Talk:The Little Black Bag

Plot

Two quibbles. From what I remember of the story, I don't think Angie kills Fall with a scalpel - I think he falls and hits his head during their struggle for the bag. After all, the scalpels operate in such a way that they can't cause harm to living tissue. The second quibble is that the technician switches off the bag simply because he and his colleagues assume that, the bag being lost, it probably isn't much use to anyone. However, there was a television dramatisation of the story which used the "murder alert" plotline, so perhaps the article can be changed to reflect this. Halmyre (talk) 11:16, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

You could be right. I may have gotten this confused with the dramatization. I'll check it out. Clarityfiend (talk) 20:23, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Nope. He's stabbed in the back with a scalpel, and the technician deactivates the bag because it has been used in a homicide. Clarityfiend (talk) 18:37, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, OK. Although I thought the scalpels couldn't cause harm to anyone? After all, at the end of the story Angie is drawing a scalpel across her neck(?) to demonstrate how safe the process is. Halmyre (talk) 16:09, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

I realize this is a very old discussion, and it's been even longer since I've read the story, but as I recall, there was one essentially normal scalpel in the bag, for use in exceptional cases when the non-harmful ones wouldn't suffice. That's what she uses to commit the murder. Mahousu (talk) 00:52, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Well, you have to remember, when the technician 'deactivates' the bag, it rendered the instruments' healing abilities useless. Thus the scalpel becomes an ordinary tool and ends up cutting her. However, because Angie's unaware of the scalpel being 'deactivated,' she draws it across her neck, simply on the fact she presumes the instrument won't harm her. That's where the twist comes in.

Ironically, this scene was never shown in 'Tales of Tomorrow,' due to censorship of the fifties. Instead the punishment here is the bag becomes full of garbage, whereas the authorities mysteriously show up at the office door.

But in 'Night Gallery' the original ending is put back, except here, the culprit attempts demonstrating the use of the scalpel upon himself (as suggested earlier by the doctor) just when the technician deactivates the bag, which also destroys the contents within.Fangarius (talk) 10:51, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

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