The Twilight Zone (1959) s05e17 Episode Script

You unlock this door with the key of imagination.
Beyond it is another dimension- a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind.
You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.
You've just crossed over into the twilight zone.
I can't decide eight or 12.
I think 12 might suit you better.
What do you think, marilyn? Hmm? You weren't even listening.
I'm sorry, mother.
I don't understand you, darling.
Most girls are thrilled when it's time to pick a pattern.
You haven't even looked at the ones the bureau sent over.
Oh, i looked at them.
I remember how excited i was before i was done.
I couldn't sleep for nights.
I finally chose number 12.
I guess that's everybody's favorite.
Aren't you excited? Marilyn, what are you looking at, dear? You, a picture of you before.
Oh, dear.
It is you, isn't it? Yes, that's me before my transformation.
I was a sight, wasn't i? Mother, i think you were beautiful.
Well, i certainly don't.
Am i very homely now? No, darling, not to me.
But afterwards, you'll be beautiful.
Mother, if i didn't want the transformation, i wouldn't have to have it, would i? What are you talking about? The transformation is the most marvelous thing that could happen to a person.
Well, i could wait a little while, couldn't i? Don't worry, darling, you're just nervous.
What you need is a glass of instant smile.
Just think, very soon now you can look like that.
Won't that be wonderful? You rang, mrs.
Cuberle? Lana.
Pardon me lana.
I don't know why teaching you people to use first names is such a problem.
A glass of instant smile for marilyn, please, grace.
On second thought, make it two.
Yes, ma'am.
Lana.
What's so terrible about being beautiful? After all, isn't everybody? Given the chance, what young girl wouldn't happily exchange a plain face for a lovely one? What girl could refuse the opportunity to be beautiful? For want of a better estimate, let's call it the year 2000.
At any rate, imagine a time in the future when science has developed the means of giving everyone the face and body he dreams of.
It may not happen tomorrow, but it happens now, in the twilight zone.
Who is it? Hi, uncle rick.
Take it easy with that uncle rick stuff.
Are you trying to make me feel old? I'm sorry, i forgot.
Now, young lady, what's all this i've been hearing about you? You know, honey, your mother is very worried.
I don't want to be transformed.
I want to stay ugly.
Oh, you're not ugly, you're just not beautiful.
Well, i wouldn't exactly say that.
It's just that, uh you're different.
Sit down here.
Marilyn, your father was transformed.
Yes, number 17 just like you.
A very popular number these days.
As a matter of fact, it has been for 20 years.
He wouldn't have settled for anything less.
But is that good? Being like everybody- isn't that the same as being nobody? I think it's time you tell me where you're getting these radical ideas.
Daddy once said your father was a handsome man.
But he thought about things and he read books.
We talked a lot, just the two of us.
Everybody talks.
I mean about real things not just about electronic baseball or super soccer and where to buy your clothes or how to fix your hair.
Is that bad? Liking sports, buying new clothes? No, of course, it isn't but there's got to be more to life.
You don't feel very well.
What you need is a nice cup of instant smile.
I had a cup of instant smile! I don't feel like smiling all the time.
Sometimes i want to cry or frown.
Won't you understand? Marilyn, you are a very sick girl.
It's been very nice talking to you, valerie.
Thank you.
Hi, marilyn.
Hi, valerie.
Are you two going out? I don't think so, mrs.
Cuberle.
You promised to call me lana, remember? Oh, yes.
Lana.
Well, i know you two have a lot to talk about and i'm due at culture class.
Bye.
Good-bye.
She told you, didn't she? Yes, she did.
Don't you think you're being awfully silly? No.
There's no law, is there? But it isn't as if it hurts or anything.
When they did mine, i didn't feel a thing.
I know that.
Well, you like the way i look, don't you? I like you, val, we're friends.
I liked you before the transformation.
But you're missing the point.
It's like getting a new hairstyle or new clothes or something.
You just look better.
I'll look like one of those drawings that the bureau sends over.
But they're all beautiful.
What's wrong with that? It is wrong, valerie.
How will you know me? I mean, how will anyone know me? I don't want to look like everyone else.
I want to look like me.
And i'm not going to let them change me.
I won't let them change me.
Valerie, please help me.
Please.
Doctor will see you now.
Ah, come in, please, lana.
Thank you, doctor.
