Miniature - Twilight-Tober Zone
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- čas přidán 16. 10. 2023
- A young Robert Duvall stars in "Miniature". This Charles Beaumont written episode was the target of a copyright lawsuit and barely aired for decades. Is it a lost gem? Join Walter as he continues his deep dive into The Twilight Zone.
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"Miniature" is episode 110 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on February 21, 1963 on CBS. The story centers on a man's obsession with a dollhouse whose figures seem to be alive.
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What did everyone think of Miniature?
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Of all 156 Episodes of The Twilight Zone...
...this was 1 of them.
I thought he was done dirty by being fired for not fitting into their mold! If this were to occur today, he would've sued the company for wrongful dismissal.
I think the idea is that the world of the doll house was his “square hole for his square peg”. That he didn’t belong in the real world because he belonged with the girl in some cosmic destiny sort of thing.
Plus he and the “ghost” do seem happy together. So I’m happy for him.
I liked it, especially future Oscar Winner Robert Duvall.
A lot of
I like the guard smiling at the end because he knows the guy wasn't crazy or missing and had found his place in the world that makes sense to him.
So no matter how crazy the situation was to the guard he was genuinely happy that the guy got his version of a happy ending.
Love that ending as well. It pops up in my head every once in a while
I liked the way they depicted the dolls speaking, as though they were vignettes from a silent film. It's bittersweet that Charles's family will likely never see him again, but he's happy with the love of his life.
For me, "Miniature" is the one Twilight Zone episode that's made me cry each time I've watched it and is my favorite episode of the entire series. Charlie, as a character, has resonated with me deeply as I've been navigating young adulthood as well as navigating my neurodiversity as an autistic person. To me, I saw the Miniature as an outlet of escapism for him, as a means of not thinking about how his life isn't 'lined up' like others around him and where him being 'different' isn't met with a need in the real world to be 'normal' (i.e. him struggling in the workplace and holding onto a job, not yet living on his own and married, etc.). I empathized with him going to the Museum to spending that time alone he otherwise wouldn't have and appreciating the Miniature as a special interest of sorts. His family is supportive, but clearly don't see the personal value in his special interest with the Miniature. Going to the asylum solidified him being 'different'. The one scene I vividly remember is when Charlie is holding onto the miniature doll of the woman and starts to cry. It broke my heart on the first watch to see that his voice wasn't being heard. And, I genuinely was happy for Charlie getting that happier ending because it meant he didn't have to conform to society and could belong fully in that other world. He was accepted. Coincidentally, when watching "The Outer Limits", Duvall stars in that series' 2-parter episode called "The Inheritors" and that happened to be my favorite episode(s) from that series lmao. But nonetheless, Robert Duvall is a stellar actor in this and what made the episode be an unexpected gem, in my eyes :,)
I'm glad you mentioned the neurodivergency. I always thought Charlie was clearly on the spectrum, even if writers in the 60s didn't know what autism was yet, but I never see anyone brush up on this fact. As someone who's also on the spectrum, I find it easy to relate to as well and it's one of my favorite eps of The Twilight Zone
I was about to write the same thing!! I see a lot of myself in Charlie as someone on the spectrum. And I completely relate to his not wanting to be like everyone else and finding comfort in his special interest of the doll house and Alice
I'm also on the spectrum and I was empathetic to Charlie for similar reasons. I'm glad the psychiatrist made his point about what it is to be normal in the episode.
Even being female I still related a lot to Charlie. I have social anxiety and don't really fit in. When the psychiatrist was explaining Charlie's fixation and imagination with the doll, I totally got it. The line that "she's not like all the other girls", is really striking a cord with me right now because I've recently fallen for an old time actor who's characters are not like all the other guys today. It's pretty painful to imagine I'll never meet anyone like that in real life.
I kinda liked the security guard’s expression. It was a mixture of being happy for this pathetically lonely guy but also the look of someone who couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
That security guard smiling at the end could mean he knows Charley is happy right where he is and that also makes him happy.
It could also just be a coping mechanism. Because now that that bit of oddness happened the security guard is probably wondering “What other weird stuff am I gonna start seeing in this crazy place?”
