"I usually don't like when people point stuff like this out when the intention is obviously not anything bad. But the ending directly puts the thought in our heads." Couldn't have said it better myself.
This is EXACTLY how grooming happens, and you trying to give it anything except the blatant disgust it deserves is abhorrent. This episode is trying to normalize grooming; this is how society conditions children to accept adults' inappropriate, advantageous behavior as acceptable and even nurturing. This little girl was lost and hopeless, feeling unloved, and an old man groomed her, tricked her into thinking he cared about her genuinely, and then kidnapped her. That's what happened here, and whatever the Twilight Zone was trying to make us "believe" is frighteningly manipulative and toxic to our culture. This IS grooming, this IS how it happens. When we don't have adults protecting children, children are manipulated by gruesome, awful adults with bad intentions. STOP NORMALIZING THIS DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR. You are doing so by giving this episode SO much credit, saying they didn't intend for anything creepy. They DID and they got away with it, and you're allowing them to continue getting away with it by agreeing that they didn't intend anything wrong WHEN THEY DID.
@@LetxiaC For starters, my comment was predominantly a direct quote from the video. It would have made more sense to address the poster directly instead of singling me out. That being said, essentially saying that someone enables grooming is no light matter (despite people doing so with abandon in recent years) so I suggest you choose your words more carefully because saying it to the wrong person could get you into trouble for defamation. Secondly, the video and other comments call out where the relationship in the episode seems unhealthy. Not doing that at all and acting like the episode is perfect would be less responsible than what you describe. But besides all that, the thing you're most bent out of shape about is complete conjecture on your part. How can you possibly know the creators intended to normalize grooming? You DON'T. Period. The Twilight Zone has multiple episodes that haven't aged entirely well, but it has long been widely regarded as being ahead of its time in terms of social commentary- it's been well documented that that WAS Rod Serling's intent with creating it. So maybe direct your anger and energy toward the R. Kellys of the world and not a 60-year-old show and its fans.
That exposition at the end that explains that the old man was really a young King was a clever way of glossing over the fact that a little girl went away with an old man.
He is still like 1000 years old or older(because he would have presumably been alive for his parents reign) so its still creepy plus "young" doesnt mean child. He could have been in his species equivilent 20s or 30s and been called young still way too old for the girl.
@@animechic420 Plus the picture still looks like he's a young adult so it's still inappropriate and then just taking her a child and making her his wife sounds trafficy it wasn't a good episode.
JESUS CHRIST is old, aka the Ancient of Days, but He is also , forever YOUNG. Because in HEAVEN there is NO SIN. There there's NO Curse to age anyone. Remember Colton Burpo's book , " HEAVEN IS REAL. Shalom!!!
This story could've been greatly improved if the shapeshifter was shown being more fatherly to the girl, and they hinted at a romance with the Aunt instead, with the ending involving both the Aunt and the girl being brought to his homeworld with him.
I feel like "Pans Labyrinth." actually makes this same idea in a much better way. The little girl was always a princess from the other realm, and it's about her returning to reclaim her role as a princess. But of course what is up in the air by the ending is if that princess thing is real, or if she made it up in her head and she's now just dead. And I feel like this episode was going for a similar thing, the girl is dying... So is she making this up in her head, the idea of going to another planet and marry the king. Or is she just dead. But yeah again... Just done a thousand times better in Pan's labyrinth.
"The Fugitive" is one of my most favorite episodes of all time! I guess that I see if this episode in a very different light because of my disabilities. As a kid growing up with Cerebral Palsy, I always wished that something or someone would come and take my disability away. Plus, being a queen of a planet would have been great, also.
Thank you for showing some sympathy to Aunt Agnes, Walter. While she's unmistakably written to be an antagonist, you can't blame her for being wary of an old man for hanging out with her young niece. I was honestly on her side the entire time.
Such a good example of how much things have changed. Cautious relatives were seen then as hysterical, whereas nowadays a cautious relative would be the protagonist by default. I know people love to harp on about the mythical and romantic past but it’s definitely good that society became less naive. How many children became victims because “Mr Whoever is just a kind old man”?
@@jackyzimmerman Probably not more or less than today with kids hopping on airplanes or into cars to go off with someone they met over the internet. This TZ episode is isn't about a dirty old man. This is modern sensibilities Making it about a dirty old man
She's not really written as an Antagonist... That's kind of the point of the story and the two that come for Old Ben as Well. At first they are written as antagonists to Ben until you get the twist of what Ben really is, and even then with the not allowing the girl to go with them, so ben has to go against them and trick them into it. Aunt Agnes is really the same way. She's not an antagonist. She's a poor woman dealing with a tough situation she was forced into as much as her young niece and likely wishes things were very different but she's dealing with it in adult ways like drinking. Treating her like an Antagonist is a big part of the problem about the whole episode but it's not from the writing of the episode, it's from everybody that is readily looking for some adversarial angle to the whole situation.
To keep the story the same, they could have had Ben actually be a young child prince, disguising himself as an old man to throw off his pursuers. Add in an actually mean aunt bitter about taking in the girl and the story works out much better.
God, someone at my local CBS station must have loved this episode. It played every single late night showing of Twilight Zone for a month once even when other episodes were on the guide.
On a side note, Jenny is played by Susan Gordon, the daughter of Mr. BIG himself, Bert I Gordon. MST3K fans will be well familiar with Bert, who produced many shlocky movies befitting his initials. The Amazing Colossal Man, Beginning of the End, Earth vs the Spider, Attack of the Puppet People. He has the distinction of having the most films riffed on the original MST3K. Susan appeared in a number of her dad's movies, and I said many times that she was probably Bert's best and most talented production. Sadly, Susan died of cancer in 2011, but Bert is still with us at the age of 100.
The past was more innocent. I’m sure people who watched this episode when it originally aired didn’t have their minds immediately go in the gutter as regards Ben’s and Jenny’s friendship. It’s only in today’s sick world that people think that way.
I genuinally think this premise could work with just a few rewrite. Build up a far more convincing grandpa/granddaughter relationship or have him actually be her age. I mean he is a shapeshifter so maybe hint this early on and then reveal he is actually the prince but don't want to lose his friend. Maybe have a scene with the girl crying her heart out at the thought she has lost a dear friend and have her aunt come in to comfort her, saying we will all lose friends in the end and that is just life. I think there is a good idea here but it has to many bad details and a poor execution.
Yeah and if they really wanted the Aunt to be a Villain, make it so no matter his age, instead of a romance he's taking her away from a terrible life with a horrible/abusive aunt who is her only family. OR something like that. Did he whisk her away because he's become her grandfather and wants what's best for her? Cool! Did he whisk her away because he's actually a young prince and wants her a bride? That one also works.
@@Crow_Smith the main problem is that the aunt is too likeable. at least insulting her when she is in death like state saying "i will finally get rid of you. and even then the funeral is gonna cost me a lot" would do the deal to make you prefer her going away with the alien
Before he revealed the twist, I honestly thought that the reveal would be that the two aliens chasing him were either his parents or two older aliens and he was really a young child alien so that's why he wanted to hang out with the children since in fact he too was a child.
After seeing this review I've come to see Aunt Agnes in a sympathetic light. Even though she comes off as hateful she is protective of her niece. I don't blame her for being wary of Jenny hanging around Old Ben so much! Especially when two young men are looking for him!
Agreed, Agnes was just trying to look out for Jenny in the best way she knew how, and anyone would be uncomfortable with their young ward hanging out with an older man.
Preach, with great power comes great responsibility. I don't blame Agnes for being cautious of Ben spending time with Jenny, even excusing the fact that he's a 1000 year old alien into the mix.
I've thought of an alternative ending for this - when he's cornered Ben says to the chasers "Okay fine, I'll come home. But tell me, do you really want your king to abandon his DAUGHTER?". Have it turn out that he secretly fathered Jenny and has been keeping an eye on her even though he didn't tell her the truth. Then she helps him to see that he needs to accept his responsibilities, so he agrees to go back to be king and takes Jenny with him so he can finally be a proper dad to her
I agree. It's being judged here too harshly because people are looking at it through the lens of this decade instead of the relatively more innocent time when it was made.
Ms. Hathaway's got a story to tell Mr. Drivesdale. Also, an easy fix for the relationship would be to make the king physically the same as age Jenny. Just explain that time is much different on his home world. Kinda like how the relationship was set up for Arthur and Selenia in "Arthur and the Minimoys".
