What are your thoughts On Thursday We Leave for Home? Like it? Dislike it? Watch the new NC here - ua-cam.com/video/xwObktR_VrI/v-deo.htmlsi=EoLjLJp9tuc-TKEE Watch more Twilight-Tober Zone here - bit.ly/TwilightToberZone Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
This is my favorite episode of Season 4 since I feel it's the 1 where the story makes the most use of the hour long format without feeling stretched/padded to meet the run time. Also, as someone who was a fan of The CW series The 100, I enjoy the parallels between Captain Benteen & Octavia Blake in terms of how they become leaders of their people that don't want to give up their power.
I felt like I was on that dismal planet like the colonists. I was even raising my hand, shouting, "Me! Me! Me!" When Colonel Sloane asked everyone to raise their hands if they want to go home to Earth!
This is my absolte favorite Episode EVER. I thought "Oh Captain Benteen get'S a Problem/Challenge with ne New Arrived People" ...but NO Problem IS his Problem, what a great Twist of Expectation. "Better King of a Hell than Servant in Heaven"
@@ericjanssen394 I know. I said one almost expects to see him in this episode. I didn't say he actually does. But at least he does show up eventually; even if only in a cameo iirc.
In one scene where Colonel Sloane asked the colonists to raise their hands if they wanted to board the ship for Earth, I raised my hand and shouted, "Me! Me! Me!"
@@derekstein6193 exactly lol. Can’t believe rod or anyone else didn’t think of that. Though I guess that would make the plot not feasible because they wouldn’t be living in a barren overheated wasteland
This was my dad's favourite episode. We had a running joke where we'd reenact Benteen's final scene "I want to go... HOME." We started watch Twilight-Tober Zone in 2020, and he passed in 2021. I hope he enjoyed this episode from the stars!⭐️🥹
James Whitmore was amazing in this Twilight Zone episode, he was also amazing in “Them”, “Where the Red Fern Grows” and as Brooks in “The Shawshank Redemption”
As Sergeant Kinney in Battleground. "Hey beautiful (to him from another G.I.) have a cigar." Whitmore's character was looking pretty rough after days fighting the freezing cold with little or no supplies. It was amazing that for almost 50 years, James Whitmore always looked like a middle-aged man.
It's a little tragically funny that between Shawshank Redemption and this episode, James Whitmore played two characters who are trapped in confined situations, who are looked up to by their peers, and who is afraid of the world outside.
I made note of that and yes, they are oddly similar characters to each other. In their isolated little communities, they're esteemed and respected men. But just as Brooks outside Shawshank is just a "used up ex-con with arthritis in both hands who couldn't even get a library card if he tried", Benteen thinks he's nothing if he's not in charge of his people.
Benteen is one of the best and most complex characters Rod Serling ever created for the show. You admire this guy for his will and skill to keep his people alive all this time, you hate him for his willingness to keep these people trapped in this living hell just so he can keep his power over them and then you pity him for ending up marooned alone because he just couldn't let go of the reigns of leadership. And Whitmore plays all facets of the character perfectly. Oddly, he's similar to Whitmore's most famous role, at least for modern audiences; Brooks Hatlen from "Shawshank Redemption." Both are people who are so used to their roles in these isolated communities (really, trapped on a planet is kind of like being in prison) that they simply can't function outside of them.
What I like best about the character is that maybe it's not a desire for power per se, it's just that he doesn't know what to do with himself if he doesn't have that role since that's all he knows. And yes, very similar to Shawshank.
The reason the ending is so impactful is that he changes his mind, he goes back....too late. If they would have had him just be alone in the cave going mad at the end it would have been one thing, but to have him beg for the ship to come back? It hits home how people's stubbornness is their demise, yet preservation skills are stronger. How people can be blind not until the end, but until it's too late to actually do anything. Reminds me of "The view from halfway down".
You can't help but feel sorry for Benteen in the end, even if his own stubbornness caused his crew to abandon him. They gave him plenty of chances, but when they finally escape, he's left all alone, hoisted by his own Petard.
Colonel Sloane gets a good line about halfway through the episode that sums up Benteen nicely. "He thinks he's a god. And we're booting him out of his heaven."
Benteen had plenty of time to get ready to go like everyone else. Because of his foolishness, he got left behind because he didn't want to give up his power. They even told him that they will not come back for him if he didn't go with them.
Definitely the best one from season 4 and in my top ten of all time from TZ. I love when Captain Benteen talks about the earth and how beautiful it is. It makes you feel like you're in a special place. I also love stories where the hero turns into a somewhat villain by the end of it. Just an absolutely astonishing episode.
This is the review I have been waiting for. My very favorite twilight zone! This episode is so wonderfully acted. You can clearly see the pain and suffering of the people. Jo Helton saying that “there is a ship coming” while trying to believe it is absolutely magnificent. Benteen’s description of earth is for me the high point of the series. I am so thankful this was a hour episode. Great review!
I feel for Benteen. He kept them together displaying strength, courage, and sacrifice. He seems less like a tyrant holding onto power than a father who isn't ready to see his children grow up and leave him.
I have been waiting for this review so much because I freaking loved this episode. I saw it for the first time in 2021, so the captain's reluctance to return to Earth felt like a parallel to being afraid to go back into the world after quarantine, which is a fear I admittedly had a little bit. And what makes it even better is the episode takes place in 2021.