Later in life he gets a job at the Smithsonian when a certain tablet arrives...
Same thing I thought when I saw it. I like that ending the other endings he's talking about is just too much
It’s always cool seeing actors in stuff before they hit it big like Robert Duvall being in To Kill A Mockingbird and this episode
Agreed, he was Boo Radley just a year before this episode aired.
William Windom was also in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Never realized that one of his first roles in a play was a comedy role when he was stationed at Camp Gordon near where I live now. Neat.
And Collin Wilcox who was
Mayella Violet Ewell in *"To Kill*
*A Mockingbird"* would go
on to star in the 1964 *"Twilight Zone"* episode: "Number 12 Looks Like You".
Barbara Barrie (who played the sister), while never winning any of the big awards, went on to have a fairly impressive career; she basically was one of those actors who you end up pointing at, going, "Hey, it's that actor, from that thing!"
As someone on the spectrum, I can strongly surmise that Duvall’s character in this episode is an early 60s portrayal of an autistic person years before high functioning autism or Asperger’s were known about. Back then, autism meant that you had to be strongly debilitated, and people who truly were more of the “higher functioning” or Asperger’s side were simply seen as weird or eccentric. That’s how I interpret the character anyway.
I liked this one. Duvall gives a good performance as this shy lonely guy is pretty releatable and likable. I like that the people around him aren’t assholes, they do want what’s best for him, they just don’t quite understand him. That’s kind of refreshing., The ending is nice, if predictable and it's overall a fine story.
I just watched it for the first time in years, and you're right, the only jerks are his co-workers at the beginning. The people close to him, even his doofy brother-in-law, are trying their best to help him in a situation it's not their fault they can't understand. The acting is all good, and Duvall is great
I think the guard smiling was more of a defense mechanism. Like laughing when you see or hear something truly ridiculous.
Maybe, but I like to think he’s just experiencing a mix of astounded confusion that Charlie wasn’t really that crazy, and happy that Charlie seems to have least found a happily ever after.
@@theheroneededwillette6964I agree. It seems more like, after seeing Charlie spending so much time watching that dollhouse and hearing all the things he said, the guard finally understood everything.
There was a similar episode in the 80s reboot. A lonely guy kept getting calls from a mystery woman at a museum, only to discover the woman was a statue. The two fell in love, and the man became a statue to match her. It was super weird.
"The Call", starring William Sanderson back in his "Newhart" days.
There's apparently a movie where a mannequin woman comes to life and gets involved with a guy on an adventure.
There's an 80s music video to go along with it.
@@meganparrish807 it starred one of the Sex in the City girls. Literally called Mannequin. The song is Nothing’s gonna stop us now by Star ship. It had a sequel with the girl from Buffy the vampire slayer film. It was……okay.
I just watched it... Was so odd but good
It's always neat to see future Oscar winners turn up in this show. Last year, we had Robert Redford, this year it's Robert Duvall!
Robert Duvall? Instant win!
Also so interesting to see him play something more awkward and quirky compared to some of his more down to earth famous roles like Godfather and Network
The Apostle was solid,, take the watch for the church, when arrested
.hmm
I thought for sure the twist was going to be that the camera pulls out at the end, revealing the entire town was another miniature, with another person watching them all.
As someone who has Asperger's, it irked me that he got fired from his job simply because he didn't fit in with the others and not for the quality of his work which I'm sure was just as good as the others, if not better. That is a case of wrongful termination and an act of discrimination against persons with Autism, and is something that a company could be sued for today.
Right, but in 1963 things were very different. This was just before the Civil Rights Act of '64.
Interestingly, whenever I watched Twilight Zone on SyFy on Sunday mornings, this episode was on regularly
"He's basically living with a ghost who doesn't talk."
Do we know that for sure? Being in the same miniature house together, I assumed he and Alice could now understand each other. Also, this one reminds me of "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine." Remember the last line in that one? "To wishes, Barbie. To the ones that come true." I got the same feeling here. The protagonists of both that episode and this one seem to not want to "understand the real world." They shun reality, and are happier in their fantasy. So I do kind of consider this ending a good one for Charlie, even if it's a bad ending in reality.
I couldn't have said this better.
