Monsters!/A Small Talent for War/A Matter of Minutes
- Episode aired Jan 24, 1986
- TV-PG
A young boy befriends an elderly neighbor and discovers his dark secret. / An alien ambassador comes to Earth and threatens its destruction. / A couple get knocked out of sync with time and ... Read allA young boy befriends an elderly neighbor and discovers his dark secret. / An alien ambassador comes to Earth and threatens its destruction. / A couple get knocked out of sync with time and meet the work crew that builds each minute.A young boy befriends an elderly neighbor and discovers his dark secret. / An alien ambassador comes to Earth and threatens its destruction. / A couple get knocked out of sync with time and meet the work crew that builds each minute.
Photos
- Aide (segment "A Small Talent for War")
- (as José Santana)
- Directors
- Sheldon Larry(segment A Matter of Minutes)
- Bill Norton(segment Monsters!)
- Claudia Weill(segment A Small Talent for War)
- Writers
- Rod Serling
- Robert Crais(segment Monsters!)
- Carter Scholz(segment A Small Talent for War)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn his introduction to "New Stories from the Twilight Zone", the series' executive story consultant Alan Brennert described both "Monsters!" and the Profile in Silver/Button, Button (1986) segment "Button, Button" as "good scripts mauled by bad directors, bad production, bad acting, or all three."
- GoofsWhen the mother comes to give the kid medicine, it is 12:05. When the clock shows again, right after he takes the pills, it changes from 12:06 to 12:07. Then when the kid asks what midnight is, right after the pills, the clock shows the time change from 12:09 to 12:10 - a very quick time change.
- Quotes
Alien Ambassador (segment "A Small Talent for War"): [seeing the World Peace Accords for the first time, the Ambassador laughs] I think you have misunderstood me. Your savagery is an issue. That's true. But, you see, on the thousands of planets under our control, we breed *warriors,* gentlemen. Warriors to fight for us across the galaxy! In your case, your savagery has not bred true. You are woefully backwards in the act of war. You fight erratically and clumsily. Your weapons are shockingly crude. And worst of all, in your hearts, you long for peace!
[tosses the accord away]
Alien Ambassador (segment "A Small Talent for War"): A small talent for war. Too small. Too small to be of any use to us. But no matter; we'll just have to try again elsewhere.
[snaps his fingers to summon the armada of invading ships]
Alien Ambassador (segment "A Small Talent for War"): But I thank you for a most amusing day. You people have a delightful sense in the absurd!
[teleports away]
- Alternate versionsThe original version that aired showed the monsters the people turn into up close. There's at least 10 seconds cut from the show of them as monsters, some pretty disturbing ones; and has never been seen since the original airing... 1984 level censorship going on here.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Clock (2010)
A SMALL TALENT FOR WAR is the middle story of episode 15 of series 1 of THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE and it's a real bore. I'm glad all of the stories weren't like this as it would have made the series unwatchable, but there certainly did seem to be a lot of padding in this series and this is one of the fillers.
The story - not that there is one - is set at a UN conference where the delegation is interrupted by the arrival of an alien with a message to the assembled humans about their warring nature. Unlike THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, there's a twist here, although it's silly enough not to have been worth bothering with. And that's the problem with the story - if I had been a story producer I would have read it and thrown it away as unfilmable, but someone must have thought otherwise.
The final segment of the episode, A MATTER OF MINUTES, is a comedic tale in which a suburban couple are transported to a future where they must discover a new way of life. Again, the acting is cheey in this episode, and you'll left wondering why they bothered.
- Leofwine_draca
- Mar 31, 2015