Come, marilyn.
And this is marilyn.
Sit down, sit down.
I'm sorry to have to bother you, doctor.
It's such a silly thing, really.
Not at all, not at all.
I see you're It must be just about time for you to, uh ah! I see you've already received notice.
That's why we're here.
Of course.
You mustn't worry, lana.
Marilyn is like the rest of them nowadays.
I am? And it's our fault really.
You see, we haven't given her any definite reason why she must wait until the age of 19.
You see, she looks at you, lana, and the other women around her and then at herself in the mirror.
Doctor from pure perfection of body, face, limb, pigmentation, stance, carriage, she looks at herself and she's horrified.
Isn't that so? Of course.
You see, the poor child says to herself why should i be so hideous? So awkward, oversized, unbalanced, so full of revolting skin eruptions, eh? In short, lana, our marilyn is tired of being a monster.
Dr.
Rex, you don't understand.
What's that? She isn't anxious.
I don't want to have the transformation.
You what? I can't understand.
She never said anything about it before.
Is this true? Yes.
She doesn't give any reasons.
Yes, yes.
Now, marilyn, suppose you tell me all about it, in your own words.
I don't know.
I just don't want the change.
You understand, of course, that the transformation has become a normal part of growing up.
It's a sign of maturity.
What, being like everyone else? Marilyn would you mind if i conducted an experiment with you? Purely for my own records.
This way, please.
Sit right down here, please.
Now, marilyn, you must try to understand the transformation is not merely desirable from an aesthetic point of view.
But experience has shown us that it plays a very important role in psychological adjustment.
Now just hold your head very still, please.
This won't hurt a bit.
There we are.
That's all there is to it.
Yes.
Lana, you have no idea what triggered this resentment? I can't imagine.
She's never shown much interest.
It never occurred to me.
I see that your husband died in the ganymede incident.
Five years ago.
Did you and he ever have an occasion to discuss this matter between yourselves? Yes, he was opposed to it at first.
But he finally chose number 17, your number.
Ah, i see.
Marilyn, you can come over here now.
We're quite finished.
Now, marilyn, i take it that you were quite fond of your father.
Yes.
And you no doubt respected his opinions.
Did he ever say to you that the transformation was bad? No, not exactly.
What did he say to you? He said he thought it was tragic.
My husband had some rather nonconformist ideas, but it was just talk.
He had the highest physical and psychological rating with the rocket service.
Yes, yes.
Lana, this case is extremely unusual.
I'm afraid that i shall require more time to examine the matter further.
Suppose i get in touch with you? You find out what's in there? What's that? Did you find out what's inside of me? Yes, indeed.
Your general intelligence rating is quite high.
Your social adaptability is good.
Your powers of reasoning, quite normal.
Then why can't i make up my own mind? Marilyn, please.
Why are you forcing me to do something i don't want? You can't make me do it, can you? Nobody can make me do it.
Now, now, my dear child.
No one has ever been forced to take transformation if he didn't want it.
You see, the problem is simply to discover why you don't want it and then to make the necessary correction.
Right in here, please.
What place is this? Marilyn cuberle.
Come in and sit down, please.
There's nothing to be frightened of.
Who are you? Sit down, please.
I am professor friend, sigmund friend.
You must call me professor sig.
Dr.
Rex has told me about you.
I am here to help you.
Help me? To help rid you of these fears of this necessary that isn't true.
They're not necessary.
This is very necessary, very important step in your life.
Why? Why does everyone want to force me to do something i don't want to do? But for your own good.
Why else? Why else would the state go to such trouble and expense? Many years ago, wiser men than i decided to try and eliminate the reasons for inequality and injustice in this world of ours.
They saw in physical unattractiveness one of the factors which made men hate.
So, they charged the finest scientific minds with the task of eliminating ugliness in mankind.
But i'm not ugly.
I'm not pretty, but i'm not ugly.
But to others you are.
Not to people who love me.
There is more to it than that, of course.
As we learned to reshape the features, remold the body, we also learned to eliminate most of the causes of illness and thus to prolong life.
Before the transformation, you could have expected to live But now you can live twice that long.
Perhaps three times.
This is a good thing, is it not? Yes your mother, ah, she is lovely, is she not? At one time, her body, her face, might already be showing signs of age, of decay.
