I actually really love this one. I think the writing is so morbid and dark but in a funny way. I sort of think this one gets undeserved hate. I put it over fun episode
One of the most distinct cameos ever made in the Twilight Zone ever was by Robby the Robot! Probably THE most recognizable Forbidden Planet prop ever used on the show.
Thanks. Neitszche once said "there is no price too high to pay for being yourself", Barbara condemns herself because she can't let go of the idea of being rich. ❤
Yeah, I get that it was a different time and it was much harder for women to just simply go off on their own (their job prospects weren’t so great, let alone the salaries). But I feel like if she had gone about it in a much smarter way, she could’ve gone out of that situation not complete empty-handed. Could’ve met someone too and gotten married. Like, there were ways out for her, but like you said, being surrounded by riches she didn’t have to work hard for was much too tempting.
@@gothicMCRgirl Too be fair, she spent a chunk of her life(since she was 15) in this abusive relationship. At this point, she probably wouldn't know how to function outside of this life.
Barbara was trapped by her own defeat and compliance. She hated her Uncle Simon yet was as set in her ways as he was. And Simon hated her because she was weak and never challenged him. The door was right there for her to leave!
Since the will said take care of it didn't say be nice to and wait on. Take care of him by putting him in the basement with a baby gate and basic maintenance. Then he's cared for and stuck cuz I feel he can't use stairs
The thing about abusive relationships is that sometimes.... the victim can't leave. A lot of victims of abuse go from one abusive relationship to another, whether it be romantic interests, friends or family. A lot of them stay in one either because it's what they're familiar with or because there is something to be gained. The protagonist was probably in it for her uncle's fortune so she stays, when instead she could just leave and forgo the money. A lot of abusive relationships are like this where the victim stays because of a promised lifestyle (fortune of the sort), children, or for the bits of affection and praise the abuser gives.
I'll go even further: Serling narrates it to say Miss Polke is greedy and deserves her misery, but the episode itself explicitly presents her situation as one where she is the only person with enough patience to withstand his abrasiveness and cruelty, for which he benefited in his long life, and by this time, Barbara had no place to go, no one else to turn to. She needs that inheritance to not end up hungry and homeless on the street, or prison. The stipulation in the will is that she must remain perpetually grounded on the property, and never remove any of the furnishings nor wares in the place for any reason. Should she ever remove any of the contents, or try to take up residence elsewhere or get a job, she forfeits her huge inheritance, and is left with nothing but her own person. In other words, poverty is the inevitable outcome should she attempt to do anything about her situation, and she deserves points for putting up with her uncle's cruelty, or he would have been dead decades ago as no one would put up with him for too long. She is truly in a bind unless she wants to break the law and face the legal consequences.
Especially after being in an abusive situation for so long, you have to relearn how to live your life without the abuser. She could physically leave the house, but the house (and everything that went on in it) would still be with her psychologically.
I love this episode. Barbara and Simon are extremely well-acted. The twist reminds me of something out of Tales From the Crypt. No redemption, no social commentary, just bad things happening to bad people.
Yeah I remember watching a TV channel that played old classics and their bumper for the twilight zone scared the daylights out of me. After the bar ba ra help me clip was the clip of a guy yelling "somebody's looking at me please help me". I couldn't sleep right for a while. Now it's the nazgul from the 1978 lotr and the abominable snowman from rudolph that make me cringe at night
I agree, there was no one to really "root" for, since both Barbara and Simon are awful people and you don't get much joy in watching him constantly verbally abuse her.
I agree that the goofy robot sort of ruins the dark atmosphere, but I wonder how goofy (or not) it might have looked to people at the time this episode first aired.
Obscure fact: british post- punk Mark E Smith of The Fall was a huge fan of Twilight Zone, and he crafted numerous songs based on episodes. Some of them include: What You Need, Paranoid Man in Cheap Shit Room, Kick the Can and Time Enough at Last.
I’m so excited for you to get to episode “Ninety Years Without Slumbering.” This episode is very important to me on a personal level so I look forward to seeing your thoughts on it!
Constance Ford spent most of her career on soap operas, and her characters usually had a redeeming quality. You have to pity Barbara a little, since she's in a no win situation, and things never seem to improve for her.
That's what makes the twist that much better. It's as if Uncle Simon had an inkling that Barbara would kill him and created his will and robot to ensure that he alone would have the last laugh.
Toxic relationships are very complex problems that are very difficult for outsiders to understand; surely we've all known people who stay involved with others and for the life of us we can't figure out why. As a society we're _still_ grappling with this; I wonder if the clunkiness of the narrative was the result of the writer trying to dip into these concepts and issues a bit but lacking the cultural language to express it well.