Benteen can pass the time alone on that planet, singing 🎵"I'm getting closer to my home"🎵 more times than Grand Funk Railroad did, if such a thing is possible.
This is my favorite episode of Season 4 since I feel it's the 1 where the story makes the most use of the hour long format without feeling stretched/padded to meet the run time. Also, as someone who was a fan of The CW series The 100, I enjoy the parallels between Captain Benteen & Octavia Blake in terms of how they become leaders of their people that don't want to give up their power.
This was one of my personal faves, even as a little kid when I first viewed it, and it always hurt my heart to see Benteen left alone down there as the parting shot pulled away; I’d headcanon that the ship would pull one orbit of the planet, the people would implore the captain to give Benteen one more go in honor of all he’d done for them, and they’d make one more landing where Benteen would come to his senses and board with them 😅🛸
They could also send word to command to send another ship since they finally know there's people there. Maybe after the time alone he'd be more grateful
I'd tune in for a Twilight Zone episode where every day becomes Thursday. No fancy time loops or anything, just a simple declaration by everyone claiming: "It's Thursday." Say goodbye to weekends, TGIFs, Garfield's Monday blues, Taco Tuesdays, lazy Sundays, and humpdays. It's all just Thursday from now on.
I empathize with Bentsen because his strong leadership keeps the people on the colony together, but he also using his leadership to try keep the people from leaving the planet; it’s all Benteen knows how to be: a leader, going back to Earth, Benteen won’t be one anymore, won’t be what he was, won’t be what he’s been all his life and that is why it is difficult for him to let go
He even hoped that he would still be their leader when they got back to Earth. Sort of like Jonestown. Unfortunately, the colonists had other ideas. They wanted to reunite with loved ones they left behind on Earth.
I'm pretty sure this was the first season 4 episode I ever saw. I misremembered it as being the only season four episode I saw, until hearing these reviews made me remember seeing at least two others. Looks like I lucked out that my first hour-long Twilight Zone episode was the best one and it was truly meant to be an hour long story. it wouldn't be the same if it were a half hour. It occurred to me while listening to this review that this episode is a very good example of the tragic hero trope we learn about in highschool English class. Bentine was in a position of nobility as a the kindhearted leader of a colony that depends on him, but he has a fatal flaw (his dependence on being the leader) which leads to a tragic downfall. You feel bad for him because he started out as a genuinely good person but losing his power corrupted him (kind of the opposite of the power corrupts trope, he was a good leader until loss of control corrupted him). And right up until the end, his nemesis still wants to help him and bring him home to Earth. he waits as long as he can for Bentine to come to his senses. Then Bentine finally comes to his senses and wants to go home but it's too late. the tragedy of him waiting just a few minutes too long to finally realize the error of his ways really hits hard.
I recently came back across an old TV show I forgot about called Monsters that was on SciFi back in the late 80's. If you're a Twilight Zone fan definitely worth checking out or idea as a new October series once youre through all the Twilight Zone episodes
Liked Benteen. Great man that did sacrificed for others. IMO don’t think the character had family to go back to on Earth so I think he felt afraid of being alone without his colony on earth so that’s why he desperately tried to hold on to his colony.
I liked him, too. That's part of what makes the episode sad. He was controlling in some ways but not egregiously so. He was good to them overall. They could've just tied his crazy self up and brought him with them but he was playing games hiding in that cave at the last minute 😒
This is not just my favorite hour-long, but my favorite TZ as well. I think that, beyond the "holding onto power" story, there's a greater moral about people who insist that privation is an inherently good thing, that any kind of joy leads to hedonism. Also, there's one exchange that wasn't quoted, but that I think is particularly appropriate at this time: Benteen: "The Earth...is it still green?" Sloan: "It's still green!" Benteen: "And the cities?" Sloan: "And the cities still stand!" Benteen: "And war?" Sloan: "As always. One flares up here, another dies down there...but through hard work and the grace of God we never had the hydrogen war."
Captain Benteen was a noble leader who fell victim to his own madness. Given he was tasked for thirty years of keeping people from giving into despair on a desert planet with two suns…hmmm…in a galaxy far far away somewhere? 🤔
Matthew Broderick was Inspector Gadget..functioning sociopath who always wins: Ferris Beauler..Adult Simba; Disney's lion king..and the nemesis of Godzilla himself..and now i learn his dad chilled on the set of the Twilight Zone in one of its better later episodes.. HOW IS THIS MAN'S LEGACY SO FREAKING EPIC FOR WHO HE IS!!!! THAT feels like the premise of a Twilight Zone episode on its own!if they ever make a Space Quest live action movie, he NEEDS to play Rodger Wilco, cause he has that shict DOWN man!
For some reason this one really affected me. The guy was in charge for so long and couldn't let go. The last scene where everyone's left and he realises too late that he doesn't want to stay was heartbreaking. It's like when someone has been in a job for so long that they have no life when it ends and they are lost. I read Arsene Wenger's autobiography and it sounds like his job took over so much that he basically sacrificed his marriage. When he finally left he had nothing to do so he had to go around his friends house for lunch just to have something to do.