You would not deny your mother her youth, would you? But you could do that anyway, couldn't you? Keep me young without changing me.
I wouldn't mind just that.
But someday you might and that would be too late.
You see, the transformation must be performed when the body and the tissue are at the proper state.
No, i'll never change my mind.
I've thought about it and i never will.
Why? Have you ever read shakespeare? Who? Or keats or shelley? Those books were banned many years ago.
Where did you find them? My father gave them to me and lots of others.
Aristotle, socrates, dostoyevsky.
Did you know that dostoyevsky was an epileptic? He was ugly, he was deformed, but he wrote about beauty, about real beauty.
I must warn you, this subversive these men wrote about life and about the dignity of the individual human spirit and about love.
This is enough! The introduction of smut into this interview will not help your case, young lady, not at all.
May i go? Yes, certainly, i have arranged a room for you.
You will be quite comfortable.
I don't want to stay here.
I want to go home! Your mother will be informed and you will be allowed visitors.
Come, my dear.
Why do i have to stay here? I am afraid that for the time being you must let us decide what is best for you.
We won't hurt you.
We're going to help you.
This way, lana.
She's right in here.
Marilyn? Marilyn, you have visitors.
Mother? She was upset last night.
I gave her something to help her sleep.
She's all right, isn't she? You haven't done anything? Just a mild sedative.
Now if you ladies will excuse me.
Darling, we'd have been here sooner but the doctor said you were sleeping.
Do you feel all right? Yes.
Hello, valerie.
Hi, honey, what happened? Nothing.
They just wouldn't let me go.
Oh, mother, they're going to do it anyway.
They're going to make me do it! No, marilyn, dr.
Rex promised, remember? He was lying! Lying, but why should he? He has to say that to keep people from finding out the transformation will be done whether you want it or not.
I don't see why you're unhappy when all they want to do is make you pretty.
But that's not true! Last night, before i went to sleep, i remembered something that father said.
He said, "when everyone is beautiful "no one will be "because without ugliness there can be no beauty.
" Mother, don't you understand? They don't care whether you're beautiful or not.
They just want everyone to be the same.
"They"? Who are you talking about? I'm terribly sorry, but i'm afraid it's time to leave now.
Oh, well.
If it's all right, i'd like to talk to marilyn.
Just for a few minutes.
Don't worry, darling everything's going to be all right.
I've been thinking about what you said.
I mean about what your father said and well, i don't see why you're so concerned about him.
He's dead.
I mean, surely you've had other fathers.
My mother's been married 11 times and personally i've liked the stepfathers better.
Valerie, please don't.
Look, i know you've had nine fathers since the first one.
Everybody marries everybody these days.
Valerie, stop.
I just don't see how anybody can stay married to the same husband for a hundred years.
Besides, i've heard that your father was pretty dull.
Valerie, stop it! Stop talking about my father! Can't any of you understand? I loved him.
I cared about him.
He was good and he was kind and he cared about me; not what i wore, not the way i looked but what i thought, what i felt.
He cared about himself and his dignity as a human being.
Valerie, he didn't die in the ganymede incident.
My father killed himself.
Because when they took away his identity he had no reason to go on living.
I just don't understand you, marilyn.
Valerie can't you feel anything? Well, of course, silly.
I feel i feel good.
I always feel good.
"Life is pretty, life is fun i am all and all is one.
" You can't understand, can you? What? They can't understand.
They can't understand.
They can't understand.
Come in, my dear.
We've been expecting you.
Sooner or later, everyone wants to be beautiful.
Where's your number? She's chosen number eight.
Excellent, excellent.
I just love your suit, val.
Lana, val! You're just in time.
It's all over, doctor? All over.
Is she all right? She's fine.
You'll see for yourselves.
I've been so worried- not being able to talk to her and she seemed in such a state.
Well, it's as i told you.
Occasionally, a person has difficulty adjusting to the idea.
But we've improved methods since the old days and now it always turns out well.
Never fails.
It's complete.
Mother! Mother, val.
Look at me.
What do you think? You're beautiful, marilyn just beautiful.
And the nicest part of all, val- i look just like you.
Portrait of a young lady in love- with herself.
Improbable? Perhaps.
But in an age of plastic surgery, body building and an infinity of cosmetics let us hesitate to say impossible.
These and other strange blessings may be waiting in the future which, after all, is the twilight zone.