Uncle Simon

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"Uncle Simon" is an episode of the The Twilight Zone.

Episode Details[]

Opening Narration[]

"Dramatis personae: Mr. Simon Polk, a gentlemen who has lived out his life in a gleeful rage; and the young lady who's just beat the hasty retreat is Mr. Polk's niece, Barbara. She's lived her life as if during each ensuing hour, she had a dentist appointment. There's yet a third member of the company soon to be seen. He now resides in the laboratory and he is the kind of character to be found only in the Twilight Zone."

Episode Summary[]

Barbara Polk has lived with her aged, sadistic uncle, Simon Polk, for 25 years — even though she hates him — as she is his only heir. After berating Barbara in the basement, Simon raises his cane as if to strike her. Barbara catches his cane, and Simon falls down the stairs, breaking his back. Frustrated with his feebleness, nagging, and constant demands of hot chocolate, Barbara allows him to succumb to his injuries.

After Barbara's uncle's death, his lawyer, Mr. Schwimmer, reading over the will with the Miss Polk, points out that there is a stipulation requiring her to look after his last invention, a robot that acts and eventually sounds just like him — right down to the old gentleman's limp, which it develops after she attempts to destroy it by pushing it down a flight of stairs. The lawyer has explained that the will also requires a representative of his firm to make regular visits to make sure that she stays in compliance with her uncle's will, on pain of forfeiture.

Closing Narration[]

"Dramatis personae: a metal man, who will go by the name of Simon, whose life as well as his body has been stamped out for him; and the woman who tends to him, the lady Barbara, who's discovered belatedly that all bad things don't come to an end, and that once a bed is made, it quite necessary that you sleep in it. Tonight's uncomfortable little exercise in avarice and automatons - from the Twilight Zone."

Preview for Next Week's Story[]

Next on Twilight Zone, an eminent performer of stage and screen, Mr. Richard Basehart, in an oddball excursion that we call "Probe 7, Over and Out". On occasion, we'll come up with a wild and woolly denouement, but this particular opus has an unpredictable ending that we doubt if even the most seasoned TZ fans will be able to pick up before it happens on your screen. Next on Twilight Zone, "Probe 7, Over and Out."

Cast[]

Rod Serling (Narrator)
Cedric Hardwicke: Simon Polk
Constance Ford: Barbara Polk
Ian Wolfe: Schwimmer

Production Companies[]

Cayuga Productions
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (in association with)

Distributors[]

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1959) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Home media release[]

This episode is included on the Image Entertainment Vol. 19 DVD along with "A Most Unusual Camera", "The Jungle" and "The 7th is Made Up of Phantoms".

Memorable Quotes[]

Main article: List of memorable quotes from the first series

Trivia[]

Uncle Simon II is portrayed by "Robby the Robot" who previously appeared in the 1956 science fiction film "The Forbidden Planet". Although in his Twilight Zone appearances he sports a modified helmet beneath his glass dome that more closely resembles a human face.
- Robby the Robot also previously appeared in One for the Angels as a toy and would later appear again in The Brain Center at Whipple's as the replacement for Mr. Whipple.

External Links[]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734687/

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Season 4	"In His Image" • "The Thirty-Fathom Grave" • "Valley of the Shadow" • "He's Alive" • "Mute" • "Death Ship" • "Jess-Belle" • "Miniature" • "Printer's Devil" • "No Time Like the Past" • "The Parallel" • "I Dream of Genie" • "The New Exhibit" • "Of Late I Think of Cliffordville" • "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" • "On Thursday We Leave for Home" • "Passage on the Lady Anne" • "The Bard"
Season 5	"In Praise of Pip" • "Steel" • "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" • "A Kind of a Stopwatch " • "The Last Night of a Jockey" • "Living Doll" • "The Old Man in the Cave" • "Uncle Simon" • "Probe 7, Over and Out" • "The 7th Is Made Up of Phantoms" • "A Short Drink From a Certain Fountain" • "Ninety Years Without Slumbering" • "Ring-a-Ding Girl" • "You Drive" • "The Long Morrow" • "The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" • "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" • "Black Leather Jackets" • "Night Call" • "From Agnes—With Love" • "Spur of the Moment" • "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" • "Queen of the Nile" • "What's in the Box" • "The Masks" • "I Am the Night—Color Me Black" • "Sounds and Silences" • "Caesar and Me" • "The Jeopardy Room" • "Stopover in a Quiet Town" • "The Encounter" • "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" • "The Brain Center at Whipple's" • "Come Wander With Me" • "The Fear" • "The Bewitchin' Pool"