To See the Invisible Man

Infobox Television episode
Title = To See the Invisible Man
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "To See the Invisible Man"
Season = 1
Episode = 16, Segment 2
Airdate = January 31, 1986
Production = 45
Writer = Steven Barnes
Director = Noel Black
Guests = Cotter Smith : Mitchell Chaplin
Whit Hertford : Boy
Peter Hobbs : Blind man
Jack Gallagher : Comic
Dean Fortunato : Tough guy
Karlene Crockett : Invisible woman
Chris McCarty : Businessman
Bonnie Campbell-Britton : Woman
Steve Peterson : Server
Mary-Robin Redd : Margaret
Richard Jamison : Guard #1
Kenneth Danziger : Maitre d'
Terri Lynn Wood : Crying girl
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = The Elevator
Next = Tooth and Consequences

"To See the Invisible Man" is the second segment of the sixteenth episode from the television series "The New Twilight Zone". It is based on the short story by Robert Silverberg first published in Worlds of Tomorrow April 1963. The script for the episode was written by Steven Barnes.

In the original short story, the criminal is never named, and his one-year sentence was noted to begin on May 11, 2104. In addition, the gender of the criminal's friend was changed from a man in the original story to a woman in the televised version.

Opening narration

ynopsis

Cotter Smith is Mitchell Chaplin, a man living in a futuristic parallel world to ours, who has been found guilty of the crime of "coldness". According to the State, his punishment is to be rendered "invisible", a social outcast, for one year. A scarring implant placed on his forehead, one that warns others to ignore him on penalty of being sentenced to a similar fate.

What seems like a welcome chance to be left alone becomes a lesson in humility, compassion, and empathy, as Chaplin begins to feel the consequences of social isolation. Under the omnipresent eye of floating security drones that monitor their society, people continually shun him. Misfortune after misfortune befalls him, with his nadir reached when he is denied medical care after being hit by a car. Finally, on the 365th day, two guards enter his apartment and remove the implant, restoring him back to society.

Four months after completing his sentence, Chaplin is accosted in public by a young woman whom he encountered during his term of invisibility who also wears the scar of an implant. Knowing the law, initially he ignores her, but her crying moves him to turn around and hug her. As they are surrounded by drones announcing a new sentence of invisibility for his crime, he declares that he can see the woman and that he cares.

Closing narration

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone-1985/to-see-the-invisible-man/episode/75278/recap.html TV.com - The Twilight Zone (1985) episode: To See the Invisible Man]

* [http://postcardsfromthezone.blogspot.com/2006/01/140-to-see-invisible-man.html Postcards from the Zone episode 1.40 To See the Invisible Man]