The Shelter - Twilight-Tober Zone
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2022
- "The Shelter" is a unique episode of The Twilight Zone because it has no alien, monster or supernatural threat, but still leaves you with that uneasy feeling. Join Walter as he discusses this episode in the Twilight-Tober Zone.
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"The Shelter" is episode 68 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on September 29, 1961. It is one of the few Twilight Zone episodes to feature no supernatural or sci-fi elements.
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What did you think of "The Shelter"? Good? Great? Ok?
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Another 1 of my Top 10 favorites given how "real" this 1 is since (as Walter says) its 1 of the few with no supernatural elements.
I personally loved this episode. It shows just what damage humans are capable of inflicting when the chips are down, and although they later apologised, it has irreparably altered their relationships forever.
I freaking love this episode! It's way better than The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street in my opinion.
I like the part where the adults talking about how they need to survive is contrasted with the kids eating food and not caring about it at all.
But one nitpick I have is it doesn't make sense for them to battering the door down. Isn't the shelter not gonna be as good without a door?
It _really_ rings eerily and differently in a post-quarantine year, especially for people who opened their homes for friends and family members and then it all went south.
@@rogue7723 When I saw the episode, all I could think was "covid, covid, covid!"
Definitely one of my favorites. How they all panic to break down the door, how he locks them all out and I love how they try to sweep it under the rug like it’s a minor spat. Great example of human nature.
Indeed, I liked Bill's speech about how he doesn't know what normal is anymore, and how they'll likely all be emotionally damaged for years to come.
"A person is smart, people are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it..." (Jay, Meninblack) - th-cam.com/video/pRIIwJh1DDQ/w-d-xo.html
I love it and a couple other episodes like it because it's not just how people could act but how they really do act and behave. And this was something that was seen heavily by hollywood in particular but also other parts of society in recent rememberable history when this episode aired thanks to McCarthyism.
There's a point in mob mentality I've found portrayed in media where it switches from( we just don't wanna die) to ( if we can't be allowed to live then we are going to kill you too).
Also was a pretty crappy bomb shelter if a few people with a battering ram could get it down.
@@TheScarletSlayer that’s what I always thought too. This is supposed to withstand nuclear blast but a group of people with a stick or a dinning room table can break it down?
"I'm not one to love dark endings."
Hear that, Rod? You turned "bomb doesn't drop, everyone lives" into a dark ending. That's some good work there.
Another aspect of the show I like, is that The doctor is the only person who installed a bomb shelter. Everyone else didn’t worry about it and didn’t take precautions. Now, they attack the only guy who did. It says a lot about human nature. We like to be content and not face consequences. When we have to, we make someone else face them.
He might have been the only one who could afford it. Bomb shelters are expensive. Some of his neighbours don’t even have basements. That makes him more the bad guy. Hoarding everything for yourself might save you in the short term, but it is rather pointless in the long term. His son will always know that his father would have let his friends die just to keep him alive a bit longer. There is a reason they cut to his wife and son looking devastated. He has lost all credibility with them. Notice he is the one making all of the decisions! His wife and son have no say, even though those are their friends too. If you’re rich and you don’t share, you are in the wrong. End of story.
@@katherinegilks3880 He may be relatively wealthy compared to his neighbours but I highly doubt he was in a situation where he could afford a bomb shelter large enough for them all. He says himself that he couldn't share, there is just not enough food or water or space. It's a hard decision but I don't think that he made the wrong one. Ultimately he chose the welfare of his family over his friends, morals and principles.
@@katherinegilks3880 Did you watch the actual episode? In the episode It was clear he couldn't do anything to help them. There simply wasn't room for any people other than his family and their supplies. "Can you bring your own air?" If there was a bomb, and he let anyone else in, they ALL would have died in short order due to running out of oxygen. With just the people the shelter was built for, they'd survive the blast and the fallout.
@@katherinegilks3880 What are you talking about? He himself stated it wasn’t possible to take in everyone, there wouldn’t be nearly enough resources, not enough food, water, or oxygen, had he taken everyone in and the bomb dropped, I guarantee you not one person would come out of it alive. If I have to choose between my family and my friends/neighbors, I’ll take my family in a heartbeat.
The fact that you even made that statement makes me wonder if you watched the episode.
@@katherinegilks3880 His wife even made the point at what was the good at surviving the fallout. Frankly I agree with her. I would rather die than face the aftermath of a post apocalyptic war zone.
