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"I Sing the Body Electric" is the 100th episode of the The Twilight Zone.
Episode Details[]
Opening Narration[]
"They make a fairly convincing pitch here. It doesn't seem possible, though, to find a woman who must be ten times better than Mother, in order to seem half as good - except, of course, in The Twilight Zone."
Episode Summary[]
The widowed father of three children takes the children to a factory, Facsimile Ltd., to pick out a new robotic grandmother. When she arrives, young Tom and Karen are quickly smitten by the magical "grandmother." But older daughter Anne is initially reluctant; "Grandma" reminds her too much of her own mother, who died and left her a bitter young girl. Anne tries to run away, and accidentally runs in front of an oncoming van. Grandma throws herself in front of the van and is struck, saving the girl. Anne grows to love her when she realizes that Grandma is indestructible and will not leave them like their own mother had. Serling describes the children's time with her.
"As of this moment, the wonderful electric grandmother moved into the lives of children and father. She became integral and important, she became of the essence. As of this moment, they would never see lightning, never hear poetry read, never listen to foreign tongues without thinking of her. Everything they would ever see, hear, taste, feel would remind them of her. She was all life and all life was wondrous, quick, electrical like her."
The children grow up and are ready for college, however it's time for "grandmother" to move on to another family as she is apparently not needed anymore. The grandmother expresses her sadness to leave, yet reassures the children that they brought her just as much joy as she brought them, and that, with time, and if she keeps being a good grandmother to other children, she will even be ultimately rewarded with the gift of life and humanity. The children say their farewells and "grandmother" leaves the house for good.
Closing Narration[]
"A fable? Most assuredly. But who's to say at some distant moment there might be an assembly line producing a gentle product in the form of a grandmother, whose stock in trade is love? Fable, sure - but who's to say?"
Preview for Next Week's Story[]
Next week on The Twilight Zone, two incredibly talented people join forces to show us what happens when an accident-prone, discombooberated lady with six thumbs and two left feet meets a hapless guardian angel who knows more about martinis than miracles - Miss Carol Burnett and Mr. Jesse White. They're the chief ingredients to a very funny stew. Next week, "Cavender is Coming."
Cast[]
- Rod Serling (Narrator
- David White (Mr. Rogers)
- Veronica Cartwright (Anne Rogers)
- Josephine Hutchinson (Grandma)
Production Companies[]
- Cayuga Productions
- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (in association with)
Distributors[]
- Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1959) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
Home media release[]
This episode is included on the Image Entertainment Vol. 5 DVD along with "Long Distance Call", "The Lonely" and "Probe 7, Over and Out".
Trivia[]
- This is one of the few episodes of the series where Serling does not mention the name of the show in the closing narration.
- The script was written by Ray Bradbury, and became the basis for his short story of the same name, published in 1969, itself named after a Walt Whitman poem. Although Bradbury contributed several scripts to The Twilight Zone, this was the only one produced. Later, in 1982, the hour-long NBC television movie The Electric Grandmother was also based on the short story.
- Rod Serling's narration is notable in this episode because, in addition to opening and closing the show as usual, it also occurs in the middle of the story, to describe how the children spent years happily with their android grandmother and eventually grow up. Other episodes to feature mid-show narration from Serling are all from the first half of season 1: "Walking Distance", "Time Enough at Last", and "I Shot an Arrow Into the Air".
- In 1982, a TV movie was created based off this episode. The movie was called, "The Electric Grandmother".
Memorable Quotes[]
- Main article: List of memorable quotes from the first series
Cast[]
- Josephine Hutchinson as Grandma
- David White as Mr Rogers
- Vaughn Taylor as Salesman
- Doris Packer as Nedra
- Charles Herbert as Tom (age 12)
- Veronica Cartwright as Anne (age 11)
- Dana Dillaway as Karen (age 10)
- Susan Crane as Anne (age 19)
- Paul Nesbitt as Tom (age 20)
- Judee Morton as Karen (age 18)
- David Armstrong as Van Driver
Writers[]
- Ray Bradbury
External Links[]