Thursday Oct, 22

17 years ago

Bemis finds himself in a world of both abundance and emptiness, with food to last him a lifetime and sheer loneliness taking its toll on his sanity. As he loses hope and is about to commit suicide with a gun, he sees the ruins of the public library. He examines them more closely to find all its books still intact and readable. All the books he could ever hope for are his for the taking, and he finally has all the time in the world to readÂwith no one to stop him.

Bemis contently sorts the books he intends to read for the next several years. Just as he reaches to pick up his first book, he stumbles and his glasses fall off and shatter. In tears, he picks up the remains of his glasses and sobs, "That's not fair. That's not fair at all. There was time now. There was all the time I needed... ! It's not fair!"

Henry Bemis, played by Burgess Meredith

Time Enough at Last

Serling picks up as the camera zooms out :

" The best laid plans of mice and men and Henry Bemis, the small man in the glasses who wanted nothing but time. Henry Bemis, now just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself. Mr. Henry Bemis...in the Twilight Zone. "

People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them. ~G.B. Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profession, 1893

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. ~Robin Williams

You should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head. ~Matt Groening, The Simpsons, spoken by the character Marge Simpson

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Comments (9)

oscarthecat
17 years ago
They just recently played that Twilight Zone episode here. Serling had a way with it didn't he. Steve S.
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Original Author
17 years ago
Grew up on shows like The Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Tales from the Dark Side.
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sweet_betsy No AL Z7
17 years ago
As someone who always has a book in the car, in the bathroom, in my purse and on my bedside table, that episode of the Twilight Zone chilled my psyche and is the only episode that I have remembered after all these years. I guess books are just my security blanket. To find out that I had all the time in the world to read them and then to have that ability snatched away--breathtaking still!
mwoods
17 years ago
I remember that episode too,I guess any avid reader would. I think it also points out that we really do have the time to read pretty much what we want to read but just aren't willing to make the sacrifices it would take in order to do that. Give up TV,give up the computer,give up some socializing,give up other hobbies and interests,and so it goes.Right now I could be reading Richard Russo's new book instead of doing this.
mawheel
17 years ago
That episode of Twilight Zone is the one I remember, too. That's one series I'd like to see again. Perhaps it already is shown, somewhere, but I'm not aware of it.
posieh
17 years ago
Wow! I love it. As a person who keeps bringing books home from Goodwill, the local Library's sale, etc. and having my Hubbie put up more book shelves, I now find books which I really haven't read AS YET! Because it seems the computer does require alot of my free time. Guess I need to reprogram my schedule.
anneliese_32
17 years ago
Don't watch much TV anymore and cut down on my computer time. Still so much to read and not so many years left and while we might not have the problem with the last glasses, there might be the going eyesight.
ejmoore510
17 years ago
My kids tease me. Mom, why go to a book store when you can order on line, and cheaper?? Because...... for me, there's such a thrill, smelling the books, touching the books, reading excerpts from them. New or used, doesn't matter. Both my great aunts, who are LONG gone, always took my sister and I to shop in book stores as small children. There's a peace and happiness there, that I don't feel anywhere else.
julu444
17 years ago
omg, That's one of my very favorite Twilight Zone eps. Being a retired libarian I also have a love for books, and like a junkie I start "jonesing" if my supply gets low. Then it got me thinking (this could be a whole new thread here.....), if I was deserted on a desert island I'd want a crate of books and my two pups, and maybe a case of really good wine....