Talk:Time Enough at Last

Reading Glasses versus Seeing Glasses

It seems strange that in Googling this episode, I can't find a single person who notices the complete illogicality of the plot. Burgess Meredith spends the entire episode walking around in reading glasses. Nobody walks around in reading glasses. And if he was short-sighted, he wouldn't need glasses to read.

• Not to mention that if the public library survived the bomb, there are bound to be intact glasses somewhere. --Imperialles 17:54, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
  • FYI, The Twilight Zone isn't really known for its physical plausibility. --Jfbolus 04:00, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
    • How do you know he wasn't wearing bifocals? marbeh raglaim 18:28, 25 April 2007 (UTC)
      • I think it's safe to say that the plot twist depends on general ignorance about the difference between reading glasses and seeing glasses. The same thing happens in Lord of the Flies, where the children use Piggy's seeing glasses to make fire, which is physically impossible. --Sunsetandcamden (talk) 22:07, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

If there's a reliable source somewhere that mentions it, I think it would be worth noting that the Futurama parody in the article was likely poking fun at observations such as these. That would make a great addition, again if there's a source somewhere that points it out rather than violating WP:OR. Luatha 01:16, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Some people, such as my dad, just can't see. He has to wear his glasses no matter what he does: reading, driving, watching TV, etc. Could it be the same case with this character? Sailorknightwing (talk) 20:48, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

I've changed the title of this section as it deserves to be easier to find. --Sunsetandcamden (talk) 22:07, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Also note: if you Google any images from the episode, you can see that the character's glasses make his eyes look a lot bigger. This is a sure sign of reading glasses. Distance glasses, and the main lens in bifocals, make your eyes look smaller (as well as making the cheeks behind the glasses look narrower than the rest of the face). Finally, the glasses clearly have only one lens, and aren't bifocals. Reading glasses as often used generically as "glasses" in films and television to make the character look clumsy or goofy, due to this magnifying effect, despite the fact that if anyone tried to walk around in them they would make the world look blurry. --Sunsetandcamden (talk) 20:41, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Themes

I don't agree with the opening statement under themes: "Although the overriding message may seem to be "be careful what you wish for", there are other themes throughout the episode as well." I just watched this episode, and I don't really know where in the episode he wished to accidentally break his glasses and ruin his chance to spend the rest of his life reading. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.110.14.138 (talk) 23:17, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

His wish was to be alone - and he gets his wish, but it means that there is no-one to mend his glasses when he breaks them, or make another pair, or correct his vision with laser surgery. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 18:46, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Isn't the theme "no man is an island"? He gets his wish, to be free of the demands that society puts on him, but is forced to realise that he depended on society himself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.26.108.100 (talk) 19:22, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

216.244.12.76 I need to talk to you

Hi, I am an administrator, Xinyu, and I got a report from ProfesorPaul, about how you've been, "vandalizing" EVERY SINGLE EPISODE OF The Twilight Zone. Discuss your intentions, what you have editted, fixed up, and under what pretext you have for doing so. I need you to tell me all the information you can get, and I promise both you and ProfessorPaul, this problem would be negotiable, once the facts has been laid bare, and then I'll see that NPOV, justice, and peace would be restored on this article. Thank you, please reply on my user TALK page. Thank you. --Lord X 01:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)User:Xinyu

No-one under the names Xinyu or Lord X is an administrator, or has ever been an administrator. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 18:52, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Correction

• The tower of terror ride is in California Adventure, not Disney Land. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.181.228.169 (talk • contribs)

To-do list

This is more for my own benefit than anything, as I doubt many people watch this page closely. I want to give this episode a high-quality page that can serve as a type of template for the expansion of other TTW eps. Things to add include:

• Comparison with the original story (link provided in ref section, costs money though)
• Bit more on the "moment of terror" note that was in the Themes section, or remove it
• Incorporate the review quote into the prose, possibly shorten it with elipses
• Expand "compare with" (under Themes) to prose or a list with brief descriptions
• A picture or two more - need to look into current policies though, as image upload page says "one per article" of screenshots
• The template should (IMO) incorporate the credits into the sidebar. Some combination of Trapped in the Closet (South Park episode) and Emissary (DS9 episode) that doesn't look too busy, as I do think we lose something in an anthology series by eliminating the list of eps... then again, it is pretty darn long. This change will probably need to be discussed elsewhere and pass the usual bureaucracy given its considerable impact.

