Talk:To Serve Man (The Twilight Zone)

Block Quotes
I don't understand why bullets are used to identify the speaker in the blockquotes, but I've seen this in other Twilight Zone articles, so I won't change it... yet. Looks like it might require a large-scale edit. Theshibboleth 11:08, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I suppose it's dumb to nitpick about a 40-year-old show, but did it strike anyone else as odd that the aliens left behind a book outlining their plan, and (if the deleted scene counts) a translation guide? And isn't it furthermore odd that in their language, 'serve' has a dual meaning, just like it does here? (or at least that when the title was translated, it wasn't obvious at first)
 * Hah, I guess you're right. I never thought of it like that.
 * Damon Knight, who wrote the original script, claims that serve is used for both meanings in a number of english langauges and so it's not completely bizarre that it might do so in Kanamit. He also gives an explanation in the Twilight Zone Guide which makes more sense as to how they translated the cookbook.

Dual meaning
"In addition, there is the question of why ”serve” should have the same dual meaning — ”aid” and ”cook” — in the Kanamits' language as it does in English."

I don't think it has to. If serve is one of the words in the "intergalactic Rosetta Stone", then it could mean simply cook and not aid, but the people reading wouldn't recognise that. They would translate the Kanamit word to serve without it needing to have a double meaning in Kanamit if that was the translation offered. --Switch 09:56, 5 November 2006 (UTC)
 * In the original short story they used a basic Kanamit-to-English dictionary provided by the Kanamit themselves to translate the title. This is plausible (if an unfortunate coincidence) since it only needs the English word to have a dual-meaning to work.  But in the TV episode they have cryptographers (rather than linguists, oddly enough) break the alien language from scratch.  If this were even possible, the only way they could do so is through contextually understanding the meanings of Kanamit words which would completely bypass the English dual-meaning issue... --Irrevenant [ talk ] 03:50, 27 November 2010 (UTC)


 * It's actually the same meaning. A server serves someone by serving food to them. The difference is which role "man" plays -- subject or object. -- 184.189.217.91 (talk) 03:37, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I found this criticism odd, too. Even if you assume the word must have the same dual meaning in the Kanamits' language, what's so impossible about that? The same dual meanings often show up in different languages, and as 184.189.217.91 points out, the two different meanings of "serve" are not unrelated.--Martin IIIa (talk) 16:02, 8 January 2017 (UTC)

Identification of actor in the photo
I just watched this episode on tv (but didn't have the vcr running). I think that the actor shown in the photo on this page is not Richard Kiel. The Kanamit played by Richard Kiel wore a white robe. It seems IMDB doesn't credit the other actor.

Famous line?
What exactly is the famous line? There are several references to it in the article, but it is never quoted.
 * Perhaps it's too much of a spoiler, although the trivia references really give it away. The famous line is "The booklet, sir – To Serve Man? It's... it's... it’s a cookbook!" Should it be added? Travisl 00:36, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I found constant references to a mysterious "famous line" annoying, as trivia references really aren't enough for someone like me, who has never heard this supposedly classic phrase. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.38.166.124 (talk) 18:10, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

Borrowed from C S Lewis
This story is not original, it's lifted from one of C S Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series - from memory I think The Silver Chair. In one well known episode in that book, a group of human children are doted upon by a group of friendly giants until one of the children stumbles on a book in the giants' kitchen called "To Serve Man" or something very similar, which turns out to be a cookbook.

I really think the article should acknowledge the likely inspiration for this episode. Gatoclass 12:31, 24 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You want a Wikipedia article to "acknowledge" a personal memory of yours? That's not how it's done. -- 184.189.217.91 (talk) 03:40, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

NOT Borrowed from C S Lewis
Since the CS Lewis story "The Silver Chair" was published two years after (in 1953) this book "To Serve Man" which was originally published (1951), it is obvious the story could not have been "lifted" from Silver Chair.

Simpsons
[] if anyone wants to work that into this article, that's the Treehouse of Horror episode/segment that parodied this episode. -TinGrin 18:14, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Baldur's Gate II
Is this right? I don't remember seeing this referenced in the game. I think maybe whoever added it is thinking of Icewind Dale? Does anyone know? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.77.80.29 (talk) 09:44, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Kanamits Offer Peace and Prosperity
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9139017@N05/3967563384/ Is this photo a still from the Twilight Zone episode? I can't remember. If so, I think it would be a good external link. However, I am unsure about Wiki policy regarding links to flickr pages. Is it necessary to notify JayInVienna about it? Does he need to grant permission? NinetyNineFennelSeeds (talk) 19:11, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Time magazine episode ranking
The following passage is inaccurate according to the reference it gives :

Time Magazine claims this episode is the third best of the entire series, behind "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and "It's a Good Life".

I would correct the article, but Time magazine seems to disagree with itself, as this link,, gives a different order. Given the inconsistencies in the source, I decided to just remove the sentence from the article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sp4cetiger (talk • contribs) 23:32, 4 July 2011 (UTC)


 * It's not really inconsistent because it's not a ranking. It's just a top-10 list. --Musdan77 (talk) 19:12, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Popular culture edit war and deletion of section
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=To_Serve_Man_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29&diff=prev&oldid=605984088 24.0.133.234 (talk) 22:10, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
 * It's not really an edit war if good reasons are given for the removal across multiple editors. WikiuserNI (talk) 15:51, 28 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Deleting a properly sourced item, (source was NYT ffs), which is related is not a good reason. That is why I opened this section on the talk page-i do not believe that all of the hard work of previous editors needed to be blanked and also the loss to readers. I did not restore the blanked section again but re-added the one statement about the military patch as reported by the NYT, which was in tribute to this particular episode. 24.0.133.234 (talk) 17:57, 28 May 2014 (UTC)


 * I'm kind of mixed on this. On one hand, yes, there needs to be reliable sources saying how it's notable -- though, as I said before, it should be tagged before deleting to give editors a chance to make improvements. However, if the section was removed just because it was "In popular culture", that's not a good reason (see: WP:WPPC).


 * The paragraph that was re-added doesn't really go under Critical response, so I added the heading "Cultural influence" (Cultural_influence_of_Star_Trek). --Musdan77 (talk) 22:15, 29 May 2014 (UTC)


 * I think there's a confusion between something that's generally notable and something that's simply cited. Is there anything notable about some unofficial badges? WikiuserNI (talk) 16:26, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

The Walrus and The Carpenter similarity...
To Serve Man sounds like a modern update of Lewis Carrolls 1871 poem The Walrus and the Carpenter... In the poem as you know, the pair came upon an oyster bed and tricked the oysters to follow them, unknowingly the oysters who followed against the advice and the disapproval of the eldest oyster... Yes, in the end the compliant oysters ended up as a meal for the walrus and the carpenter... Sound familiar???... 63.249.59.53 (talk) 18:01, 2 January 2023 (UTC)