What a TWIST!!!!! Thoughts on To Serve Man? Watch the new NC here - ua-cam.com/video/tyDd-CZpXrg/v-deo.html Follow Walter on Twitter - twitter.com/Awesome_Walter Follow us on Twitch - www.twitch.tv/channelawesome
Now that I think about it the Kanamits are like those farmers who only see us as mere cattle. The farmers make their (cattle) environment humane to keep them calm and serene. It's so the meat would be a better quality. Same as to why the Kanamits brought peace on Earth for the humans.
To be honest with you Mr. Tober, the twist is shocking; No debate their. It just when I first saw this episode I was twelve and I miss understood the twist at first! I thought our main character, his female co-worker and the government all thought the book contain the ultimate knowledge of the universe and were eager to decipher it only to discover it just a cook book from their planet that the alien gave to us as a gift so us human can learn to cook & eat alien food 😋
@@matthewbuckley7757 It's fine. There are a few pretty good episodes, some lame ones. They definitely do not match the OG in quality if you were wondering that, but they do have some interesting ideas.
Honestly what creeps me out most is that for that book to exist means that either there were other planets with humans on it with similar anatomy to us, or the aliens somehow knew about earth and humanity and somehow figured out how to eat us and serve us so well that they wrote a book about it. Both raise questions and whatever answers you get they're just scarier than what this episode could've made.
I have to wonder why he left the book on the table as if on purpose. What would be the purpose of letting humans examine it? And why would he have brought the book with him to earth if they planned to "serve" the humans back on their own planet?
The way I view it, is almost the opposite. It's not more terrifying than they could have made it, that's exactly how they made it. Your ideas that are more terrifying were already essentially a part of the story, it just wasn't said out loud through exposition. Do you think that your ideas were oversight by an author, coincidentally an accident & the writers didn't think about the implications or reasons behind the plot device? Perhaps the actor improvised leaving the book and they just kept it in? Your ideas are part of the story, not separate additions they should have made and said outloud to make it "better than it was". You're inferring from subtext , explicitly from the narrative choice and purposeful designed of the writers. This is good it means you're thinking! Just likely not enough. That's how I view myself in your shoes anyways
It makes much more sense to eat cows, chickens, or sheep. They just eat grass and grain, and they get fatter. And with their low intelligence, they are obedient, and don't wast energy on their large brains.
Oh my goodness my grandfather and I would always recite the “It’s a cookbook” line. Also fun fact, one of the lemurs in Madagascar when they are all in the plane holds a book that says “To Serve Lemur” and says “It’s a Cookbook!!”
that was a reference to the naked gun 2 1/2 when oj simpsons (great casting :P) accidentally mentions a bomb in the building full of people creating panic and then a random guy with the book said the same quote
Kid! Me always thought he was saying: "It's a good book!" For some reason. Lol! It's one of those jokes that really flys over your head when your that young.
@@ADogWithGlasses00 me, born in 1958, always remembered this. The suggestion is more scary than showing them eating people. That is why it is still in my mind.
I was lucky enough to meet Richard Kiel twice at separate conventions. He was easily the nicest celebrity I ever met, had tons to say about the people he worked with, and was the embodiment of the phrase "gentle giant". I was so sad when he died. He'll be sorely missed.
I remember something very similar happening in The Silver Chair (from The Chronicles of Narnia). Eustace and Jill travel to the "Gentle Giants" who say they'd be delighted to have them at the Autumn Feast. They find a book called something along the lines of "to serve humans" and at first believe that the giants' constant pampering is nice and together with the book shows that they're dedicated to hospitality. Then one of them sees the inside where it discusses pies and spices, and they high-tail it out of there.
If my memory serves me right, the giants constantly state that they would love to have the children (and Puddleglum) for the Autumn feast, constantly pampering them. (The nurse assigned to Jill occasionally sighs that it’s a “pity” whenever remarking on how fond she is of Jill, but never elaborates). The three of them actually resolve to leave before the big reveal as they all realise that they have been wasting time in the giants’ court and almost forgotten their quest. However, they do decide to skedaddle *immediately* when Jill, while poking around, finds a cookbook. She reads sees a few standard recipes while flipping through it for lack of anything better to do, and then finds a recipe for “Man” (and Puddleglum also points out a recipe for “Marshwiggle”)
This is undoubtedly 1 of the Darkest Episodes of the Twilight Zone, since the implications are that the Kanamits will eventually start to farm Humans as livestock.
Exactly! The Kanamits was already doing just that for the humans at the beginning of the episode when their technology ended wars and brought world peace.
This episode along with “Eye of the Beholder”, “Terror at 20,000 Feet” and “Time Enough at Last” are what most ppl instantly think of when the Twilight Zone is brought up! And it’s infamy is well earned.
Now this is a classic right here. Even if you've never seen the show and been around in the 90's, you've probably heard about this twist from The Simpsons.
Mr. Chambers taking drags on a cigarette while through voice-over and flashback filling the viewer in on how he came to be Fate's punching bag gives this episode a real noir feel.
I can thank the Simpsons for introducing me to this episode with their very first TreeHouse of Horror Special. Only in the their version, Lisa only THINKS that the aliens want to eat them...
