The Twilight Zone/Recap/S3/E89 To Serve Man

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The Trope Namer for To Serve Man

First aired on March 2, 1962.

The episode opens with a man named Michael Chambers lying uncomfortably on a cot in a futuristic room. A voice implores him to eat. He refuses. He asks what time it is on Earth, and begins to tell the story of how he came to be aboard a spaceship in flashback.

A race of benevolent aliens called the 'Kanamit' arrive on Earth, offering to help humanity. After initial resistance, humanity accepts. The Kanamit set about putting an end to many of Earth's greatest woes, including hunger. Energy becomes very cheap; nuclear weapons are rendered harmless. The aliens even morph deserts into big, blooming fields.

Michael Chambers, revealed to be a United Nations codebreaker, attempts to decipher the Kanamit's language from a book the Kanamit left behind. A woman named Patty, one of his employees, manages to decipher the title, which reads 'To Serve Man'. Chambers' team seems to be satisfied with this.

With the Cold War ended, Chambers has no real work to do, but Patty is still trying to work out the meaning of the text of To Serve Man.

Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which is portrayed as a paradise. Chambers, with nothing else to do, signs up for an excursion to the planet. As he is boarding the ship (amongst people who excitedly talk about their upcoming trip), Patty runs up to him, but is stopped by a Kanamit guard. She desperately calls out:

"Mr. Chambers! Don't get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it's... it's a cookbook!"

Before Chambers can escape, he is forced onto the ship. The episode ends with him on the Kanamit ship, breaking his hunger strike and giving in to the Kanamit's orders to eat.

Tropes:

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end, Chambers faces the camera, and asks the audience if they're still on earth or on the ship with him, but says is doesn't matter because sooner or later we'll all be on the menu.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: All of the Kanamit are played by Richard Kiel, Jaws from James Bond
• How We Got Here
• Prop Recycling / Recycled Set: The Kanamit ship was first used in Forbidden Planet.
• Rubber Forehead Aliens: Of the bald big-brained variety.
• Stock Footage: The opening scene of the Kanamit ship is taken from The Day the Earth Stood Still.
• Wham! Line: "It's a cookbook!".