Alice was able to communicate with the maid and suitor, I imagine once Charley was in there the same would apply to him. She's also shown leaving the house in the episode, so there could be a world outside it we're not able to see from the museum setting.
It's never a dull time in the Twilight-Tober Zone 🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🖤🤍🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
Do you guys think that the main character in this episode might have something like autism? His social awkwardness, his wanting to be left alone all the time, ect
I've seen that argued that Charlie is either on the autism spectrum or has Asperger's.
Aren't they on the same spectrum?@@geoffreyfyfe2248
I thought that, too! Because I have Asperger's Syndrome, which is on the Autism Spectrum.
I completely identify with his personality as someone with Asperger's, since I too have that form of Autism in which I don't talk much around people and prefer my own company.
As someone who also has Asperger's and does the same things sometimes, I'd say it's possible.
I like the end; I like how the guard smiles and realizes this is where Charlie belongs.
It finally happened! Years ago, I saw the start of the episode during the Syfy channel’s New Year’s marathon, but had to turn it off. I never checked the name and have struggled to google it with what little I remembered. When this series started back in 2020, I decided to wait patiently and see when it would finally be reviewed. It was worth the wait!
Fun fan theory for this, some people think the main character in this is supposed to be autistic and has Asperger’s syndrome.
Considering Alice is dead, I think this somewhat implies that he may have ended his own life in order to join her, which makes it all the more dark but still bittersweet.
I saw this last night an all I could think of was the movie Harvey. This is a much darker take on the tale about someone struggling to fit in and can't. Harvey was the same way but it ended a lot happier. Here, Duvall's character is just broken inside. Yes the guard smiles but it's fitting for his character. He realizes this poor guy is, at least happy and that was enough for him - and he realizes the guy wasn't crazy after all.
Twilight Zone is an amazing who but boy does it leave me feeling quiet and reflective.
Except the one “To Serve Man” that twist ending had me bawling with laughter 😂
Of all 156 Episodes of The Twilight Zone...
...this was 1 of them.
The way Charlie is portrayed is like he's on the spectrum
I never thought I'd see "Lucky" Ned Pepper from True Grit, Mrs. Paroo from The Music Man, Mrs. Barney Miller, the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf and a couple TZ vets in the same episode. Good, eclectic cast!
I love the smell of doll houses in the morning... smells like victory❤
This episode starring Duvall was filmed just two months after the release of " To Kill a Mockingbird, " in which Duvall made his movie debut as Boo Radley. A sweet flight of fancy.
Another favorite. Robert Duvall kills it in this episode playing a quiet empathetic character who prefers his dream world to reality. It's definitely a great one for us introverts who have a vivid colorful dream world made through books, games, TV, art, history, movies and other worlds.
I only saw this episode a couple of times, but I always assumed it was because Sy-Fy Channel rarely showed the hour-long episodes.
Like Mr. Beavis, I'm rather certain that Charlie Parks is somewhere on the autism spectrum. The way he has difficulty socializing and the narrow fascination he has for the dollhouse are rather indicative of this. Also like Mr. Beavis, I like the ending because Parks decides he'd choose his world over the "real world."
He's a fictional character, unless the writer said so, he's not autistic.
@@lainiwakura1776 That is debatable.
@@lainiwakura1776Way to shut down discussion, you close-minded killjoy.
You guys are the best! Always making this month awesome! 🎃🎃🎃🧡🧡🧡🖤🖤🖤
It could be that instead of trying to make people something they’re not, just let them find their place in the world. Let them get a slice of happiness as long as they don’t harm other people in the process.
In the 80's they ran a TZ marathon on New Year's Eve. My sister videotaped the whole thing and this episode was included
I thought this was a sweet little story. Robert Duvall is terrific & I always forget how young Duvall was here even thought I’ve seen TKAM
I love this The Twilight Zone episode!
I have a lot of favorite episodes from this show, but Miniature is pretty close to top tier for me.
I relate to Charlie so much being a bit socially awkward around others and having a tendency to imagine odd scenarios. He doesn't need to "fit in" with societal norms and he certainly didn't deserve to be fired from his job just for keeping to himself and doing his job? Its similar to Henry Bemis wanting personal time for his passion of reading, although I could see why he would get a warning because It was interfering with his work.
