Episode no. Season 3
Episode 28 Written by Rod Serling Production code 4822 | Directed by William Claxton Featured music Stock Original air date March 30, 1962 | |
"The Little People" is episode 93 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on March 30, 1962 on CBS.
Contents
Plot
Astronauts William Fletcher, the can-do captain, and Peter Craig, the malcontent co-pilot, set down in a canyon on an alien planet to repair their ship. While arguing, Fletcher asks Craig what he would want if he had things his way, and Craig responds that he'd like to be the one giving the orders. Shortly after, Craig hears a sound, though Fletcher does not.
Craig goes scouting over a period of days, leaving Fletcher to repair the ship. One day Craig returns, strutting a bit, and Fletcher asks why he does not seem to have drunk any water in the past two days. Fletcher discovers that Craig has found water. Pressed, Craig reveals that he found a city populated by people no bigger than ants, and takes Fletcher to see them, revealing that he used mathematics to communicate with them. He says he loves having an entire population terrified of him, and refers to himself as a god. Craig begins terrorizing the population by crushing three of their buildings. Fletcher knocks him out and apologizes to the tiny folk.
Later, Fletcher finds that Craig had coerced the tiny people to build a life-size statue of him. Fletcher tells Craig that the repairs are done and they can depart. Craig pulls a gun on Fletcher and orders Fletcher to leave the planet without him. Fletcher does his best to talk Craig into coming along, telling him he'll be lonely, but Craig fires at the statue, blowing off the head, and again orders him to leave. Fletcher leaves in disgust. Craig gloats and throws the broken-off head of the statue at the city, cackling maniacally as tiny voices cry out in panic and tiny sirens wail.
Another ship lands. Two spacemen, taller than the mountains, emerge. One of them picks Craig up to examine him, unintentionally crushing him to death. He casually discards the body. The little people rejoice at his death, pulling the statue of Craig down on top of his lifeless body.
In popular culture
This episode has been parodied several times in other television series: The Simpsons in the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" the segment 'The Genesis Tub'; South Park in the episode "Simpsons Already Did It"; Futurama in the episode "Godfellas"; and in the Rick and Morty episode, "The Ricks Must Be Crazy". The last line in the episode—"I'm the God!"—was used as a recurring joke during the first few years of Mystery Science Theater 3000.