elevated by the fact that this is the second time this month a Bond villain has appeared in a Zone episode
I was lucky enough to never have this twist spoiled for me before I watched the episode. I knew there had to be one eventually, but they still managed to surprise me with how out of the blue it was!
I vividly remember reading the short story this episode was based on for high school English class because of that unforgettable twist. Then when I watched this episode some time later it turned out that my friend from the same class, Mike Chambers (still buds, btw, real cool guy), had the same name as the main character. That always gave me a chuckle.
I remember that I saw a million spoofs of this before I ever saw the real thing, and I actually saw it in a class about writing good scifi. It was something like "The Fiction of Science Fiction" or something I took in college and we had a blast in that class. It was the same class, every day for the entire month of January and basically all we did was write stories with themes based on scifi classics. And when we weren't reading/writing, we were watching classic scifi stuff. Though I think my favorite story is still "There will come soft rains" or something akin to that in name. But that story makes me think of the Twilight Zone so much and I always picture it in Black and White despite it being a written story and it having no reason to be in Black and White.
My parents actually got to meet Richard keol in Vegas and he was very nice and he was about the same age as my grandmother. My dad even got a picture of him pretending to be Jaws to fighting his neck. Richard had to put his hands around my dad's head and he's not a guy that gets scared often but he said he almost s*** his pants on how terrifying it was that he could break his neck in any second with his big hands.
I wonder why he didn’t mention the wider implications of this episode. Did he chicken out or am I just crazy to think this has nothing to do with aliens?
I remember watching this episode on the sci fi channel when I was a kid I was lucky enough for it not to be spoiled ! I was shook for a bit after the credits rolled.
If she had done that, it would have created panic possibly. Some would have panicked or blocked her way. Some would confront her possibly as well. They would ask her or stop and question her. The aliens would also have tried stopping her. Doing it this way was the fastest way to warn him. He was also about to get onto the ship and knew that it would soon be leaving based on the time he was boarding it. There was also a bit of flirting that insinuated that she cared for him. Which is why her focus was to warn him first instead of the other people around him. I'm not exactly sure what the guy felt about her because he decided to get on this ten year rotation list or something. Which is a long time and ridiculous. I guess he was close to her also. However not close enough apparently. It took me a few times to watch this and then I came to this realization. If you worked with an attractive female that cared about you, why would you go on this trip. There is no male or hardly any male that would just take a long trip, if they were working closely with a female coworker practically by themselves for the most part. It seemed they spent time in a room alone together for the most part. It really doesn't make sense. Since I'm sure they were both single also. I can only assume that he didn't feel as strongly about her as she did about him. I just don't believe a single male would go visit a planet full of weird looking aliens rather than be with a beautiful woman, unless he was not a straight male of course.
One of my top 5 favorite episodes of Twilight Zone....scared the hell out me when I was a kid.... When I was a child is a TV series V came on.... An episode 1 I literally turn to my dad and said didn't anyone ever see the Twilight zone episode how to serve mankind.... You know by the end of the series they're going to be eating people lol
I saw that series (V) as a child too and it was really memorable to me! Formed some of my first impressions of aliens disguised as humans and how I would want to write about them.
What a TWIST!!!!! Thoughts on To Serve Man?
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Yes, even though most people already know the major twist, it's still very shocking! 😱
Now that I think about it the Kanamits are like those farmers who only see us as mere cattle. The farmers make their (cattle) environment humane to keep them calm and serene. It's so the meat would be a better quality. Same as to why the Kanamits brought peace on Earth for the humans.
To be honest with you Mr. Tober, the twist is shocking; No debate their. It just when I first saw this episode I was twelve and I miss understood the twist at first! I thought our main character, his female co-worker and the government all thought the book contain the ultimate knowledge of the universe and were eager to decipher it only to discover it just a cook book from their planet that the alien gave to us as a gift so us human can learn to cook & eat alien food 😋
Let's give a round of applause to the TWIST of this episode!
Eat hearty, Mr. Longpig...