Nice review, and I think this is the only episode worthy of a whole hour. To be honest, I think the Twisted moral here is the old saying that it's better to rule in Hell than serve in heaven❤
I couldn't wait till you got to this episode I really really really really really really love the first time I saw during the Twilight Zone episode marathon I really really really really really really loved it that ending with him screaming out to the sky saying don't leave me here more frightening than any horror movie can you imagine left alone on a hot searing Rock for all of eternity you could have been a hero he could have rode a best-selling book and been a celebrity on Earth I am for years Play the movie about him to remain behind in the Twilight Zone
Tim O'Connor (sloane) was a close friend of my father's for my entire childhood. He was an absolutely lovely man. He had great stories from his long career if you prodded him, but would never dish dirt or gossip, which frustrated me greatly! Really a good and very funny man.
Definitely the best episode of season 4. i remember that the first time I saw it I was terrified that Benteen would sabotage the ship stranding them all there.
Man, this episode would do well with a reimagining in the form of a Wall-E sequel. I always imagined it would be about humans struggling with returning to their home and no longer being dependent on their captain or technology, with some having second thoughts and wanting to remain on the ship.
My number 38 episode. James Whitmore was a great actor. He also played an authoritarian figure in TV show about this time. He kidnaps a young troublemaker (played surprisingly well by Frankie Avalon). He certainly did a fine job here, but suffers for his arrogance. The scene where he tells the little boy about Earth was heartbreaking 😢
At that time, he reverts back to being a little kid trying to destroy a toy he can't play with any longer. And it's really a pathetic sight to behold. And then you get Al Baines (the guy played by Matthew Broderick's dad) begging him to "let loose, Captain, for everyone's sake, let loose!" Meaning, "You don't have to bear this burden any longer, Captain, you can put the leadership aside." But Benteen can't and that dooms him.
This was one the best episodes of the entire series - maybe the best. Everything about it worked, and James Whitmore has to be one of the most underrated actors in history.
One of my favorites of the fourth season. The underground set was built for The Time Machine (1960) - recognize the Morlock caves? I think you touched on many of my points. The settlement does treat Benteen as their father figure, practically their god, and Benteen accepted it as normal. And then Sloane arrives. Both men are accustomed to command, and Sloane is willing to give Benteen every benefit of the doubt because the colonists believe in Benteen, need Benteen. Sloane is willing to accept Benteen's attitude ... up to a point. "[Benteen's] really quite a guy, you know. Quite a guy. He just has one aberration: He thinks he's a god. And we're booting him out of his heaven." Nevertheless, Sloane treats Benteen with the respect that Benteen deserves. But when Benteen's "aberration" gets in the way of his job, Sloane can no longer coddle Benteen. And Benteen simply cannot accept that. Because he never had to. The colonists wonder what has happened to their Captain, why he has changed so much. But Benteen has not changed. This is what Benteen always was. But when the colonists needed him, that "aberration" kept them alive. The colonists needed Benteen, needed his fatherly hand, his commanding presence, his assurances that all will be well, that they WILL make it through this. Some do give up hope, but those who remain owe that entirely to Benteen, and the colonists know it. It was his anger, his strength, his power that kept the colonists alive. But when Sloane can give them a world where "when you pray to God, his name won't be Benteen!" the colonists realize that there is an alternative. Now, however, Benteen needs them in a way that he never has before. And when the colonists abandon Benteen, he remains convinced that even if he chose to stay, the colonists would too. Benteen calls the colonists his "children," but they are not children any longer. And when he is alone in the caves, he tries to stay "sane" with that anger, that strength, that power. But he finally realizes that it's all an illusion, and when he rushes out calling out "Don't leave me here!", it's far too late,. And with everything at last totally spent, he can only whisper "I want to go home." As Serling said, Benteen is no longer a god - just "a population of one." I think this is definitely one of Serling's finest character studies, which was always his greatest strength as a writer. Serling was no science fiction writer. He was a writer of the human condition. How we react to different stimuli - on earth, on some strange unknown planet, in our present, the far future, the distant past. Sometimes we escape unharmed and unchanged, and sometimes, we are left with just our hubris and our fantasies. And when the latter happens, there is no escape. I loved this episode.
Since S4 was never syndicated in reruns, the only traces of S4’s existence I saw growing up was when two of the Serling-written hour episodes were repackaged as a syndicated two-hour TV-movie, “Return to the Twilight Zone”: He’s Alive, and this one. In retrospect, I think that’s all you really CAN say about S4 for the record, although I don’t know if Death Ship and Jess-Belle were ever similarly repackaged.
When Joe Joe asks the captain to tell the people about earth, I can’t help but feel sorry for him. He stays behind on the asteroid because he can’t bear the fact that he is no longer a messiah to the people who depended on him for everything. It’s a great Twilight Zone episode. 😮
Could this episode have inspired the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “Ensigns of Command” (S3E2) in which Dat tries to convince a group of humans on a hostile planet to leave before the Sheliak Corporate, who have the right to the planet arrive and remove them, i.e. exterminate them, and the leader refuses to let anyone leave.
This is among the spectacular hour long episodes. I wish someone would have mentioned how could Benteen survive on his own long term. November 3rd 2023 2:00 PM Central Time
My only issue with this episode is the logic. Why would you settle on a planet with 2 sun's? That's like looking at Pluto and saying "Yeah, no problem's living there". Think it would have made more sense if they crashed on the planet.
A twist which might have been effective is if it was a lie and Earth was terrible, so it would have been better if everyone stayed on the desert planet
@@Jai137Exactly that. Sloane's speech best sums it up; Earth isn't a complete paradise and there will be problems, but you'll be free to make your own way and won't have a self-appointed god figure bossing you around.
