[Eerie music]
(Narrator) You're tra vel/ng through another dimension.
A dimension not onl y of sightand sound, but of mind.
A journey into a wondrous land
whose boundaries are tha t of ima Gina t/on.
Tha t's the signpost up ahead.
Your next stop, the twilight zone.
(Woman) Nurse?
Time for your sleeping medicine, honey.
[Sighs softly]
Is it night already?
I t's 9:30.
Oh. What about the day?
Oh, what? tabout it?
Well, was it a beautiful day?
Was it warm?
Was the sun out?
It was kind of warm.
Yes, and clouds?
Were there clouds in the sky?
I suppose there were.
I never was much
for star/ng up at the sky.
No?
I used to like to look at the clouds.
If you stare at them long enough, they become things.
You know what I mean? People, ships, anything you want, really.
It's time to take your temperature now.
Oh, please, one more thing, nurse.
Well?
When will they take the bandages off?
How long, nurse?
Until they dec/de
whether or not they can fix your face.
Oh, I guess it's, pretty bad, isn't it?
I've seen worse.
Well, yes, but, it's pretty bad, isn't it?
Oh, I know it's pretty bad.
Ever since I can remember
ever since I was a little girl...
People have turned away when they looked at me.
Funny,
the very first thing I can remember
is another little child screaming when she looked at me.
I, I never really wanted to be beautiful, you know.
I mean, I never wanted to look like a painting.
I never even wanted to be loved, really.
I just wanted people not to scream
when they looked at me.
When, nurse? When? When?
When will they take the bandages off?
Ma ybe tomorro w.
Ma ybe the next da y.
Now hush.
[Suspense music]
You've been waiting so long now.
It doesn't really make much difference
whether it's two weeks or days now.
Does it?
(Nurse) Dr. Berna rdl, evening report on pa t/ent 307,
no temperature change, rest/ng comfortabl y.
(Bernardi, over radio) Thank you, nurse. I'll be down later.
Ever see her face, 307?
Indeed / ha ve.
If it were mine,
I'd Bury myself in a gra ve somepla ce.
Poor thing.
Some people want to live no ma tter what? t. (Lights cigarette)
Cigarette?
Suspended in time and space for a moment,
your introduction to miss Janet Tyler,
who lives in a very private world of darkness,
a universe whose dimensions
are the size, thickness, length of the swath of bandages
that cover her face. In a moment, we'll go back into this room.
And also, in a moment, we'll look under those bandages,
keeping in mind, of course,
that we're not to be surprised by what we see,
because this isn't just a hospital,
and this patient 307 is not just a woman.
This happens to be the twilightzone,
and miss Janet Tyler, with you, is about to enter it.
(Nurse) Blood pressure and temperature are normal, no change.
(Doctor) Come back about 11:00, nurse. Give her the usual sedative then.
(Nurse) All right, doctor.
(Doctor) Well, it's warm this evening, m/ss Tyler.
Yes, I thought it was, but I couldn't be sure.
It's ver y warm.
Take my word for that.
We'll have those bandages off you very soon.
I expect you're pretty uncomfor tabl e.
Well, I'm used to bandages on my face.
I ha ve no doubt. It's your ninth visit here.
It is the ninth?
The 11th.
You know, sometimes I,
I think I've lived my whole life inside of a dark cave
with walls of gauze,
and the wind that blows into the mouth of the cave
smells of ether and disinfectant.
Of course there's a,
there's a kind of a comfort living inside this cave.
Wonderfully private.
Nobody can ever see me.
It's hopeless, isn't it, doctor?
I'll never look any different than now.
Well, tha t's hard to sa y.
Up to now, you ha ven't responded to the shots, the med/ca tions.
Any of the proven techniques.
Frankly, you've stumped us, miss Tyler.
Nothing we've done so far has made
any difference a tall.
However, we're very hopeful
for what this last treatment may have accomplished.
There's no telling, of course, till we get the bandages off.
I'm sorry your case is not one
that we could have handled with plastic surgery,
but your bone structure, flesh type,
many fa ctors prohibit
the surgical approa ch.
Your 11th visit.
No more after this, doctor. No more tries.
11 is the mandatory number of experiments.
We're not permitted to do any more after 11.
Now what? t, doctor?
Well, you're kind of jumping the gun, aren't you?
You may have responded to these last injections.
There's no way of telling till we get the bandages off.
If I haven't responded, then what?
Well, there are al terna tives.
Like?
Don't you know?
Yes, I know.
You realize, of course, miss Tyler,
why these rules are in effect.
Each of us is afforded
as much opportunity as possible
to fit in with society.
In your case, think of the time
and the money and the effort
expended to make you look...
(Almost crying) Look like what, doctor?
Normal. The way you'd like to look.
Doctor.
May I walk outside?
Please, may I?
May I just go and, and sit in the garden?
Just, just for a little while.
Just, just to feel the air.
Just, just to smell the flowers.