Probably one of the best episodes when it comes to how relevant it is for any time people have to react to a situation they don't totally understand.
Precisely, it's one of my favourite episodes, in that there's no supernatural elements, but we humans are the main source of trauma once danger is suspected
I was thinking of this when the Pandemic had first started. Seeing people fighting over the toilet paper and not knowing if we would ever get back to the way things were before the Pandemic.
I always saw this episode as a spiritual successor to The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street
Precisely, though I found this episode more realistic than "Maple Street", being that it contained no supernatural elements.
It’s a combination of that episode, and Rod Serling’s Suspense episode ‘Nightmare at Ground Zero’
I never realised that "The Simpsons" episode "Bart's Comet" was an entire reference to this installment. Although rather than the townspeople forcing their way into the shelter, Ned feels sorry for his neighbours, and invites them inside and it has a happy ending, unlike this episode.
They behave worse than the people here. Ned let's everyone in, and the moment the shelter gets too full, they throw HIM out. They repay his kindness by trying to kill him for their own benefit.
The interesting thing about that episode is the fact that if they had stayed in the shelter they would have died
It's ironic that they saved Ned's life by condemning him to what they believed was certain death. And they almost doomed themselves by making him let them all in. Also, they saved themselves by following Ned's example of leaving the "safety" of the shelter and embracing "death" as civilized people rather than fight each other in what would have become their tomb. Would have made for a great episode on that twilighty show about that zone.
@@TheFallenFaob What's really amazing is that this is exactly what Homer said would happen.
@@homopoluza I know. I'm scared too.
There is an one-shot manga by a Japanese author about a man who is offered a chance to buy a nuclear bunker. He and his family have a hard time to decide whether he should buy the bunker or not. At night, the man dream about all the scenario that could happen (how he gonna have to left a lot of people to their own fate if the bomb drop, how many people he could actually save, who should he prioritize,... ). In the end he decided to join the anti-war movement because he and his family just can't to be that heartless to let some people die while they survive. The twist is that the bunker sellers are aliens who are deciding about who they should save when the Earth got destroyed and they pick the man and his family because of their selflessness.
Oh very interesting! And what is the name of this manga ?
@@siung2001 Yeah, I'm curious as well! That sounds like an interesting premise -- and I like the idea that instead of simply preparing for the worst, you take steps to reduce the chance that the worst happens in the first place.
There’s something so enamoring yet terrifying about stories with this “the drowning man will always drags another” feel to them I can’t get enough
It’s like “if I can’t have this important thing, no one can!” But instead of a material object, it’s life and kindness itself!
Its bone chilling on such an inhumanly human level!
To be fair, the doc did tell them to take time off from all the social events and build their own shelters. He points out how none of them wanted to do so because it would mean admitting to the dangerous world and time they lived in. And now with that ever-present danger on its way, they are expecting him to make an infeasible compromise when I doubt they would do the same. Its like the Grasshopper (or Cicada) and the Ant. The Grasshopper danced and played while the Ant prepared for winter. When Winter came, the Grasshopper asked for asylum, but the Ant rightly refused.
Also, the doctors shelter is less a bomb shelter and more of a fallout shelter. My guess is their town is located close to a possible nuclear target. Not close enough to be caught in the blast, but still within range of the fallout that would come after. Although, if I were him, I would invest in a stronger door... and maybe some guns for personal safety.
The doctor's wife says they were 40 Miles from New York City and they knew it would be hit if a strike would occur.
@@SupermarketSweep777 Huh... Well that shelter ain't gonna do jack. But everyone is acting as though they only have radiation to worry about.
@@TRTMN-vs3ew Well yeah.
@@SupermarketSweep777 So they know since they are within the blast radius that shelter ain't doing squat.
@@TRTMN-vs3ew Not in the story but realistically yes.
This episode is one of my personal favorites, mostly because I was in a stage version of it in high school, playing both the doctor and the foreigner (we did a “cast A one night and cast B another night” thing) and I loved the experience! That, and also it had very little supernatural elements to it too, which is something I love.
Coolness, I never realised that it was a stage play. I'd say that it was great fun to perform.
@@trinaq it wasn’t. We adapted it into a version fit for the stage
@@justanotherchannelonyoutub126 Nice, it's really interesting to see a high school adapt a classic TV show episode for the stage
@@trinaq There was a radio version starring Ernie Hudson.
