To Serve Man: Why Was This Classic Twilight Zone Episode Filmed Twice?

based on a short story by damon knight

and adapted for television by rod

serling this twilight zone story is

arguably one of the best and most

remembered of the entire series and

that's saying something as rod

sterling's the twilight zone is one of

the most respected and probably the best

anthology series of all time

originally published in galaxy science

fiction magazine in november of 1950 the

short story to serve man differed

somewhat from the tv adaptation but the

story was basically the same

a race of alien beings lands on earth

and offers to bring mankind the peace

and plenty which they themselves enjoy

and which they have in the past brought

to other races throughout the galaxy in

knight's short story the aliens or

canimits as they're called are short

hairy pig-like creatures that walk

upright but in the twilight zone episode

there are nine foot tall giants with

enormous heads and telepathic powers of

communication

it's great re-watching these classic

twilight zone episodes as they are in my

opinion much better than anything on

television today the effects may be

dated but the stories and

characterizations are solid

there are some minor plot holes but the

writing and the dialogue are so good

that they don't affect the basic story

the story opens on board the canid

spaceship in a framing sequence which

was later added by rod serling

the main character michael chambers is

seen lying down smoking a cigarette

while a voice on the intercom tells them

it is the meal time kindly state your

preference

chambers then narrates the scene as we

flash back to the canaanite's first

appearance on earth there's a shot of

new york's times square and the united

nations building and then a shot of a

ufo flying overhead

it's footage taken from the 1951 film

the day the earth stood still

inside the u.n they announced that the

first official arrival of alien

creatures from outer space has happened

the air is filled with tension as the

alien enters the building we don't

actually see the alien in this scene

just as tall shadow the shocked looks on

the delegates faces and the back of the

alien's head

after that we get the great rod searling

monologue that brings us to the first

break

respectfully submitted for your perusal

academic

height a little over nine feet weight in

the neighborhood of 350 pounds

origin unknown

an intriguing story with a shocking

twist ending the surf man had its share

of production problems

there were two different versions that

were shot

then the footage from both versions was

combined to make the episode that we see

today

richard kyle leader of james bond

villain fame plays the nine foot tall

canit that first addresses the u.n and

then he plays every candidate that was

seen after that

kyle was just over seven feet tall in

real life and wore a large prosthetic

appliance on his head to give the

appearance of a large brain

and he also wore thick soled platform

shoes to increase his height even more

kyle was in the middle of filming the

movie ego a 1962 indie horror film but

director richard bear was able to shoot

around his filming schedule

pioneering makeup artist william tuttle

who also did the makeup for the classic

twilight zone episodes nightmare at

twenty thousand feet eye of the beholder

and the masks also created the

prosthetics used for the alien's head

and it's still very creepy to look at

when we come back from break we see that

the canid is speaking but his mouth

isn't moving voicing instead through

some sort of telepathy he says that they

come in peace and friendship and that

their intentions are honorable

they wish above all things to help the

people of earth

they promised cheap unlimited energy an

end to famine and an end to all wars

they only ask us to trust them as they

have no ulterior motives they just want

to help us

after answering some questions from the

delegates the candidate leaves behind a

book written in their alien language

we then see our main character michael

chambers a government cryptographer who

was given the assignment of translating

the book

people are naturally distrustful of the

candidate's intentions but are slowly

persuaded to change their minds as the

aliens begin to deliver on their

promises to put an end to world hunger

energy shortages and the arms race

at this point patty a member of chambers

team enters the room and happily

announces that they've licked the book's

title she presents a sheet of paper with

the title printed in english to chambers

and two representatives of the army who

are also there

it's revealed that the title of the book

is to serve man

and chamber seems to think that this

proves the intention of the aliens

the army reps are still skeptical but

hopeful and chambers tells them that if

true they'll all be out of a job

we then switch to a scene where a

canaanite is taking a lie detector test

they ask him questions while monitoring

the results how did you get to this

planet

walked

once again how did you get to this

planet in a spaceship

after the scientists are convinced that

the detector is working

they ask what is the motive of the

canaanite people in offering such great

gifts to the people of the earth

to bring to you the peace and plenty

which we ourselves enjoy

and which we have in the past

brought to other races throughout the

galaxy

after winning humanity's trust the

aliens begin an exchange program with

the candidates coming to earth while

humans go to the cannamat homeworld to

enjoy a long vacation

they don't know just how long it's going

to be everyone is excited to leave on

the alien spaceship as they think

they're going off to some sort of

paradise there's a great shot of people

stepping on a large scale before

boarding the spaceship and the canaanite

in great foreshadowing has a really

creepy smile on his face

after the famous it's a cookbook scene

chambers tries to run down the stairs of

the spacecraft but is blocked by the

canaanite and forced onto the ship

the rest of the book to serve man

it's a cookbook

as the ship takes off there's a shot of

a flying saucer taken from the 1956 film

earth versus the flying saucers famous

special effects artist ray harryhausen

created the original effect but is never

credited in the episode

when searling first watched the rough

cut of the episode he wasn't happy with

it searling told the author damon knight

that they were going to re-shoot some

scenes and it was rod's hope to at least

come within a few hundred yards of

damon's great story

they made plans to film additional

footage rewrite the alien's dialogue and

re-record the voice-over tracks

in the original cut of the ending when

patty shouts to serve man it's a

cookbook

there was a close-up of chamber's

shocked face as the alien's hand reaches

up to pinch his cheek feeling for

tenderness before shoving chambers up

the stairs and closing the door

sirling wrote the two additional scenes

at the beginning and ending with

chambers on board the spacecraft as a

framing device to tie the episode

together

they then used the rest of the footage

that was already in the can as flashback

sequences with chambers narrating

it was the only twilight zone episode

where a character in the story directly

speaks to the viewers other than

searling himself

sterling also rewrote his opening and

closing monologues to better reflect the

final episode by the time the script

revisions were made kyle wasn't

available to re-record them so joseph

ruskin stepped in to do the voice over

ruskin had played the genie in the

twilight zone episode the man in the

bottle but he was never credited in this

episode kyle himself stated he was so

tired after driving all night from one

job to another and then doing brutal

makeup that when they gave him the

script for his lines he wasn't prepared

and didn't do a very good job on the

voice over

he wasn't surprised that they

re-recorded his lines just disappointed

in himself

sterling left on a five-week vacation

and when he got back and viewed the

results he agreed it was much better

than before

a number of scenes were deleted and the

order of some scenes was switched for

better clarity of storytelling

author damon knight was extremely

pleased with the episode's outcome and

shot off a note to sterling thanking him

for making a dandy show that his kids

loved but that they thought there should

have been more to the story

searling replied telling knight that he

wasn't sure that they did justice to his

story but every effort was made to do so

and he hoped they were able to work

together again that was not to be the

case though as none of damon's other

scripts ever made it into production was

this one of your favorite twilight zone

episodes if not what are some of your

favorite episodes of this classic series

i have so many favorites it would take

me a long time to write them all down

but let me know your thoughts in the

comments below and as always this is

rich from rerun zone signing off please

mr chambers eat

we wouldn't want you to lose weight

you