"I Sing the Body Electric" is episode 100 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The script was written by Ray Bradbury, and became the basis for his short story of the same name, published in 1969, itself named after a Walt Whitman poem. Although Bradbury contributed several scripts to The Twilight Zone, this was the only one produced.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Opening narration
Twilight Zone I Sing The Body Electric Video
Plot
The widowed father of three children takes the children to a factory, Facsimile Ltd., to pick out a new robotic grandmother. When she arrives, young Tom and Karen are quickly smitten by the magical "grandmother." But older daughter Anne will not accept her; "Grandma" reminds her too much of her own mother, who died and left her a bitter young girl. Anne tries to run away, into the path of an oncoming van which she doesn't see. Grandma pushes Anne out of the way and is struck, saving the girl. Grandma is stunned, but the sturdily constructed robot soon gets up, and Anne grows to love her when she realizes that Grandma is indestructible and will not leave them like their own mother had.
The children grow up and are ready for college. However, it is time for "grandmother" to move on to another family as she is apparently not needed anymore. The grandmother expresses her sadness to leave, yet reassures the children that they brought her just as much joy as she brought them, and that, with time, if she keeps being a good grandmother to other children, she will even be ultimately rewarded with the gift of life and humanity. The children say their farewells and "grandmother" leaves the house for good.
Cast
- Josephine Hutchinson as Grandma
- David White as Mr Rogers
- Vaughn Taylor as Salesman
- Doris Packer as Nedra
- Veronica Cartwright as Anne (age 11)
- Susan Crane as Anne (age 19)
- Charles Herbert as Tom (age 12)
- Paul Nesbitt as Tom (age 20)
- Dana Dillaway as Karen (age 10)
- Judee Morton as Karen (age 18)
- David Armstrong as Van Driver
Closing narration
Narration
In addition to opening and closing the show as usual, Rod Serling's narration occurs in the middle of the story, to describe how the children spent years happily with their android grandmother and eventually grow up. Other episodes to feature mid-show narration from Serling are all from the first half of season one: "Walking Distance", "Time Enough At Last" and "I Shot an Arrow into the Air".
This is one of the few episodes of the series where Rod Serling does not mention the name of the show in the closing narration.
On radio
In 1982, the hour-long NBC television movie The Electric Grandmother was also based on the short story. It was also adapted for radio in 2011 in The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas by Falcon Picture Group and starred Dee Wallace.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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