There's actually story in Fallout 4 similar to this: Basically some townsfolk go rabbid as they storm to a mayor's bombshelter. It does not end well as the mayor and his family are killed by the mob...as the bombs dropped.
The mayor actually took its own life before but there's no evidence of that, just her corpse is in the utility room next to the indoor basketball court
What a genius ending. I know you can say that about a lot of Twilight Zone episodes, but this is in a playing field all its own
*Back in the early 1970's, the teacher of my high school Social Studies class showed an instructional film that included "The Shelter" in its entirety, after which there was a class discussion over what we had seen. Just 10 years earlier, all the kids in that classroom had seen this Twilight Zone episode during its first run on TV - and so were mostly familiar with it. The kid in "The Shelter" was played by Michael Burns, who performed in a few notable youthful roles on TV and movies before becoming a college professor. After serving in that capacity for over 20 years, he and his wife moved to Kentucky, where they raise thoroughbred horses. He also serves as Vice-Chairman for Lionsgate Motion Pictures. He is now 76 years old.*
I’ve always considered “The Shelter” to be the single most realistic Twilight Zone episode ever made, not just because it COULD happen, but because it DID happen! Look up the 2018 Hawaii false missile alert. Rod was lightyears ahead of his time.
The doctor's wife asking why they should survive gave me chills. Humanity really lives or dies as one even if we think we are individuals.
Reminds me of the ending of... one of those apocalyptic movies, where a family races to find a way to survive and in the end they (along with a flood of other desperate people) have made it to the place where three gigantic arks have been built, only to be told that they're not allowed on. But with disaster just minutes away, the people on board consider the fact that they'll have to let these people drown, and someone questions whether we really want to start our new stage of human history with that type of blood on our hands, tell our children that that's how we survived... so they open the gates and let the people on, barely in time, and accept that they'll have to be more careful with provisions but will, ultimately, have made a better choice than the alternative.
It's not scalable -- having supplies for a few thousand could manage with a few hundred more, sure, but that doesn't mean you'll have supplies for the whole rest of the human race -- but it's a heartwarming thought, and well in keeping with that dilemma from the Batman movie clip in this review.
Fantastic episode. The fact that his neighbors complained about the noise he made constructing the shelter made it that much better. I don't think a modern retelling would have so much restraint at the end, with a hearty '**** you' and finger towards the door in mind.
I remember watching this in a high school class. This is an absolute classic.
I had a Theology teacher who showed our class this episode and Eye of the Beholder along with some other episodes of this show. Really valued the lessons this show could teach you about life and our perspective on morals and how we treat the people around us.
I agree The Shelter is better than The Monsters Are Due Are Maple Street because of its non exterrestrial catalyst and how you see the aftermath where the mob realizes their neighborhood "normality" is gone and will never come back.
This one is my very favorite episode in the whole series. This is what humanity really is, as depressing as it is.
It isn’t, though. Not everyone gets desperate. Not everyone raided stores for toilet paper, to evoke a more recent example. Not everyone thinks only of themselves or their immediate progeny. Just that’s what makes the news. Crowds descending on supermarkets makes for better viewing than people buying tissues or paper towel, installing bidets, or just waiting a couple weeks because they had enough toilet paper to get by. On a darker note, fire investigators have found plenty of people still at tables or other normal locations rather than all crowded at the exits (which are often still full of people due to bottlenecks). So it is just as much human nature to hide or stay put as it is to fight or flee. This episode was arguably written before this was well-known in psychology and sociology, but it isn’t a new thing. Again, people being nice or quietly resigned to their fate (or just plain confused) doesn’t make for good entertainment, sadly.
@@katherinegilks3880 I agree. At the end of the day, we are still human. Our impulses are different from everybody else. Not all of us would probably make the right decision under pressure but that doesn't mean all of us would. We just got to try to remain civil.
@@katherinegilks3880 Because rational people knew that the authorities are right and we aren't really going to run out of supplies. But if that was a real possibility who knows how they would react. We only know about who we are after we've been tested after all.