@@hitmanmonaghan6633 So true Hitman. Kang and Kodos remain 2 of the most underrated characters ever - always awesome. Not to worry, as Spock says, he's aware of the Rigel Systems population (yep, Doomsday Machine - one of the best ST:TOS episodes).
Just like The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and The Obsolete Man before, this is my favorite episode I've been looking forward to all year! My favorite episode of Season 3!
"To Serve Man" is one of my all-time favorite episodes, and it is definitely worthy of its praise. You are right--it really does seem like a short film that could have been made into a full-length movie--but I think that perhaps making it into a full Hollywood movie would have ruined it, and definitely would if it were made into one today.
Man, this year's Twilight-Tober Zone lineup really is _peak_ Twilight Zone. I knew this was going to be a good year when I looked up the episode list for the show. "The Obsolete Man", "It's a Good Life", "Five Characters in Search of an Exit", "Kick the Can" (and my personal favorite, "The Midnight Sun"), plus quite a few lesser known gems... and now the series' most famous episode of all. And we're not even done yet! There's still a few more days left in October, and at least one of those is _another_ one that I would consider a top-tier episode.
"There's still a few more days left in October" You mean, ONLY a few more days. Seeing a new one everyday gets one hooked, and then what do we do for the next 11 months?
@@etrisb I know what you mean. I'll be looking forward to next year's selection. Sadly, it won't be _quite_ as jam-packed with iconic episodes as this year was (but then, these are so well done that it scarcely matters). Next October, it looks like we'll be finishing up season 3, running through the entirety of season 4 (which was the season with hour-long episodes), and doing the first few of season 5. However, we _will_ get a few famous ones-- "The Dummy" and "He's Alive" are in there, as is a certain episode involving Captain Kirk on an airplane... ;)
I first saw this one in a twilight zone marathon when I was six years old. Even with my memory of that time being blurry from being so young, that big twist stuck with me clear as day for years
I first watched the 2000s version then watched some of the original when I was young I KNEW something was off early on in the episode. It's too good to be true
"It's a Cookbook!" I heard about the ending before watching the episode, but it's still great. Richard Keal was creepy in the this, although I thought it was Ted Cassidy at first.
To Serve Man is an essential episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the classics, up there with the eye of the beholder, and the monsters are due on Maple Street.
I was lucky enough to see this episode long before it became such an icon, that the ending is common knowledge. It was a huge surprise twist and it caught me entirely off guard. Such a shame that many first-time viewers today will miss out on this unique experience.
They've tried to recapture it on other shows, but todays culture is just too expecting. I've never heard of the episode, and I still would see it coming. It's a post Soylent Green world.
@@LegendStormcrow I tend to agree with your sentiments. Modern audiences have learned to seek out clues when a twist is promised. It saddens me to think that you have missed out on the Simpsons Hallowe'en episode which parodies this Twilight Zone Classic. Lloyd Bochner has reprised his role several times in Comedies, just to play the same tired gag. For me personally, I live in a post 'An Inspector Calls', or 'Ten Little Ni@@ers' World. But I am on side with what you say.
@@tomsenior7405 I've seen the first few back in the day. I know I've seen a couple Twilight Zone episodes, but I may have missed the reference back then
This episode first aired on March 2, 1962. I was nineteen days shy of my third birthday on that date, but I remember watching it with my dad. I have a freaky long memory, but even so, that strikes me as improbable. Maybe we caught the rerun of it later in 1962, during the off-season hiatus. There's a big difference between the sophistication of a two-year-old and a three-year-old. At any rate, it sure left an impression on me! I remember teetering on the brink of being frightened by Richard Kiel's appearance, but he didn't *act* scary, so I managed to tamp that down. The big reveal ("It's a cookbook!") made my dad laugh. That laugh kept the episode from giving me nightmares, I think. I *could* see the humor in it, but it was also terrifying. I still think "To Serve Man" is groundbreaking in the way its conclusion walked a fine line between comedy and horror.
I saw the Treehouse of Horror episode "Hungry Are the Damned") before this episode wayyyyyy back when. All I can think about is that episode when I see this. 😄
This episode was my first episode of the twilight zone. I remember seeing an ad about Syfy’s New Year’s Eve marathon and when I turned to the marathon this episode showed. it was really got me into the show because the twist was so good as well the kaminate costumes were awesome to see. I tend to show this episode when people are curious about the show.
It's also the main inspiration for Kang and Kodos' debut segment: Hungry are the Damned from the very first Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons, and the Megamind character is based on the Kanamits.
I really Like when simpson’s Treehouse of horror did this. Lisa: It’s a Cook (To Serve Man) Alien: What!? No. Look there’s Space Dust. *blow* (To serve Man Dinner) Lisa: Wait, there’s Still some space Dust. *Blow* (To serve Man for Dinner) The play on that title was so good.
I remember watching this episode with my dad when I was around 7 years old. I got up super early and he was watching TV so I joined him and he was telling me about the show throughout the episode. I've been a fan since that day lol.
Lloyd Bochner the main character in this episode, voiced Mayor Hamilton Hill in the Batman Animated Series and is the father of actor Hart Bochner, who played the yuppie scumbag in DIE HARD.
Even without knowing the twist, just knowing the Twilight Zone so much at this point, And the line "we have no ulterior motive" is a dead give away. Still a great story. I'm sure I'd have been a person on that ship in my early day's.
