Episode no. Season 5
Episode 2 Featured music Nathan Van Cleave Original air date October 4, 1963 | Directed by Don Weis Production code 2602 | |
Written by Richard Matheson
(Based on his short story Steel, first published in the May 1956 edition of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.) | ||
"Steel" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.
Plot
This episode is set in August 1974, almost eleven years in the future at the time that this episode was made. As boxing between human fighters was criminalized in 1968, the sport is dominated by fighting robots. Former boxer Steel Kelly (played by Lee Marvin) manages a B2-model robot called "Battling Maxo". Maxo is an older model that is no longer in demand. Kelly and his partner, Pole, have used the last of their money to get to the fight venue. They are being given this chance because one of the scheduled fighters was damaged in transport. Kelly has to assure the fight promoter that Maxo will be able to fight. After the fight promoter leaves, Kelly and Pole argue about Maxo's fitness. Kelly feels that Maxo should be able to go through with the fight despite its age and condition. Pole tests Maxo's functions, and an arm spring fails. They do not have the parts or the money to fix him. Kelly decides that he will disguise himself as Maxo in order to collect the money necessary for repairs. Despite a valiant effort, he is unable to damage the B7 robot he is fighting, even when he lands an unblocked punch directly in the back of its head. He is nearly killed but manages to last a little under three minutes. The crowd jeers and boos at Maxo's performance, not knowing that it is a human doing the fighting. Afterwards, the fight promoter will only give them half the prize money because of "Maxo's" poor performance; Kelly dares not protest, or the promoter will recognize him as "Maxo" and renege entirely. Kelly, bruised but stubborn as ever, tells Pole that they will use the money to get the parts to fix Maxo.