The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

The electric is off all over the street and cars with a full tank wont start. The residents of Maple Street live in 1960 so surely such rational people could not revert to the paranoia of an ancient witch hunting mentality? The supernatural may be replaced with a fear of alien invasion, but sadly people haven't changed. Steve Brand (Claude Akins) is the lone voice of sanity as Rod Serling eloquently shows us the thinness of the veil of civilization that covers madness in human societies. The 1960 trappings of the story only serve to make this a timeless piece of television allegorical for any society in any age. A crowning achievement from Serling. An unforgettable episode.

The Twilight Zone featuring Rod Sterling is one of the finest Sci Fi show made in the history of cinema. It is a cinematic genius.

Absolutely beautiful to watch the episodes from back to back and you will love it.

Character actors Claude Akins and Jack Weston are the most prominent names in the Twilight Zone Story about someone spotting a flying saucer overhead which gets all the neighbors out of their houses on Maple Street USA.

Then all kinds of strange things start happening. Power going on and off and all kinds of finger pointing is started. Could one of these neighbors not be what they seem?

Claude Akins for once not a cruel and psychotic villain tries to be the voice of reason. Counterbalancing Akins is Jack Weston who starts throwing suspicion in every direction.

The story fresh from the paranoid McCarthy 50s is a warning about not rushing to judgment and giving way to panic. We could use a little of that today, wisdom from Rod Serling in a timeless classic.

Almost like Vladimir Putin watched this show.

This episode should be seen as essential viewing for all of today's Q-Anon conspiracy nuts. Serling understood that this kind of contagious paranoia is a natural resident of the human heart. A great episode with important illustrative lessons for today. I find it very depressing that after all the human race has come to learn over the millennia, we r]apparently remain limitlessly suggestible. Very sad. I guess we need to continue efforts to educate youth, especially in issues related to human history and critical thinking. They should be taught to question EVERYTHING, if for no other reason than that there will always be those who try to take advantage of those just too credulous to know when they are being deceived.

A great episode of the twilight zone based solely on the chilling true look at humanity. Hard to believe that all this time alter the same theory would probably stand true. This episode does a great job of using small tricks to make a big impact.