I realized there is some good symbolism here. The salt flats of the planet represent salt being used to preserve things and cause everything to be simplic. The never setting suns represent how the light must never waiver. And the captian holds fast and unyielding, having them chanting the same thing, keeping things the same. They also live in refrigerators since refrigeration is a way to preserve food. The fact he turns bad represents how you can't keep it forever. The ship represents new technology, especially that magnesium band which could represent vitamin supplements. Also, when they're under his command, they're in one straight line, barely surviving on old tech, but later they're all over the place embracing new tech. The ironic fate is made all the more tragic because unlike so many others, his defining trait wasn't acquired out of vanity or greed, it was responsibility.
I remember that Sloan told the colonists that the classrooms have televisions in them. In reality, there were already TVS in the classrooms in the 1990s!
It’s amazing these last three episodes how they go. First, we start off with this one which is easily one of the best of the season. Then the next episode is a wasted opportunity that feels unfinished. I’m currently watching the last one and I’m not even five minutes in because I have to keep stopping every five seconds because oh my god this could be the worst of a bunch . We need to end with this episode for the season finale not with what there doing now
I hope you'll do an episode on Season 5 episode 33: "The Brain Center at Whipple's". The Reason: the episode addresses the concern that has been talked about this past year and has been one of the subject of science fiction - "Will the working man be replaced by Artificially Intelligent machines?" With Artificial Intelligent programs able to generate original artwork and literature, with the Walt Disney Company becoming more invested in animatronics, and with the SAG-AFTRA Strike 2023, is the birth of the intelligent machine slowly becoming a reality?
What are your thoughts On Thursday We Leave for Home? Like it? Dislike it?
Watch the new NC here - ua-cam.com/video/xwObktR_VrI/v-deo.htmlsi=EoLjLJp9tuc-TKEE
Watch more Twilight-Tober Zone here - bit.ly/TwilightToberZone
Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
This is my favorite episode of Season 4 since I feel it's the 1 where the story makes the most use of the hour long format without feeling stretched/padded to meet the run time. Also, as someone who was a fan of The CW series The 100, I enjoy the parallels between Captain Benteen & Octavia Blake in terms of how they become leaders of their people that don't want to give up their power.
I felt like I was on that dismal planet like the colonists. I was even raising my hand, shouting, "Me! Me! Me!" When Colonel Sloane asked everyone to raise their hands if they want to go home to Earth!
This
is my absolte favorite Episode EVER.
I thought "Oh Captain Benteen get'S a Problem/Challenge with ne New Arrived People" ...but NO Problem IS his Problem, what a great Twist of Expectation.
"Better King of a Hell than Servant in Heaven"
The Twilight Zone crew really made good use of those Forbidden Planet materials.
Preach, at least they didn't let them go to waste!
One almost expects Robby the Robot to come walking in at any moment during this episode too.
@@jasontoddman7265Sorry, he doesn’t show up until “Brain Center at Whipple’s”. 😛
@@ericjanssen394 I know. I said one almost expects to see him in this episode. I didn't say he actually does. But at least he does show up eventually; even if only in a cameo iirc.
And when people visit that rock, they’ll see somewhere written in the cave, “Benteen was here.”
"But no Red, because Red was smart enough to get on the fucking ship."
Maybe Brooks is an older cousin or relative of Benteen, who knows.
😂
💀😭🤣😂😅
Forget about what Earth is like or how Benteen acts, I'd bail on that planet just to experience night again.
With the twin suns, I'd say it's like Tatooine, but even Tatooine has nights.
In one scene where Colonel Sloane asked the colonists to raise their hands if they wanted to board the ship for Earth, I raised my hand and shouted, "Me! Me! Me!"
It’s a tidally locked planet. If you’re gonna settle on one of those, at least settle on the prime meridian
@@goldenfiberwheat238Don't you mean the Twilight Zone?
@@derekstein6193 exactly lol. Can’t believe rod or anyone else didn’t think of that. Though I guess that would make the plot not feasible because they wouldn’t be living in a barren overheated wasteland
This was my dad's favourite episode. We had a running joke where we'd reenact Benteen's final scene "I want to go... HOME." We started watch Twilight-Tober Zone in 2020, and he passed in 2021. I hope he enjoyed this episode from the stars!⭐️🥹
Beautiful
James Whitmore was amazing in this Twilight Zone episode, he was also amazing in “Them”, “Where the Red Fern Grows” and as Brooks in “The Shawshank Redemption”
As Sergeant Kinney in Battleground. "Hey beautiful (to him from another G.I.) have a cigar." Whitmore's character was looking pretty rough after days fighting the freezing cold with little or no supplies. It was amazing that for almost 50 years, James Whitmore always looked like a middle-aged man.
It's a little tragically funny that between Shawshank Redemption and this episode, James Whitmore played two characters who are trapped in confined situations, who are looked up to by their peers, and who is afraid of the world outside.
I made note of that and yes, they are oddly similar characters to each other. In their isolated little communities, they're esteemed and respected men. But just as Brooks outside Shawshank is just a "used up ex-con with arthritis in both hands who couldn't even get a library card if he tried", Benteen thinks he's nothing if he's not in charge of his people.
“Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
@@hitmanmonaghan6633 That's damn right.