Precisely, it was intended to be more lighthearted and happy go lucky, but the implications of an old man and a young girl old enough to be his granddaughter is more disturbing now than it would have been in 1962.
IKR?!? esp. since it'll most likely become reality, but the ones who will eat us are the elites when they tire of going out into space and realizing there's jack-shjte out there and decide to try human meat instead.
Fun fact. Old Ben was played by J. Pat O'Malley, who did voice over work in the Disney films The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Alice in Wonderland. You might recognize him as the voice of Tweedledee and Tweedledum. He was also Dick Van Dyke's dialect coach for Mary Poppins, and Van Dyke blames O'Malley for his infamous cockney accent.
The early 1960's sure was a different time. While a story about an older man who is fixated on a young girl was probably intended to be sweet, it seems more creepy now, especially with the implications that he's a 1000 year old shape shifting alien who plans to marry her when she's old enough.
That's a common thing with immortal characters - every relationship is gonna get creepy when you stop and think about it. Every romatic interest Wolverine's become creepy and Kitana in Mortal Kombat is 10 000 years-old, but ends up with Liu Kang who is 24 in the first game. The only way is to get another immortal, but then it may as well be regular humans. Still, they made sure to mention it's when she's presumably of age (and that can be 80, if the whole race lives for over 5000 years).
I haven't watched the Twilight Zone in years, but I've been loving these reviews since 2020. I just purchased the Blu Ray box set on Amazon. It comes in tomorrow & I'm genuinely geeked up lol. Thanks for re-sparking my interest in this classic💯💯.
It could be that he adopts her, he only says that she grows up to be a queen, maybe as his eventual heiress. But I guess if that were the case, they wouldn't show the photo of the handsome young man. It's cute with the father-daughter link, or brother-sister because of the reveal, that they probably should have kept that in there. But this one does not age well.
Agree when I saw the ending I was wondering did they mean she ending up taking the throne after him when she grew up. (I missed the part where they said it had to be a 5000 year reign.) Or also as he said he didn't want to rule anymore, so could have just made her queen and stepped aside to live however he wants now with no responsibility. But the picture of the alien being younger made me think they were leaning towards she becomes queen through marriage.
I liked this episode as a kid. Maybe it was a choice to present a common juvenile story about having an alien friend and becomimg queen/king of a planet at the end.
If they wanted to take a romantic angle between an alien and a little girl, make the shapeshifter the same age as the little girl, making the story about a young runaway prince.Make the aunt more cruel and controlling, so that when the little girl goes with him, we don't feel bad.🤷♀️ they could hint at the two one day becoming king and queen. Idk, it just sounds kinda cute to me.
How do we really know that for his species that 1000 years isn't close to the girls age? Though it would still be a bit better if she was a bit older than 12. But He could just be a young person that in many ways is doing exactly what the girl wishes she could do. Part of the point is that he's not really an old man. He's changed shape into all kinds of things and people of different ages throughout the episode. "Young Man" is such a nebulous term and there is all kinds of context that easily changes how we look at it. The Script could have done better giving us a bit more context to classify it than what we got. But in plenty of ways it's us turning it sinister as well, some of that on levels that were likely never intended when the show first aired.
@@Quandry1 that's why I said make him not (at least in appearance) a 60 year old man. At the very least they could have made the aunt an actual cruel woman and not just grumpy.
I like the idea of having Ben be an alien prince who is actually near her age. It fixes a lot of plot holes and makes his run from responsibility more sympathetic. Do that, and change the narration at the end to give her more agency in getting into the relationship, and it would be far less problematic.
"it would work better if Old Ben was actually Jenny's age" Old Ben is 1000 years into his 5000 year reign. So the age gap is already an issue LOL. Also, the conversation about "Am I going to die Ben?" "Yes, eventually!" kind of reduces Jenny to a mere blip in the alien's life. Sure, they could write exposition about Jenny gaining the same lifespan as the inhabitants of the planet she's going to but the fact that Old Ben basically is OK with taking this girl away from her family, friends, and the only world she knows comes across as pretty dire and doesn't make Ben's actions so benevolent. A more appropriate conclusion would be Ben leaving his joys on earth for the greater good and serve his world would have been a more "Twilight Zone" ending.
I guess you all missed the part where Rod shows us a photo of how the king really looked, and he’s very young. And then he said that the girl grew up to be an honest to goodness queen. She wasn’t a child bride. So what is creepy about that? Not to mention that they genuinely love each other, it’s not a kidnapping or anything, she really wanted to be with him.
I think the girl is a bit too young to be talking about genuine love, at least in a marital sense. And on top of the that the picture of his true form doesn't matter when they say his age is one thousand. But I'm still in agreeance with you overall. The girl can grow up and eventually be certain about her feelings, she isn't being forced into an arranged marriage or anything. And from a fantasy point of view, you can have characters love each other even if one is in-human or an ancient being because love conquers all. I wonder if people would still be just as creeped out if it was a 1000 year old alien woman and a 10 year old boy eventually becoming a king.
It's grooming. Adult that gets close to a child in a romantic way and puts in their head they will be together when they are an adult even if nothing inappropriate happens is still wrong and gross
I would have rewritten this episode to have the alien be a young boy Jenny's age. Sort of like The Little Prince. That way, them getting married eventually wouldn't be so creepy. I also would have had Aunt Agnes in the room when it's explained who the alien really is. Or maybe the aunt could be a true villain--an evil stepmother type who truly doesn't care for Jenny, but got stuck caring for her after her parents died, and have her dialogue and actions reflect that, so the idea of her possibly being investigated when the girl disappears isn't so horrifying.
Funny thing...everytime I watch this episode, I get weird vibes, wondering why it felt like something more than friendship between a little girl and an "uncle" type character. I'm glad you had the guts to address the elephant in the room
3:30 - Believe it or not, there was a time when _not_ every unmarried male was considered a threat to children; victimhood had not yet been monetized like it is today. There was a thing called "bonding" with a kid where one shared experiences, established trust and became reliable NOT for any sexual thrill but because it was the right thing to do as a responsible adult. Unfortunately "grooming" is now substituted in place of bonding because fear is easier than understanding, and hatred of men in general and fathers in particular has destroyed the American family.
@@DannyTruthMagnified Yes, because people were SANE in the 50s, instead of constantly on the prowl for reasons to be offended or accuse others of iniquity.
@@DeWin157 You're not clear on the fact that this was on national TV for several decades without a complaint, are you? Your generation believes history began with yourselves.
During the late 40's to early 90's that was a very serious concern, not a laughing matter one bit, being a child of the 70's and 80's myself I remember the red scare very well, just the suspicion of being one could land you in prison and cost jobs.
This episode falls into the same trap that the Nephrite stuff did in Sailor Moon: Ever since the stranger danger of the 90's (and onward), things like this are robbed of their original context. They were written for little girls, an extension of various princess fantasies. When I was little, I thought it was sweet. I don't think that the writers had ill intentions even today. But all that said, I'd still be creeped out by a 2022 narrative like this. Now I know boomers who heard the intro to The Flintstones must feel today. ;p
I thought this was a really cute episode heart warming even. But maybe they should have made it where he was the young prince running away from the boring palace to play with kids. It'd be basically the same story just make the Aunt meaner and it could really work.
Al though at first it seemed purely like a grandfather granddaughter relationship and I thought he was going to adopt her, so she won't get abused by her aunt. They then started insinuating that these two got feelings for each other and saying they will marry. Which is what made creepy.
It was a time of relative innocence, a time when a relationship of an old man to a young girl was what it's naturally meant to be. Today we think dirty because the world has become dirty. Let's say then that this episode (which is a good one, with a good ending twist) has not aged well. The fact that this grandpa-girl relationship turned out to be a husband-wife relationship (although in another "dimension") doesn't sit well with me though, and it must have creeped out many people back then as well. So the ending could have been thought out much better.
You know what I think you're right, but only on the surface. What I meant was that pedophilia back then wasn't a big thing like it is today, where it's literally teached and spread in schools. So I gave the author of this episode the benefit of the doubt: he didn't mean to promote pedophilia or even hint at pedophilia. It's just a lame ending. The viewer gets accostumed to seeing the old man-girl relationship as an usual grandpa-little girl one during the episode, and for it to turn the relationship into a husband-wife relationship (although in another time and "dimension") is a very bad decision that ruins what would otherwise be a good or decent episode. They could have just taken out the final commentary by Serling, and also had the woman appear as more of a banshee to justify the little girl going away with the old man to a better life.
