Directed by Douglas Heyes Production code 173-3646 | Written by Richard Matheson Original air date January 27, 1961 | |
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 15 (episode 51 overall) Featured music Original score by Jerry Goldsmith | ||
"The Invaders" is episode 15 of season 2 (and episode 51 overall) of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode, which originally aired January 27, 1961, starred Agnes Moorehead. It was written by Richard Matheson, directed by Douglas Heyes, and scored by Jerry Goldsmith. Distinctive features of this episode include a near-solo performance by one character (interacting with miniature puppet "characters"), and an almost complete lack of dialogue. The protagonist portrayed by Moorehead often cries out in pain, terror, etc., but never speaks.
Contents
Plot
An impoverished, aging woman (Agnes Moorehead) lives alone in a rustic cabin. She is dressed shabbily, and there are no modern conveniences in evidence. After hearing a strange noise above her kitchen roof, she is accosted by small intruders that come from a miniature flying saucer that has landed on her rooftop. Two tiny figures about six inches high, which may be robots or beings wearing pressure suits, emerge from the craft.
The small figures attack the woman, using small, pistol-like weapons that leave radiation burns on her skin, and, after following her into her cabin, slashing her ankle and hand with her own kitchen knife. The suspense builds as the woman searches for the invaders. She eventually destroys one, wrapping it in a blanket and beating it until it is still, then throwing it into the burning fireplace. She follows the other to the saucer-ship on her roof, which she proceeds to attack with a hatchet. From within the craft, she hears a voice speaking in English (voiced by Director Douglas Heyes). (Prior to this scene, the episode has had no dialogue.) The intruder frantically warns other potential visitors that the planet is inhabited by giants and impossible to defeat.
The camera pans to the markings on the side of the ship, which read U.S. Air Force Space Probe No. 1 – revealing that the invaders were human astronauts from Earth, and the woman in the small farmhouse belongs to a race of giant humanoids native to another planet. The woman finishes destroying the ship and then climbs back down from the roof into the house, exhausted.
On radio
When the episode was adapted for the Twlilight Zone Radio Dramas, starring Kathy Garver, the story was changed from an old non-speaking woman to an elderly couple.