@@hitmanmonaghan6633Sounds familiar . Where is that from?
@@jeffreyberkin-ez3uh Shawshank Redemption. Excellent film
Benteen is one of the best and most complex characters Rod Serling ever created for the show. You admire this guy for his will and skill to keep his people alive all this time, you hate him for his willingness to keep these people trapped in this living hell just so he can keep his power over them and then you pity him for ending up marooned alone because he just couldn't let go of the reigns of leadership. And Whitmore plays all facets of the character perfectly.
Oddly, he's similar to Whitmore's most famous role, at least for modern audiences; Brooks Hatlen from "Shawshank Redemption." Both are people who are so used to their roles in these isolated communities (really, trapped on a planet is kind of like being in prison) that they simply can't function outside of them.
What I like best about the character is that maybe it's not a desire for power per se, it's just that he doesn't know what to do with himself if he doesn't have that role since that's all he knows. And yes, very similar to Shawshank.
@@christophertheriault3308
It must be terrible to find your place in Life... and get robbed of it
The reason the ending is so impactful is that he changes his mind, he goes back....too late.
If they would have had him just be alone in the cave going mad at the end it would have been one thing, but to have him beg for the ship to come back?
It hits home how people's stubbornness is their demise, yet preservation skills are stronger. How people can be blind not until the end, but until it's too late to actually do anything.
Reminds me of "The view from halfway down".
That's an amazing summary
You can't help but feel sorry for Benteen in the end, even if his own stubbornness caused his crew to abandon him. They gave him plenty of chances, but when they finally escape, he's left all alone, hoisted by his own Petard.
Karma at its finest
Colonel Sloane gets a good line about halfway through the episode that sums up Benteen nicely.
"He thinks he's a god. And we're booting him out of his heaven."
Benteen had plenty of time to get ready to go like everyone else. Because of his foolishness, he got left behind because he didn't want to give up his power. They even told him that they will not come back for him if he didn't go with them.
He kind of looks like Kirk Douglas.
He played brooks in shawshank - didn’t want Ti leave his prison there too
Definitely the best one from season 4 and in my top ten of all time from TZ. I love when Captain Benteen talks about the earth and how beautiful it is. It makes you feel like you're in a special place. I also love stories where the hero turns into a somewhat villain by the end of it. Just an absolutely astonishing episode.
This is the review I have been waiting for. My very favorite twilight zone! This episode is so wonderfully acted. You can clearly see the pain and suffering of the people. Jo Helton saying that “there is a ship coming” while trying to believe it is absolutely magnificent. Benteen’s description of earth is for me the high point of the series. I am so thankful this was a hour episode. Great review!
Much like with "The Midnight Sun", they do a good job of making everybody seem sweaty and miserable 24/7.
Me too!
I highly concur. While Season 4 had its moments, it didn't really have many memorable episodes, yet this one was truly the best of the bunch.
I feel for Benteen. He kept them together displaying strength, courage, and sacrifice. He seems less like a tyrant holding onto power than a father who isn't ready to see his children grow up and leave him.
Yes, well said.
And with what he done for them, realistically it would've compelled them to take him hostage and get him on that ship!!!
It looks like Benteen has suffered from....SPACE..... MADNESS!
I suddenly had an image of Bentine eating a bar of soap and screaming that he's had it since he was a little child. Thank you😂😂😂
"Oh, my beloved ice cream bar!"
I have been waiting for this review so much because I freaking loved this episode. I saw it for the first time in 2021, so the captain's reluctance to return to Earth felt like a parallel to being afraid to go back into the world after quarantine, which is a fear I admittedly had a little bit. And what makes it even better is the episode takes place in 2021.
Benteen can pass the time alone on that planet, singing 🎵"I'm getting closer to my home"🎵 more times than Grand Funk Railroad did, if such a thing is possible.
😆I remember that, wondering if they'd ever finish the song.
This is my favorite episode of Season 4 since I feel it's the 1 where the story makes the most use of the hour long format without feeling stretched/padded to meet the run time. Also, as someone who was a fan of The CW series The 100, I enjoy the parallels between Captain Benteen & Octavia Blake in terms of how they become leaders of their people that don't want to give up their power.
This is one of the hour long episodes that benefits from the longer run, because it allows for some excellent character development.
Yeah, octavia went mad with power and kept clinging to keep it even when there was a better solution. You can definitely see parallels. Good catch😊
This is the episode of TZ that got me into the series. I saw it on TV, and it instantly became one of my fave episodes. It still is today.
Benteen is played by Brooks, aka James Whitmore from The Shawshank Redemption.
Oh yeah. They had Rocky's coach on a few episodes and Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka. I looked them up and was like, "oh yeah" for each one.
This was one of my personal faves, even as a little kid when I first viewed it, and it always hurt my heart to see Benteen left alone down there as the parting shot pulled away; I’d headcanon that the ship would pull one orbit of the planet, the people would implore the captain to give Benteen one more go in honor of all he’d done for them, and they’d make one more landing where Benteen would come to his senses and board with them 😅🛸
They could also send word to command to send another ship since they finally know there's people there. Maybe after the time alone he'd be more grateful
@@Kahtisemo i never thought of Beneen as ungrateful: He gave everything to help his People... sadly, he has nothing left for a personal life
I'd tune in for a Twilight Zone episode where every day becomes Thursday.