I have grown to hate this episode with a passion, and it is definitely one of the worst episodes. I definitely agree with your analysis -- I've made that argument many times when the subject comes up. I'm taking this from a post I made about a year ago. You look at it from the point of view of a child, and it's a fairy tale: the pretty girl escapes the evil stepmother and will one day be a queen on a fantasy world where people live forever. But from an adult point of view? Mrs. Gann is clearly angry and bitter at how her life has gone - why, we do not know, but it's clear that she has never had any children and is very uncomfortable around them. But she is very protective of Jenny and very concerned about the old man she has suddenly been spending all her time with. And quite understandably: She knows nothing about "Old Ben," and he volunteers nothing, not even to Jenny. When Mrs. Gann is visited by the two "cops," she is quick to believe anything bad they tell her about Ben and cooperates fully. When she discovers Jenny sick in bed (the two men essentially poisoned her anticipating Ben's return), she cannot understand how Jenny's leg is now perfectly fine but Jenny is dying of some disease not even the doctor can recognize. The look of horror on Mrs. Gann's face is very clear, and we know that she does care about Jenny, but is too repressed to ever say that to her face. At the end, Jenny just disappears, and Mrs. Gann will never know what happened. Serling tries to pull a fantasy-type ending in his outro by saying that Ben left behind the photo of the younger man, but a) there's no indication in the episode anyone did anything of the sort and b) no indication that Mrs. Gann will find anything else, not even a note. So, what can Mrs. Gann believe? Especially after she almost certainly called the local police office who will tell her that they never heard of the two men who visited her house claiming to be policemen. As far as Mrs. Gann will ever know, this old man -- whom she has never trusted -- with two, possibly three, accomplices -- kidnapped the closest thing she will ever have to a daughter. In today's world, there's no reason not to believe that these men have taken Jenny to be their sexual slave. A ten year old girl! Jenny will never return, and Mrs. Gann will never know why. Mrs. Gann will go to her grave convinced that somewhere her little girl is being tortured or raped or worse by men who will be forever unknown to her. And we shouldn't ignore the fact that the photo of "Old Ben as he really looks" is still at least ten years older than Jenny. And we already know that Ben admitted that he has lived at least 1000 years (his time or earth's is left unclear) and he will live at least another 1000 years as king of his people. Even if Old Ben is simplifying the situation for Jenny, the fact remains: Jenny is 10 and professes to be in love with Ben, whom she has only known as a 60 year old man (J Pat O'Malley was probably about that age when he made the episode). As you noted, it's icky all across the board. Definitely the darkest episode ever written by Charles Beaumont, and for Beaumont, that's really saying something.
My feelings about Mrs. Gann too. Not to mention she's going to be investigated for possible murder once people discover Jenny has disappeared and that's not going to be a good situation.
Excellently put. I'm going to assume he's been forced to take the throne at a young age, so maybe 16,17. But still far too old for a prepubescent girl.
most of this I'm not going to touch. i jsut want to point out two things. Jenny has not only known Ben as a 60 year old man. He shape changes forms all the time. We aren't told what, how often, or what other forms he particularly uses around Jenny for the most part. So this is a statement of assumption and one that we are given just as much evidence, of at least an anecdotal variety, that the opposite can very much be true. Also, There is never any evidence at any time given to suggest that the two men are in any way a friendly relationship with ben given to the Aunt. This is entirely your taking something she doesn't and can't know and forcing it onto her way of thinking. It is much more likely that she would think that Jenny got kidnapped in their effort to grab ben at all costs than anything about the three of them being in cahoots. And it's much more likely for her to think that her niece is dead than everything else that you mentioned. It's also much more likely for the police to think that she was kidnapped and taken by the people after Ben as well than to launch a full scale investigation into the aunt. They might look at her a bit but there are much better suspects already provided that are much more likely. Particularly since Ben has also disappeared and they will never find evidence of foul play for one person let alone the two that it would have to be to make the assumption of her investigation for murder to be the likely outcome.
Yeah even just a handful of years later, this one had the same issues you mentioned, though not to glaring degree it must have to modern viewers. Had they kept the aunt mean or seen her turn over a new leaf WITH the girl still in her life, it would've worked better for me. Though that to me seemed a cautionary tale of not appreciating those in your life until they're gone. And had they left out that wrap-up with them eventually marrying and instead her being adopted by him and becoming a princess or something, it also would've set better even back then. But I feel it's just one quick rewrite from having been one of the better episodes.
Maybe it’s a story warning about Groomers and how some older stories such as fairy-tales try to romanize this idea when really it’s creepy and more often than not quite dangerous. And this episode also points-out another element that the analysis and summery of this video left-out and that’s the fact that the shapeshifter has been very secretive about his own true identity which makes him an unknown, - a stranger.
In my opinion, it could've been better with just a couple fixes: first, cut stuff like him losing the "fun" of carrying her and not wanting her to find some younger boyfriend, and second, make it clear in the end that he doesn't intend for her to become his queen when she grows older, it's something that happens when that time comes. People may disagree on this, but I don't mind stories where a child and adult's relationships change after enough time passes and they're both proper adults. Of course, with a story like this, I'd have to have "grown up" be at least three or four centuries old.
It's the baby angel from the "Tormented," episode of MST3K! Also I think one of the space cops is the "widdle baby," from "The Christmas that Almost Wasn't," or it looks a lot like him!
Not sure which one you mean, but the lighter haired space cop is Wesley Lau, who played Detective Andy Anderson on Perry Mason during the early 1960s. And old Ben was J. Pat O'Malley, an elderly character actor who appeared in damn near every TV series imaginable during the '60s and '70s.
The basic concept is good but it does need a serious rewrite. If the aunt was more of a villain and the relationship with the alien were more innocent I would have loved this. But as it is the ending just takes too much of a dark turn. It's kind of a double twist but in the worst way.
SPOILER: At the end, you can tell that "identical" girls are played by two different girls, obviously twins. As they walk out the door, you can tell that one is slightly taller than the other and that she also has darker hair.
huh....this went in a direction I wasn't expecting, they definitely took this down a creepy path in ways they were not intending. I'm honestly getting a little alarmed at how many episodes of the Twilight Zone have glanced over pedophelia in their scripts 0_0;
Trivia question : is this one of only two episodes (the other being It's a Good Life) where Rod feels compelled to give extra explanation of what's going on? Or are there even others?
This story would have worked much better if the shapeshifter had been a kid too, or if the kids were taken out altogether and it was the aunt as the subject of his interest.
I don't think this episode is as horrible as you find it and I think there's a whole point to this story that got missed and more of a reason why Rod mentioned blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy. So first of all I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was sweet and it kept me interested all the way through. And that joke when he's carrying her up the stairs I thought was funny and again sweet. But I immediately thought of how today's society would be cringing all over, and having a meltdown in protest. Can we just relax for a minute and not take everything so seriously especially when you're watching a show not reality. When I heard Rod's ending narration where he said she eventually became Queen, he didn't actually say "Ben's Queen", I was wondering did they mean she ending up taking the throne after him when she grew up like a descendant. (I missed the part where they said it had to be a 5000 year reign.) Or also as the king said he didn't want to rule anymore, he could have just made her queen and stepped aside like he wanted to and lived however he wants now with no responsibility. But I'll admit the picture of the alien being younger made me think they were hinting that she becomes queen through marriage to him. But again that doesn't mean he had romantic feelings for her when she was a kid, those could have come later when she grew up. Then as Rod said this is a sci-fi fantasy. The fantasy being a twist on the classic fairytale with kings, princesses, castles in distant lands. Like a girl with a wicked step-mother/aunt being saved by the prince and going to live in his castle. Of course that's a whole other can of worms with people these days. But I think the point is it was meant to be a fairytale switched up, where it's not medieval times and there's aliens in the mix. Also the "wicked" aunt turns out to be not so wicked after all.
Nice little comment by Mr Tober at the end "leave this fugitive on the run ". Yeah when Rod talks too much you know something is not right. He's usually very thoughtful with his use of words
I feel like the main problem is that Ben won't heal the little girl even though he obviously can. That makes you wonder if there really is some ulterior motive on his part. The ending doesn't really help.
He doesn't heal her because if he uses that much power, it'll be a beacon for the police to find him. I think his intention was always to heal her before he ran away into hiding again.