I have a complex relationship with this episode. I grew up watching it in syndicated re-runs, so it appeals deeply to my nostalgia. As a kid, it was one of my favorite episodes of "The Twilight Zone.." It still occupies a warm place in my heart, but my perception has changed. As I grew older, learned more about history & the world and became more cynical, the twist seemed sillier to me. Jaded old me has come to believe the Kanimets would just offer to take unwanted people (the poor, oppressed minorities, seditionists, the disabled, etc.) in exchange for petty baubles. They wouldn't even have to offer super-advanced technology, just precious metals & gems. Or maybe certain medical technologies like cures for cancer or age reversal serums. In which case, the twist would be the people being loaded onto the spaceships would be told soon after takeoff that they were actually being evacuated to a new Earth the aliens had built for them and that the humans who had sold them out were being left on a planet doomed to experience a mass extinction event caused by humanity itself.
I still remember when I first saw this ep when I was a kid watching TZ reruns at my grandmother’s house. The twist was fresh to me and caught me by complete surprise, what a jaw-dropping revelation!
This is a good example of the fact that some things ARE too good to be true. That there are people who can and will exploit you if you put blind trust in whatever carrots they wave in front of you, and you will have no idea until it’s too late.
One thing I really liked about this episode was that Kiel was in it. He did great in this episode and I liked him in James Bond movies and Happy Gilmore.
I remember reading a theory somewhere about the "How can you translate a language you've never seen before" question - perhaps one of the Kanamites is a rebel who disapproves of his people's behaviour and left hints about the language (along with the book itself), so that humans would ultimately figure out the truth and do something about it.
I guess I’m one of the fortunate few. I saw that episode before everyone knew the ending. One of the rare benefits of being old. It’s hinted at in the beginning. You know something is coming because you can see the guy regrets his decision to get on the spaceship and they keep telling him to eat but he keeps refusing.
I read the Damon Knight short story long before I saw the TZ episode. It's such a great story. Also, I love that the "Naked Gun 2 1/2" joke has the same actor (Lloyd Bochner, father of Hart "Ellis" Bochner) from the episode appearing still yelling about it being a cookbook.
This was the very first episode of the Twilight Zone I saw. I saw it with my grandparents who saw it when it first came out and they still remembered the twist all those years ago.
I always wondered why Lloyd Bochner's character didn't just jump off the side of the stairs. The Kanamits would never have stopped him, seeing as they just let the other guy just nope right out of there. And yes, of course, I know the reason why from a filmmaking POV. He couldn't because his character was _supposed_ to be on that ship, as seen in the beginning of the episode, so they had to get him on there somehow. Personally, I think they could've had it where he was almost on the ship before she said anything. Have the stairs be closing, and have her shout out "It's a cookbook!!" just before the stairs close. He still gets the message, we still get the twist, and yet it's far too late for him to escape.
One of the most famous twists in sci fi and still worth talking about 60 years later. What I'd give to actually see the reactions of viewers at the time.
I'll always remember this one, and a few others. I always liked "The Howling Man", and "Stopover in Quiet Town". So many great episodes with many twists.
I was lucky enough to never have this twist spoiled for me before I watched the episode. I knew there had to be one eventually, but they still managed to surprise me with how out of the blue it was!
Remembered in one of the What-A-Cartoons in the day. Old Gramps. Never got it until later when the aliens were invading and some man comes up to him with a book. "To serve man! It's a cook book! IT'S A COOKBOOK!!" "It's been done!" The last bit having gramps put him on a tee and knocking him away with a golf club.
I actually saw this referenced in a What a Cartoon short on Cartoon Network and the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror before seeing the actual episode. And after seeing it, I completely understand it becoming part of our pop culture enough to be referenced as much as it has. ^__^
This is the episode I’ve been waiting for a discussion on all month. What an absolute classic. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t know that was Richard Kiel as the aliens. That’s such a fun detail, elevated by the fact that this is the second time this month a Bond villain has appeared in a Zone episode
I had the pleasure of meeting RIchard Kiel at a convention years ago and he told me that doing this episode of Twilight Zone was his favorite, really nice man
I love how all the "help" the Kanamites give us are all hints of what's to come. The new crops to end world hunger are animal feed. The force field emitters to end war look like animal fences. That creepy smile as each human is being weighed on a big meat scale.
I vividly remember reading the short story this episode was based on for high school English class because of that unforgettable twist. Then when I watched this episode some time later it turned out that my friend from the same class, Mike Chambers (still buds, btw, real cool guy), had the same name as the main character. That always gave me a chuckle.
there's lovely subtext in the fact that the Kanamits want us to be healthy and safe and able to thrive, ending wars and conflict so we don't spend so much energy needlessly killing each other. We don't like it when or cows or pigs hurt each other, right? We want them to be healthy and strong, otherwise they're no good to anyone.
I remember that I saw a million spoofs of this before I ever saw the real thing, and I actually saw it in a class about writing good scifi. It was something like "The Fiction of Science Fiction" or something I took in college and we had a blast in that class. It was the same class, every day for the entire month of January and basically all we did was write stories with themes based on scifi classics. And when we weren't reading/writing, we were watching classic scifi stuff. Though I think my favorite story is still "There will come soft rains" or something akin to that in name. But that story makes me think of the Twilight Zone so much and I always picture it in Black and White despite it being a written story and it having no reason to be in Black and White.