No fancy time loops or anything, just a simple declaration by everyone claiming: "It's Thursday."
Say goodbye to weekends, TGIFs, Garfield's Monday blues, Taco Tuesdays, lazy Sundays, and humpdays.
It's all just Thursday from now on.
This month has been awesome thanks to you guys🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
I empathize with Bentsen because his strong leadership keeps the people on the colony together, but he also using his leadership to try keep the people from leaving the planet; it’s all Benteen knows how to be: a leader, going back to Earth, Benteen won’t be one anymore, won’t be what he was, won’t be what he’s been all his life and that is why it is difficult for him to let go
He even hoped that he would still be their leader when they got back to Earth. Sort of like Jonestown. Unfortunately, the colonists had other ideas. They wanted to reunite with loved ones they left behind on Earth.
@@melissacooper8724 I thought of that metaphor, too.
I'm pretty sure this was the first season 4 episode I ever saw. I misremembered it as being the only season four episode I saw, until hearing these reviews made me remember seeing at least two others. Looks like I lucked out that my first hour-long Twilight Zone episode was the best one and it was truly meant to be an hour long story. it wouldn't be the same if it were a half hour.
It occurred to me while listening to this review that this episode is a very good example of the tragic hero trope we learn about in highschool English class. Bentine was in a position of nobility as a the kindhearted leader of a colony that depends on him, but he has a fatal flaw (his dependence on being the leader) which leads to a tragic downfall. You feel bad for him because he started out as a genuinely good person but losing his power corrupted him (kind of the opposite of the power corrupts trope, he was a good leader until loss of control corrupted him). And right up until the end, his nemesis still wants to help him and bring him home to Earth. he waits as long as he can for Bentine to come to his senses. Then Bentine finally comes to his senses and wants to go home but it's too late. the tragedy of him waiting just a few minutes too long to finally realize the error of his ways really hits hard.
I think that this is the best of the hour long episodes.
The first TZ episode I ever watched back in High School Film Club, the good old days.
This episode was so sad. The actor who played the leader was so good. Ugh this one was tough to finish cuz you knew what was going to happen
I recently came back across an old TV show I forgot about called Monsters that was on SciFi back in the late 80's. If you're a Twilight Zone fan definitely worth checking out or idea as a new October series once youre through all the Twilight Zone episodes
My friend is Buzz Kulik’s great nephew! I’ll ask him to ask his grandmother about Daniel!
Liked Benteen. Great man that did sacrificed for others. IMO don’t think the character had family to go back to on Earth so I think he felt afraid of being alone without his colony on earth so that’s why he desperately tried to hold on to his colony.
I liked him, too. That's part of what makes the episode sad. He was controlling in some ways but not egregiously so. He was good to them overall.
They could've just tied his crazy self up and brought him with them but he was playing games hiding in that cave at the last minute 😒
This is what people who are earnestly trying to do a good job look like,that huge cast brought their a game
This is not just my favorite hour-long, but my favorite TZ as well. I think that, beyond the "holding onto power" story, there's a greater moral about people who insist that privation is an inherently good thing, that any kind of joy leads to hedonism. Also, there's one exchange that wasn't quoted, but that I think is particularly appropriate at this time:
Benteen: "The Earth...is it still green?"
Sloan: "It's still green!"
Benteen: "And the cities?"
Sloan: "And the cities still stand!"
Benteen: "And war?"
Sloan: "As always. One flares up here, another dies down there...but through hard work and the grace of God we never had the hydrogen war."
Captain Benteen was a noble leader who fell victim to his own madness. Given he was tasked for thirty years of keeping people from giving into despair on a desert planet with two suns…hmmm…in a galaxy far far away somewhere? 🤔
This totally reminds me of that DS9 episode called "Paradise" S2E15.
I actually watched this video on 11/9/23. Thursday
Some people would rather die than admit they're wrong.
Matthew Broderick was Inspector Gadget..functioning sociopath who always wins: Ferris Beauler..Adult Simba; Disney's lion king..and the nemesis of Godzilla himself..and now i learn his dad chilled on the set of the Twilight Zone in one of its better later episodes.. HOW IS THIS MAN'S LEGACY SO FREAKING EPIC FOR WHO HE IS!!!! THAT feels like the premise of a Twilight Zone episode on its own!if they ever make a Space Quest live action movie, he NEEDS to play Rodger Wilco, cause he has that shict DOWN man!
Having eternal daytime instead of darkness is such a clever reversal!!! I love that!
I love this The Twilight Zone episode!
For some reason this one really affected me. The guy was in charge for so long and couldn't let go. The last scene where everyone's left and he realises too late that he doesn't want to stay was heartbreaking.
It's like when someone has been in a job for so long that they have no life when it ends and they are lost. I read Arsene Wenger's autobiography and it sounds like his job took over so much that he basically sacrificed his marriage. When he finally left he had nothing to do so he had to go around his friends house for lunch just to have something to do.
I had to Google up Arsene Wenger because I never heard of him! Either way, his career being his whole life is really sad!
Oh wow I actually remember this episode. One of my teachers showed it in class.
Such a magnificent episode. How brilliantly James Whitmore makes us care! A part of me wants to believe Sloan went back for him later.
Maybe he still can, if the radio isn't broken and he can wait many months without going crazy (or crazier).
