Previous A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. It is set on an everyman street in an everyman town. Charlie: Look! Maple Street, in the last calm and reflective moment...before the monsters came. A boy suggests there's been an invasion by aliens who have infiltrated Maple Street and are indistinguishable from humans. Unseen threats can also cause people to be more callous to fellow human beings, says Ulrich Lehner, a Catholic theologian at the University of Notre Dame. I swear it isn't! At the sound of the roar and a flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 PM on Maple Street. garykmcd. Further out above the town, upon a hill are two humanoid figures observing the slaughter going on below. One engine starts and that person is seen as a threat. No Maple Street resident has ever seen a monster, or an alien. Their mission accomplished, the aliens board a nearby spaceship and depart to outer space as the episode ends. Or will we turn into the Monsters of Maple Street? "His advice for today would be [that] we have to believe in one another ... we have to connect. A neighbor, Les Goodman, tries to start his car and has little success. Don produces a shotgun and, ignoring Steve, Charlie grabs it and shoots at the figure. Empty shelves in a supermarket on March 20, 2020. They are the true aliens, manipulating the power of Maple Street deliberately in order to trigger the peoples' suspicions against each other and resulting panic, thus slowly but surely conquering Earth one street at a time. Will you hoard food and supplies at the expense of others who may need them more? Then there is the nature of the threat on Maple Street. One alien remarks that when deprived of power, "[humans] pick the most dangerous enemy they can find and it's themselves. A shadowy figure advances towards the crowd, reactivating their fears as Tommy fearfully whispers that "it's the monster". View production, box office, & company info. It then escalates until each of them begins to believe terrible things about their recently loving friends. This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. They think the monsters are within their mini-culture. Episode cast overview, first billed only. The residents turn on Charlie, especially when the lights of his house inexplicably turn on by themselves. Unfortunately, as Steve's words nearly get through to the people, the sound of footsteps is heard coming down the street. If life during the Covid-19 pandemic makes it seem like you've entered "The Twilight Zone," that seminal sci-fi series about dread and paranoia, than you're more right than you realize. Series: All of a sudden, the power goes out. We may be facing one now. Cars won't start. There are way too many variables, way too many possibilities that could go wrong. People become isolated and panic. The wife of a resident, Charlie Farnsworth, is doubtful that Les really an alien, but Charlie dismisses her concerns for the ostracized neighbors. Rod Serling He also warns them that nobody could leave, except the aliens who infiltrated the population and are disguised as humans, leaving the people in suspense despite Steve's lighthearted jesting about finding the alien family among them. What do you do when a neighbor who you think might be sick asks you to take them to the hospital? Events turn on Charlie as everyone runs amok. Steve Brand thinks it's a meteorite though they didn't hear a create. Maple Street, USA. Check out our recommendations to stream this month. "One of the themes of the show was disorientation, the idea that the ground beneath our feet may not be as firm as we once thought," says Nicholas Parisi, author of, "People who have never seen the series -- you say to them, 'I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone,' and they know what you're talking about.". Those are the kind of choices Serling wrote about 60 years ago. She wants a different legacy for her son, What it's like to be a white woman named LaKiesha, How an internet mob falsely painted a Chipotle employee as racist, A preaching 'genius' faces his toughest convert, When you're the only white person in the room. As chaos engulfs Maple Street, the camera pans out to reveal the surrounding streets silent, peaceful and with power. Then a boy makes a fatal mistake. They chase Charlie, attempting to stone him to death, but the injured and frightened Charlie screams out that he knows who the aliens really are...and points out the boy Tommy as the culprit. Charlie there's a man lying dead in the street and you killed him; does that look like a gag to you? Steve Brand His pleas are ignored and fear becomes an accelerant. The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. But perhaps no episode of Serling's celebrated show captures so well what so many Americans are experiencing now -- and how grim life could quickly get if people aren't careful. ; Format: NTSC, VHS, Collector's Edition (1987). In comments last month, Lt. Gov. The "Tribute in Light" memorial lights up lower Manhattan on September 11, 2018, in New York City. In addition, there is a short epilogue revealing that, by morning, all residents of Maple Street have brutally killed one another and, within a week of the massacre, the aliens have moved into the neighborhood in their place. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA, What to Watch if You Miss the "Game of Thrones" Cast. A Minnesota state trooper pulled a doctor over for speeding but. However, when Steve agrees with Les that the actions of the other people are "some kind of madness", he is turned on by Charlie and the rest of Maple Street, including by his own friend Don. A boy named Tommy Bishop warns Steve Brand, a resident who wants to head into town to confront the police, that aliens have come from the dull roaring noise, and want to prevent the citizens from leaving (based on the belief from his comic books).