@@katherinegilks3880 well, not because you are a WOMAN ☕, but it's because you have a positive view about the world and it's creatures, like Batman you refuse to believe that people will go nuts on darker situations and help each other, as a part of the population will still remain some sense of racionality against the chaos that some like the joker or Mather nature can accomplish, and you are right, there will be a part of the population that will remain believing in unity, BUT, and here I break your heart lady, it's that you are the MINORITY, and you have to face that FACT, sorry but I am not talking about experience or stats, it's just plain simple truth, most of humans will go nuts, happened one time, happened plenty of time... And chances are that if you are on their path, you'll get swallowed by that very insane maniac group of people that you refuse to believe they exist, THEY EXIST AMD THEY ARE THE MAYORITY deal with that
"This is what all of humanity is, stupid animals, sheep, that have no thoughts beyond mindless comforts and panic stricken survival. How depressing that humility, art, compassion and sacrifice don't exist and are never shown in humans."
I remember having watched this as a history assignment. I really got into it, heck it got me into the twilight zone. I got so disturbed with how the characters were portrayed for the time. I believed that it showed how people could change when in desperation a little too real. I'm not sure what else I could say. I just really find this a favorite for me.
That's weird, I remember the ending differently. I remember everyone cramming inside the shelter, but being unable to close the door. After much debate, the owner of the shelter is forced out where he walks out singing, ready to accept his fate. Everyone ends up feeling so guilty, they all leave the shelter and join him in unity, until the threat passes. Don't know where I got that I ending from!
@UnWaifu never heard of it. Is it still on the air?
You confused The Twilight Zone episode with an episode of The Simpsons that parodied it.
@@melissacooper8724 the Sampson's, eh? I'll have to look into it.
I can say definitely this is one of the more sadder episodes for me. One of those few Twilight zone episodes where I don’t walk away thinking I heard a story that was impossible but good. It was more that it was probable and likely. Which is what made me sad. lol
This was another crazy episode about the horrors and possiblity of a nuclear war, where families beg one of their friends to let them into a bomb shelter.
It's still relevant today.
One of my favorite episodes...and despite the Cold War setting it is still relevant
This was my first introduction into the Twilight Zone during a marathon on the Syfy channel. This definitely makes me sad to know that this scenario could happen even today. Great acting by all.
Like in 2020?
@@LegendStormcrow Yes especially back in 2020.
@@LegendStormcrow Putin does remind us quite often he has nuclear weapons, yes. Don't you read the news?
@@mikshinee87 Surely he isn't as stupid as he professes.
If he's serious, he makes Biden look a genius and Trump a bastion of sanity and kindness.
Man this episode is chefs kiss
Another good episode I have to watch and it’s scary that anxiety can mess with you it’s a terrible feeling and I easily get paranoid and worry a lot, We are our own worst enemy and this episode is definitely a good lesson to learn about it especially from the Twilight Tober Zone, In all seriousness this would be a another great episode to watch.
Ah yes "The Mirror " episode! Don't worry they will cover that one before the month is through.
@@melissacooper8724 Thanks to Paramount plus I’ve been enjoying watching the twilight zone it’s engaging and I will watch the mirror episode sometime this month is it good?
@@matthewbuckley7757 Yes. It's about a dictator who gets paranoid because he keeps seeing his potential assassins in this magic mirror that once belonged to his predecessor whom he overthrown. I won't tell you how it ends but I guarantee it will make you think.
@@melissacooper8724 I will keep it in mind thank you, Also I should watch eyes of the beholder to
The very fact that they were demanding entrance, without any resources of water and food for 3 days, was the deal breaker...
Yes yes, it was only big enough for 3 people, however, in the time of need, people will always try pack together like mackerels...
They were neighbours, they had time to get stuff, but no, they got a superiority complex instead...
Wasted time, and straight up fumbling trough rose-tinted friendships...
And yes yes, they were panicking, but they still got time, it was not boombang run run to safety, but more like, something is coming time to brace for it, but no...
Humans... I swear...
It's their fault for not building their own shelters. They didn't have to leave their own homes and force themselves into another's.
You'd think they would've at least begged for the children to be allowed in! Probably still not enough resources for all of them. But that wasn't even suggested!
@@jlev1028 Exactly! At the start of the ep they were making fun of him for always working on his shelter! Not so funny after all, was it?
@@Yesica1993 fr
Definitely among my all time favorites. I agree that I like it better that “Monsters”. Love the tension in this one.
"Your a doctor, and you'll have Blood on your hands"
After 2020, you can really begin to understand how important that statement is. A doctor's job isn't to save everybody, it's to do what they can to the best of they're ability's.