“It’s a cookbook!” is one of the greatest reveals ever, not just for Twilight Zone, but in all film and television
Yes, it's one of the most famous twists, and it's still shocking to this day!
What about "Soylent Green is people!" or "It was his sled!"?
plus the best parody of this Twilight zone episode Is on Madagascar
💯💯💯
@@Chaos89P Or "You blew it up!" (Which was another Rod Serling invention.)
I agree with what Peele said about this episode. It's the ultimate Dad joke ending.
I was wondering how good is the new show on Paramount plus?
I've heard mixed things.
@@SnakeRoadComicsOfficial3677 Oh okay hopefully it’s still worth a watch
@@matthewbuckley7757 It's fine. There are a few pretty good episodes, some lame ones. They definitely do not match the OG in quality if you were wondering that, but they do have some interesting ideas.
Response from my youngest; "Dad, if you made this it would say "It's a cockbook". My reply - "Damn - wish I'd thought of that".
Honestly what creeps me out most is that for that book to exist means that either there were other planets with humans on it with similar anatomy to us, or the aliens somehow knew about earth and humanity and somehow figured out how to eat us and serve us so well that they wrote a book about it. Both raise questions and whatever answers you get they're just scarier than what this episode could've made.
I have to wonder why he left the book on the table as if on purpose. What would be the purpose of letting humans examine it? And why would he have brought the book with him to earth if they planned to "serve" the humans back on their own planet?
That's why the Indus River valley Civilization disappeared
@@etrisb The classic villain who wants their plot exposed to taunt their victims?
The way I view it, is almost the opposite. It's not more terrifying than they could have made it, that's exactly how they made it. Your ideas that are more terrifying were already essentially a part of the story, it just wasn't said out loud through exposition.
Do you think that your ideas were oversight by an author, coincidentally an accident & the writers didn't think about the implications or reasons behind the plot device? Perhaps the actor improvised leaving the book and they just kept it in?
Your ideas are part of the story, not separate additions they should have made and said outloud to make it "better than it was". You're inferring from subtext , explicitly from the narrative choice and purposeful designed of the writers.
This is good it means you're thinking! Just likely not enough. That's how I view myself in your shoes anyways
It makes much more sense to eat cows, chickens, or sheep. They just eat grass and grain, and they get fatter. And with their low intelligence, they are obedient, and don't wast energy on their large brains.
Still my favorite joke in Madagascar. A panicked lemur running around with a book called " To Serve Lemur" while randomly yelling. ITS A COOKBOOK!!!
That was the first time I heard that line as a kid 😅 then I saw this episode and understood the context
They also did the same Gag in one of the Naked Gun Movies and they even got the Original Actor from the Episode 😉
This is undoubtedly 1 of the Darkest Episodes of the Twilight Zone, since the implications are that the Kanamits will eventually start to farm Humans as livestock.
Exactly! The Kanamits was already doing just that for the humans at the beginning of the episode when their technology ended wars and brought world peace.
It’s Soylent Green before said film came out except we have aliens here and not humans cannibalizing each other
This episode reminds me of the 80's movie "V".
@@LucyLioness100 what happens in the sequel episode?
But they decipher the book so people will go to war with the scrotum hats
I remember something very similar happening in The Silver Chair (from The Chronicles of Narnia). Eustace and Jill travel to the "Gentle Giants" who say they'd be delighted to have them at the Autumn Feast. They find a book called something along the lines of "to serve humans" and at first believe that the giants' constant pampering is nice and together with the book shows that they're dedicated to hospitality. Then one of them sees the inside where it discusses pies and spices, and they high-tail it out of there.
I was looking for this! It’s the first thing I thought of too. Perhaps the author found inspiration from C.S. Lewis
If my memory serves me right, the giants constantly state that they would love to have the children (and Puddleglum) for the Autumn feast, constantly pampering them. (The nurse assigned to Jill occasionally sighs that it’s a “pity” whenever remarking on how fond she is of Jill, but never elaborates).