But here Charlie found love in an unexpected place and he's happy..in the twilight zone.
My favourite episode of season 4 and one of the best of the TZ. Loved Robert Duvall, the great storyline and the ending was perfect imo
In addition to having the guard giving less of a reaction at the end, they also could have him seeing Alice and Charley clearly as dolls. Then the audience can decide if Charley is even living any kind of life or trapped himself as a block of wood...
"Miniature" is one of my favorites. It was one of the very first episodes I ever saw of the Twilight Zone during one of the Sci-Fi (before they changed it to "Syfy") channel's Twilight Zone marathons.
Duvall's performance has always hit a home run for me and I personally wish they'd had him in more episodes. I also enjoy the story as I can easily sympathize with Charlie in not belonging in this world or finding anyone who understands him. That's pretty much the story of my life.
What I’ve noticed a lot in some of these stories is the shy and introverted characters tend to be ostracised and family friends of the main character tried to push them to be more extroverted like being introverted is wrong. Just something I noticed.
Mostly the enviroment is much meaner to the Prostagnist in those Storys: Bullys, Gangster, and toxic Familymembers.
I liked that in this story everyone MEAN well tho the Hero, but they can'T helped him.
While watching this one I thought that the miniature house was like a metaphor for getting to obsessed with fiction, or maybe even porn because of the romance aspect. Then I got to the end and I just didnt know what to make of it anymore.
It’s Somewhere In Time, too romantic, love it!
I'm a little surprised that the "twist" wasn't that the plaque explaining the doll house changed. Since the woman's actual fate was ambiguous, but suggested something bad happened to her, that our hero would have died involved in that bad thing.
Yay! This may be my favorite TZ episode and I've been looking forward to this since the very beginning of this series! Great work as always!
I became obsessed with the piano music. I only recently learned it was the 1st movement to Mozart's Sonata No. 11 in A major (Turkish March is the 3rd movement). This episode reminds me of Bartleby the Scrivener. A sensitive soul who walls himself off from the out-of-sync demands of society.
Robert Duvall makes his appearance in The Twilight Zone.
I'm sure love us are in the same boat that Charlie is in. Even with a miniature house as a second life.
0:49 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩Hoo-boy: the LINE-UP, ENTIRE. I LOVE the smell of marble in the morning! That's Hadrian, second from the left...
1:15 🚩🚩
1:19 🚩🚩
2:14 to 2:23
2:53 to 3:00 'For SOME REASON, ''Miniature'' was affected to a greater degree.' Third degree, perhaps: with only one airing, on 21st February 1963, the next time it aired would be in 1984! 21 years!
7:50 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩 7:54
8:27 to 8:31 Interesting choice for a hiding place...
9:51 🚩🚩🚩
I love a happy ending, and Charlie? It seems he found a world in which he finally felt he belonged, at last. Wonderful episode.
Born 1970 and used to watch TZ all the time on KTTV in L.A. on Sat Afternoons after Sat. morning cartoons, 1st Time I saw this episode was with the color added so I thought that's the way is always was. When I saw it on a Sci Fi Marathon and it did not have the color I was upset they took the color out. I learned later it was the other way around. I liked seeing a young Duval given the fact that he was in the movie Colors and I got to meet him while they were shooting the movie. My Step dad was an LAPD Cop and he had Duval do a ride along with him and his partner for 3 days. On the 3rd day (Sat) my mom brought my sister and I to Van Nuys Police Station and we met him and took a couple of Pics. I know he did movies but didn't appreciate meeting him until a few years later when I saw Godfather.
I really feel this episode, I sometimes feel like I was born in a definite time and would live a simple life.
I relate to Charlie because we're both introverts, so it's definitely baloney that he gets fired for "not fitting in". It's an example of introversion being looked down upon, even with suspicion, in that era.
If they haven't seen them yet, anyone who likes Robert Duvall in this would like his two OUTER LIMITS episodes, "The Chameleon" and "The Inheritors."
He's upstaged a little by other actors in the second one, but definitely not the first one.
I remember the show, but not the episodes, unfortunately. (I was a little too young to remember details, other than the "Please Stand By").