4:38 Was it so hard to say Ben was just a kid? Sure have him still be thousand years old but from his species perspective.... he is still a kid. They could have just said "their advanced tech lets them age slowly." So said tech could let Jenny age like them 5:12 Yeah.... from the description, they could have let Ben be infatuated with Agnes and have them go back like a family and make more explicit Jenny was like a daughter to Ben.
I agree, I watched this earlier this month and it was downright creepy... and not in a good way. The relationship between the old/young man and the girl was straight up grooming and unnerved the hell out of me. I also agree that Agness got wronged, Jenny disappears and she's going to be investigated for murder/ selling her niece/ whatever, and it's not going to be good. Not to mention the guilt she's going to carry with her for the rest of her life.
On paper, a nice idea. I feel like with a better execution and some modifications, this could've been a fun episode. Makes me wish this was one remade in one of the several TZ revival series-after all, why remake a classic when you can take a misfire and make something great?
My number 143 episode. This one tried to be all things but ended up being none. Was it a story about a grandfather trying to cheer up an unhappy little girl? Was it a story about a frustrated spinster who needs redemption? Or is it an extraterrestrial escape story? There's too many moving pieces --not to mention the unsavory aspect. Perhaps the most bizarre scene was shown in the clip but not commented on. This is the "stop motion" where Aunt Agnes has her leg up in the air and a man is sitting on the sofa watching (us, her?) It could have inspired David Lynch 😮
I don't have a suspicious mind and I grew up in an era where you didn't have to wonder and worry about old people diddling young children. I enjoyed it for the fantasy part; it was a fairy tale like Snow White or Cinderella
how could anyone feel sorry for mean old Aunt Agnes? she was really mean and cruel towards her neice. The whole point of the episode was so that Jenny could escape herr Aunt's cruelty.
Just how neglectful were your parents that being concerned over a preteen girl hanging around with an old man who the show clearly states is her boyfriend cruel? And old ben literally explains that aunt agnes does the "cruel" things she does out of love and care for jenny. If you think Aunt Agnes is cruel, all I can say is grow up.
@@tahjkuemmerle Did you watch the episode? Old Ben wasnt an old Man. it was just a disguise. Besides, Old Ben was far more caring to Jerry than Aunt Agnes was. she was totally abusive towards Jenny. that wasnt out of love, just cruelty. I bet you think Joan Crawford who beat her children with wire hangers 'loved" her children. even though it was old Ben's fault Jenny was late, Aunt Agnes was still abusive towards Jenny.
What made this ok? Particularly the ‘I won’t fix your leg because you’ll get a younger boyfriend ‘is not only the clearest hint at the relationship not being purely platonic, but also manipulative and cruel? I’m very confused what made the pedophilic aspect ok as the show seems to acknowledge this by retconning the aliens age in real time (visually at least, even though it seems to still be very pedophilic, a grown man rather than an old man). My head is full of wat?
Because back in the day it was the norm. There is a documentary concerning a history of children in the movie industry with a significant portion explaining how the 30's/40's child star, Jackie Cooper, being typecase as the always crying "boy bride" for leading men.
Is it weird that I have no problem with the episode, just the reaction to it? One use of fantasy is to push the audience out of its comfort zone. Here's where we stand: He's a royal immortal* alien shapeshifter, she's a normal human who'll be dead and gone in a blink of his eye. "No, they're both humans! It makes me feel queesy!" He didn't lie to her as he could have taken the Lazarua Long approach and kept the "immortal" part from her as he's a shapeshifter. On the Mythology scale of "This is so screwed up!", I wouldn't even rate it because historical human royalty has done weirder stuff. "It's grooming!" He's not human. "I don't want to think about it, I just want to feel about it!" Rod told you upfront it was fantasy.
Not only that, but his real age is much closer to her age. And she's comfortable and used to his shape shifting. We are never told that he doesn't spend most of his time shape shifted into a form that is closer to her own. He does shape shift and play with the kids. Many games that would be much easier if he appeared to be just one of the kids. It's on many levels the double edged sword of being a more aware society and having these darker ideas thrust into our consciousness on a regular basis that we have to turn the stories dark and subconciously won't accept them as anything else these days.
You FAIL to realize this movie was made in a time of innocence, pure, where now in modern time people read into crap we experience in modern internet horror of today. This movie was sweet and made for that time 1960 etc. People of my age love and enjoyed this saga not reading into all the horror s of NOW.adding up innuendoes of today. This saga was an innocent view of a Prince Charming fairy tale of that era. You gave it a modern day rating which was unfair. I appreciate the saga and it was AWESOME especially for people of my age whom had the innocence of that era to enjoy the saga without adding the sickness of today to destroy the concept of the saga. New movies or shows flow with the era of that time. Everything now is of Gore, amber alerts, the horror of what we live in now and we have to read into things to survive. Take the Ben and Jenny episode for what it is...sweet and innocent for that time....my opinion ❤
Ok weird does this reminds anyone of Tenchi Muyo alittle bit??!! The grandfather was supposed to marry this princess when she grew up but he left the planet.
"I usually don't like when people point stuff like this out when the intention is obviously not anything bad. But the ending directly puts the thought in our heads."
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Except no dipshit. You put that thought in your own head
This is EXACTLY how grooming happens, and you trying to give it anything except the blatant disgust it deserves is abhorrent. This episode is trying to normalize grooming; this is how society conditions children to accept adults' inappropriate, advantageous behavior as acceptable and even nurturing. This little girl was lost and hopeless, feeling unloved, and an old man groomed her, tricked her into thinking he cared about her genuinely, and then kidnapped her. That's what happened here, and whatever the Twilight Zone was trying to make us "believe" is frighteningly manipulative and toxic to our culture. This IS grooming, this IS how it happens. When we don't have adults protecting children, children are manipulated by gruesome, awful adults with bad intentions. STOP NORMALIZING THIS DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR. You are doing so by giving this episode SO much credit, saying they didn't intend for anything creepy. They DID and they got away with it, and you're allowing them to continue getting away with it by agreeing that they didn't intend anything wrong WHEN THEY DID.
@@LetxiaC For starters, my comment was predominantly a direct quote from the video. It would have made more sense to address the poster directly instead of singling me out. That being said, essentially saying that someone enables grooming is no light matter (despite people doing so with abandon in recent years) so I suggest you choose your words more carefully because saying it to the wrong person could get you into trouble for defamation.
Secondly, the video and other comments call out where the relationship in the episode seems unhealthy. Not doing that at all and acting like the episode is perfect would be less responsible than what you describe.
But besides all that, the thing you're most bent out of shape about is complete conjecture on your part. How can you possibly know the creators intended to normalize grooming? You DON'T. Period. The Twilight Zone has multiple episodes that haven't aged entirely well, but it has long been widely regarded as being ahead of its time in terms of social commentary- it's been well documented that that WAS Rod Serling's intent with creating it. So maybe direct your anger and energy toward the R. Kellys of the world and not a 60-year-old show and its fans.
That exposition at the end that explains that the old man was really a young King was a clever way of glossing over the fact that a little girl went away with an old man.
That was very very creepy.
@@SMP2390 if his people are Shapeshifter’s, why did he have to disguise himself as an old man? Why not something close to child’s age?
He is still like 1000 years old or older(because he would have presumably been alive for his parents reign) so its still creepy plus "young" doesnt mean child. He could have been in his species equivilent 20s or 30s and been called young still way too old for the girl.
@@animechic420 Plus the picture still looks like he's a young adult so it's still inappropriate and then just taking her a child and making her his wife sounds trafficy it wasn't a good episode.
JESUS CHRIST is old, aka the Ancient of Days, but He is also , forever YOUNG. Because in HEAVEN there is NO SIN. There there's NO Curse to age anyone. Remember Colton Burpo's book , " HEAVEN IS REAL. Shalom!!!
This story could've been greatly improved if the shapeshifter was shown being more fatherly to the girl, and they hinted at a romance with the Aunt instead, with the ending involving both the Aunt and the girl being brought to his homeworld with him.
Seconded, I honestly prefer that version to the real one. Obviously, they didn't intend for it to come across as creepy, but it did anyway.
I feel like "Pans Labyrinth." actually makes this same idea in a much better way.
The little girl was always a princess from the other realm, and it's about her returning to reclaim her role as a princess.
But of course what is up in the air by the ending is if that princess thing is real, or if she made it up in her head and she's now just dead.
And I feel like this episode was going for a similar thing, the girl is dying... So is she making this up in her head, the idea of going to another planet and marry the king.
Or is she just dead.
