It's a Good Life
- Episode aired Nov 3, 1961
- TV-PG
- 25m
On an isolated family farm, a young boy with vast mental powers, but lacking emotional development, holds his terrified family in thrall to his every juvenile wish.On an isolated family farm, a young boy with vast mental powers, but lacking emotional development, holds his terrified family in thrall to his every juvenile wish.On an isolated family farm, a young boy with vast mental powers, but lacking emotional development, holds his terrified family in thrall to his every juvenile wish.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprised their roles in It's Still a Good Life (2003), the only sequel in the history of The Twilight Zone (1959). Mumy's real-life daughter, Liliana Mumy, played Anthony's daughter, Audrey, who is even more powerful than he is. This episode also holds the record for the longest interval between a television episode and its sequel: 41 years, three months.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator: [Opening Narration] Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognize, is a map of the United States, and there's a little town there called Peaksville. On a given morning not too long ago, the rest of the world disappeared and Peaksville was left all alone. Its inhabitants were never sure whether the world was destroyed and only Peaksville left untouched or whether the village had somehow been taken away. They were, on the other hand, sure of one thing: the cause. A monster had arrived in the village. Just by using his mind, he took away the automobiles, the electricity, the machines - because they displeased him - and he moved an entire community back into the dark ages - just by using his mind. Now I'd like to introduce you to some of the people in Peaksville, Ohio. This is Mr. Fremont. It's in his farmhouse that the monster resides. This is Mrs. Fremont. And this is Aunt Amy, who probably had more control over the monster in the beginning than almost anyone. But one day she forgot. She began to sing aloud. Now, the monster doesn't like singing, so his mind snapped at her, turned her into the smiling, vacant thing you're looking at now. She sings no more. And you'll note that the people in Peaksville, Ohio, have to smile. They have to think happy thoughts and say happy things because once displeased, the monster can wish them into a cornfield or change them into a grotesque, walking horror. This particular monster can read minds, you see. He knows every thought, he can feel every emotion. Oh yes, I did forget something, didn't I? I forgot to introduce you to the monster. This is the monster. His name is Anthony Fremont. He's six years old, with a cute little-boy face and blue, guileless eyes. But when those eyes look at you, you'd better start thinking happy thoughts, because the mind behind them is absolutely in charge. This is the Twilight Zone.
- ConnectionsFeatured in TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time (1997)
- SoundtracksMoonglow
(uncredited)
Music by Will Hudson and Irving Mills
played on piano by the character named Pat Riley
This episode frightens me to this day. The more I see it (well, any episode), the more it ingrains itself into my psyche. It creates more and more existential thinking which makes it all the more unsettling.
Imagine your life depending on having ONLY "good" thoughts about someone. Our brains do not work that way. We couldn't function if we had to think this way. Our entire life would have to revolve around us obsessively chanting the good thoughts. Whether you did it in your mind or verbally, it's impossible!!! Even if we are concentrating on a task, our mind still wanders and is constantly processing, thinking, planning, daydreaming, etc. We are not computers. No human, especially those in Anthony's universe, could do this. While you are telling yourself to think a certain way, you are alternately screaming all the bad things you are NOT suppose to think about, plus what you need to pick up for dinner and trying to remember if you paid the electric bill. In Anthony's world, you would be burned alive or in the cornfield before you went insane.
I imagine what happens in the cornfield, (even worse than what Stephen King came up with and I'm sure the Chicago Black Sox won't be meeting up to have a pick up baseball game!), eventually running out of food and supplies and having to prepare to live off the land, the stress of helping others to be mindful of the rules, etc.
The actors did an amazingly convincing portrayal of their characters. The agonizing fear and dispair was palpable. Dan Hollis's tyrade should have caused them all to be punished because you know they instinctively agreed with him in their mind. The parents likely were emotionally and psychologically tortured by the thought that their child was evil and wished they could send him to the cornfield. Horrifying things to think about!!!!
I did see someone mention the TZ Movie version. The only part about that vignette I liked was the irony that Nancy Cartwright is banished into the TV to be tortured by a cartoon monster!!!!!
- kimcoxmonm
- Jul 19, 2021
Details
- Runtime25 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1