In case anyone does watch this page, feel free to help out. Moulder 01:24, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't watch the page but stumbled upon it, great work. Not sure a Google Video result is the best thing to cite even if that's the only way to incorporate the info. Rompe

Iconic

This episode is an icon for this tv series, science fiction and popular culture. The page should be cleaned up a little because of this minor importance JayKeaton 14:41, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Confusing paragraph

I've read this several times and still can't quite make sense of what's being said. I moved it to "invisible text" in the "Production info" section. Hopefully the author can fix it.

As with a number of other Twilight Zone episodes, "Time" made use of MGM studio resources. Of particular note to the viewer, the exterior, long library steps were filmed some months after the rest of the episode and used as the steps up into an Eloi public building in MGM's 1960 adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel The Time Machine.

Cgingold 13:37, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

That is weird, I get it but don't enough to rewrite it. It is saying that this episode, Time Enough at Last (confusingly shortened), used MGM studios, similar to other episodes of Twilight Zone. The library steps that are shown in the episode, that sequence was not filmed until march after the rest of the episode. The steps were also seen in The Time Machine movie (maybe interesting because they are both things named 'time'), as the steps for a building. -EgyptianSushi 06:00, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

I've re-written the paragraph now so it should be clearer:

Footage of the exterior steps of the library was filmed several months after the rest of the episode. These steps can also be seen on the exterior of an Eloi public building in MGM's 1960 The Time Machine. Magiclite 02:09, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Good Article nomination

The article still needs some work and hopefully there's someone out there with a book source(s) who can put some work into it that goes beyond pop culture and Google. I thought it deserved GA nomination though, especially if it can get some attention this way. Luatha 01:12, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

GA review comments

Hey, here are my charming comments...

• No need to "(see below)." in the lead, the existence of the section is sufficient.
• Fair use rationale required for inclusion of Image:Time Enough at Last.jpg in this specific article.
• I take it the quotes in the Synopsis are the narrator leading us through the story. Because citations are not typically required in the Synopsis, I would advise that it's made clear this is narration taking place because for the non-TZ expert, it's a bit confusing.
• The first instance of Meredith in the Synopsis probably should refer to his full name and wikilink it too.
• Avoid "can't" - use cannot.
• "And then nuclear war breaks out." - reads strangely, a short sentence commencing with And... consider flowing it into the prose surrounding it.
• "As Serling begins to speak..." - Serling hasn't been introduced yet.
• End of first para in Production information section isn't cited.
• Citations should be placed according to WP:CITE, i.e. just to the right of punctuation, no spaces between them etc...
• Last sentence of themes is uncited.
• The last para of Similar episodes is uncited, and I would prefer to read the diagnosis of similar events as prose rather than a list. Also, a couple of "things in quotes" should be directly cited.
• Consistent use of cquote (i.e. why not put Sarris quote in a cquote?).
• Avoid single sentence paragraphs.
• Citations needed for the In popular culture section, as well as work on list/prose etc.
• Fair use rationale needed for Image:Time Enough at Last (story).jpg.
• Avoid overwikilinking Burgess Meredith.
• I think you need to state that "Time Enough at Last" is commonly referred to as "Time", to avoid confusion with any other use of the word.
• Avoid plain URLs in External links, add the name like [www.example.com link].