The three of them actually resolve to leave before the big reveal as they all realise that they have been wasting time in the giants’ court and almost forgotten their quest. However, they do decide to skedaddle *immediately* when Jill, while poking around, finds a cookbook. She reads sees a few standard recipes while flipping through it for lack of anything better to do, and then finds a recipe for “Man” (and Puddleglum also points out a recipe for “Marshwiggle”)
You can tell the episodes Walter really likes get an extra minute or two.
Preach, it's easy to determine Walter's favourite episodes by the time length of the video.
The most extreme example of this is The Obsolete Man from earlier this month. It gets about 15 minutes, no lie!
Waltuh, put ha dick away. It’s just the twilight zone
My dad watched this as a kid (born in 1957) and he always said how spooky that twist was!
Nothing more spooky than existential dread of the inevitable.
No wonder people from that era didn't believe and were so scared of aliens in real life and ufos. The trust issues this episode alone would've caused
Oh my goodness my grandfather and I would always recite the “It’s a cookbook” line.
Also fun fact, one of the lemurs in Madagascar when they are all in the plane holds a book that says “To Serve Lemur” and says “It’s a Cookbook!!”
I lol so hard when that happened.
that was a reference to the naked gun 2 1/2 when oj simpsons (great casting :P) accidentally mentions a bomb in the building full of people creating panic and then a random guy with the book said the same quote
Kid! Me always thought he was saying: "It's a good book!" For some reason. Lol!
It's one of those jokes that really flys over your head when your that young.
I was lucky enough to meet Richard Kiel twice at separate conventions. He was easily the nicest celebrity I ever met, had tons to say about the people he worked with, and was the embodiment of the phrase "gentle giant". I was so sad when he died. He'll be sorely missed.
❤❤❤
This episode along with “Eye of the Beholder”, “Terror at 20,000 Feet” and “Time Enough at Last” are what most ppl instantly think of when the Twilight Zone is brought up!
And it’s infamy is well earned.
I also think about the episode with a cute little freckled faced nightmare of a child who rules the world and banishes people to the cornfield.
One of the existential parts of TZ.
The twist is iconic. And it's absolutely must watch episode
“Well, if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished!!”
Now this is a classic right here. Even if you've never seen the show and been around in the 90's, you've probably heard about this twist from The Simpsons.
It just has space dust on it.
*blows dust away*
To Serve For Man.
"How To Cook For Forty Humans!"
Lisa remember when we say you're too smart for your own good? Yeah. This is it.
never seen that episode. i was too young for that
"Well I hope you're happy. You made Serak the Preparer cry!"
"I slaved in the kitchen for days!!!" :(
Mr. Chambers taking drags on a cigarette while through voice-over and flashback filling the viewer in on how he came to be Fate's punching bag gives this episode a real noir feel.
"Well, if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished."
One word to describe this episode: TIMELESS.
Like the "having an old friend for dinner" line in Silence of the Lambs "It's a cookbook!" makes one both chuckle and shudder.
"It's a Cookbook!" I heard about the ending before watching the episode, but it's still great. Richard Keal was creepy in the this, although I thought it was Ted Cassidy at first.
Just like The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and The Obsolete Man before, this is my favorite episode I've been looking forward to all year! My favorite episode of Season 3!
The most iconic episode of the series this is the episode many people think about when you say Twilight Zone to them even if they've never seen it
That ending will always
give me the chills.👽🛸
Same here
So man is a dish best-served cold. or chilled.
1:45, this has been considered to be one of the best episodes of the series.
Man, this year's Twilight-Tober Zone lineup really is _peak_ Twilight Zone. I knew this was going to be a good year when I looked up the episode list for the show. "The Obsolete Man", "It's a Good Life", "Five Characters in Search of an Exit", "Kick the Can" (and my personal favorite, "The Midnight Sun"), plus quite a few lesser known gems... and now the series' most famous episode of all. And we're not even done yet! There's still a few more days left in October, and at least one of those is _another_ one that I would consider a top-tier episode.
"There's still a few more days left in October"
You mean, ONLY a few more days. Seeing a new one everyday gets one hooked, and then what do we do for the next 11 months?