My parents actually got to meet Richard keol in Vegas and he was very nice and he was about the same age as my grandmother. My dad even got a picture of him pretending to be Jaws to fighting his neck. Richard had to put his hands around my dad's head and he's not a guy that gets scared often but he said he almost s*** his pants on how terrifying it was that he could break his neck in any second with his big hands.
One of my top 5 favorite episodes of Twilight Zone....scared the hell out me when I was a kid.... When I was a child is a TV series V came on.... An episode 1 I literally turn to my dad and said didn't anyone ever see the Twilight zone episode how to serve mankind.... You know by the end of the series they're going to be eating people lol
I saw that series (V) as a child too and it was really memorable to me! Formed some of my first impressions of aliens disguised as humans and how I would want to write about them.
I'd like to think that the aliens killed her after the ship took off and covered up her disappearance so they can continue to ship humans to their planet for food.
I remember watching this episode on the sci fi channel when I was a kid I was lucky enough for it not to be spoiled ! I was shook for a bit after the credits rolled.
I can't remember its name, but the episode where the woman gets facial reconstruction and has her head wrapped up most of the episode has an insane, well-known twist too. I'd put it up there with the ones you mentioned :)
What a TWIST!!!!! Thoughts on To Serve Man?
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Yes, even though most people already know the major twist, it's still very shocking! 😱
Now that I think about it the Kanamits are like those farmers who only see us as mere cattle. The farmers make their (cattle) environment humane to keep them calm and serene. It's so the meat would be a better quality. Same as to why the Kanamits brought peace on Earth for the humans.
To be honest with you Mr. Tober, the twist is shocking; No debate their. It just when I first saw this episode I was twelve and I miss understood the twist at first! I thought our main character, his female co-worker and the government all thought the book contain the ultimate knowledge of the universe and were eager to decipher it only to discover it just a cook book from their planet that the alien gave to us as a gift so us human can learn to cook & eat alien food 😋
Let's give a round of applause to the TWIST of this episode!
Eat hearty, Mr. Longpig...
“It’s a cookbook!” is one of the greatest reveals ever, not just for Twilight Zone, but in all film and television
Yes, it's one of the most famous twists, and it's still shocking to this day!
What about "Soylent Green is people!" or "It was his sled!"?
plus the best parody of this Twilight zone episode Is on Madagascar
💯💯💯
@@Chaos89P Or "You blew it up!" (Which was another Rod Serling invention.)
I agree with what Peele said about this episode. It's the ultimate Dad joke ending.
I was wondering how good is the new show on Paramount plus?
I've heard mixed things.
@@SnakeRoadComicsOfficial3677 Oh okay hopefully it’s still worth a watch
@@matthewbuckley7757 It's fine. There are a few pretty good episodes, some lame ones. They definitely do not match the OG in quality if you were wondering that, but they do have some interesting ideas.
Response from my youngest; "Dad, if you made this it would say "It's a cockbook". My reply - "Damn - wish I'd thought of that".
Honestly what creeps me out most is that for that book to exist means that either there were other planets with humans on it with similar anatomy to us, or the aliens somehow knew about earth and humanity and somehow figured out how to eat us and serve us so well that they wrote a book about it. Both raise questions and whatever answers you get they're just scarier than what this episode could've made.
I have to wonder why he left the book on the table as if on purpose. What would be the purpose of letting humans examine it? And why would he have brought the book with him to earth if they planned to "serve" the humans back on their own planet?
That's why the Indus River valley Civilization disappeared
@@etrisb The classic villain who wants their plot exposed to taunt their victims?
The way I view it, is almost the opposite. It's not more terrifying than they could have made it, that's exactly how they made it. Your ideas that are more terrifying were already essentially a part of the story, it just wasn't said out loud through exposition.
Do you think that your ideas were oversight by an author, coincidentally an accident & the writers didn't think about the implications or reasons behind the plot device? Perhaps the actor improvised leaving the book and they just kept it in?
Your ideas are part of the story, not separate additions they should have made and said outloud to make it "better than it was". You're inferring from subtext , explicitly from the narrative choice and purposeful designed of the writers.
This is good it means you're thinking! Just likely not enough. That's how I view myself in your shoes anyways
It makes much more sense to eat cows, chickens, or sheep. They just eat grass and grain, and they get fatter. And with their low intelligence, they are obedient, and don't wast energy on their large brains.
Oh my goodness my grandfather and I would always recite the “It’s a cookbook” line.
Also fun fact, one of the lemurs in Madagascar when they are all in the plane holds a book that says “To Serve Lemur” and says “It’s a Cookbook!!”
I lol so hard when that happened.
that was a reference to the naked gun 2 1/2 when oj simpsons (great casting :P) accidentally mentions a bomb in the building full of people creating panic and then a random guy with the book said the same quote
Kid! Me always thought he was saying: "It's a good book!" For some reason. Lol!
It's one of those jokes that really flys over your head when your that young.
My dad watched this as a kid (born in 1957) and he always said how spooky that twist was!
Nothing more spooky than existential dread of the inevitable.