Just, just to make believe I am normal? (Almost crying)
If, if I sit out there in the darkness,
then the whole world is dark,
and I'm more a part of it like that, not just,
(almost crying) One grotesque,
ugly woman with a bandage on her face
with a special darkness all around.
I want to belong.
I want to be like everybody.
Please, doctor.
(Sobbing) Please help me.
There are many o thers
who share your misfor tune.
People who look much as you do.
Now, one of the al terna ti ves,
just in the event
tha t this last trea tment
is not successful,
is simpl y to allow you
to move into a special area
in which people of your kind
ha ve been congrega Ted.
People of my kind?
[Sobbing]
"Congregated."
(Angry, desperate) Oh, you mean segregated!
You mean imprisoned, don't you, doctor?
You're talking about a ghetto, aren't you?
A ghetto designed for freaks!
Miss Tyler!
Now, the sta te is not uns ympa thetic.
Your presence here in this hospital is proof of that.
It's doing all it can for you.
But you're not being ra tional, miss Tyler.
Now, you know you can't expect
to live any kind of a life among...
Normal peopl e.
I could try. I...
I could wear a mask or this bandage or...
I wouldn't bother anybody.
I'd just go my own way. I'd get a job. Any job!
(Angry) Who are you people anyway?
What is this state?
Who makes all these rules and conditions and statutes,
the people who are different have to stay away
from the people who are normal?
The state isn't god, doctor.
Miss Tyler, please, please.
The state is not god!
It hasn't the right to penalize somebody
for an accident of birth! It hasn't the right to make ugliness a crime!
Miss Tyler! Miss Tyler, stop this immedia tel y.
[Laughs with relief] I feel the night out there.
I feel the air. I can smell the flowers.
[Breathes] Oh,
oh, please.
Please, take this off me, please.
[Suspense music]
Please, take this off me.
(Almost crying) Please, take this off me.
[Shouting] Oh, please, take this off me!
Take it off me!
[Shouting, louder] Take it off me!
(Tyler) Help! Somebod y, help me!
Help!
(Tyler) No, no, no. Let me go.
Please, let me go.
Let me go, please.
Oh, please. Please, let me go.
Please, please, let me...
[Sobbing]
(Doctor) All right, I'll take the bandages off.
Get the anesthetist.
Yes, doctor.
You look tired, doctor.
Do I? Well, I hadn't thought about it.
I suppose I am.
You've been under a great deal of tension.
I know how much it means to you...
This case in 307.
Well, you try to be impersonal about these things.
You do everything medically possible,
everything humanly possible
and then, in the end, you cross your fingers
and you hope for a miracle.
You know, once in a while,
a miracle does happen just often enough
to let you know that you're not wrong
or foolish to hope for one.
But you're destro ying yourself this way.
Forgive me, but you mustn't
let yourself get personall y invol ved here.
I know. You think I haven't told myself that?
But you see, nurse,
I've, I've looked underneath those bandages.
So have I. It's horrible.
No, I mean deeper than that.
Deeper than that pitiful, twisted lump of flesh...
Deeper even than that misshapen skeletal mask.
I've seen that woman's real face, nurse.
The face of her real self.
It's a good face.
It's a human face.
I understand,
but I must confess,
it's easier for me to think of her as human
when her face is covered up.
But why?
Why must we feel that way, nurse?
What is the dimensional difference
between beauty and something repellent?
Is it skin deep?
Oh, less than that.
Why, nurse?
(Doctor) Why shouldn't people be allowed to be different? Why?
(Nurse) Doctor, careful. What you're talking is...
(Doctor) I know. Treason.
(Nurse) Oh, this case has upset your balance,
your sense of values.
(Doctor) Well, I suppose.
Don't be concerned, nurse.
I'll be all right once the bandages are off.
Once I knowone way or the other.
Leader's speaking tonight.
He goes on in just a few minutes.
[Suspense music]
(Male presenter over TV) And now, ladles and gentlemen, our leader.
(Leader) Good evening, ladles and gentlemen.
Tonight, I shall talk to you about glorious conformity.
About the delight and the ul tima te pleasure
of our unified society.
(Doctor) Now, / ha ve to ask you once again, m/ss Tyler.
And I must ins/st tha t you promise you'll remain ra tional,
no tantrums, no temperament, and no violence.
You unders ta nd?
Now, I'll tell you precisel y
whatl'm going to do.
I'm going to cut the bandages a sectionata time,
then I'm going to unwrap the banda ges very graduall y,
so that your eyes can becomeaccustomed to the light.
As you know, these injections
ma yha ve had some effect on your vision.
I understand.
So now, as I unwrap,
I want you to keep your eyes open,
and I want you to describe to me
the various shadings of lightas you perceive it.
All right.
Now, if you make any movement,
or if you start getting emotional on us,
I'm going to have to ha ve the nurses hold you down,
and ha ve the anes thetist put you under seda tion, you understand.
(Tyler) I prom/se / won't.
(Doctor) All right, then.
[Suspense music]
(Doctor) Do you see any I/ght now, m/ss Tyler?
Oh, just a little.
It looks gray.
All right, now.