@@etrisb I know what you mean. I'll be looking forward to next year's selection. Sadly, it won't be _quite_ as jam-packed with iconic episodes as this year was (but then, these are so well done that it scarcely matters). Next October, it looks like we'll be finishing up season 3, running through the entirety of season 4 (which was the season with hour-long episodes), and doing the first few of season 5. However, we _will_ get a few famous ones-- "The Dummy" and "He's Alive" are in there, as is a certain episode involving Captain Kirk on an airplane... ;)
I was lucky enough to see this episode long before it became such an icon, that the ending is common knowledge. It was a huge surprise twist and it caught me entirely off guard. Such a shame that many first-time viewers today will miss out on this unique experience.
They've tried to recapture it on other shows, but todays culture is just too expecting. I've never heard of the episode, and I still would see it coming. It's a post Soylent Green world.
@@LegendStormcrow I tend to agree with your sentiments. Modern audiences have learned to seek out clues when a twist is promised. It saddens me to think that you have missed out on the Simpsons Hallowe'en episode which parodies this Twilight Zone Classic. Lloyd Bochner has reprised his role several times in Comedies, just to play the same tired gag. For me personally, I live in a post 'An Inspector Calls', or 'Ten Little Ni@@ers' World. But I am on side with what you say.
@@tomsenior7405 I decided to binge the treehouse of horror, so I'm sure I'll watch it at some point.
@@LegendStormcrow An excellent choice. The very first Treehouse, episode 2 "Hungry are the damned" is a chucklesome parody.
@@tomsenior7405 I've seen the first few back in the day. I know I've seen a couple Twilight Zone episodes, but I may have missed the reference back then
I first saw this one in a twilight zone marathon when I was six years old.
Even with my memory of that time being blurry from being so young, that big twist stuck with me clear as day for years
I first watched the 2000s version then watched some of the original when I was young
I KNEW something was off early on in the episode. It's too good to be true
"To Serve Man" is one of my all-time favorite episodes, and it is definitely worthy of its praise. You are right--it really does seem like a short film that could have been made into a full-length movie--but I think that perhaps making it into a full Hollywood movie would have ruined it, and definitely would if it were made into one today.
Ah one of the most iconic pieces of television the show ever created. I have waited anxiously for this one!
I saw the Treehouse of Horror episode "Hungry Are the Damned") before this episode wayyyyyy back when. All I can think about is that episode when I see this. 😄
"Well, if you wanted to make Seerak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished!"
To Serve Man is an essential episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the classics, up there with the eye of the beholder, and the monsters are due on Maple Street.
An episode that has become a pop culture lexicon. I think everyone knows the twist and they didn’t even see the actual episode. Always a classic
It's also the main inspiration for Kang and Kodos' debut segment: Hungry are the Damned from the very first Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons, and the Megamind character is based on the Kanamits.
I really Like when simpson’s Treehouse of horror did this.
Lisa: It’s a Cook (To Serve Man)
Alien: What!? No. Look there’s Space Dust. *blow* (To serve Man Dinner)
Lisa: Wait, there’s Still some space Dust. *Blow* (To serve Man for Dinner)
The play on that title was so good.
Lloyd Bochner the main character in this episode, voiced Mayor Hamilton Hill in the Batman Animated Series and is the father of actor Hart Bochner, who played the yuppie scumbag in DIE HARD.
This episode first aired on March 2, 1962. I was nineteen days shy of my third birthday on that date, but I remember watching it with my dad. I have a freaky long memory, but even so, that strikes me as improbable. Maybe we caught the rerun of it later in 1962, during the off-season hiatus. There's a big difference between the sophistication of a two-year-old and a three-year-old. At any rate, it sure left an impression on me! I remember teetering on the brink of being frightened by Richard Kiel's appearance, but he didn't *act* scary, so I managed to tamp that down. The big reveal ("It's a cookbook!") made my dad laugh. That laugh kept the episode from giving me nightmares, I think. I *could* see the humor in it, but it was also terrifying. I still think "To Serve Man" is groundbreaking in the way its conclusion walked a fine line between comedy and horror.
