Hocus-Pocus and Frisby

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The Twilight Zone original series Season three (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) Fall 1961 – Summer 1962 List of The Twilight Zone episodes
Episodes: Two The Arrival The Shelter The Passersby A Game of Pool The Mirror The Grave It's a Good Life Deaths-Head Revisited The Midnight Sun Still Valley The Jungle Once Upon a Time Five Characters in Search of an Exit A Quality of Mercy Nothing in the Dark One More Pallbearer Dead Man's Shoes The Hunt Showdown With Rance McGrew Kick the Can A Piano in the House The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank To Serve Man The Fugitive Little Girl Lost Person or Persons Unknown The Little People Four O'Clock Hocus-Pocus and Frisby The Trade-Ins The Gift The Dummy Young Man's Fancy I Sing the Body Electric Cavender Is Coming The Changing of the Guard

“Hocus-Pocus and Frisby” is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone.

[edit] Details

Episode number: 95
Season: 3
Original air date: April 13, 1962
Writer: Rod Serling, based on an unpublished story by Frederic Louis Fox
Director: Lamont Johnson
Producer: Buck Houghton
Music: Tom Morgan

[edit] Cast

Frisby: Andy Devine
Alien #1: Milton Selzer
Alien #2: Larry Breitman
Alien #3: Peter Brocco
Mitchell: Howard McNear
Scanlan: Dabbs Greer
Old Man: Clem Bevans

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Frisby manages a grocery store/gas station in a small town, and the townsfolk know him well for the tall tales he spins of his experiences, all of which he makes up but which would otherwise be convincing for their detail.

One evening, a friendly voice summons him. Creatures from Saturn, disguised as humans, ask him to board their ship. They want Frisby for use as a zoo specimen--they take his exaggerated tales as reality, so why not take the perfect example? The Saturnian tells Frisby that he seems to have the widest range of experience and highest education - they have obviously been listening to him for a long time - and want him to come with them.

Frisby tells them that he lied, but the aliens don't understand the term "to lie", and ask him to just sit quietly and wait for departure. Frisby, unable to convince them of their erroneous decision, decides to relax by playing his harmonica. He then makes the unexpected discovery that the sound is extremely painful to the Saturnians--He escapes from the ship, and the now frightened Saturnians leave. Running back to the gas station, he finds all of his friends waiting to throw him a surprise birthday party. When he tries to tell them what happened, they laugh it off as another of his stories, even though this time he tries to tell them this is true.