Nice review, and I think this is the only episode worthy of a whole hour. To be honest, I think the Twisted moral here is the old saying that it's better to rule in Hell than serve in heaven❤
I think this could easily be expanded into a feature film. Add in a prologue, get a little bit to know the routine of daily life.
I couldn't wait till you got to this episode I really really really really really really love the first time I saw during the Twilight Zone episode marathon I really really really really really really loved it that ending with him screaming out to the sky saying don't leave me here more frightening than any horror movie can you imagine left alone on a hot searing Rock for all of eternity you could have been a hero he could have rode a best-selling book and been a celebrity on Earth I am for years Play the movie about him to remain behind in the Twilight Zone
Tim O'Connor (sloane) was a close friend of my father's for my entire childhood. He was an absolutely lovely man. He had great stories from his long career if you prodded him, but would never dish dirt or gossip, which frustrated me greatly! Really a good and very funny man.
Also, if you can see the boom mic you're watching it in the wrong aspect ratio.
Definitely the best episode of season 4. i remember that the first time I saw it I was terrified that Benteen would sabotage the ship stranding them all there.
Man, this episode would do well with a reimagining in the form of a Wall-E sequel. I always imagined it would be about humans struggling with returning to their home and no longer being dependent on their captain or technology, with some having second thoughts and wanting to remain on the ship.
My number 38 episode. James Whitmore was a great actor. He also played an authoritarian figure in TV show about this time. He kidnaps a young troublemaker (played surprisingly well by Frankie Avalon). He certainly did a fine job here, but suffers for his arrogance. The scene where he tells the little boy about Earth was heartbreaking 😢
His downfall and attempt to destroy the the ship with a metal pole is so pathetic.
At that time, he reverts back to being a little kid trying to destroy a toy he can't play with any longer. And it's really a pathetic sight to behold.
And then you get Al Baines (the guy played by Matthew Broderick's dad) begging him to "let loose, Captain, for everyone's sake, let loose!" Meaning, "You don't have to bear this burden any longer, Captain, you can put the leadership aside." But Benteen can't and that dooms him.
I love the zoom out shoot at end
This was one the best episodes of the entire series - maybe the best. Everything about it worked, and James Whitmore has to be one of the most underrated actors in history.
私も、あなたと同じくこのエピソードをシリーズ中、最高のエピソードだと思っていますが、日本では、これをあまり評価する人がいないのが不思議です。この作品は過小評価されすぎている。
Finally! The only one hour episode I really liked.
I remember this one being shorter, but I think tuned in about halfway, not sure.
0:37 2 suns? Did they land on tatooine?
Doesn't the sun set on that planet? The suns on this episode don't set
An old favorite. You really feel sorry for him in the end, he wasn’t bad guy or even really power hungry. He just wanted to be needed.
Respectfully, I disagree. Pride got him in the end.
I agree. This is the best S.4 episode.
Captain Benteen was a 7th Cavalry officer in Little Bighorn.
Are you gonna do Twilightober for The Twilight Zone 85' show?
Enjoyed this overview and agree it's season four's best.
i did the math and the episode set in 2021-ish
One of my favorites of the fourth season. The underground set was built for The Time Machine (1960) - recognize the Morlock caves?
I think you touched on many of my points. The settlement does treat Benteen as their father figure, practically their god, and Benteen accepted it as normal. And then Sloane arrives. Both men are accustomed to command, and Sloane is willing to give Benteen every benefit of the doubt because the colonists believe in Benteen, need Benteen. Sloane is willing to accept Benteen's attitude ... up to a point. "[Benteen's] really quite a guy, you know. Quite a guy. He just has one aberration: He thinks he's a god. And we're booting him out of his heaven." Nevertheless, Sloane treats Benteen with the respect that Benteen deserves. But when Benteen's "aberration" gets in the way of his job, Sloane can no longer coddle Benteen. And Benteen simply cannot accept that. Because he never had to.
The colonists wonder what has happened to their Captain, why he has changed so much. But Benteen has not changed. This is what Benteen always was. But when the colonists needed him, that "aberration" kept them alive. The colonists needed Benteen, needed his fatherly hand, his commanding presence, his assurances that all will be well, that they WILL make it through this. Some do give up hope, but those who remain owe that entirely to Benteen, and the colonists know it. It was his anger, his strength, his power that kept the colonists alive. But when Sloane can give them a world where "when you pray to God, his name won't be Benteen!" the colonists realize that there is an alternative. Now, however, Benteen needs them in a way that he never has before. And when the colonists abandon Benteen, he remains convinced that even if he chose to stay, the colonists would too. Benteen calls the colonists his "children," but they are not children any longer.
And when he is alone in the caves, he tries to stay "sane" with that anger, that strength, that power. But he finally realizes that it's all an illusion, and when he rushes out calling out "Don't leave me here!", it's far too late,. And with everything at last totally spent, he can only whisper "I want to go home." As Serling said, Benteen is no longer a god - just "a population of one."
I think this is definitely one of Serling's finest character studies, which was always his greatest strength as a writer. Serling was no science fiction writer. He was a writer of the human condition. How we react to different stimuli - on earth, on some strange unknown planet, in our present, the far future, the distant past. Sometimes we escape unharmed and unchanged, and sometimes, we are left with just our hubris and our fantasies. And when the latter happens, there is no escape. I loved this episode.
This was the first episode of the Twilight Zone I ever saw on cable way back in the mid 90s as a little kid.
