Another interesting and thought-provoking episode of "The Twilight Zone" starring Roddy McDowall as a biologist in space, partnering an astronaut colleague on a spaceship to Mars. McDowall is scared of what they'll find, but his partner assures him that if they find life on Mars (thanks David!), they'll be just like us, as people are alike.
Unfortunately their ship crash-lands, killing the astronaut, but McDowall is okay, only what's that knocking sound outside...?
The irony here of course is that years later McDowall would undergo a role-reversal of sorts to the eventual plight of his character here, in a planet full of apes. The moral of this episode is surprisingly modern and environmental in its implied criticism of keeping animals captive in cages and by inference the morals and ethics of the superior species.
Overlooking the fact that the native Martians all seem to be got up as if they're from Ancient Rome, I quite enjoyed this episode, directed by Hollywood veteran Mitchell Leisen, as it made me think about the time to come when zoos, rather like circuses, fox-hunts and bull-fights will finally fall out of fashion and indeed become extinct.
Unfortunately their ship crash-lands, killing the astronaut, but McDowall is okay, only what's that knocking sound outside...?
The irony here of course is that years later McDowall would undergo a role-reversal of sorts to the eventual plight of his character here, in a planet full of apes. The moral of this episode is surprisingly modern and environmental in its implied criticism of keeping animals captive in cages and by inference the morals and ethics of the superior species.
Overlooking the fact that the native Martians all seem to be got up as if they're from Ancient Rome, I quite enjoyed this episode, directed by Hollywood veteran Mitchell Leisen, as it made me think about the time to come when zoos, rather like circuses, fox-hunts and bull-fights will finally fall out of fashion and indeed become extinct.