The Shelter Episode of The Twilight Zone Airs 65 Years Ago

The Twilight Zone is a product of its time. While the celebrated anthology series remains deeply influential in science fiction and horror, it aired from 1959 until 1965. In many respects, the show is dated by today standards, especially regarding creature effects and production design that were groundbreaking at the time.

The reason The Twilight Zone continues to endure is not because of its special effects. It endures because of the deeper human emotions its stories touched on. These elements remain timeless, which is why The Twilight Zone often feels paradoxically dated yet relevant to what happens today. A great example of this is the season 3 episode “The Shelter,” which debuted 65 years ago in the fall of 1961.

“The Shelter” was written by series host and creator Rod Serling. It begins with a handful of neighboring families sitting down to a birthday dinner for Dr. Bill Stockton (Larry Gates), who has long been the doctor for all of their families. Suddenly, an announcement comes on the radio that unidentified objects have been detected in the skies nearby, meaning a nuclear attack may be imminent. The broadcast warns everyone to hurry to their basements or bomb shelters.

As it turns out, the only person in the group to have a shelter is Dr. Stockton. It was something the others had teased him for in the past, even over the birthday dinner. Stockton believed in being prepared and built the shelter for himself, his wife, and his child, without any room for others. Despite the lack of additional space or supplies, all of Stockton’s neighbors begin to plead to let them join him in the shelter. Stockton apologetically refuses and locks himself and his family inside.

Outside the shelter, an argument rages among the neighbors about who should join Stockton. The base emotions and prejudices of the neighbors come out, with one of them saying that another man, being foreign-born, deserves the safety of the shelter less than his American-born neighbors. The hysteria comes to a head when the neighbors resolve to get a nearby flagpole and use it as a battering ram to take down the door to Stockton’s shelter.

Why “The Shelter” is still relevant

While The Twilight Zone is known for dealing with supernatural elements, there is none of that in “The Shelter.” Even the signature twist at the end of the episode is not strange or otherworldly. The show aired in 1961, during a time when school children rehearsed what to do in the event of a nuclear attack and many people built bomb shelters in real life. With the benefit of hindsight, we know America enemies during the Cold War never struck, but back then the threat was real, making this episode a terrifying scenario for the times.

In that respect, “The Shelter” is dated. More than 60 years later, and even a quarter-century after 9/11, a nuclear attack on America feels unlikely. Yet what the episode is about is not what it appears to be on the surface.

The most poignant message touched upon in “The Shelter” was not the bygone Red Scare, but prejudice and human nature. At the beginning of the episode, Dr. Stockton is the celebrated friend and neighbor of all these people. By the end, his neighbors curse his name because he will not share the shelter with them, even though they know there is no room. Furthermore, the neighbors begin to tear each other apart along ethnic boundaries.

In that sense, “The Shelter” is as relevant as it ever was. Even though we cannot relate to the specific fear people felt during the Cold War, we still see hatred and bigotry on the news every day. That is why The Twilight Zone continues to endure. The show was never really about aliens and killer dolls or even the fear of a nuclear holocaust. It was about human nature, which is timeless.

The Twilight Zone is free to stream on Pluto TV.

Source: Polygon