The Star (The Twilight Zone)

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Star
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from The Star
Season = 1
Episode = 13, Segment 3
Airdate = December 20, 1985
Production =
Writer = Alan Brennert
(Based on the short story "The Star", by Arthur C. Clarke. The story was first published in Infinity Science Fiction November 1955.)
Director = Gerd Oswald
Guests = Fritz Weaver : Fr. Matthew Costigan
Donald Moffat : Dr. Chandler
Elizabeth Huddle : Captain Durant
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = But Can She Type?
Next = Still Life

"The Star" is the third and final segment of the thirteenth episode from the television series "The New Twilight Zone". It is based on a short story, "The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke, which was first published in "Infinity Science Fiction" (November, 1955).

However, while Clarke's story ended with the priest in despair after the revelation that the alien civilization had perished in order to light "the Christmas star," the TV episode included the addition of an epitaph by the aliens, revealing their optimism about their place in the universe.

ynopsis

On an interstellar journey, far in the future, an astrophysicist and a priest learn they have discovered a long-dead world that has been emitting a signal for eons. They discover that the planet holds the last remains of a civilization, which died when their star went supernova. To his dismay, Father Matthew discovers this star was the same star that shone down on Earth the day Jesus was born, "The Star of Bethlehem". Dr. Chandler comforts him by reading a poem he found among the archives of the advanced culture. It says that they had no regrets, they had "fulfilled their duty," and passed the torch to others. This quiet artifact consoles and encourages the priest.

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone-1985/the-star/episode/75303/summary.html?tag=ep_list;ep_title;31 TV.com - The Twilight Zone (1985) episode: The Star]