How Rod Serling Examined War Through the Twilight Zone

Debuting in 1958, The Twilight Zone was Rod Serling's examination of humanity's flaws, foibles and fantasies. Characters reminded us of ourselves or neighbors down the block. It transported us to faraway worlds, only to land smack dab into a familiar territory of intolerance of those who are different or into hatred of people not conforming to a mainstream ideal. We met the enemy, and often it was us.

Over five television seasons, Serling's stable of speculative writers like Richard Matheson and George Clayton Johnson served up cautionary tales to reflect our collective morals and starkly showcase the ugliness of racism or extreme conformity. We learned beauty lies truly in the "Eye of the Beholder" and sometimes it's "What You Need."

As a child, I couldn't imagine a more engaging way to learn of the human condition. Today, save for Star Trek, I still can't name another program so richly varied in life lessons, which though powerfully disturbing, rarely preached or reduced us to squirming in a saccharine induced funk. Serling, like his peer Gene Roddenberry, effectively practiced the adage less is more. Both knew that hitting us over the head with a narrative hammer would only result in brain dead viewers.

Perhaps because of his experiences in World War II as a paratrooper and demolitions expert who saw the horrible devastation of war, Serling used combat as backdrop on many episodes. Today with the Iraq War still looming large in our newscasts and as prime topic of the presidential election, here's several Twilight Zone war oriented episodes.

Two

Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery co-star in a post Holocaust world where as far as they know, they're the only two left alive.

Bronson is in top form here playing the rugged American solider to Montgomery's Russian warrior. As they feel each other out and come to respect and even trust one another, we marvel at how people rise from the rubble of war, throw off a programmed hatred and regain their humanity.

The Purple Testament

Imagine commanding soldiers with the ability to know when they'll be killed.

This chiler plays with that notion. As each man is sent off to his death with a commander knowing his fate, we wonder at the grit it takes any military leader to order soldiers into combat, even without psychic abilities.

The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street

A popular episode for its raw edginess, which hasn't been dulled by age.

Residents of a small town gather on the street on which they live after power blackouts and mysterious happenings panic them. Ultimately, we realize an alien power is pulling the strings behind the emergency. The paranoia that may result from people who wonder about the different people in their midst, smacks of modern times where terrorist sleeper cells are being found in small towns worldwide.

The Encounter

This episode was effectively banned from syndication for years after first airing, for fears it would incite protest by viewers.

Star Trek's George Takei (Mr. Sulu) is a young Japanese American who butts heads with a war veteran still harboring resentment against the Japan who once was our enemy. The two actors play the racially charged materially vibrantly. It gives viewers pause when casting a forgiving eye on nations who once sought to destroy our way of life. Modern parallels with Arabs living amongst us can be drawn who may become hate targets merely because of racial make-up.

Deaths Head Revisited

The head of a Nazi concentration camp returns to the scene of his unspeakable crimes and is haunted by the ghosts of those he slaughtered.

War crimes may top the list of the most obscene things humanity is responsible for and recent war crimes and holocausts against peoples in the Sudan and other areas, remind us that World War II wasn't the last holocaust our race would witness.

A Quality Of Mercy

Imagine suddenly switching sides in a war, but it's not voluntary.

When a solider is suddenly transformed into an enemy solider, he now sees the enemy's perspective. Like the saying goes - walk a mile in someone else moccasins - here that's taken to extremes, but we can't feel somehow altered after watching the changing point of view.

The Old Man In The Cave

Survivors of a nuclear holocaust depend upon a mysterious old man in a remote cave for their survival.

This favorite of mine starring James Coburn, plays like newly revived CBS series Jericho - as battered war survivors try to rise up, there are forces all around trying to manipulate circumstances. In a shocking revelation, it also plays with the idea of technology being a destroyer and a savior. When all law and order has broken down - when the government is in tatters - just whom do we trust?