No wonder people from that era didn't believe and were so scared of aliens in real life and ufos. The trust issues this episode alone would've caused
@@ADogWithGlasses00 me, born in 1958, always remembered this. The suggestion is more scary than showing them eating people.
That is why it is still in my mind.
You can tell the episodes Walter really likes get an extra minute or two.
Preach, it's easy to determine Walter's favourite episodes by the time length of the video.
The most extreme example of this is The Obsolete Man from earlier this month. It gets about 15 minutes, no lie!
Waltuh, put ha dick away. It’s just the twilight zone
I was lucky enough to meet Richard Kiel twice at separate conventions. He was easily the nicest celebrity I ever met, had tons to say about the people he worked with, and was the embodiment of the phrase "gentle giant". I was so sad when he died. He'll be sorely missed.
❤❤❤
I remember something very similar happening in The Silver Chair (from The Chronicles of Narnia). Eustace and Jill travel to the "Gentle Giants" who say they'd be delighted to have them at the Autumn Feast. They find a book called something along the lines of "to serve humans" and at first believe that the giants' constant pampering is nice and together with the book shows that they're dedicated to hospitality. Then one of them sees the inside where it discusses pies and spices, and they high-tail it out of there.
I was looking for this! It’s the first thing I thought of too. Perhaps the author found inspiration from C.S. Lewis
If my memory serves me right, the giants constantly state that they would love to have the children (and Puddleglum) for the Autumn feast, constantly pampering them. (The nurse assigned to Jill occasionally sighs that it’s a “pity” whenever remarking on how fond she is of Jill, but never elaborates).
The three of them actually resolve to leave before the big reveal as they all realise that they have been wasting time in the giants’ court and almost forgotten their quest. However, they do decide to skedaddle *immediately* when Jill, while poking around, finds a cookbook. She reads sees a few standard recipes while flipping through it for lack of anything better to do, and then finds a recipe for “Man” (and Puddleglum also points out a recipe for “Marshwiggle”)
This is undoubtedly 1 of the Darkest Episodes of the Twilight Zone, since the implications are that the Kanamits will eventually start to farm Humans as livestock.
Exactly! The Kanamits was already doing just that for the humans at the beginning of the episode when their technology ended wars and brought world peace.
It’s Soylent Green before said film came out except we have aliens here and not humans cannibalizing each other
This episode reminds me of the 80's movie "V".
@@LucyLioness100 what happens in the sequel episode?
But they decipher the book so people will go to war with the scrotum hats
This episode along with “Eye of the Beholder”, “Terror at 20,000 Feet” and “Time Enough at Last” are what most ppl instantly think of when the Twilight Zone is brought up!
And it’s infamy is well earned.
I also think about the episode with a cute little freckled faced nightmare of a child who rules the world and banishes people to the cornfield.
“Well, if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished!!”
Now this is a classic right here. Even if you've never seen the show and been around in the 90's, you've probably heard about this twist from The Simpsons.
It just has space dust on it.
*blows dust away*
To Serve For Man.
"How To Cook For Forty Humans!"
Lisa remember when we say you're too smart for your own good? Yeah. This is it.
never seen that episode. i was too young for that
"Well I hope you're happy. You made Serak the Preparer cry!"
"I slaved in the kitchen for days!!!" :(
"Well, if you wanted to make Serak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished."
One word to describe this episode: TIMELESS.
Still my favorite joke in Madagascar. A panicked lemur running around with a book called " To Serve Lemur" while randomly yelling. ITS A COOKBOOK!!!
That was the first time I heard that line as a kid 😅 then I saw this episode and understood the context
They also did the same Gag in one of the Naked Gun Movies and they even got the Original Actor from the Episode 😉
Like the "having an old friend for dinner" line in Silence of the Lambs "It's a cookbook!" makes one both chuckle and shudder.
Mr. Chambers taking drags on a cigarette while through voice-over and flashback filling the viewer in on how he came to be Fate's punching bag gives this episode a real noir feel.
One of the existential parts of TZ.
The twist is iconic. And it's absolutely must watch episode
I can thank the Simpsons for introducing me to this episode with their very first TreeHouse of Horror Special. Only in the their version, Lisa only THINKS that the aliens want to eat them...
They would have experienced heavenly bliss if not for Lisa.
So much space dust.
"GO TO YOUR ROOM, LISA".
The aliens become such a staple for Tree house of horror.
@@hitmanmonaghan6633 So true Hitman. Kang and Kodos remain 2 of the most underrated characters ever - always awesome. Not to worry, as Spock says, he's aware of the Rigel Systems population (yep, Doomsday Machine - one of the best ST:TOS episodes).
The most iconic episode of the series this is the episode many people think about when you say Twilight Zone to them even if they've never seen it
Just like The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and The Obsolete Man before, this is my favorite episode I've been looking forward to all year! My favorite episode of Season 3!
Ah one of the most iconic pieces of television the show ever created. I have waited anxiously for this one!
That ending will always
give me the chills.👽🛸
Same here
So man is a dish best-served cold. or chilled.
"To Serve Man" is one of my all-time favorite episodes, and it is definitely worthy of its praise. You are right--it really does seem like a short film that could have been made into a full-length movie--but I think that perhaps making it into a full Hollywood movie would have ruined it, and definitely would if it were made into one today.