I enjoyed reading the article, but quite a bit to do so I'll place the article on hold for seven days to see if anyone is keen enough to improve it. Please let me know if you'd like further explanation or assistance in getting the article further. The Rambling Man 16:40, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I've implemented most suggestions listed, but in the process of doing so, I merged the "reception" section into other parts of the article. I can undo that if necessary. I noticed earlier that someone added soundbites to Where Is Everybody? for the opening and closing narration... Would that be appropriate to add here? Also, I removed the list of similar episodes because it had no citation and seemed to be original research. Luatha 20:19, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Hello, improved definitely but with some more comments to see to:

• Citations still need to be checked for placement (e.g. [5]).
• Ideally, Impact section needs citation for each claim.
• "...Hugh does a similar monologue..." - nasty English.
• "(The film's naming was quite intentional; its official website even listed the webmaster's e-mail alias as "rodserling".[15])" - why in parentheses?
• Avoid plain URLs as I said above.

Hope those help further. The Rambling Man 16:40, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

I took the liberty of trimming the bulleted homages into a single sentence (feel free to undo that if you feel they added value to the article) and also did some other polishing including standardizing the references with {{cite web}}. Romperomperompe 22:27, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Very good, my final request is that we use something more encyclopaedic than "...tips of the hat..." - it's very colloquial... And then I think we're there. The Rambling Man 12:02, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Apologies for the delay, and it's nice to see someone else worked on it while I was gone. I finished including your suggestions (finally). Luatha 23:42, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay, good. I made a tiny tweak to a Cite web template but other than that I'm happy to pass it to GA now. Well done to all involved. The Rambling Man 07:05, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I kiss you

I was impressed by this article, and I am not usually impressed. Even the bits I initially thought were dross - the analysis section in particular - are sourced references to another person's writing. It avoids "death by Futurama", whereby every reference to the article's subject in every television programme evah is put into a lengthy, meaningless, bulleted list. You can find lots of them by going through the "pages that link to Futurama", e.g. The Love Boat or Mr. Belvedere, which has the canonocial "In an episode of Futurama etc". Instead, this article has a written summary of its subject's appearances in popular culture, expanded for notability where required. Kudos to whoever did that, perhaps User:Romperomperompe above. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 18:37, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Holy crap, I can't believe there is such a huge following on one of many Twilight Zone episodes. If anyone from Hollywood had any sense, they'd see this and note the potential for a big-budget movie. Not that I'd care, as they'd probably screw it up like most recent adaptations. -Rolypolyman (talk) 05:52, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Last "Twilight Zone" movie ended up in three deaths and a court case.2.101.148.23 (talk) 08:43, 24 November 2016 (UTC)Lance Tyrell

Fallout Tactics

The MicroForte game Fallout Tactics has a reference to this in one level. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic setting. You encounter a man in a library, and have the option of retrieving his glasses. Admittedly, it would be a better reference if he says 'There's time now' or something like that, but most of the references in Tactics were sorta brief like that. - NemFX (talk) 18:54, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

About worldwide popularity of this episode

It was chosen to introduce TZ series in Italy, broadcast the April 14 1962 at 10:45 P.M.. Dubbing actors were the veteran Emilio Cigoli (Rod Serling), Carlo Romano (Bemis' boss) and then young Oreste Lionello (Burgess Meredith) -also the dubbing actress who dubs Bemis' wife was a veteran in her job, but now I don't remember her name. Not mentioning the dubbing acting, where could I mention the use of this episode as the introduction of the series in Italy?--Olbia merda (talk) 13:47, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

References

You don't think "The Homega Man" episode of The Simpsons could be a reference to "The Omega Man", the 1971 film?

Wikipedia, the would-be encyclopaedia, edited by a bunch of idiots. 188.29.165.26 (talk) 07:14, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

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mice... men.... meredith....

I'm wondering how much the inclusion of the burns quote in the teleplay had to do with the casting of burgess meredith as bemis, when the actor was famous for his portrayal of george in the 1939 adaptation of steinbeck's novel, titled after the burns line. it's clearly one of those things that would be nice to point out in the article if there was any supporting evidence that it was intentional & not just a coincidence, but without a citation (e.g. from an interview with serling or similar) it's not going in, not by my hand anyway.

duncanrmi (talk) 08:41, 25 April 2020 (UTC)