But yeah again... Just done a thousand times better in Pan's labyrinth.
They could have also made it so he adopts her and she becomes his heir after expanding her life-time with science.
That would have been a lot better than what we get. Thats for jure
Wow I just came from watching the episode to look for a review. It was way creepy.
"The Fugitive" is one of my most favorite episodes of all time! I guess that I see if this episode in a very different light because of my disabilities. As a kid growing up with Cerebral Palsy,
I always wished that something or someone would come and take my disability away. Plus, being a queen of a planet would have been great, also.
As another person with Cerebral Palsy I know what you mean.
Thank you for showing some sympathy to Aunt Agnes, Walter. While she's unmistakably written to be an antagonist, you can't blame her for being wary of an old man for hanging out with her young niece. I was honestly on her side the entire time.
Such a good example of how much things have changed. Cautious relatives were seen then as hysterical, whereas nowadays a cautious relative would be the protagonist by default.
I know people love to harp on about the mythical and romantic past but it’s definitely good that society became less naive. How many children became victims because “Mr Whoever is just a kind old man”?
I'm wondering what she thought when her niece disappeared with Old Ben? I would've been frantic if I was her guardian!
maybe if she weren't hitting the booze all the time while being in charge of a minor.
@@jackyzimmerman Probably not more or less than today with kids hopping on airplanes or into cars to go off with someone they met over the internet. This TZ episode is isn't about a dirty old man. This is modern sensibilities Making it about a dirty old man
She's not really written as an Antagonist... That's kind of the point of the story and the two that come for Old Ben as Well. At first they are written as antagonists to Ben until you get the twist of what Ben really is, and even then with the not allowing the girl to go with them, so ben has to go against them and trick them into it.
Aunt Agnes is really the same way. She's not an antagonist. She's a poor woman dealing with a tough situation she was forced into as much as her young niece and likely wishes things were very different but she's dealing with it in adult ways like drinking. Treating her like an Antagonist is a big part of the problem about the whole episode but it's not from the writing of the episode, it's from everybody that is readily looking for some adversarial angle to the whole situation.
To keep the story the same, they could have had Ben actually be a young child prince, disguising himself as an old man to throw off his pursuers. Add in an actually mean aunt bitter about taking in the girl and the story works out much better.
I heard that the Twilight Zone can be creepy, but I wasn't expecting that type of creepy.
Theres absolutely nothing creepy about this episode dipshit
Ah man! You're too hard on this. I love this episode lol🙂🙂 love this channel too! Thanks for doing these. Good memories..
God, someone at my local CBS station must have loved this episode. It played every single late night showing of Twilight Zone for a month once even when other episodes were on the guide.
oof
On a side note, Jenny is played by Susan Gordon, the daughter of Mr. BIG himself, Bert I Gordon. MST3K fans will be well familiar with Bert, who produced many shlocky movies befitting his initials. The Amazing Colossal Man, Beginning of the End, Earth vs the Spider, Attack of the Puppet People. He has the distinction of having the most films riffed on the original MST3K. Susan appeared in a number of her dad's movies, and I said many times that she was probably Bert's best and most talented production.
Sadly, Susan died of cancer in 2011, but Bert is still with us at the age of 100.
Rest In Peace.
The past was more innocent. I’m sure people who watched this episode when it originally aired didn’t have their minds immediately go in the gutter as regards Ben’s and Jenny’s friendship. It’s only in today’s sick world that people think that way.
I genuinally think this premise could work with just a few rewrite. Build up a far more convincing grandpa/granddaughter relationship or have him actually be her age. I mean he is a shapeshifter so maybe hint this early on and then reveal he is actually the prince but don't want to lose his friend. Maybe have a scene with the girl crying her heart out at the thought she has lost a dear friend and have her aunt come in to comfort her, saying we will all lose friends in the end and that is just life. I think there is a good idea here but it has to many bad details and a poor execution.
Yeah and if they really wanted the Aunt to be a Villain, make it so no matter his age, instead of a romance he's taking her away from a terrible life with a horrible/abusive aunt who is her only family. OR something like that. Did he whisk her away because he's become her grandfather and wants what's best for her? Cool! Did he whisk her away because he's actually a young prince and wants her a bride? That one also works.
@@Crow_Smith the main problem is that the aunt is too likeable.
at least insulting her when she is in death like state saying "i will finally get rid of you. and even then the funeral is gonna cost me a lot" would do the deal to make you prefer her going away with the alien
@@ianr.navahuber2195 well of she’s likable, she’s Miss Hathaway.
Before he revealed the twist, I honestly thought that the reveal would be that the two aliens chasing him were either his parents or two older aliens and he was really a young child alien so that's why he wanted to hang out with the children since in fact he too was a child.
I think you're wrong
After seeing this review I've come to see Aunt Agnes in a sympathetic light. Even though she comes off as hateful she is protective of her niece. I don't blame her for being wary of Jenny hanging around Old Ben so much! Especially when two young men are looking for him!
Agreed, Agnes was just trying to look out for Jenny in the best way she knew how, and anyone would be uncomfortable with their young ward hanging out with an older man.
This may not be one of the very best ones, but Susan Gordon was one of the most underrated child actresses ever.
Being able to change your appearance into anything you want sounds like a great power. As long as it's used in a responsible way of course.
Preach, with great power comes great responsibility. I don't blame Agnes for being cautious of Ben spending time with Jenny, even excusing the fact that he's a 1000 year old alien into the mix.
I've thought of an alternative ending for this - when he's cornered Ben says to the chasers "Okay fine, I'll come home. But tell me, do you really want your king to abandon his DAUGHTER?". Have it turn out that he secretly fathered Jenny and has been keeping an eye on her even though he didn't tell her the truth. Then she helps him to see that he needs to accept his responsibilities, so he agrees to go back to be king and takes Jenny with him so he can finally be a proper dad to her
Except he said that if he healed her leg she'd want a younger boyfriend, pretty much nullifying your ending.
I'm certainly in the minority but this is one of my favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone.
oof ......
I agree. It's being judged here too harshly because people are looking at it through the lens of this decade instead of the relatively more innocent time when it was made.
ME TOO! I believe I get what they're trying to say, but can't outright say it, because people in our society has turned their backs on Him.
Ms. Hathaway's got a story to tell Mr. Drivesdale. Also, an easy fix for the relationship would be to make the king physically the same as age Jenny. Just explain that time is much different on his home world. Kinda like how the relationship was set up for Arthur and Selenia in "Arthur and the Minimoys".
*Drysdale
Welcome back to another installment of "Twilight Zone episodes that wouldn't fly today!"
Seriously. It's so screwed up. All people want to do nowadays is demonize men and think the worst of us.
This episode is a bit more kid friendly, giving the audience a breath of fresh air after the "COOKBOOK" episode. Lol!!
A little TOO “kid friendly” lol.
Precisely, it was intended to be more lighthearted and happy go lucky, but the implications of an old man and a young girl old enough to be his granddaughter is more disturbing now than it would have been in 1962.
@@trinaq It's a "lighthearted" story written by the series' darkest writer. There has GOT to be some symbolism in that.
IKR?!? esp. since it'll most likely become reality, but the ones who will eat us are the elites when they tire of going out into space and realizing there's jack-shjte out there and decide to try human meat instead.
@@kali3665 I think you just have a sick mind. it's just a nice story
Fun fact. Old Ben was played by J. Pat O'Malley, who did voice over work in the Disney films The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Alice in Wonderland. You might recognize him as the voice of Tweedledee and Tweedledum. He was also Dick Van Dyke's dialect coach for Mary Poppins, and Van Dyke blames O'Malley for his infamous cockney accent.
He also played Mr. Tyler, Carol Brady's father in the pilot episode of The Brady Bunch.
You can tell that this wasn't one of Walter's favorite episodes because it's a 6 minute video
I agree. When he reviewed "The Obsolete Man" earlier this month that video took a whole 15 minutes!
The early 1960's sure was a different time. While a story about an older man who is fixated on a young girl was probably intended to be sweet, it seems more creepy now, especially with the implications that he's a 1000 year old shape shifting alien who plans to marry her when she's old enough.
That's a common thing with immortal characters - every relationship is gonna get creepy when you stop and think about it. Every romatic interest Wolverine's become creepy and Kitana in Mortal Kombat is 10 000 years-old, but ends up with Liu Kang who is 24 in the first game. The only way is to get another immortal, but then it may as well be regular humans. Still, they made sure to mention it's when she's presumably of age (and that can be 80, if the whole race lives for over 5000 years).