Man, this year's Twilight-Tober Zone lineup really is _peak_ Twilight Zone. I knew this was going to be a good year when I looked up the episode list for the show. "The Obsolete Man", "It's a Good Life", "Five Characters in Search of an Exit", "Kick the Can" (and my personal favorite, "The Midnight Sun"), plus quite a few lesser known gems... and now the series' most famous episode of all. And we're not even done yet! There's still a few more days left in October, and at least one of those is _another_ one that I would consider a top-tier episode.
"There's still a few more days left in October"
You mean, ONLY a few more days. Seeing a new one everyday gets one hooked, and then what do we do for the next 11 months?
@@etrisb I know what you mean. I'll be looking forward to next year's selection. Sadly, it won't be _quite_ as jam-packed with iconic episodes as this year was (but then, these are so well done that it scarcely matters). Next October, it looks like we'll be finishing up season 3, running through the entirety of season 4 (which was the season with hour-long episodes), and doing the first few of season 5. However, we _will_ get a few famous ones-- "The Dummy" and "He's Alive" are in there, as is a certain episode involving Captain Kirk on an airplane... ;)
An episode that has become a pop culture lexicon. I think everyone knows the twist and they didn’t even see the actual episode. Always a classic
I first saw this one in a twilight zone marathon when I was six years old.
Even with my memory of that time being blurry from being so young, that big twist stuck with me clear as day for years
I first watched the 2000s version then watched some of the original when I was young
I KNEW something was off early on in the episode. It's too good to be true
"It's a Cookbook!" I heard about the ending before watching the episode, but it's still great. Richard Keal was creepy in the this, although I thought it was Ted Cassidy at first.
I used this quote about the drones just recently in one of my remarks. Still relevant today.
To Serve Man is an essential episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the classics, up there with the eye of the beholder, and the monsters are due on Maple Street.
1:45, this has been considered to be one of the best episodes of the series.
I was lucky enough to see this episode long before it became such an icon, that the ending is common knowledge. It was a huge surprise twist and it caught me entirely off guard. Such a shame that many first-time viewers today will miss out on this unique experience.
They've tried to recapture it on other shows, but todays culture is just too expecting. I've never heard of the episode, and I still would see it coming. It's a post Soylent Green world.
@@LegendStormcrow I tend to agree with your sentiments. Modern audiences have learned to seek out clues when a twist is promised. It saddens me to think that you have missed out on the Simpsons Hallowe'en episode which parodies this Twilight Zone Classic. Lloyd Bochner has reprised his role several times in Comedies, just to play the same tired gag. For me personally, I live in a post 'An Inspector Calls', or 'Ten Little Ni@@ers' World. But I am on side with what you say.
@@tomsenior7405 I decided to binge the treehouse of horror, so I'm sure I'll watch it at some point.
@@LegendStormcrow An excellent choice. The very first Treehouse, episode 2 "Hungry are the damned" is a chucklesome parody.
@@tomsenior7405 I've seen the first few back in the day. I know I've seen a couple Twilight Zone episodes, but I may have missed the reference back then
This episode first aired on March 2, 1962. I was nineteen days shy of my third birthday on that date, but I remember watching it with my dad. I have a freaky long memory, but even so, that strikes me as improbable. Maybe we caught the rerun of it later in 1962, during the off-season hiatus. There's a big difference between the sophistication of a two-year-old and a three-year-old. At any rate, it sure left an impression on me! I remember teetering on the brink of being frightened by Richard Kiel's appearance, but he didn't *act* scary, so I managed to tamp that down. The big reveal ("It's a cookbook!") made my dad laugh. That laugh kept the episode from giving me nightmares, I think. I *could* see the humor in it, but it was also terrifying. I still think "To Serve Man" is groundbreaking in the way its conclusion walked a fine line between comedy and horror.
I saw the Treehouse of Horror episode "Hungry Are the Damned") before this episode wayyyyyy back when. All I can think about is that episode when I see this. 😄
"Well, if you wanted to make Seerak the Preparer cry, mission accomplished!"
This episode was my first episode of the twilight zone. I remember seeing an ad about Syfy’s New Year’s Eve marathon and when I turned to the marathon this episode showed. it was really got me into the show because the twist was so good as well the kaminate costumes were awesome to see. I tend to show this episode when people are curious about the show.
_”You’re entering a_ _dimension of Sight…_ _a dimension of_ _Sound… and Idea._ _You’re going on a_ _Journey. The next_ _Stop? The_
👁🕰🎇
_𝑇𝑊𝐼𝐿𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇 𝑍𝑂𝑁𝐸 !!"_
It's also the main inspiration for Kang and Kodos' debut segment: Hungry are the Damned from the very first Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons, and the Megamind character is based on the Kanamits.
I really Like when simpson’s Treehouse of horror did this.
Lisa: It’s a Cook (To Serve Man)
Alien: What!? No. Look there’s Space Dust. *blow* (To serve Man Dinner)
Lisa: Wait, there’s Still some space Dust. *Blow* (To serve Man for Dinner)
The play on that title was so good.
I remember watching this episode with my dad when I was around 7 years old. I got up super early and he was watching TV so I joined him and he was telling me about the show throughout the episode. I've been a fan since that day lol.
There are good episodes, but There will never again be an episode as wonderful as this.
