For a brief moment, I hoped this would to be a dystopian Sci-Fi tale about rich elderly folks paying huge sums of money to transfer their selfish personalities into the bodies of young people, and then these young people turn out to be captured slaves from poor ghettos, or something. Alas, the tone of the episode turned towards the other direction, more specifically a sentimental direction with a dull "accept your fate" message. The sentimental "Twilight Zone" episodes are my least favorite ones; I prefer the grim and disturbing stories, but "The Trade-Ins" still deserves credit for the distant-future rejuvenation theme and the strong performances by Schildkraut, Platt and Marcuse (as the gentlest illegal gambler in history). The rudimentary premise by Rod Serling is similar to a brilliant novel by David Ely, and also got turned into one of the most dazzling but underrated Sci-Fi movies of all times; namely "Seconds" (1966)
Review of The Trade-Ins