I have a complex relationship with this episode.
I grew up watching it in syndicated re-runs, so it appeals deeply to my nostalgia. As a kid, it was one of my favorite episodes of "The Twilight Zone.." It still occupies a warm place in my heart, but my perception has changed.
As I grew older, learned more about history & the world and became more cynical, the twist seemed sillier to me.
Jaded old me has come to believe the Kanimets would just offer to take unwanted people (the poor, oppressed minorities, seditionists, the disabled, etc.) in exchange for petty baubles. They wouldn't even have to offer super-advanced technology, just precious metals & gems. Or maybe certain medical technologies like cures for cancer or age reversal serums.
In which case, the twist would be the people being loaded onto the spaceships would be told soon after takeoff that they were actually being evacuated to a new Earth the aliens had built for them and that the humans who had sold them out were being left on a planet doomed to experience a mass extinction event caused by humanity itself.
Viewers! Viewers! Don’t watch this video! This channel, Channel Awesome, it’s….it’s a cooking channel!
I was watching Babish all this time?
Wait, there’s a bit of dust on the cover, it says “Channel Awesome Cooks For Humans”
This episode was actually a dedication to Harold Serveman, who died in World War II
I’m still shocked that no one has ever thought to make an official Twilight Zone cookbook called To Serve Man
Eh, maybe check a cannibal's kitchen. If anyone had one the would have one.
This episode was my first episode of the twilight zone. I remember seeing an ad about Syfy’s New Year’s Eve marathon and when I turned to the marathon this episode showed. it was really got me into the show because the twist was so good as well the kaminate costumes were awesome to see. I tend to show this episode when people are curious about the show.
I was surprised to find out that this episode was so beloved. The play on words twist is such a roll your eyes moment.
When my family went indoor skydiving, one of my family members jokingly said “It’s a cookbook!” as the door to the chamber closed
There are good episodes, but There will never again be an episode as wonderful as this.
5:55 I love how that cop is reaching for his gun there
This is a good example of the fact that some things ARE too good to be true.
That there are people who can and will exploit you if you put blind trust in whatever carrots they wave in front of you, and you will have no idea until it’s too late.
“It’s a cookbook!”
Hannibal Lecter and Jeffery Dahmer: go on….
Even without knowing the twist, just knowing the Twilight Zone so much at this point, And the line "we have no ulterior motive" is a dead give away.
Still a great story. I'm sure I'd have been a person on that ship in my early day's.
I read the Damon Knight short story long before I saw the TZ episode. It's such a great story.
Also, I love that the "Naked Gun 2 1/2" joke has the same actor (Lloyd Bochner, father of Hart "Ellis" Bochner) from the episode appearing still yelling about it being a cookbook.
The question is how did he manage to get back to Earth?😄
I remember watching this episode with my dad when I was around 7 years old. I got up super early and he was watching TV so I joined him and he was telling me about the show throughout the episode. I've been a fan since that day lol.
Every time I see Richard Kiel I think of two quotes “Watch out for snakes” -and- “and you can count…on me….waiting for you in the parking lot”.
I always wondered why Lloyd Bochner's character didn't just jump off the side of the stairs. The Kanamits would never have stopped him, seeing as they just let the other guy just nope right out of there. And yes, of course, I know the reason why from a filmmaking POV. He couldn't because his character was _supposed_ to be on that ship, as seen in the beginning of the episode, so they had to get him on there somehow. Personally, I think they could've had it where he was almost on the ship before she said anything. Have the stairs be closing, and have her shout out "It's a cookbook!!" just before the stairs close. He still gets the message, we still get the twist, and yet it's far too late for him to escape.
One thing I really liked about this episode was that Kiel was in it. He did great in this episode and I liked him in James Bond movies and Happy Gilmore.
Imagine if aliens tried to eat us today. They’d die from high cholesterol and saturated fat intake after their first 2 bites 🤣
I still remember when I first saw this ep when I was a kid watching TZ reruns at my grandmother’s house. The twist was fresh to me and caught me by complete surprise, what a jaw-dropping revelation!