It’s kinda sinisterly brilliant by the uncle because it’s shows if she was really in it for the money or not…if it was for love there would be emotional ties to the house and everything there because it’s a part of her love for him…If it’s for the money, then she’s stuck there forever in misery because a robot can’t die, especially having one of the provisions of said money being every thing needing to be kept up as if he was still alive…It’s a cautionary tale of selling your soul for money.
The robot is certainly the most interesting part of the episode, I was delighted when it appeared on "The Big Bang Theory." The performances were decent, with such a minimal cast, but it's mostly forgettable.
Barbara being 15 when she started taking care of her Uncle is more believable than it seems. It was the 60s, "adulthood" started much earlier by then. Also dia in that, it's she took care of him since then, she might not know anything else. A whole unhappy life being an abusive relatives caretaker. I know actual people that went through that.
My mom was incredibly abusive when I was younger, but I also absolutely loved her for the moments that she was nice and kind. This episode really misses the real reason people come to love their abusers, even now that she’s dead, I can’t bring myself to not miss her.
I love revisiting these classics twilight zone episodes, even the ones the are hit or miss. I wish there were more shows like now but learning behind the scenes stuff from you has always been a treat in October
Although Constance was 40 during production, her character could've been older. Many celebrities played characters either younger or older than their actual ages. I believe if Barbara left the house, she would've also lost the money. Living as Uncle Simon's housekeeper for 25 years likely left her thinking that if she left, she would've wound up in a homeless shelter or never finding work.
Yes, I believe that’s the tragic irony of it all. When her uncle was alive, she lived in luxury that she couldn’t touch. And now that he’s dead, she’s still not allowed to touch any of the fortune. She’s essentially a bird trapped in a golden cage. But it’s a cage that she herself locked. She has the key, but refuses to use it. She can leave whenever but doesn’t.
This episode has a soft spot in my heart for one simple reason: it's the first episode of "The Twilight Zone" I think I ever saw. Another of my firsts was "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville." In both cases, while I concede they aren't by any means the best of the Zone's offerings, I still have a fondness for them, simply because they were among my introductions to the series.
The Protectrons of Fallout 3 and 4 are also modeled after Robby, at the behest of Emil Pagliarulo. To quote the Fallout Wiki: The Art of Fallout 3 states that during development, Emil Pagliarulo's input on every robot was to "make it more like Robby the Robot." The protectron's original design went through many iterations before artists settled on a design that has "the vintage character of Robby" and that "captures the quintessential 1950's robot character more than any other."
It's a shame this episode doesn't land as well. I think if Barbara had more motivation and the camera work was better then it could be great. If anything the reboot by the guy who did the movie US had a better hook. This lady was dating a rich man and had evidence he was doing things to her kid but didn't want to seek justice because it would mean losing the money. That was a great premise. Or have it be like the episode where the old man took the youth potion to be with his gold digger lover. That cow deserved her fate. I think Uncle Simon was going for that but forgot to make Barbara a witch. Maybe they felt if both sides were douchy then it wouldn't work but the ending makes me feel the writers wanted her to suffer even though she was portrayed sympathetically earlier. Ugh this one is frustrating. At least Robby makes it not forgettable but it is still wasted potential. The horror of being with someone abusive, them dying, feeling you're free only for them to somehow achieve immortality in a sense.
Neither Barbara nor Simon came across as sympathetic characters. Barbara sure got her comeuppance. Always thought the funniest scene is when the robot discovers a new craving for hot chocolate and tells Barbara to get a cup for him. Her expression was priceless. Fun fact: Barbara was played Constance Ford, who starred for many years on the daytime soap 'Another World', which was my late Mom's favorite.
I worked to free someone from an abusive relationship. It took several trys. Even when she left, she got angry at me for many months until she finally able to let some defenses down.
It seems the portrayal is more deeper than her base reactions. She’s so drained and broken by her experience with her uncle that even after his death she becomes more robotic than human and vise versa for Simon’s creation (which does happen in relationships such as this)
One of the few I don’t really rewatch despite a good idea and two solid performers. I think they just didn’t really know how to proceed beyond the basic setup. I do love that the robot Simon is actually our friend “Robby” 😅 and I always forget that Don Siegel directed it
This one kinda speaks to me. As someone who has dedicated years of their life, taking care of someone who, at the best of times could be an aggressive, if not toxic person, so that one day it would pay off and lead to your freedom (as selfish as that may sound)only to be met with a worse situation. Barbara could theoretically go do something else. Get a job and live her own life. But to me,she feels like she's owed something through years of what is essentially her servitude. She COULD go get a random job in the world, but currently, she lives in a mansion. She has become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. To me this story is about the dangers of "do the ends justify the means." Is it worth it to continue on as you've had or risk losing everything you've come to know for what you truly want? The saying "the devil you know is better than the one that you don't " also comes to mind.
