Children's Zoo is the second segment of the third episode of the first season of The New Twilight Zone.
Plot[]
Debbie, a young girl, yearns for attention as her parents engage in constant conflict. Her mother frequently directs her frustration at Debbie, while her father seems indifferent to providing her with any meaningful companionship.
One day, Debbie presents her parents with an invitation she has received, which reads:
As bearer of this special invitation, you are entitled to one child's admission to the CHILDREN'S ZOO. You will be offered all the special privileges described by the other girl who passed this.
Even though Debbie's parents were hesitant at first, they eventually agreed to let her go to the zoo.
At the zoo, they were greeted by the zookeeper, Melody, who asked Debbie if she understood the rules and then showed her to the Children's Entrance. Melody reassured the parents that Debbie would be fine and took them to the waiting room.
Debbie walked through a hallway where a friendly voice told her that she could hear her parents talk by pressing a red button on the side of the window.
Debbie visited five displays. The first couple desperately asked her to take them. The second couple made scary threats. The third couple was sleeping, so Debbie went past them. The fourth couple tried to give her money, but the fifth couple explained that their son was seven when he brought them to the zoo and that they were very sorry. They promised Debbie that they had learned their lesson and would try to be the best parents they could be.
Convinced, Debbie pressed a green button to make her choice. Melody told Debbie that she had made a very good decision.
As the three happily walked away, they passed by Debbie's parents – now placed in a glass chamber themselves – watching with a mix of shock, horror, and anger as their (now former) daughter went off to a better life.
Trivia[]
- Wes Craven appears in a cameo, as the angry, threatening father. He directed several episodes of this series.
- This is one of the few stories without narration.
| v • e The Twilight Zone (1985) episodes | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | "Shatterday" • "A Little Peace and Quiet" • "Wordplay" • "Dreams For Sale" • "Chameleon" • "Healer" • "Children's Zoo" • "Kentucky Rye" • "Little Boy Lost" • "Wish Bank" • "Nightcrawlers" • "If She Dies" • "Ye Gods" • "Examination Day" • "A Message From Charity" • "Teacher's Aide" • "Paladin of the Lost Hour" • "Act Break" • "The Burning Man" • "Dealer's Choice" • "Dead Woman's Shoes" • "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" • "The Shadow Man" • "The Uncle Devil Show" • "Opening Day" • "The Beacon" • "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" • "Her Pilgrim Soul" • "I of Newton" • "Night of the Meek" • "But Can She Type?" • "The Star" • "Still Life" • "The Little People of Killany Woods" • "The Misfortune Cookie" • "Monsters!" • "A Small Talent for War" • "A Matter of Minutes" • "The Elevator" • "To See the Invisible Man" • "Tooth and Consequences" • "Welcome to Winfield" • "Quarantine" • "Gramma" • "Personal Demons" • "Cold Reading" • "The Leprechaun Artist" • "Dead Run" • "Profile in Silver" • "Button, Button" • "Need to Know" • "Red Snow" • "Take My Life...Please!" • "Devil's Alphabet" • "The Library" • "Shadow Play" • "Grace Note" • "A Day in Beaumont" • "The Last Defender of Camelot" |
| Season 2 | "The Once and Future King" • "A Saucer of Loneliness" • "What Are Friends For?" • "Aqua Vita" • "The Storyteller" • "Nightsong" • "The After Hours" • "Lost and Found" • "The World Next Door" • "The Toys of Caliban" • "The Convict's Piano" • "The Road Less Traveled" • "The Card" • "The Junction" • "Joy Ride" • "Shelter Skelter" • "Private Channel" • "Time and Teresa Golowitz" • "Voices in the Earth" • "Song of the Younger World" • "The Girl I Married" |
| Season 3 | "The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon" • "Extra Innings" • "The Crossing" • "The Hunters" • "Dream Me a Life" • "Memories" • "The Hellgramite Method" • "Our Selena is Dying" • "The Call" • "The Trance" • "Acts of Terror" • "20/20 Vision" • "There Was an Old Woman" • "The Trunk" • "Appointment on Route 17" • "The Cold Equations" • "Stranger in Possum Meadows" • "Street of Shadows" • "Something in the Walls" • "A Game of Pool" • "The Wall" • "Room 2426" • "The Mind of Simon Foster" • "Cat and Mouse" • "Many, Many Monkeys" • "Rendezvous in a Dark Place" • "Special Service" • "Love is Blind" • "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" • "Father and Son Game"
|