That sure tops off Jerry Lee Lewis and his 13 year old cousin!
Uhh... the original plot line for BEETLEJUICE ring any bells? How old was Lydia, again?
This happens all the time, it’s called grooming.
@@CalciumChief It wold be beter plot twist,that he is a boy,prince who gona be king.
I haven't watched the Twilight Zone in years, but I've been loving these reviews since 2020. I just purchased the Blu Ray box set on Amazon. It comes in tomorrow & I'm genuinely geeked up lol. Thanks for re-sparking my interest in this classic💯💯.
It could be that he adopts her, he only says that she grows up to be a queen, maybe as his eventual heiress.
But I guess if that were the case, they wouldn't show the photo of the handsome young man.
It's cute with the father-daughter link, or brother-sister because of the reveal, that they probably should have kept that in there. But this one does not age well.
Agree when I saw the ending I was wondering did they mean she ending up taking the throne after him when she grew up. (I missed the part where they said it had to be a 5000 year reign.) Or also as he said he didn't want to rule anymore, so could have just made her queen and stepped aside to live however he wants now with no responsibility. But the picture of the alien being younger made me think they were leaning towards she becomes queen through marriage.
I liked this episode as a kid. Maybe it was a choice to present a common juvenile story about having an alien friend and becomimg queen/king of a planet at the end.
If they wanted to take a romantic angle between an alien and a little girl, make the shapeshifter the same age as the little girl, making the story about a young runaway prince.Make the aunt more cruel and controlling, so that when the little girl goes with him, we don't feel bad.🤷♀️ they could hint at the two one day becoming king and queen. Idk, it just sounds kinda cute to me.
yeah I see what they kinda were going for via a sci-fi fairy tale but the way it comes across is...eww.
@@risingofthethorn1197 yeah.. it's very ew. It's such a shame, I love the idea of a sci-fi fairytale, but they reaally went about it the wrong way.
@@galaxyskeleton making her older and making him...not a sixty year an old man would have probably fixed it in and of itself.
How do we really know that for his species that 1000 years isn't close to the girls age? Though it would still be a bit better if she was a bit older than 12. But He could just be a young person that in many ways is doing exactly what the girl wishes she could do. Part of the point is that he's not really an old man. He's changed shape into all kinds of things and people of different ages throughout the episode.
"Young Man" is such a nebulous term and there is all kinds of context that easily changes how we look at it. The Script could have done better giving us a bit more context to classify it than what we got. But in plenty of ways it's us turning it sinister as well, some of that on levels that were likely never intended when the show first aired.
@@Quandry1 that's why I said make him not (at least in appearance) a 60 year old man. At the very least they could have made the aunt an actual cruel woman and not just grumpy.
Just changing it from Jenny becoming a queen to becoming a princess would have made it FAR less creepy.
I like the idea of having Ben be an alien prince who is actually near her age. It fixes a lot of plot holes and makes his run from responsibility more sympathetic. Do that, and change the narration at the end to give her more agency in getting into the relationship, and it would be far less problematic.
Rob at the end: "It's ok. He's just a really handsome groomer."
Jesus Christ man...
Lol
Creepy and sappy.
"it would work better if Old Ben was actually Jenny's age"
Old Ben is 1000 years into his 5000 year reign. So the age gap is already an issue LOL. Also, the conversation about "Am I going to die Ben?" "Yes, eventually!" kind of reduces Jenny to a mere blip in the alien's life. Sure, they could write exposition about Jenny gaining the same lifespan as the inhabitants of the planet she's going to but the fact that Old Ben basically is OK with taking this girl away from her family, friends, and the only world she knows comes across as pretty dire and doesn't make Ben's actions so benevolent. A more appropriate conclusion would be Ben leaving his joys on earth for the greater good and serve his world would have been a more "Twilight Zone" ending.
I guess you all missed the part where Rod shows us a photo of how the king really looked, and he’s very young. And then he said that the girl grew up to be an honest to goodness queen. She wasn’t a child bride. So what is creepy about that? Not to mention that they genuinely love each other, it’s not a kidnapping or anything, she really wanted to be with him.
I think the girl is a bit too young to be talking about genuine love, at least in a marital sense. And on top of the that the picture of his true form doesn't matter when they say his age is one thousand.
But I'm still in agreeance with you overall. The girl can grow up and eventually be certain about her feelings, she isn't being forced into an arranged marriage or anything. And from a fantasy point of view, you can have characters love each other even if one is in-human or an ancient being because love conquers all. I wonder if people would still be just as creeped out if it was a 1000 year old alien woman and a 10 year old boy eventually becoming a king.
It's grooming. Adult that gets close to a child in a romantic way and puts in their head they will be together when they are an adult even if nothing inappropriate happens is still wrong and gross
@@codydisney9959 It’s the Twilight Zone. You’re applying modern morality to something from 60 years ago, and WAY overthinking the ending.
Funny thing is they couldn’t fix all the problems with simply by making Ben a kid pretending to be an old man,
🎵"If I could fly....I'd pick YOUUUUU up!..."🎵 🤣😂🤣
I would have rewritten this episode to have the alien be a young boy Jenny's age. Sort of like The Little Prince. That way, them getting married eventually wouldn't be so creepy. I also would have had Aunt Agnes in the room when it's explained who the alien really is. Or maybe the aunt could be a true villain--an evil stepmother type who truly doesn't care for Jenny, but got stuck caring for her after her parents died, and have her dialogue and actions reflect that, so the idea of her possibly being investigated when the girl disappears isn't so horrifying.
This is one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes.
Stop making good people evil for being nice, this is what the demons in control do.
I guess there is a reason why I haven't heard of this before
Funny thing...everytime I watch this episode, I get weird vibes, wondering why it felt like something more than friendship between a little girl and an "uncle" type character. I'm glad you had the guts to address the elephant in the room
There must be something about the photo Rod holds at the end. An old friend? Someone he jokes around with?
THE TWILIGHT ZONE aired several episodes in which children play a major role. "It's A Good Life" is probably the best example of this.
the concept is ... interesting, the execution is a point blank shot in a bright white room, messy and all over the walls
That is a brilliant metaphor!
Aw what happened? It sounded so nice before you mentioned it was Charles Beaumont's worst episode
Interesting that most of the people that don't like the thousand year king marrying a little girl helped make Twilight a thing.
And Twilight is far worse than anything presented in this episode. Specially when you get it from Edwards point of view.
Love this episode too
oof....
OMG - this is "Low Men in Yellow Coats" (aka "Hearts in Atlantis")! I bet King saw this episode as a kid.
That's literally what I thought
3:30 - Believe it or not, there was a time when _not_ every unmarried male was considered a threat to children; victimhood had not yet been monetized like it is today. There was a thing called "bonding" with a kid where one shared experiences, established trust and became reliable NOT for any sexual thrill but because it was the right thing to do as a responsible adult. Unfortunately "grooming" is now substituted in place of bonding because fear is easier than understanding, and hatred of men in general and fathers in particular has destroyed the American family.
Yeah, and it was also the norm to jokingly refer to yourself as that child's "boyfriend".
Makes sense.
@@DannyTruthMagnified Yes, because people were SANE in the 50s, instead of constantly on the prowl for reasons to be offended or accuse others of iniquity.
@@steveouk90126You're defending it far too easily, should the authorities be inspecting all of your devices?
@@DannyTruthMagnifiedExactly, Stevie here is being too defensive.
@@DeWin157 You're not clear on the fact that this was on national TV for several decades without a complaint, are you? Your generation believes history began with yourselves.
"Are you a communist?" LOL
"yes, and a pedophile; I come from a far off land know as Hollywood"
Ben is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is not a porn star.
During the late 40's to early 90's that was a very serious concern, not a laughing matter one bit, being a child of the 70's and 80's myself I remember the red scare very well, just the suspicion of being one could land you in prison and cost jobs.
This episode falls into the same trap that the Nephrite stuff did in Sailor Moon: Ever since the stranger danger of the 90's (and onward), things like this are robbed of their original context. They were written for little girls, an extension of various princess fantasies. When I was little, I thought it was sweet. I don't think that the writers had ill intentions even today.
But all that said, I'd still be creeped out by a 2022 narrative like this. Now I know boomers who heard the intro to The Flintstones must feel today. ;p
Very creepy ending.