Though, I would like to see CA take on the Outer Limits episodes since they're on the last seasons of the Twilight Zone.
Edit: Correction, I realized they're on the 4th season out of 5 seasons total. Though I still like to see them do TOL after TTZ
I'm really enjoying these Twilight-ober-zone episodes. Thanks, Walter!
I saw the script to this episode as a metaphor for TV addiction: a quiet awkward guy can’t get in touch with the real world and gets obsessed with watching tiny people behind glass. Definitely shows the unhealthy nature of it.
William Windom's second appearance in TZ, his first being Five Characters in Search of an Exit. That role was originally meant for Cornell Wilde. Miniature would also be the second time Bill worked with Robert Duvall. They had worked previously on To Kill a Mockingbird.
Oh man I love mitchures anything and vintage and this is double vintage (when a retro story depicts the past)
Thank you for the video.
i think the main character leaving the world behind was kind of the point. No matter how hard they try, some people never fit into the world and it was a I think a very happy ending to see Duvall wind up in a place where he was happy. The guard's smile for me cemented that, as even he seemed to understand the character was finally where he belonged.
I think if Charles had somehow known about Dating Sims he would've had an aneurysm
This is quite an enchanting episode. You can tell the guy's living a miserable life with no stable income and hamtied to his mother so the dollhouse is the only real means of escape.
This was the only one of 156 episodes that was not aired during the original airing, due to lawsuit being filed against producers. Nobody outside of production team and actors even knew it existed until 1984 when it was finally broadcast in 1984. By that time, Rod Serling and alot of cast and crew from this episode have all passed away and didn't live to see it broadcast.
Clair Griswold, who plays the doll in this episode, was married to famous director Sydney Pollack for 50 years. Pollack himself appeared on TZ as young director of the play in Trouble With Templeton.
Doll: "so, Charlie, can you tell me about yourself? " Charlie: "well, I love the smell of napalm in the morning and I do not surf"
The color-tinted shots in the doll house resemble the hand-painted cels we sometimes see in very early silent films, including the works of George Melies.
had no idea about this episode or robert duvall being in this show great to finally know!
Robert Duvall and Will Windom appear together in this episode. They later co-starred in a classic To Kill a Mockingbird.
I always associate William Windom as Dr. Seth Hazlett on Murder She Wrote. Robert Duvall is a great actor.
This is why you never place an Egyptian exhibit next to a haunted dollhouse.
[sighs] Amateurs!
Hahahaha nice one
Love this episode
One of my favorites
Happy October!🪦🦇👻
Good thing I bought the dvd 📀 set 😊
This is one of my favorite episodes! I thought the dollhouse was more of a portal back in time, either directly to the past or a timeline which split off due to Charles going through the portal
Had Charley lived in modern times, he would've sued the company for wrongful dismissal! I just felt that he was discriminated against because he didn't fit their mold!
In Modern Times, the Dollhouse would be the Internet XD
@DasKame You're right about that. If this episode did take place in 2023 instead of 1963, Charley would've been obsessed with the internet instead of a dollhouse in a museum. Now that I think about it, this episode is dated by today's standards.
I did not know Robert Duvall was in TZ, that’s awesome!
~_~
I liked the Story. It would be so easy to make the Family mean and dismissive, but they try to help him, they don't know how, but i liked that they gave those Family a little bit sympathy
this gave me more of a 16mm shrine vive as both main characters tried to escape their realities, and they suceed
Awesome and cool! ^_^
Robert Duvall looked the same age for 35 years.
I felt that his mother coddled him too much, and that's why he became so disconnected from everyone else. His sister was pushly and was trying to make him be something more than what he was. While we never heard the doll talk, we saw her talking to people in her world.
But i liked that the Family MEANT well for him. They were misguided, but they were eager to help him.
The sole writing credit went to Charles Beaumont, even though it known that he was suffering from Alzheimer and basically couldn't write anymore nor he had normal functions in his hands anymore. He also was suffering from mental problems which made him unable to write or come up with ideas by 1965.
'Miniature' always reminded me of the 1983 anthology movie 'Nightmares' & its segment 'The Bishop of Battle'. Structurally, the story is awfully similar - & the ending is virtually identical. They only swapped a miniature doll house/diorama & museum for an arcade game.