I’ve seen that movie Robby the robot appeared in on tv once, and I recognized that robot when I watched this in reruns on syfy before, you mentioned it💁🏻♂💯.
2:23 I am surprised Twilight Zone parodies haven't tried to name the parody "Forbidden (X)", given how Twilight Zone recycled A LOT OF PROPS from the movie Forbidden Planet
Her being 15 at the time this all started made sense. She became dependent and as the years go by probably feared any kind of change in life. The old man took her formative years and she couldn't fathom leaving even though she hated it so. If she was smart she would deactivate the robot and claim it just happened due to a natural fault in the design. Her staying with the robot made little sense to me because it was already a drastic change enough for her to taste actual freedom.
Uncle Simon and Barbara are so reprehensible that they deserve each other. For some reason, I always giggle at Barbara's mocking, "Yes Mr. Schwimmer is coming." It's hilarious to see this middle aged woman acting so childish for a second and at least trying to gain the upper hand in this odd situation. Two drinks for the price of one 2:20-🍺 2:30🍺 Man I need to see Forbidden Planet!
I think the episode would have hit better if the Robot was built as servant for Barbara as a sort of "apology" for how he treated her all these years, with Barbara slowly becoming like Uncle Simon personality wise while the robot adopts his voice, in essence Barbara becomes the person she hated the most and takes her revenge against a robot who did nothing wrong itself.
I remember watching this on SYFI or sometime in Middle School and I thought it was really interesting yet creepy especially when Robby the Robot is on screen
I think after you spend so much time towards something, you kind of don’t want to give up on what you were supposed to get out of it. Barbara spent so many years serving her abusive uncle so that she could have his estate. If she just leaves, all of her adult life up to that point had been wasted. She would have gotten absolutely nothing from it. So I think there’s a degree of that attachment to her situation. Plus, it has been her home for a long time; she has nowhere else to go.
I have to agree about Barbara, she was uninteresting and I couldn't ever really feel anything about her other than dismissal. If it were me, I'd have slowly looted the house before the robot became fully sentient, taken whatever money I could from food, utilities, misc expenses and taken off.
The funny thing I think of with that immediately is that Robbie almost FELL OVER during filming of Forbidden Planet, and if not for a couple quick actors and set hands, his head and that intricate machine inside, plus all sorts of other bits, smashes, production goes way over budget, or is shut down, and Robbie is no more. Which has to be A. Why he doesn't fall completely over, and B. Why he has the coffee can head inside, JUST incase. I do love the cane and brace on the leg, and anything with Robbie in it, so I give this a 'Watch at least once'
Or the fact she has lost all connection to everyone else she may have known looking after her uncle, and has no place to go in the world. To forfeit the inheritance by leaving the place or removing the furnishings would leave her destitute. She is in an inescapable situation, unless she is willing to brave the elements and/or prison for the rest of her life. Getting a job is easier said than done when your whole life had been looking after an aging, ailing relative, and he seeks to imprison you on that property forever.
Just pour water into the robot once lawyer has visited. It'll dry after a week but it'll still be dead and unlikely to be fixed by anyone as its "breakthrough" sceince lol As a carer for my father with alzheimers, I can relate a lot to Barbara's situation, but it really is a muddy moral tale.
I'm mean, it wouldn't be impossible for her to leave, but consider that women weren't able to get a credit cards or loans without a man signing off for them until 1974, and this episode aired in the early 1960s....well it's why a lot of women stayed in those situations back in the day.
I'd have handled this story the opposite way to what you suggested...I'd have made Simon gruff, but sympathetic, like Jason Foster in The Masks, and Barbara younger, but clearly a gold digger who is hoping for an easy fortune (sort of like Flora in A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain). In this version, she's the cold, emotionally abusive one. This could be reinforced by having Simon say sadly, "You bear your aunt's name, Barbara...I had hoped, when you offered to move in and look after me, that you had her nature as well. She and I never had children and I thought, perhaps, that you would make up the lack...I hope to God that wherever your aunt is, she can't see how her namesake has turned out." When she responds with some cutting remark, he snaps back with, "I have tried to love you. I have tried to be kind to you. Beware, my dear...even the kindest man has a breaking point!"
This episode is pretty meh for me. I too was wondering why Barbara stayed. Maybe Uncle Simon was correct that she wanted his inheritance more than anything. But to me, she seemed miserable enough that maybe she couldn't bring herself to leave and lead a normal life. Maybe the decades of abuse scarred her too much.