I thought this was a really cute episode heart warming even. But maybe they should have made it where he was the young prince running away from the boring palace to play with kids. It'd be basically the same story just make the Aunt meaner and it could really work.
poor Agnes, she had to change her name and take a job as a bank secretary
Best episode ever!
*It's sad thet an elder and child can't have a genuinely loving relationship these days without someone assuming the worst.*
Al though at first it seemed purely like a grandfather granddaughter relationship and I thought he was going to adopt her, so she won't get abused by her aunt. They then started insinuating that these two got feelings for each other and saying they will marry. Which is what made creepy.
It is not a bad episode... it entertains...
Thank you for the video.
It was a time of relative innocence, a time when a relationship of an old man to a young girl was what it's naturally meant to be. Today we think dirty because the world has become dirty. Let's say then that this episode (which is a good one, with a good ending twist) has not aged well. The fact that this grandpa-girl relationship turned out to be a husband-wife relationship (although in another "dimension") doesn't sit well with me though, and it must have creeped out many people back then as well. So the ending could have been thought out much better.
You just contradicted yourself halfway through.
You know what I think you're right, but only on the surface. What I meant was that pedophilia back then wasn't a big thing like it is today, where it's literally teached and spread in schools. So I gave the author of this episode the benefit of the doubt: he didn't mean to promote pedophilia or even hint at pedophilia. It's just a lame ending. The viewer gets accostumed to seeing the old man-girl relationship as an usual grandpa-little girl one during the episode, and for it to turn the relationship into a husband-wife relationship (although in another time and "dimension") is a very bad decision that ruins what would otherwise be a good or decent episode. They could have just taken out the final commentary by Serling, and also had the woman appear as more of a banshee to justify the little girl going away with the old man to a better life.
I have grown to hate this episode with a passion, and it is definitely one of the worst episodes. I definitely agree with your analysis -- I've made that argument many times when the subject comes up.
I'm taking this from a post I made about a year ago. You look at it from the point of view of a child, and it's a fairy tale: the pretty girl escapes the evil stepmother and will one day be a queen on a fantasy world where people live forever.
But from an adult point of view? Mrs. Gann is clearly angry and bitter at how her life has gone - why, we do not know, but it's clear that she has never had any children and is very uncomfortable around them. But she is very protective of Jenny and very concerned about the old man she has suddenly been spending all her time with. And quite understandably: She knows nothing about "Old Ben," and he volunteers nothing, not even to Jenny. When Mrs. Gann is visited by the two "cops," she is quick to believe anything bad they tell her about Ben and cooperates fully. When she discovers Jenny sick in bed (the two men essentially poisoned her anticipating Ben's return), she cannot understand how Jenny's leg is now perfectly fine but Jenny is dying of some disease not even the doctor can recognize. The look of horror on Mrs. Gann's face is very clear, and we know that she does care about Jenny, but is too repressed to ever say that to her face.
At the end, Jenny just disappears, and Mrs. Gann will never know what happened. Serling tries to pull a fantasy-type ending in his outro by saying that Ben left behind the photo of the younger man, but a) there's no indication in the episode anyone did anything of the sort and b) no indication that Mrs. Gann will find anything else, not even a note. So, what can Mrs. Gann believe? Especially after she almost certainly called the local police office who will tell her that they never heard of the two men who visited her house claiming to be policemen. As far as Mrs. Gann will ever know, this old man -- whom she has never trusted -- with two, possibly three, accomplices -- kidnapped the closest thing she will ever have to a daughter. In today's world, there's no reason not to believe that these men have taken Jenny to be their sexual slave. A ten year old girl! Jenny will never return, and Mrs. Gann will never know why. Mrs. Gann will go to her grave convinced that somewhere her little girl is being tortured or raped or worse by men who will be forever unknown to her.
And we shouldn't ignore the fact that the photo of "Old Ben as he really looks" is still at least ten years older than Jenny. And we already know that Ben admitted that he has lived at least 1000 years (his time or earth's is left unclear) and he will live at least another 1000 years as king of his people. Even if Old Ben is simplifying the situation for Jenny, the fact remains: Jenny is 10 and professes to be in love with Ben, whom she has only known as a 60 year old man (J Pat O'Malley was probably about that age when he made the episode). As you noted, it's icky all across the board.
Definitely the darkest episode ever written by Charles Beaumont, and for Beaumont, that's really saying something.
My feelings about Mrs. Gann too. Not to mention she's going to be investigated for possible murder once people discover Jenny has disappeared and that's not going to be a good situation.
Excellently put. I'm going to assume he's been forced to take the throne at a young age, so maybe 16,17. But still far too old for a prepubescent girl.
At least she will be fed in her new planet
The aunt is not sympathetic, she's a monster towards Jenny. She was more than "loving but far from perfect".
most of this I'm not going to touch. i jsut want to point out two things.
Jenny has not only known Ben as a 60 year old man. He shape changes forms all the time. We aren't told what, how often, or what other forms he particularly uses around Jenny for the most part. So this is a statement of assumption and one that we are given just as much evidence, of at least an anecdotal variety, that the opposite can very much be true.
Also, There is never any evidence at any time given to suggest that the two men are in any way a friendly relationship with ben given to the Aunt. This is entirely your taking something she doesn't and can't know and forcing it onto her way of thinking. It is much more likely that she would think that Jenny got kidnapped in their effort to grab ben at all costs than anything about the three of them being in cahoots. And it's much more likely for her to think that her niece is dead than everything else that you mentioned. It's also much more likely for the police to think that she was kidnapped and taken by the people after Ben as well than to launch a full scale investigation into the aunt. They might look at her a bit but there are much better suspects already provided that are much more likely. Particularly since Ben has also disappeared and they will never find evidence of foul play for one person let alone the two that it would have to be to make the assumption of her investigation for murder to be the likely outcome.
A fav 😊🍿🎥
Yeah even just a handful of years later, this one had the same issues you mentioned, though not to glaring degree it must have to modern viewers. Had they kept the aunt mean or seen her turn over a new leaf WITH the girl still in her life, it would've worked better for me. Though that to me seemed a cautionary tale of not appreciating those in your life until they're gone. And had they left out that wrap-up with them eventually marrying and instead her being adopted by him and becoming a princess or something, it also would've set better even back then. But I feel it's just one quick rewrite from having been one of the better episodes.
I like 90 percent of the episodes.
That ending is wild XDXDXD
Maybe it’s a story warning about Groomers and how some older stories such as fairy-tales try to romanize this idea when really it’s creepy and more often than not quite dangerous. And this episode also points-out another element that the analysis and summery of this video left-out and that’s the fact that the shapeshifter has been very secretive about his own true identity which makes him an unknown, - a stranger.
Great video.
So basically, ben is a groomer
Going for sweet and end up with Yiiiìiikes.
In my opinion, it could've been better with just a couple fixes: first, cut stuff like him losing the "fun" of carrying her and not wanting her to find some younger boyfriend, and second, make it clear in the end that he doesn't intend for her to become his queen when she grows older, it's something that happens when that time comes. People may disagree on this, but I don't mind stories where a child and adult's relationships change after enough time passes and they're both proper adults. Of course, with a story like this, I'd have to have "grown up" be at least three or four centuries old.
It's the baby angel from the "Tormented," episode of MST3K! Also I think one of the space cops is the "widdle baby," from "The Christmas that Almost Wasn't," or it looks a lot like him!
Not sure which one you mean, but the lighter haired space cop is Wesley Lau, who played Detective Andy Anderson on Perry Mason during the early 1960s. And old Ben was J. Pat O'Malley, an elderly character actor who appeared in damn near every TV series imaginable during the '60s and '70s.
The basic concept is good but it does need a serious rewrite. If the aunt was more of a villain and the relationship with the alien were more innocent I would have loved this. But as it is the ending just takes too much of a dark turn. It's kind of a double twist but in the worst way.
I guess I see your point buy I always liked this episodr
SPOILER: At the end, you can tell that "identical" girls are played by two different girls, obviously twins. As they walk out the door, you can tell that one is slightly taller than the other and that she also has darker hair.
"On the run from the fake cops"idk why i find that funny
Are you guys planning on doing the other twilight zone series?
Wouldn’t be for another three years. There’s still 63 original series episodes after this month
I hope that Walter will eventually cover the 80's, 2000's and even 2019 iterations. I'd be interesting in hearing his thoughts on each installment.
@@trinaq The reboot series, all three of them, get him 4 years and change combined.