Even being female I still related a lot to Charlie. I have social anxiety and don't really fit in. When the psychiatrist was explaining Charlie's fixation and imagination with the doll, I totally got it. The line that "she's not like all the other girls", is really striking a cord with me right now because I've recently fallen for an old time actor who's characters are not like all the other guys today. It's pretty painful to imagine I'll never meet anyone like that in real life.
A mentally ill man suffers alone and ultimately dies alone. Powerful writing for 1963.
I remember this one, but it was creepy in the non fun way
One of my favorite episodes......I remember seeing this episode had 2 different endings, there's another version out there that has a slightly different ending
This was one of rare 60s appearances of Pert Kelton, after she was blacklisted during the 50s due to her than husband Ralph Bell, who was dead by this point of her life. The blacklisting virtually destroyed once promising career.
Ah, Square Peg! That's where the un-cool label "square" must have come from!
I think that if you view this form a different perspective, then his family doesn't seem so loving anymore. Now this doesn't fit 100% because of how they show his attraction to Alice, but if you view it as a more platonic love of him finally having found someon who doesn't try to change who he is it can kinda work. So there's two things here:
First is that he very much seems to be autistic, or some other kind of neurodivergent. Society forces him into situations that he is clearly not comfortable in, and then blames him for it. Instead of conforming to him, they try to force him into a traditional role that he could not fill.
Secondly (and this is the more iffy part) is that he is a closeted homosexual. Now all of a sudden the expectation of his mother to start a traditional family is no longer positive, and his sister setting up a date for him isn't either. Him then being admitted into an asylum can then even be interpreted as conversion therapy to some extent, telling him that his attraction is not real and is bad for him.
The thing is of course that the characters don't do this with malicious intentions, but given the time period, there is no way he could ever talk to them about either things. The stigma around mental health today is still pretty bad, can't imagine what it would have been like back then. And on the other hand homosexuality was still illegal in many parts of the US in the early 60s. I cannot say if this was in any way ever the intention, but in a modern context it could be seen that way.
Reminds me of the 30 mm Shrine where the actress could never move on from her past glory days and vanished in her films. Same issue where it could also be seen as a positive of her finally being at peace or a negative ending or her not being able to deal with reality.
You could replace the Puppet House with the Internet nowadays
This is giving a slight Black Mirror tech vibes. He’s not happy in the real world he’s in but instead finds happiness in an artificial world of his making.
Here’s probably the ultimate example of a good actor trying TOO hard and throwing the entire episode off-kilter: In the script, Charlie’s just a poor, henpecked shlub who can’t get a break, can’t get anyone to believe him, and being sent to the mental hospital was just one more plot-filler example of how he Can’t Get No Respect. Here, Duvall saw “mental hospital”, wanted this to be his performance of mental illness, and plays Charlie as an oddball Raymond Babbitt who’s not all there to begin with-When he ends up in the house, in the script it’s a happy ending, but Duvall sinking into his own delusions is just the ending from Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine.
Charles Beaumont was a hell of a writer, but he had a REALLY hard life. Had a horrific childhood and died of early onset Alzheimer's in his thirties.
It reminds me of the movie Brazil a little bit.
This is one of only few episodes in which the main character, who was obviously a troubled person, had a full support from his family. He is, however, the only who was not married, as most others were tormented by unsupporting wife.
Robert Duvall and Sally Kellerman appear in this episode. They later became famous for playing lovers Frank Burns and Hot Lips in the movie M*A*S*H. Kellerman was uncredited in this episode, however.
I could never decide if Alice's ghost is possessing the doll, if Charley's just seeing scenes from the past through the dollhouse (where did the maid and suitor come from?), if it's a Toy Story/Night at the Museum situation, or if he's looking into some sort of alternate dimension. Where did Alice go when she "went out?" Can she talk when Charley's in there? Is there an 1890s world outside the house that can't be seen from the outside?
I loved this episode. What is so wonderful about conforming to societal norms? At the end (or beginning, to Charlie and Alice), all is right in their world. Just as it should be, for these two lonely souls.