Just be very quiet.
Now, miss Tyler?
Oh, it, it's much brighter.
Good, good.
Look... look up toward the light.
How about now, miss Tyler?
(Tyler) Oh, yes, / t, it's ver y bright.
(Doctor) Good, good.
(Doctor) N o w,
(Doctor) I'm a t the last la yer of bandages, m/ss Tyler.
(Tyler) Oh. [Chuckles soft/ y]
(Tyler) /, / can just see you.
I can just distinguish your outline vaguel y,
buti can just see you.
(Doctor) Good.
All right, miss Tyler,
I'm going to remove
the last of the bandages now.
Would you likea mirror?
[Sighs]
No, thank you. No mirror.
All right, then.
I want you to remember this, please.
Miss Tyler, are you listening?
Yes, I'm listening.
Now, we have done all we could do.
If we've been successful, well and good.
There are no problems.
But if, on the other hand,
this final trea tment
has notachieved the desired resul t,
pl ea se remember, miss Tyler,
that you can still livea long and fruitful life
among people of... your own kind.
Now, as soon as we discover the results,
we'll either release you or...
Doctor?
Yes?
If I'm still terribly ugly,
well, is there any other alternative?
Could I please be put away?
[Sighs] Well, under certain circums ta nces, miss Tyler,
the sta te does pro vide for the extermination of undesirables.
However, there are many factors
to be considered in the decision.
Under the present circumstances,
I doubt very much whether we would be permitted
to do anything but... transfer you
to a communal group of people
with your disability.
They'll make me go, then?
Tha t would probabl y be the case.
Now, remain ver y quiet.
Keep your eyes open.
All right, miss Tyler,
here comes the last of it.
[Suspense music]
I wish you every good luck.
[Gasping]
(Doctor) No change.
No change a tall.
[Suspense music, inz'ense]
[Screams]
(Doctor) I was afra/d of this.
Turn on the light.
Needle, please!
[Ominous music]
(Leader, over TV) L/fe a t the...
Stop that patient!
Stop her!
(Leader, cont.) We know now that there must be a single purpose,
a single norm, a single approach,
a single entity of people, a single virtue,
a single moral/ty,
a single frame of reference,
a single philosophy of government.
We must cut out all that/s different.
Likea cancerous fil th!
It is essential, in this society,
that we not onl y ha vea norm,
but that we conform to tha t norm!
Differences weaken us!
Var/a tions des tro y us!
[Ranting continues]
(Leader) Th/s norm ls what? t has ended na t/ons
and brought them to their knees!
Conformity, we must worship in all interests!
(Leader) Conform/ty is the key to sur v/ val!
[Gasps]
[Sobs]
[Intense suspense music continues]
Miss Tyler.
Miss Tyler, don't be afraid.
He's, he's only a representative
from the group you're going to live with.
Oddly enough, you've come right to him.
Now, come on now.
Don't be afraid.
He's not going to hurt you.
He won't hurt you.
Don't be afraid.
(Doctor) It's all right.
It's all right, miss Tyler.
(Doctor) Now, this is Mr. Smith.
Mr. Walter Smith.
Mr. Smith is in charge
of the village group in the north.
He'll take you there tonight.
It's the only way now.
Miss Tyler, we have
a lovely village and wonderful people.
I think you're going to like it
where I'm going to take you.
You'll, uh, you'll be with your own kind,
and in a little while...
Oh, you'll be amazed how little a while,
you'll feel a sense of great belonging.
You'll feel a sense of being loved.
And you will be loved, miss Tyler.
Miss Tyler,
would you get your things now?
We can leave anytime.
Mr. Smith?
Yes?
Why do we have to look like this?
I don't know, miss Tyler. I really don't know.
But you know something? It doesn't matter.
There's an old saying. Avery, very old saying,
"beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
When we leave here, when we go to the village,
try to think of that, miss Tyler.
Say it over and over to yourself.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Come on now.
We'll get your things and we'll leave.
Good-bye, miss Tyler.
(Narrator) Now the ouest/ons tha t come to m/nd,
where is this place and when is it?
Wha t kind of world where ugliness is the norm
and beauty the dev/a tion from tha t norm?
You want an answer?
The answer is, it doesn't make any difference
because the old saying happens to be true.
"Beautyis in the eye of the beholder."
In this year or a hundred years hence,
on this planet or wherever there is human life,
perhaps out amongst the stars.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Lesson to be learned in the twilight zone.
(Male presenter, off) Rod serl/ng, the crea Tor oftwilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this word from our al terna te sponsor.
And now, Mr. Serling.
You've probably run across these penny machines
that tell your fortune.
You put a penny in,
and out comes a card.
Only this particular machine, which you'll see next week,
is a little bit unique, in that the fortunes that it tells
happen to come true. A most intriguing tale, called "the Nick of time,"
by Mr. Richard Matheson. And you're invited to partake of it.
Thank you and good night.
[Eerie music]
(Male presenter, off) See the new Andy Griffith show
each week, over most of these sta tions.
Consul t local listings.