Ah yes. The episode that spawned many references in shows and movies afterwards. Even in cartoons!
I remember that they parodied this episode on The Simpsons in Treehouse of Horror 1.
Remembered in one of the What-A-Cartoons in the day. Old Gramps. Never got it until later when the aliens were invading and some man comes up to him with a book.
"To serve man! It's a cook book! IT'S A COOKBOOK!!"
"It's been done!"
The last bit having gramps put him on a tee and knocking him away with a golf club.
I guess I’m one of the fortunate few. I saw that episode before everyone knew the ending. One of the rare benefits of being old.
It’s hinted at in the beginning. You know something is coming because you can see the guy regrets his decision to get on the spaceship and they keep telling him to eat but he keeps refusing.
This is one of those episodes where I not only wish I can watch for the first time again, but I wish I could've experienced the original airing.
there's lovely subtext in the fact that the Kanamits want us to be healthy and safe and able to thrive, ending wars and conflict so we don't spend so much energy needlessly killing each other. We don't like it when or cows or pigs hurt each other, right? We want them to be healthy and strong, otherwise they're no good to anyone.
I love how all the "help" the Kanamites give us are all hints of what's to come. The new crops to end world hunger are animal feed. The force field emitters to end war look like animal fences. That creepy smile as each human is being weighed on a big meat scale.
I remember reading a theory somewhere about the "How can you translate a language you've never seen before" question - perhaps one of the Kanamites is a rebel who disapproves of his people's behaviour and left hints about the language (along with the book itself), so that humans would ultimately figure out the truth and do something about it.
I've been looking forward to this!
My dads favorite episode he loves the ones with a darker twist
I actually saw this referenced in a What a Cartoon short on Cartoon Network and the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror before seeing the actual episode.
And after seeing it, I completely understand it becoming part of our pop culture enough to be referenced as much as it has. ^__^
I'd like to think that the aliens killed her after the ship took off and covered up her disappearance so they can continue to ship humans to their planet for food.
Yeah, but the humans around her saw and heard what happened. I believe some would form a resistance.
Kind of a funny pun here - Cannamits vs. Cannibals - obviously baseball played a role in naming the aliens.
This was the very first episode of the Twilight Zone I saw. I saw it with my grandparents who saw it when it first came out and they still remembered the twist all those years ago.
Also, I just noticed that the person who plays the Japanese dignitary in this episode also portrayed that Japanese commander in "A Quality of Mercy".
Finally!!! I have been waiting for this episode all October!!!
I'll always remember this one, and a few others. I always liked "The Howling Man", and "Stopover in Quiet Town". So many great episodes with many twists.
Eye of the Beholder is my favorite due to the way it is filmed... HOWEVER... This episode is just PURE GENIUS 🖤🖤🖤
I hope when/if Doug does a Twilight Zone movie review he invites you over. This episode is great, even with the little plot hole
One of the most famous twists in sci fi and still worth talking about 60 years later. What I'd give to actually see the reactions of viewers at the time.
I can't remember its name, but the episode where the woman gets facial reconstruction and has her head wrapped up most of the episode has an insane, well-known twist too. I'd put it up there with the ones you mentioned :)
The episode was called "The Eye of the Beholder"
@@jtilton5 Thank you! Yes, it sounds super familiar now. Appreciated!
This is the episode I’ve been waiting for a discussion on all month. What an absolute classic.
I’ll admit, though, I didn’t know that was Richard Kiel as the aliens. That’s such a fun detail, elevated by the fact that this is the second time this month a Bond villain has appeared in a Zone episode
I was lucky enough to never have this twist spoiled for me before I watched the episode. I knew there had to be one eventually, but they still managed to surprise me with how out of the blue it was!
1:55 Awww! Not even a nod to Madagascar’s use of “To Serve Man”?!
Most people wouldn’t remember it from Madagascar…. it had already been parodied for decades before Madagascar was even written
I gotta admit, I laughed when I heard the cookbook line, maybe because it was just so unexpected. Great episode. Unique for the show.
