The Old Man in the Cave

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Old Man in the Cave
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "The Old Man in the Cave"
Season = 5
Episode = 127
Airdate = November 8, 1963
Production =2603
Writer = Rod Serling
Director = Alan Crosland Jr.
Guests = James Coburn : French
John Anderson : Goldsmith
Josie Lloyd : Evie
John Craven : Man
John Marley : Jason
Leonard P. Geer (uncredited) : Douglas
Natalie Masters (uncredited) : Woman
Frank Watkins (uncredited) : Harber
Don Wilbanks (uncredited) : Furman
Music =
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = Living Doll
Next = Uncle Simon

"The Old Man in the Cave" is a half-hour episode of the original version of "The Twilight Zone". It is set in a post-apocalyptic 1974, ten years after a nuclear holocaust in the United States. The episode is a cautionary tale about humanity's greed and the danger of questioning one's faith in forces greater than oneself.

Opening Narration

ynopsis

In a sparsely populated town set ten years after a nuclear war, the townspeople have discovered a supply of canned food but are waiting for Mr. Goldsmith to return from the cave to get the message from "the old man" to tell them whether it is contaminated with radiation. Some of them want to take their chances and eat the food, but they refrain from doing so after seeing the disastrous harvest yielded when they did so with their choice of land rather than taking the old man's advice about which areas were contaminated. When Mr. Goldsmith, the town's leader, returns, he informs them that the old man has declared the food contaminated and that it should be destroyed.

When a group of soldiers enter the town, they try to dispel the townspeople's strange beliefs about the man in the cave. It is ultimately revealed that in reality they have been listening to a computer the whole time. In a fit of rage at being deceived, the town destroys the computer and eat the canned goods it claimed were contaminated. However, as Mr. Goldsmith had insisted, the "old man" was correct; without an authority figure to tell them which foods are safe, the entire town (including the soldiers) dies. Except for the one and lone survivor, Mr. Goldsmith

Closing Narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

Episode notes

In the post-apocalyptic world presented in the episode, humanity has destroyed itself, but does so again through "greed, desire and faithlessness".Warren, Jason. "Twilight Zone: 'Time Enough at Last'". "Scifilm -- TV Files". http://www.scifilm.org/tv/tz/twilightzone1-8.html. Accessed 20 July 2006.] It is thus a warning not to ignore faith, which often serves an important purpose in society. The events in the episode show that myths and beliefs are often based on fact or necessity, as is the case with the "old man" who, despite being a computer, was ultimately keeping his "followers" alive. According to Valerie Barr of Hofstra University, it also "turns the usual notion of overreliance on technology on its head" by suggesting an interdependence with machines when it is revealed that a man-made computer has been keeping the townspeople alive.Barr, Valerie. "Movies Involving Computers (or raising interesting issues for a computer ethics course)". http://www.cs.hofstra.edu/~vbarr/movies.html. Modified 8 January 1999. Accessed 30 July 2006.] A suggested learning plan accompanying this episode for the Sci Fi Channel's participation in Cable in the Classroom provides a platform for exploring ideas about war, faith, and the question of whether humans control computers or vice-versa.Blass, Laurie and Elder, Pam. "LESSON PLAN". "Twilight Zone: Cable in the Classroom". http://www.scifi.com/cableintheclassroom/twilightzone/tz.109.html. Accessed 30 July 2006.]

Film critic Andrew Sarris noted in his review of "Time Enough at Last" that, at the time "The Twilight Zone" was produced, depicting an atom bomb explosion or its aftermath on network television would likely have been prohibited if it had been "couched in a more realistic format".Sarris, Andrew. "Rod Serling: Viewed From Beyond the Twilight Zone".] Hence, in both this episode and "The Shelter", Serling makes a point of noting that the story is intended to be fictional, particularly given both are set in the United States.

References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

*imdb title|id=0734669|title=The Old Man in the Cave