Indeed. Their job is to help those they can help, even if others die before they can be helped.
Except he had the ability to help his neighbours, but chose not to. Saving just his wife and child is selfish and not what a doctor is supposed to do. If he had helped his friends, or even just the children, and then more people descended onto the shelter, your argument would make sense. He isn’t being chastised for not saving everybody - he is being chastised for not saving anybody.
@@katherinegilks3880 Didn't you watch the episode? He said the shelter only has room for three people. And his neighbors wasted time begging him to let him overflow said shelter instead of building their own.
that "ban tiktok nurses" sentiment is the essence of evil for me. I mean, it's so self-righteous
He had even warned his friends and neighbors ahead of time to build a shelter like he did. Even if it meant sacrificing some card parties a few nights a week.
I am reminded of a quote from Orson Scott Card, about writing people, rather than characters, when writing science fiction. and that there is a scale on which a writer measures the realism of the characters, based on how the reader responds internally.
it goes something like this:
"gee, those people are strange"
"gee, I didn't know people were like that."
and finally.
"yes. that is how people are."
First rule of prepping: Tell NO ONE what you have.
Also, when I watched the episode thanks to a helpful TH-cam channel, I found it interesting how "The Shelter" and "Shelter Skelter" (which aired 25 years later) paralleled each other. The former demonstrated the paranoia and irrationality of people who, when refused assistance, not only refused to be smart and make their own tools for survival but turn against each other via selfishness and hate. The latter, on the other hand, put the fault on the survivalist for being so consumed by paranoia that he not only was willing to isolate himself from everyone he loved but actually anticipated nuclear fallout to wipe out anyone he considered undesirable. And both episodes end with a fluke. You can tell how different times changed the concept. The original show aired in the midcentury where one of the biggest fears was mob mentality. And the succeeding series aired during the Reagan era where one of the biggest threats were paranoid gunmen who saw everyone - government officials, people of color, liberals, etc. - who didn't live up to their WASP ideals as out to get them.
That one was great. His prepping did pay off, and he was ultimately right about that much, but his extreme pride prevented him from accepting help when it was offered and his refusal for accepting assistance ultimately bit him.
This is a great episode with a creepy twist and that’s why I love it
Every time I watch this episode it reminds me of that Aesop's Fable of the grasshopper in the ant. How much his neighbors ridiculed him like the grasshopper did to the ant.
It's OURS, Charlie!
From what it seems, they did not even bring any food or water to the shelter, just expected to sit there and take.
I use this episode in the classroom. My students are always gripped by it. They like to argue over how much responsibility the doctor should take on for his fellow man.
This is one of my favourite episodes.
Also lovingly parodied in the Simpsons
Funny thing is during the Cold War few people built bomb shelters. And those who did were kind of thought of as weird by their neighbors. One of the reasons bomb shelters were not made in greater numbers was, well one factor, was peer pressure not to make one.
Blast from the Past deals with this topic very well. It's kind of a forgotten film. I haven't seen it recently enough to say if it's a great movie or not, but the premise is really interesting.
I believe this episode is relevant today as it was when it first aired. Especially in 2020 when the Coronovirus Pandemic first started! What saddened me was the ending. Even though there was no bomb their friendships were destroyed after showing their true colors in their panicky effort to survive.
man this series is so good
This is my Dad's favorite episode! I'm glad you covered it!
This is why a good prepper never brags about their stash.
The most memorable episode to me. Such a realistic scenario
Kinda remind me now on that one episode of the simpsons where everyone thought that a meteor will destroy everything and everyone went to flanders shelter to survive. Only difference was that Flanders let everyone in until it was too full and so everyone decide someone has to go and they decide it should be Flanders.
My favorite! We did a video on this at the beginning of the pandemic. The parallels are disturbing to say the least :(
Interesting episode. When faced with death, hidden prejudices are exposed among seemingly close friends and neighbors.
The boy is played by Michael Burns, who later
became known for playing Benji "Blue Boy" Carver
in the Dragnet 1967-70 episode The LSD Story.
This is the very first episode I watched. 6th grade teacher put it on to discuss moral dilemmas.
One of my favorite episodes. A big classic.
This one’s definitely one of my favorites I wouldn’t put it in my top 10 but it’s still a very strong episode.
