The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

E237686

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is a classic 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone that explores paranoia, mob mentality, and the fragility of social order in a suburban neighborhood.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf The Twilight Zone episode
science fiction television episode
television episode
closingNarrationBy Rod Serling
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
creatorOfSeries Rod Serling
criticalReception widely acclaimed as one of the most powerful and enduring episodes of The Twilight Zone
director Ron Winston
episodeNumberInSeason 22
featuresCharacter Charlie Farnsworth
Les Goodman
Steve Brand
Tommy
fictionalLocation Maple Street NERFINISHED
followedBy A World of Difference
genre fantasy
psychological drama
science fiction
guestStar Barry Atwater
Bennie Phillips
Claude Akins
Jack Weston
hasBlackAndWhitePhotography true
influenced later science fiction dealing with social paranoia and mass hysteria
narrator Rod Serling
notableFor allegory of Cold War–era suspicion and McCarthyism
depiction of how quickly ordinary people can turn on each other
openingNarrationBy Rod Serling
originalAirDate 1960-03-04
originalLanguage English
originalNetwork CBS
partOfFranchise The Twilight Zone (TV series)
surface form: The Twilight Zone (original series)
plotSummary Residents of a quiet suburban street descend into suspicion and violence when a mysterious power outage leads them to believe that one of their neighbors is an alien in human form.
precededBy Mirror Image
producer Buck Houghton
season Season 1
series The Twilight Zone (TV series)
surface form: The Twilight Zone
setting suburban American neighborhood
teleplayBy Rod Serling
theme fear of the unknown
fragility of social order
mob mentality
paranoia
xenophobia
title The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street self-link
twistEnding The chaos is revealed to be orchestrated by observing aliens who note that humans can destroy themselves through fear and suspicion.
usedIn educational curricula discussing prejudice and group behavior
writer Rod Serling
yearOfFirstBroadcast 1960

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

The Twilight Zone (TV series episodes) hasNotableEpisode The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street title The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street self-link