@@DigiRangerScott that would give us 9 years of twilight-tober zone
@@monterrang1 Yup. Which would mean Channel Awesome would exist for 20 years
huh....this went in a direction I wasn't expecting, they definitely took this down a creepy path in ways they were not intending. I'm honestly getting a little alarmed at how many episodes of the Twilight Zone have glanced over pedophelia in their scripts 0_0;
Trivia question : is this one of only two episodes (the other being It's a Good Life) where Rod feels compelled to give extra explanation of what's going on? Or are there even others?
Whoa... umm... yeah... that's a twist alright 😳
Sorry, but I really liked this episode...it's a fairy tale. Maybe because I was once a little girl who wanted to be whisked away by a handsome prince.
It's awesome that Aunt Agnes played Ms. Hathaway on the Beverly Hillbillies.
Could you just imagine if Stephen King wrote for Twighlight Zone, he had memorable stories about kids, last rung on the ladder comes to mind.
Same reason why I’m not big on tuck everlasting lol 😂
This story would have worked much better if the shapeshifter had been a kid too, or if the kids were taken out altogether and it was the aunt as the subject of his interest.
I don't think this episode is as horrible as you find it and I think there's a whole point to this story that got missed and more of a reason why Rod mentioned blending Sci-Fi and Fantasy. So first of all I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was sweet and it kept me interested all the way through. And that joke when he's carrying her up the stairs I thought was funny and again sweet. But I immediately thought of how today's society would be cringing all over, and having a meltdown in protest. Can we just relax for a minute and not take everything so seriously especially when you're watching a show not reality. When I heard Rod's ending narration where he said she eventually became Queen, he didn't actually say "Ben's Queen", I was wondering did they mean she ending up taking the throne after him when she grew up like a descendant. (I missed the part where they said it had to be a 5000 year reign.) Or also as the king said he didn't want to rule anymore, he could have just made her queen and stepped aside like he wanted to and lived however he wants now with no responsibility. But I'll admit the picture of the alien being younger made me think they were hinting that she becomes queen through marriage to him. But again that doesn't mean he had romantic feelings for her when she was a kid, those could have come later when she grew up. Then as Rod said this is a sci-fi fantasy. The fantasy being a twist on the classic fairytale with kings, princesses, castles in distant lands. Like a girl with a wicked step-mother/aunt being saved by the prince and going to live in his castle. Of course that's a whole other can of worms with people these days. But I think the point is it was meant to be a fairytale switched up, where it's not medieval times and there's aliens in the mix. Also the "wicked" aunt turns out to be not so wicked after all.
Nice little comment by Mr Tober at the end "leave this fugitive on the run ". Yeah when Rod talks too much you know something is not right. He's usually very thoughtful with his use of words
I feel like the main problem is that Ben won't heal the little girl even though he obviously can. That makes you wonder if there really is some ulterior motive on his part. The ending doesn't really help.
He doesn't heal her because if he uses that much power, it'll be a beacon for the police to find him. I think his intention was always to heal her before he ran away into hiding again.
I first saw this when I was 10 in 1985, and even I thought the ending was creepy.
This seems to be the premise for Ted in a Stephen king story, one of those dark tower stories where the low men are looking for him
4:38 Was it so hard to say Ben was just a kid? Sure have him still be thousand years old but from his species perspective.... he is still a kid. They could have just said "their advanced tech lets them age slowly." So said tech could let Jenny age like them
5:12 Yeah.... from the description, they could have let Ben be infatuated with Agnes and have them go back like a family and make more explicit Jenny was like a daughter to Ben.
*¡enjoyed at 3:12 pm Pacific DayLight Savings Time on Friday, 28 October 2022!*
Where is Chris Hansen when you need him.
I agree, I watched this earlier this month and it was downright creepy... and not in a good way. The relationship between the old/young man and the girl was straight up grooming and unnerved the hell out of me.
I also agree that Agness got wronged, Jenny disappears and she's going to be investigated for murder/ selling her niece/ whatever, and it's not going to be good. Not to mention the guilt she's going to carry with her for the rest of her life.
Good analysis, you laid out everything that's wrong with this episode.
Remember when billy and Mandy made this joke 😂
On paper, a nice idea. I feel like with a better execution and some modifications, this could've been a fun episode. Makes me wish this was one remade in one of the several TZ revival series-after all, why remake a classic when you can take a misfire and make something great?
Disney and live action remakes, lol
I thought this was a sweet little tale
My number 143 episode. This one tried to be all things but ended up being none. Was it a story about a grandfather trying to cheer up an unhappy little girl? Was it a story about a frustrated spinster who needs redemption? Or is it an extraterrestrial escape story? There's too many moving pieces --not to mention the unsavory aspect. Perhaps the most bizarre scene was shown in the clip but not commented on. This is the "stop motion" where Aunt Agnes has her leg up in the air and a man is sitting on the sofa watching (us, her?) It could have inspired David Lynch 😮
I don't have a suspicious mind and I grew up in an era where you didn't have to wonder and worry about old people diddling young children. I enjoyed it for the fantasy part; it was a fairy tale like Snow White or Cinderella
how could anyone feel sorry for mean old Aunt Agnes? she was really mean and cruel towards her neice. The whole point of the episode was so that Jenny could escape herr Aunt's cruelty.
Just how neglectful were your parents that being concerned over a preteen girl hanging around with an old man who the show clearly states is her boyfriend cruel? And old ben literally explains that aunt agnes does the "cruel" things she does out of love and care for jenny. If you think Aunt Agnes is cruel, all I can say is grow up.
@@tahjkuemmerle Did you watch the episode? Old Ben wasnt an old Man. it was just a disguise. Besides, Old Ben was far more caring to Jerry than Aunt Agnes was. she was totally abusive towards Jenny. that wasnt out of love, just cruelty. I bet you think Joan Crawford who beat her children with wire hangers 'loved" her children. even though it was old Ben's fault Jenny was late, Aunt Agnes was still abusive towards Jenny.
Wesley Lau played Lt Anderson on Perry Mason.
What made this ok? Particularly the ‘I won’t fix your leg because you’ll get a younger boyfriend ‘is not only the clearest hint at the relationship not being purely platonic, but also manipulative and cruel? I’m very confused what made the pedophilic aspect ok as the show seems to acknowledge this by retconning the aliens age in real time (visually at least, even though it seems to still be very pedophilic, a grown man rather than an old man). My head is full of wat?
Because back in the day it was the norm. There is a documentary concerning a history of children in the movie industry with a significant portion explaining how the 30's/40's child star, Jackie Cooper, being typecase as the always crying "boy bride" for leading men.
Is it weird that I have no problem with the episode, just the reaction to it? One use of fantasy is to push the audience out of its comfort zone. Here's where we stand:
He's a royal immortal* alien shapeshifter, she's a normal human who'll be dead and gone in a blink of his eye. "No, they're both humans! It makes me feel queesy!"
He didn't lie to her as he could have taken the Lazarua Long approach and kept the "immortal" part from her as he's a shapeshifter. On the Mythology scale of "This is so screwed up!", I wouldn't even rate it because historical human royalty has done weirder stuff. "It's grooming!" He's not human. "I don't want to think about it, I just want to feel about it!" Rod told you upfront it was fantasy.
Not only that, but his real age is much closer to her age. And she's comfortable and used to his shape shifting. We are never told that he doesn't spend most of his time shape shifted into a form that is closer to her own. He does shape shift and play with the kids. Many games that would be much easier if he appeared to be just one of the kids. It's on many levels the double edged sword of being a more aware society and having these darker ideas thrust into our consciousness on a regular basis that we have to turn the stories dark and subconciously won't accept them as anything else these days.
You FAIL to realize this movie was made in a time of innocence, pure, where now in modern time people read into crap we experience in modern internet horror of today. This movie was sweet and made for that time 1960 etc. People of my age love and enjoyed this saga not reading into all the horror s of NOW.adding up innuendoes of today. This saga was an innocent view of a Prince Charming fairy tale of that era. You gave it a modern day rating which was unfair. I appreciate the saga and it was AWESOME especially for people of my age whom had the innocence of that era to enjoy the saga without adding the sickness of today to destroy the concept of the saga. New movies or shows flow with the era of that time. Everything now is of Gore, amber alerts, the horror of what we live in now and we have to read into things to survive. Take the Ben and Jenny episode for what it is...sweet and innocent for that time....my opinion ❤
Ok weird does this reminds anyone of Tenchi Muyo alittle bit??!! The grandfather was supposed to marry this princess when she grew up but he left the planet.