Although hilariously enough when they were talking about UFOs in the beginning I thought they meant spaceships not missiles😂
Honest mistake we are watching the twilight zone
A very timeless episode
Even if everyone had been allowed into that fallout shelter, it wouldn't be long before everyone started behaving like wild animals in a cage.
That’s what I was thinking too. Everyone would only selfishly look out after their own wants and needs, and it would inevitably end in fighting anyway. Although the doctor has his own moments of utter selfishness, at the same time I can’t blame him for wanting to prioritize his family above all and thinking about THEIR needs first.
Hence his wife asking what the point of surviving is.
@Katherine Gilks not really, that was in consideration of the three of them in the shelter with everyone else outside. To which the doctor responded with the statement about their child having many years yet ahead of him.
I haven’t seen all of the episodes but I’ve seen most and this is the one that has always stuck with me.
I used to watch the all day marathons of the Zone that would air usually around New Year’s. So I never knew what seasons certain episodes were from. But so far this latest run has had a few that I remember.
This was parody in a Simpsons episode. Bart’s Comet
Anybody else think of the Simpsons episode with the meteor and Ned's shelter? Pretty sure that was partially inspired by this.
Highly underrated episode.
Underrated? Many consider this a classic of the series.
16 mm Shrine and Nervous are more along the lines of underrated TZ.
Thank you for the video.
Reminds me of the movie the mist.
Similar concept, with more of a war of the worlds or fallout game series concept of overly large creatures and insects more than a superman 4 twist.
That is one semi modern horror movie that I actually enjoyed over others.
Haven't seen split yet, though I heard good things about that one too.
It shows how easy and quickly people can turn against each other for survival..
One of my top episodes of the show and still as relevant today. Everything is nice when things are going well but people’s true character and in one instance in this ep the underlying racism comes out when faced with times of panic and survival.
I must admit this was never one of my favorites, but I can see why people like it.
Good timing posting this today
When you run out of TZ episodes will you do 'The Outer Limits' next. Love that series too.
Speaking of The Outer Limits, John McLiam of "The Shelter" is great playing a really annoying character in "Second Chance."
I seen The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street more than this episode. I only seen this episode maybe two or three times and this review is making me feel ashamed that I have not seen this episode more. Maybe it’s because this episode more darker for how realistic it is and at the right moment or should I say bad moment people you know and trust can become your worst enemy
One of the best episodes
Immediately thought of "Bart's Comet" with this premise
I disagree that the doctor was dooming his neighbors by not letting them in. They doomed themselves by not preparing for potential nuclear annihilation. Same goes with preppers today. I wouldn't blame them because I didn't prepare for a disaster. At some point we all have to take personal responsibility for our own lives and families.
The heck can you even do in this situation, it takes probably a year to build. If big bald P uses nuclear, my plan is to die burning down draft stations and not to say a word in my mother tongue in my life
The Shelter sounds more and more like 2020: a threat requiring quarantine and everyone proves they're either jerks or not.
I remember this episode vividly...
What an episode
I consider this the best and personal favorite. I like how the guy who owned the shelter said they could have had their own if they sacrifice some weekends building theirs. I love the Joker reference and how right he is, there were no good people here, just people trying to survive. If anything I would have welcomed the blast, it is better to die in the initial nuclear attack that survive it. The aftermath is where the horror starts.
Personal lesson for me is that its best not to mention if you have something for survival, your best friend can become your enemy within a matter of seconds when you deny them something they need but you need. I thought of famine situations where there is no food and what people will do to prevent their children and wife from starving to death. You will kill them for trying to take it or they will kill you. I always fear for this type of scenario in any kind of situation. Where I have to choose helping others to live and die or saving myself and watch others die.
I felt bad for all of them at the end. Friendship ruin, neighborhood trust gone, kids suffering from ptsd, a house destroyed.
A masterpiece of an episode. 🤌🤌🤌🤌
"it is better to die in the initial nuclear attack that survive it. The aftermath is where the horror starts. "
As a resident of an area with a prominent air force base less than 20 miles away (and prior to the mid 90s a supply depot about 4 miles away) I always figured we'd be bombed into oblivion from the get go and I'd rather die fast than slowly of radiation sickness or starvation.