‘How to Cook Humans’
‘How to Cook For Humans’
‘How to Cook Forty Humans’
‘How to Cook For Forty Humans’
(‘The Simpsons’,
‘Treehouse of Horror’)
even when you know the twist, to me, the tension is so well done that it's still shocking.
I remember a cartoon and one of the characters yells:It's a cookbook!!
And someone answers:It's been done!!
Probably my favorite episode. The first time I watched it when i was younger the twist ending freaked me out and kept me up at night.
I vividly remember reading the short story this episode was based on for high school English class because of that unforgettable twist. Then when I watched this episode some time later it turned out that my friend from the same class, Mike Chambers (still buds, btw, real cool guy), had the same name as the main character. That always gave me a chuckle.
I remember that I saw a million spoofs of this before I ever saw the real thing, and I actually saw it in a class about writing good scifi. It was something like "The Fiction of Science Fiction" or something I took in college and we had a blast in that class. It was the same class, every day for the entire month of January and basically all we did was write stories with themes based on scifi classics. And when we weren't reading/writing, we were watching classic scifi stuff. Though I think my favorite story is still "There will come soft rains" or something akin to that in name. But that story makes me think of the Twilight Zone so much and I always picture it in Black and White despite it being a written story and it having no reason to be in Black and White.
Another of the all-time classics of the series.
My parents actually got to meet Richard keol in Vegas and he was very nice and he was about the same age as my grandmother. My dad even got a picture of him pretending to be Jaws to fighting his neck. Richard had to put his hands around my dad's head and he's not a guy that gets scared often but he said he almost s*** his pants on how terrifying it was that he could break his neck in any second with his big hands.
Thank you for the video.
3:42, which the VFX are still impressive to this day.
This is one of my favorite episodes
Great episode
Michael Chambers at the beginning of the episode: “you’re probably wondering how I found myself in this situation”
I wonder why he didn’t mention the wider implications of this episode. Did he chicken out or am I just crazy to think this has nothing to do with aliens?
I remember watching this episode on the sci fi channel when I was a kid I was lucky enough for it not to be spoiled ! I was shook for a bit after the credits rolled.
To serve man one of my all time favorites
Saw this when it first aired. Scared by crap out of me then, and still does.
Joseph Ruskin. Great voice. Thanks for letting us know twas his voice for the Kanamits. I had no idea.
I’m glad I watched this episode without knowing the twist.
I like how Patty pushed and shoved through the crowd to tell one person instead of tell the whole crowd
If she had done that, it would have created panic possibly. Some would have panicked or blocked her way. Some would confront her possibly as well. They would ask her or stop and question her. The aliens would also have tried stopping her. Doing it this way was the fastest way to warn him. He was also about to get onto the ship and knew that it would soon be leaving based on the time he was boarding it. There was also a bit of flirting that insinuated that she cared for him. Which is why her focus was to warn him first instead of the other people around him. I'm not exactly sure what the guy felt about her because he decided to get on this ten year rotation list or something. Which is a long time and ridiculous. I guess he was close to her also. However not close enough apparently. It took me a few times to watch this and then I came to this realization. If you worked with an attractive female that cared about you, why would you go on this trip. There is no male or hardly any male that would just take a long trip, if they were working closely with a female coworker practically by themselves for the most part. It seemed they spent time in a room alone together for the most part. It really doesn't make sense. Since I'm sure they were both single also. I can only assume that he didn't feel as strongly about her as she did about him. I just don't believe a single male would go visit a planet full of weird looking aliens rather than be with a beautiful woman, unless he was not a straight male of course.
One of my top 5 favorite episodes of Twilight Zone....scared the hell out me when I was a kid....
When I was a child is a TV series V came on.... An episode 1 I literally turn to my dad and said didn't anyone ever see the Twilight zone episode how to serve mankind.... You know by the end of the series they're going to be eating people lol
I saw that series (V) as a child too and it was really memorable to me! Formed some of my first impressions of aliens disguised as humans and how I would want to write about them.
I had not watched this one, chilling episode.