Im here ❤
Awesome episode!
I think the ship is also the same one from "To Serve Man"!
Since S4 was never syndicated in reruns, the only traces of S4’s existence I saw growing up was when two of the Serling-written hour episodes were repackaged as a syndicated two-hour TV-movie, “Return to the Twilight Zone”: He’s Alive, and this one.
In retrospect, I think that’s all you really CAN say about S4 for the record, although I don’t know if Death Ship and Jess-Belle were ever similarly repackaged.
When Joe Joe asks the captain to tell the people about earth, I can’t help but feel sorry for him. He stays behind on the asteroid because he can’t bear the fact that he is no longer a messiah to the people who depended on him for everything. It’s a great Twilight Zone episode. 😮
Years later, after the captain’s death, they find carved into a tree…”BROOKS WAS HERE”
Definitely the strongest episode of season 4. Death ship is my favorite but this episode is on another level.
My brother and I caught this one on TV years ago. He still talks about how he doesn't like the ending, and how he felt bad for Whitmore's character.
One of the best episodes from season 4 👍
Could this episode have inspired the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “Ensigns of Command” (S3E2) in which Dat tries to convince a group of humans on a hostile planet to leave before the Sheliak Corporate, who have the right to the planet arrive and remove them, i.e. exterminate them, and the leader refuses to let anyone leave.
Today is Wednesday though XD
welp, tomorrow we leave for home
This is among the spectacular hour long episodes. I wish someone would have mentioned how could Benteen survive on his own long term. November 3rd 2023 2:00 PM Central Time
I’m early just posted 5 minutes ago? 😮😂
I didn't realize how much James Whitmore AKA "Brooks" gives me Spencer Tracy vibes.
I've never seen this one. Don't know how I missed it!!
Absolutely gutted that this didn't come out on a thursday.
Very close though
It came out Thursday in Kazakhstan and points east.
And for his crimes, he was sent to Shawshank prison
Loneliness will kill him.
This was the best episode!
It really is a great episode
My only issue with this episode is the logic. Why would you settle on a planet with 2 sun's? That's like looking at Pluto and saying "Yeah, no problem's living there".
Think it would have made more sense if they crashed on the planet.
I remember this episode. Wasn't this one already covered?
Probably some of Serling's best writing.
A shame that the order of the episodes didn’t put this episode on a Thursday
man this is pretty good
This reminds me of a story in the Weird Science about how TV is making people fade into a new world.
That’s twice my man got left alone on a planet. They did him dirty on “The Lonely” too 😂.
A twist which might have been effective is if it was a lie and Earth was terrible, so it would have been better if everyone stayed on the desert planet
That just validates the colony leader’s god complex
@@Jai137Exactly that. Sloane's speech best sums it up; Earth isn't a complete paradise and there will be problems, but you'll be free to make your own way and won't have a self-appointed god figure bossing you around.
Before we leave for home on Thursday because tomorrow is Thursday our trip with be intriguing
Loved this episode. Wanted Benteen to leave that place! Sad episode...😮
I realized there is some good symbolism here. The salt flats of the planet represent salt being used to preserve things and cause everything to be simplic. The never setting suns represent how the light must never waiver. And the captian holds fast and unyielding, having them chanting the same thing, keeping things the same. They also live in refrigerators since refrigeration is a way to preserve food. The fact he turns bad represents how you can't keep it forever. The ship represents new technology, especially that magnesium band which could represent vitamin supplements. Also, when they're under his command, they're in one straight line, barely surviving on old tech, but later they're all over the place embracing new tech. The ironic fate is made all the more tragic because unlike so many others, his defining trait wasn't acquired out of vanity or greed, it was responsibility.
I might have made some grammar mistakes, but you get the idea
So this is set in the distant future of 2021?
**Looks at calendar**
Calendar: Oct 25, 2023
I remember that Sloan told the colonists that the classrooms have televisions in them. In reality, there were already TVS in the classrooms in the 1990s!
@@melissacooper8724 now classrooms have interactive smartboards
It’s amazing these last three episodes how they go.
First, we start off with this one which is easily one of the best of the season. Then the next episode is a wasted opportunity that feels unfinished.
I’m currently watching the last one and I’m not even five minutes in because I have to keep stopping every five seconds because oh my god this could be the worst of a bunch .
We need to end with this episode for the season finale not with what there doing now
I had no idea James Whitmore was in this! He was such a fantastic actor! Don’t believe me? Watch Shawshank Redemption and see for yourself.
He was even good in the movie "Them!" where he sacrifices himself to save those kids from the giant ants.
@@ggrarl Yeah that was a good one too.
I hope you'll do an episode on Season 5 episode 33: "The Brain Center at Whipple's".
The Reason: the episode addresses the concern that has been talked about this past year and has been one of the subject of science fiction - "Will the working man be replaced by Artificially Intelligent machines?"
With Artificial Intelligent programs able to generate original artwork and literature, with the Walt Disney Company becoming more invested in animatronics, and with the SAG-AFTRA Strike 2023, is the birth of the intelligent machine slowly becoming a reality?
Did anyone else get the Jonestown type of vibe from this episode? I mean it was before the how massacre. But Benteen did give off a Jim jones feel.
He definitely seemed like a messianic leader 😢
I can't look at the Sloane character now without thinking of Spotswood from Team America.