There was another show similar to this but the man is home by himself when he is alerted to nuclear fallout and he locks himself in the bunker but come to find out it was an isolated event and they put a cement dome over the town and the man’s wife and kid were out of town so they didn’t get trapped under the dome. I wish I could remember the name of that show or the name of the episode
a classic that is still relevant today
Awesome
Thanks for the video!! See you later!! Stay safe
Another 1 of my Top 10 favorites given how "real" this 1 is since (as Walter says) its 1 of the few with no supernatural elements.
Harsh words, maybe, but I'm with Lamont Johnson on this one. I have a very low tolerance for the preachy stuff, and when Rod said at the end that there was "no moral" I was like, "Really?" I actually like the way "Maple Street" handled those themes way better.
For me is only the best episode of the twilight zone
About the battering ram working, read up on most home shelters of the era. I'm not so sure it's that unbelievable. Remember, this is the era of duck and cover. Useless things to make the public feel prepared were very common
I think what Serling did well with this episode is show just how terrifying it is when people are forced into a survival situation. Civilization allows us to be the best versions of ourselves if done right but if all of that is taken away then all of our philosophies, morals, religions and laws can’t protect from the one true Law of God which is the Law of Nature, survival of the fittest.
Survival is not pleasant, just look at any other animal species from predators to parasites; the fact that humans are the only creatures capable of civilizations is a miracle in and of itself and should never be taken for granted.
I loved this episode. One of my favourites. I agree, the most terrifying kinds are not monsters or ghosts, but things like these that can happen to you.
This was sort of how people reacted to the disease, in 2020. Beating each other up for simple necessities. As he said, " It's a nightmare." But it's also human nature too.
One of my favorite episodes. Fully shows the dark side of humanity
I completely agree. "The Shelter" is "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street" minus the annoying brat; and in that regard, it's SO much better. It's just as effective a mirror on human behavior as the other episode. The only difference is one centers around survival and the other around paranoia. Semi-sadly, I think "Maple Street" might actually have the edge because it has some more iconic visuals and a little bit more interesting cinematography/editing, but I still prefer the acting here.
Two things I loved. While the neighbors are all arguing about what to do, the camera cuts to two of the children sampling the birthday cake. It's such a minor directorial choice, but I adore it: it captures the innocence of youth while the adults bicker and panic around them. Lastly, the final shot of the trashed dining room with the upturned table is a great image that I wish they'd lingered on. It's a great contrast to the happy scene the show opened on only half an hour earlier.
As an effective and entertaining way to capture the anxiety of the Cold War, I can think of no better episode. And sadly, 60 years later this one has only become more relevant.
My father lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis. He remembers how people became more and more strained as the situation unfolded before their eyes. Two days into the crisis my dad was with my grandfather getting seed in Clermont, Florida. They went to a local bbq place in minneola for lunch and to their shock watched a five mile convoy of troop carriers, tanks, artillery trucks, etc. roll down US highway 27 as it was one of the few north south roads that went straight to Miami prior to the completion of the Florida Turnpike. He remembers the bomb drills that they would have at school and how one student was excessively beaten with a stick for refusing to get under his desk during the excercise. As in in the era where teachers were allowed to hit students it was considered excessive and my dad told me the fear that was in that teachers eyes and the anger in their voice stuck with him. “The Shelter” is one of the few Twilight Zone episodes he has trouble watching.
I did love this one, in some ways because there was no supernatural influences. This 100% (well, 99%, breaking down the door XD) could have happened. And I love the ending. Dark, yes, but of their own design. And they did live. They have an opportunity to better themselves. There will be scars that will never heal, but having been confronted with their own darkness, they're more self-aware.
Like the later episode Nothing in the Dark, this also showcases man's somewhat frustrating fear of death, and the monsters it turns them into. Also nice to see Jack Albertson.
6:53 Depending on how professional the building work was on the shelter, that door may not have been as durable as it looked. Don't forget, there was one point during the Cold War where people were even told "If the bomb drops and there's no shelter, just yank your front door off its fittings, run under the stairs and use the door to improvise a shelter" - I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have stopped ANYTHING!
an awesome ep of the fragility of human rationality in the face of oblivion
More true now than ever now.
Yes
Good
To be fair, sham bomb shelters were sold a lot during the cold war, so it's not unthinkable they could have forced the door.
It kinda says thar particular shelter wouldn't have worked anyways (like most of hone installed shelters at the time)
When you said, will you Wonka I was like holy crap. That’s Charlie’s grandpa. LOL
This episode is the perfect definition of “inhumanly human!”