Lloyd Bochner the main character in this episode, voiced Mayor Hamilton Hill in the Batman Animated Series and is the father of actor Hart Bochner, who played the yuppie scumbag in DIE HARD.
Even without knowing the twist, just knowing the Twilight Zone so much at this point, And the line "we have no ulterior motive" is a dead give away.
Still a great story. I'm sure I'd have been a person on that ship in my early day's.
I have a complex relationship with this episode.
I grew up watching it in syndicated re-runs, so it appeals deeply to my nostalgia. As a kid, it was one of my favorite episodes of "The Twilight Zone.." It still occupies a warm place in my heart, but my perception has changed.
As I grew older, learned more about history & the world and became more cynical, the twist seemed sillier to me.
Jaded old me has come to believe the Kanimets would just offer to take unwanted people (the poor, oppressed minorities, seditionists, the disabled, etc.) in exchange for petty baubles. They wouldn't even have to offer super-advanced technology, just precious metals & gems. Or maybe certain medical technologies like cures for cancer or age reversal serums.
In which case, the twist would be the people being loaded onto the spaceships would be told soon after takeoff that they were actually being evacuated to a new Earth the aliens had built for them and that the humans who had sold them out were being left on a planet doomed to experience a mass extinction event caused by humanity itself.
I still remember when I first saw this ep when I was a kid watching TZ reruns at my grandmother’s house. The twist was fresh to me and caught me by complete surprise, what a jaw-dropping revelation!
This is a good example of the fact that some things ARE too good to be true.
That there are people who can and will exploit you if you put blind trust in whatever carrots they wave in front of you, and you will have no idea until it’s too late.
One thing I really liked about this episode was that Kiel was in it. He did great in this episode and I liked him in James Bond movies and Happy Gilmore.
I remember reading a theory somewhere about the "How can you translate a language you've never seen before" question - perhaps one of the Kanamites is a rebel who disapproves of his people's behaviour and left hints about the language (along with the book itself), so that humans would ultimately figure out the truth and do something about it.
5:55 I love how that cop is reaching for his gun there
“It’s a cookbook!”
Hannibal Lecter and Jeffery Dahmer: go on….
Imagine if aliens tried to eat us today. They’d die from high cholesterol and saturated fat intake after their first 2 bites 🤣
I’m still shocked that no one has ever thought to make an official Twilight Zone cookbook called To Serve Man
Eh, maybe check a cannibal's kitchen. If anyone had one the would have one.
Viewers! Viewers! Don’t watch this video! This channel, Channel Awesome, it’s….it’s a cooking channel!
I was watching Babish all this time?
Wait, there’s a bit of dust on the cover, it says “Channel Awesome Cooks For Humans”
This is one of those episodes where I not only wish I can watch for the first time again, but I wish I could've experienced the original airing.
‘How to Cook Humans’
‘How to Cook For Humans’
‘How to Cook Forty Humans’
‘How to Cook For Forty Humans’
(‘The Simpsons’,
‘Treehouse of Horror’)
I guess I’m one of the fortunate few. I saw that episode before everyone knew the ending. One of the rare benefits of being old.
It’s hinted at in the beginning. You know something is coming because you can see the guy regrets his decision to get on the spaceship and they keep telling him to eat but he keeps refusing.
Every time I see Richard Kiel I think of two quotes “Watch out for snakes” -and- “and you can count…on me….waiting for you in the parking lot”.
I read the Damon Knight short story long before I saw the TZ episode. It's such a great story.
Also, I love that the "Naked Gun 2 1/2" joke has the same actor (Lloyd Bochner, father of Hart "Ellis" Bochner) from the episode appearing still yelling about it being a cookbook.
This was the very first episode of the Twilight Zone I saw. I saw it with my grandparents who saw it when it first came out and they still remembered the twist all those years ago.
Eye of the Beholder is my favorite due to the way it is filmed... HOWEVER... This episode is just PURE GENIUS 🖤🖤🖤
I always wondered why Lloyd Bochner's character didn't just jump off the side of the stairs. The Kanamits would never have stopped him, seeing as they just let the other guy just nope right out of there. And yes, of course, I know the reason why from a filmmaking POV. He couldn't because his character was _supposed_ to be on that ship, as seen in the beginning of the episode, so they had to get him on there somehow. Personally, I think they could've had it where he was almost on the ship before she said anything. Have the stairs be closing, and have her shout out "It's a cookbook!!" just before the stairs close. He still gets the message, we still get the twist, and yet it's far too late for him to escape.
One of the most famous twists in sci fi and still worth talking about 60 years later. What I'd give to actually see the reactions of viewers at the time.
This episode was actually a dedication to Harold Serveman, who died in World War II
I'll always remember this one, and a few others. I always liked "The Howling Man", and "Stopover in Quiet Town". So many great episodes with many twists.
When my family went indoor skydiving, one of my family members jokingly said “It’s a cookbook!” as the door to the chamber closed
I was lucky enough to never have this twist spoiled for me before I watched the episode. I knew there had to be one eventually, but they still managed to surprise me with how out of the blue it was!
I gotta admit, I laughed when I heard the cookbook line, maybe because it was just so unexpected. Great episode. Unique for the show.
Ah yes. The episode that spawned many references in shows and movies afterwards. Even in cartoons!
I remember that they parodied this episode on The Simpsons in Treehouse of Horror 1.
