The Twilight Zone: The Monsters are Due on Maple Street | Episode Analysis

Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, barbecues, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor. At the sound of the roar and the flash of light, it will be precisely 6:43 P.M. on Maple Street. This is Maple Street on a late Saturday afternoon. Maple Street in the last calm and reflective moment -before the monsters came. - Rod Serling.
This is an episode analysis of
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street " first aired on March 4 1960.
Chapters:
0:00 Maple Street (Intro)
1:12 The 'burbs (Synopsis)
4:40 The Monsters (Twist)
5:09 Never Trust the Mob (Analysis)
10:38 Keep Looking Up (Retrospective)
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by Ronald Winston
Starring:
Claude Akins as Steve Brand
Barry Atwater as Les Goodman
Jack Weston as Charlie
Burt Metcalfe as Don Martin
#thetwilightzone
Music credits:
Tempting Secrets by Kevin MacLeod

[@CineG]

Let me know if you like how I displayed the video in full screen format. While it's more visually pleasing, because it is cropped and zoomed, it results in lower quality and its cinematography is not presented as intended.

[@steamedhamlet]

Not only is it visually great and still pretty high resolution, I also love seeing present day parallels and analysis and look forward to your future videos with the same approach. What's happening in Chicago should be enough to open some eyes and minds to reality, but sometimes those eyes are so widely shut nothing can get through. Anyways, keep up the fantastic work and so happy to hear in your voice that you've healed.

[@CineG]

Downtown Chicago is beautiful, esp. around the river. Great place for foodies. I walked alone at night from Pinstripes rather than get an Uber. Probably, shouldn't have done that. I got a couple good cupcakes from Molly's tho.

[@rachel112263]

I like it.

[@thedeaderer8791]

This is my favorite episode of the twilight zone it really makes ya think. Especially how quickly everything fell apart when toilet paper ran out lol

[@lincbond442]

That Tommy was a real .... wipe.

[@lincbond442]

I just watched this on Blu ray. I had never noticed that Charlie's shirt has various images of Los Angeles including; The Hollywood Bowl, Grauman's Chinese Theater, and Downtown Los Angeles. I'm currently re-watching the entire series in HD.

[@hellokittydarlene]

Loving the format of the video! Also i enjoyed your analysis as well! I never considered Tommy as being a pot stirrer - that’s a good one!

[@FlyingSoloRPG]

excellent video

[@dhl2445]

Tommy is an alien - he has slits for eyes

[@lincbond442]

These people would not have turned on each other if not for Tommy. He even kept Steve from going into town to find out what was going on then he got Pete Van Horn killed.

[@karlriddell3396]

I was a little kid when Jack Horkheimer was on PBS kicking off "Sci-Fi Friday". Loved that stuff.

[@theurbanloner8879]

Your entire channel is intriguing as well as enlightening but your twlight zone videos are something special. Oh and I think you will have a pretty good split of opinions from the question you posed because I enjoy the framed video presentation better , especially for the twlightzone videos .

[@lincbond442]

So the alien's plan was to do this one street at a time? Good luck with that. It would take hundreds of years to get to every street in America.

[@DeclareRestore]

Brilliant!

[@katrb5537]

Interesting take on a classic episode.

[@nicopeachh]

what a weird take on one of the most popular and highly regarded episodes of this show

[@Clipgatherer]

As the Ancient Romans said (and did, quite successfully): _Divida et impera_ - divide and rule.

[@elmermedina1713]

I hated it when the mob went after Les and Steve but i had no problem with them going after Charlie, the loudest most obnoxious asshole in the entire episode. I was disappointed that Les ended up falling into the mob mentality. Steve tried to stop it but it was too late.

[@MultiVales]

You are wrong. Great episode

[@SoUtHMeMpHis]

But sooner or later the aliens would find a neighborhood or group that's more rational or more organized. How would this work on those who live off the grid or who are already antisocial and who question everything 🤔 And who believes a single kid who should've been kept away from the adult conversation 🤔 I would've suspected the kid too tho. Once the car started it would've made more sense to just leave.

[@cloudcity4194]

This is one of the absolute best episodes of Twilight Zone and your animosity towards it probably says more about you than the episode. Maybe you yourself feel attacked, because you identify with the people on Maple Street who are quick to other and turn on each other? /unsub

[@johnmanfredi810]

I usually like your Twilight Zone reviews,CineG,but I think your review totally missed the boat on this episode.I consider this one of the BEST Twilight Zone episodes and I'm sure a lot of other people also like it.I guess you had your reasons for disliking it but I DEFINITELY do not agree with you on this one.

[@ronxavier5285]

Yeah man I'm not sure you did anything to illustrate why it was a bad episode. You seemed more bothered by the implications it presented. And blaming the kid? Lol still an interesting video

[@user-lr2ib1cv4d]

Well, if you might think this episode crazy, is a world of rights all but absent pertinate responsibilities insane--even ignoring crowd normlessness deemed contaigion in sociological intro textbooks?

[@jerseyforhawks]

Pfff, epi stuffed with unestablished paranoia and limitations. Real? No.