User Reviews

This is a fairly archetypal science fiction theme going back to "2001: A Space Odyssey" and before. We are an evolving race of creatures. We cannot be stuck with our useless, frail beings. We need to move on to become better, more advanced creatures. There is, of course, a religious element in all this, but I don't think most writers saw it that way. With "Childhood's End" we see the despair of the parents and the death of civilization as we know it. This isn't quite as dramatic. We will continue because only a select few geniuses will be gobbled up by the library lady to do god knows what in the future. The interesting thing is the joylessness of the whole thing. There is nothing uplifting in the kidnapping of these kids and the more they read the "book," the more they are convinced they have to do this. They are deceptive and conniving and downright evil in some sense. Perhaps they are going to be an order of conquering overlords. This episode is spooky to say the least. The special effects in the library are quite good.

The Children's Room

Season 1 Episode 22 Episode aired Feb 29, 1952 Director Don Medford

Starring: Claire Luce, Una O'Connor, John Boruff, Terry Greene

Adapted by Mel Goldberg from a story by Raymond F. Jones. "The Children's Room" Fantastic Adventures, September 1947

It is a copy of an old recording so do not expect remastered clarity.

This does have that twilight zone feel with a strange twist.

Better than the Piltdown man.

Father Bill (John Boruff) and Mother, Rose (Claire Luce) of Walt (Terry Greene) caught him doing what kids are not supposed to be doing; that is reading books instead of sleeping. He has also gained a nasty attitude towards his parents.

When confronted he admits to borrowing the books (which only he and dad can read) from the Children's Roon at the local library. Naturally, the father is going to put a stop to this. On the process of confronting the sweet little old librarian, Edythe (Una O'Connor), we find the secret of a cabal.

How will the parents handle the revelation?

Or can they?

Watch and see.

The short story on which this is based is less horrifying and actually somewhat more optimistic. The boy doesn't want to leave his parents and struggles to be kinder to them. Indeed, he is upset that he keeps talking down to his Mom. Even the librarian in the story is a much more understanding, kinder person. (And as a librarian, I like to think this is true of our profession and would be true, even in the situation depicted).

As a stand alone piece, without knowledge of the original, I can agree this is a spooky little tale.

Still, I would like to see the more hopeful original produced as a play some day.

I have seen several episodes of various anthology shows (such as "The Outer Limits") which are similar to "The Children's Room". However, just because they are similar doesn't mean they are remakes--and there's enough original about this one that it's well worth your time--especially since it's so clever and well-written.

The show begins with a father and mother showing concern about their son. Although he's a genius, they notice that the boy isn't very wise about his gifts. In particular, he begins treating his mother like she is beneath him--and his father reluctantly agrees to talk to the boy. But the problem is MUCH deeper. It seems that the boy has a book from some 'children's room' at the local library and the book feeds the boy's ego and builds his contempt for other folks. So, the father looks into the room and the odd librarian--and then the story gets really, really weird and original. I'd say a lot more but I don't want to mess up your enjoyment of the show--and it's a good one.

FYI--While the boy in the show supposedly has an IQ in excess of 200, such ridiculously inflated scores are not possible using the most widely used and tested IQ tests today. In particular, the Wechsler IQ scores top out at about 150. So, if some fat-head insists they have an IQ of 198 or 175, they are either lying, took an IQ test A LONG TIME AGO (when the Stanford-Binet was accepted by clinicians), mistaken or took some crazy online test (which is invalid and meant to make people become fat-heads). And, practically speaking, there really isn't any real statistical difference between a score of 135, 140 or 150. Again, just in case you are wondering.