Remembered in one of the What-A-Cartoons in the day. Old Gramps. Never got it until later when the aliens were invading and some man comes up to him with a book.
"To serve man! It's a cook book! IT'S A COOKBOOK!!"
"It's been done!"
The last bit having gramps put him on a tee and knocking him away with a golf club.
I actually saw this referenced in a What a Cartoon short on Cartoon Network and the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror before seeing the actual episode.
And after seeing it, I completely understand it becoming part of our pop culture enough to be referenced as much as it has. ^__^
Richard Kiel here is never mentioned & or given credit for his performance as he is the actor who plays the hungry Kanamit alien.
This is the episode I’ve been waiting for a discussion on all month. What an absolute classic.
I’ll admit, though, I didn’t know that was Richard Kiel as the aliens. That’s such a fun detail, elevated by the fact that this is the second time this month a Bond villain has appeared in a Zone episode
I had the pleasure of meeting RIchard Kiel at a convention years ago and he told me that doing this episode of Twilight Zone was his favorite, really nice man
even when you know the twist, to me, the tension is so well done that it's still shocking.
I've been looking forward to this!
I love how all the "help" the Kanamites give us are all hints of what's to come. The new crops to end world hunger are animal feed. The force field emitters to end war look like animal fences. That creepy smile as each human is being weighed on a big meat scale.
I vividly remember reading the short story this episode was based on for high school English class because of that unforgettable twist. Then when I watched this episode some time later it turned out that my friend from the same class, Mike Chambers (still buds, btw, real cool guy), had the same name as the main character. That always gave me a chuckle.
there's lovely subtext in the fact that the Kanamits want us to be healthy and safe and able to thrive, ending wars and conflict so we don't spend so much energy needlessly killing each other. We don't like it when or cows or pigs hurt each other, right? We want them to be healthy and strong, otherwise they're no good to anyone.
I hope when/if Doug does a Twilight Zone movie review he invites you over. This episode is great, even with the little plot hole
Finally!!! I have been waiting for this episode all October!!!
Probably my favorite episode. The first time I watched it when i was younger the twist ending freaked me out and kept me up at night.
That line at 6:45....coupled with the signage contained in the 7:33 image--says it all.
Kind of a funny pun here - Cannamits vs. Cannibals - obviously baseball played a role in naming the aliens.
My favorite episode! The twist is just phenomenal!
Also, I just noticed that the person who plays the Japanese dignitary in this episode also portrayed that Japanese commander in "A Quality of Mercy".
3:44, that was one of my favorite Ray Harryhausen movies.
I remember that I saw a million spoofs of this before I ever saw the real thing, and I actually saw it in a class about writing good scifi. It was something like "The Fiction of Science Fiction" or something I took in college and we had a blast in that class. It was the same class, every day for the entire month of January and basically all we did was write stories with themes based on scifi classics. And when we weren't reading/writing, we were watching classic scifi stuff. Though I think my favorite story is still "There will come soft rains" or something akin to that in name. But that story makes me think of the Twilight Zone so much and I always picture it in Black and White despite it being a written story and it having no reason to be in Black and White.
My parents actually got to meet Richard keol in Vegas and he was very nice and he was about the same age as my grandmother. My dad even got a picture of him pretending to be Jaws to fighting his neck. Richard had to put his hands around my dad's head and he's not a guy that gets scared often but he said he almost s*** his pants on how terrifying it was that he could break his neck in any second with his big hands.
My dads favorite episode he loves the ones with a darker twist
Another of the all-time classics of the series.
I’m glad I watched this episode without knowing the twist.
To serve man one of my all time favorites
One of my top 5 favorite episodes of Twilight Zone....scared the hell out me when I was a kid....
When I was a child is a TV series V came on.... An episode 1 I literally turn to my dad and said didn't anyone ever see the Twilight zone episode how to serve mankind.... You know by the end of the series they're going to be eating people lol
I saw that series (V) as a child too and it was really memorable to me! Formed some of my first impressions of aliens disguised as humans and how I would want to write about them.
I'd like to think that the aliens killed her after the ship took off and covered up her disappearance so they can continue to ship humans to their planet for food.
Yeah, but the humans around her saw and heard what happened. I believe some would form a resistance.
I remember watching this episode on the sci fi channel when I was a kid I was lucky enough for it not to be spoiled ! I was shook for a bit after the credits rolled.
"To Serve Man... IT'S A COOKBOOK!!!" The greatest twist ending in the Twilight Zone! This is one of my favorite episodes of any TV show.
1:55 Awww! Not even a nod to Madagascar’s use of “To Serve Man”?!
Most people wouldn’t remember it from Madagascar…. it had already been parodied for decades before Madagascar was even written
I can't remember its name, but the episode where the woman gets facial reconstruction and has her head wrapped up most of the episode has an insane, well-known twist too. I'd put it up there with the ones you mentioned :)
The episode was called "The Eye of the Beholder"
@@jtilton5 Thank you! Yes, it sounds super familiar now. Appreciated!
3:42, which the VFX are still impressive to this day.
Michael Chambers at the beginning of the episode: “you’re probably wondering how I found myself in this situation”
Joseph Ruskin. Great voice. Thanks for letting us know twas his voice for the Kanamits. I had no idea.