To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone)

Actors Richard Kiel and Lloyd Bochner in the Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man

“To Serve Man” is an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

The story is based on a short story with the same title, written by Damon Knight. The title of both the story and episode is a play on the word serve being a homonym for both assistance and to provide as a meal.

Details

Episode number: 89
Season: 3
Production code: 4807
Original air date: March 2, 1962
Writer: Rod Serling based on the story of the same name by Damon Knight, first published in the January 1953 issue of If
Director: Richard L. Bare
Music: Stock

Cast

Chambers: Lloyd Bochner
Kanamit: Richard Kiel
Pat: Susan Cummings

Synopsis

A race of aliens known as the Kanamits land on Earth and promise to be nothing but helpful to the cause of humanity. Initially wary of the intentions of such a highly advanced race, even the most skeptical humans are convinced when their code-breakers begin to translate one of the Kanamit's books, with the seemingly innocuous title, "To Serve Man." Sharing their advanced technology, the aliens quickly solve all of Earth's greatest woes, eradicating hunger, disease, and the need for warfare. Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which is supposedly a paradise. All is not well, however, when a code-breaker discovers the Kanamits’ true intentions. Their book, "To Serve Man", is a cookbook.

Awards

The short story "To Serve Man" on which this episode is based was retroactively awarded the 1951 "Retro" Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 2001.

Trivia

The fullsize lower portion of the Kanamits' transport spaceship is the adapted version, with retractable stairway, of the saucer-shaped United Planets Cruiser C-57D, seen in MGM's 1956 film Forbidden Planet.

Richard Kiel, who plays the main Kanamit, also played the infamous character of Jaws in the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

This is the only episode where a main character breaks the fourth wall about the events that led to his kidnapping.
The ship used for the episode is also seen on the episode ``Third from the Sun´´

A Simpson's Treehouse of Horror episode parodies this, with aliens bringing a dusty book entitled "Cooking for Humans", which is shown to be "Cooking Forty Humans", "Cooking for Forty Humans", and later with a more sinister title.

Critical response

Marc Scott Zicree in The Twilight Zone Companion:

In the show...a staff of cryptographers led by Lloyd Bochner attempts to decipher the alien language as though it were some secret code, which is utterly ludicrous. Without some sort of interplanetary Rosetta stone, deciphering an unknown language would be impossible.

Zicree’s comments have been seconded by many others, including Damon Knight, though an explanation as to how the cryptographers managed to translate the Kanamit language may be found in an early draft of Serling’s teleplay, which included this scene:

(Close shot Chambers as seen over her shoulder. His eyes narrow.)

Chambers: What’s the matter, Pat? What's going on?

(Reverse angle looking toward her. Her lips tremble.)

Pat: I...I finally deciphered their language. All of it. I read their book.

(Close shot a suspended speaker overhead. A Kanamit's metallic voice rings out.)

Kanamit's voice: Please move ahead. You're holding up our departure. Kindly move ahead.

(Cut to: Two shot Chambers and Pat)

Chambers: Well?

Pat: Mr. Chambers...Mr. Chambers, the first page is just a collection of English words with their own translation. But the rest of the book...the rest of the book — It's a cookbook!

References in Popular Culture

In the film Madagascar, one of the lemurs holds up a book titled "To Serve Lemur" and delivers the famous line.
In the film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, actor Lloyd Bochner, playing an evil industrialist, parodies this episode and himself in one scene as he runs through a crowd in panic with the book, yelling “It's a cookbook, it's a cookbook!”.
While not a direct reference, the 1980s television series V also deals with ostensibly benevolent aliens coming to Earth with the intention (among other hidden objectives) of harvesting its human population for food.
In the book The Alphabet of Manliness by popular web-author Maddox, there is an illustration of a Cyclops reading "To Serve Man" to a Lumberjack.
In the first “Treehouse of Horror” episode of the television series “The Simpsons,” a segment entitled “Hungry are the Damned” spoofs the “Twilight Zone” episode. The gag about the title of the book is drawn out by claiming that the cover is covered by space dust: the title at first appears to be "How to Cook Humans", then "How to Cook for Humans", "How to Cook Forty Humans" and finally "How to Cook for Forty Humans". Ironically, the aliens genuinely meant to serve humans food, and, offended by their suspicions, they deport the family back to their home.
In the popular MMORPG World Of Warcraft, an item called "An Exotic Cookbook" can be found by rogues with the Pick Pocket ability. This cookbook bears the subtitle "How To Serve Man," and displays a recipe when read: "Get one or eight man. Hit man hard. Hit man more. Put man in fire. Eat man."
In the computer strategy game Warcraft III , the troll witch doctor delivers the famous punch line, when he's being clicked several times.
In the episode "My Three Suns" of the TV series "Futurama", Bender, a robot, cooks for the ship's crew while wearing an apron reading "To Serve Man".
In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 7, Episode 1 ("Lessons") Dawn says: "I know! You never know what's coming. The stake is not the power. To Serve Man is a cookbook."
To Serve Man is a 2002 album by the American death metal / goregrind band Cattle Decapitation.
On a December 11, 2006 episode of the Colbert Report, while speaking of Martians, Stephen Colbert says "I know it's a cookbook".
On a March 6, 2007 episode of the Colbert Report, the Threatdown included a segment on robots, during which Stephen warns that "it's a cookbook!" in reference to a Robot uprising.
In 2007, listener supported radio station WFMU published a collection of recipes by the station's staff as a fund-raiser premium. The title of the book is "To Serve Man: A Musical Cookbook".

References

Zicree, Marc Scott: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)

External links