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History Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S2E27TheMindAndTheMatter

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* {{Jerkass}}: Archibald Beechcroft is a mild version. He's not malicious or evil, just grouchy, surly, rude, and very low on patience. He wises up when he manifests a world of people who look and act just like him, letting him be on the recieving end of his own attitude for once.

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* {{Jerkass}}: Archibald Beechcroft is a mild version. He's not malicious or evil, just grouchy, surly, rude, and very low on patience. He wises up when he manifests a world of people who look and act just like him, letting him be on the recieving receiving end of his own attitude for once.

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[[quoteright:345:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tz_the_mind_and_the_matter.jpeg]]



Archibald Beechcroft (Shelley Berman) is a misanthropic grouch who despises people. His surliness with his fellow man makes it clear during a typical day at work, where he's crammed into a crowded elevator like a sardine in a can, has to deal with the constant stream of noise that an office environment provides, and keeps getting coffee spilled on him by his incompetent co-worker Henry. As an apology for spilling his coffee, Henry gives Beechcroft an occult book titled ''The Mind and The Matter''. Beechcroft gradually grows intrigued with the book, reading it for hours on end. Eventually, the book teaches him about the powers of concentration and willpower, which he utilizes strongly enough to make the entire human race disappear. While he initially enjoys his newfound isolation, Beechcroft quickly grows bored. Rather than willing everyone back, he instead concentrates to create a world of people exactly like him, which shows Beechcroft that mankind isn't really as bad as he makes them out to be.

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Archibald Beechcroft (Shelley Berman) (Creator/ShelleyBerman) is a misanthropic grouch who despises people. His surliness with his fellow man makes it clear during a typical day at work, where during which he's crammed into a crowded elevator like a sardine in a can, has to deal with the constant stream of noise that an office environment provides, and keeps getting coffee spilled on him by his incompetent co-worker Henry. As an apology for spilling his coffee, Henry gives Beechcroft an occult book titled ''The Mind and The Matter''. Beechcroft gradually grows intrigued with the book, reading it for hours on end. Eventually, the book teaches him Beechcroft about the powers of concentration and willpower, which he then utilizes strongly enough to make the entire human race disappear. While he initially enjoys his newfound isolation, Beechcroft quickly grows bored. Rather than willing everyone back, he instead concentrates to create on creating a whole world of people exactly like him, him... which shows Beechcroft that mankind isn't really as bad as he makes them out to be.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Mr. Archibald Beechcroft, a child of the 20th Century, who has found out through trial and error – and mostly error – that with all its faults, it may well be that this is the best of all possible worlds. People notwithstanding, it has much to offer. Tonight's case in point – in the Twilight Zone.

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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': ->'''Rod Serling''': Mr. Archibald Beechcroft, a child of the 20th Century, who has found out through trial and error – and mostly error – that with all its faults, it may well be that this is the best of all possible worlds. People notwithstanding, it has much to offer. Tonight's case in point – in the Twilight Zone.Zone.
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-> '''Creator/RodSerling''': A brief if frenetic introduction to Mr. Archibald Beechcroft. A child of the 20th Century, a product of the population explosion, and one of the inheritors of the legacy of progress. Mr. Beechcroft again, this time Act Two of his daily battle for survival, and in just a moment our hero will begin his personal one-man rebellion against the mechanics of his age, and to do so he will enlist certain aides available only in the Twilight Zone.

Air date: May 12, 1961

Archibald Beechcroft (Shelley Berman) is a misanthropic grouch who despises people. His surliness with his fellow man makes it clear during a typical day at work, where he's crammed into a crowded elevator like a sardine in a can, has to deal with the constant stream of noise that an office environment provides, and keeps getting coffee spilled on him by his incompetent co-worker Henry. As an apology for spilling his coffee, Henry gives Beechcroft an occult book titled ''The Mind and The Matter''. Beechcroft gradually grows intrigued with the book, reading it for hours on end. Eventually, the book teaches him about the powers of concentration and willpower, which he utilizes strongly enough to make the entire human race disappear. While he initially enjoys his newfound isolation, Beechcroft quickly grows bored. Rather than willing everyone back, he instead concentrates to create a world of people exactly like him, which shows Beechcroft that mankind isn't really as bad as he makes them out to be.

!! The Mind and the Tropes:
* CantLiveWithThemCantLiveWithoutThem: After willing the human race to vanish, Beechcroft revels in his newfound solitude. He soon realizes, however, that while things are a lot less irritating, they're also a lot more boring.
* {{Jerkass}}: Archibald Beechcroft is a mild version. He's not malicious or evil, just grouchy, surly, rude, and very low on patience. He wises up when he manifests a world of people who look and act just like him, letting him be on the recieving end of his own attitude for once.
* LighterAndSofter: This is one of the few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes with no tragic sequences or cruel twists. It's a lighthearted, comedic episode about a run of the mill {{Jerkass}} who hates people learning a valuable lesson about humankind and coming out a better person from his experience.
* TheManInTheMirrorTalksBack: Once he's willed humanity away and grows bored, Beechcroft's reflection suggests ways for him to use his new-found mental powers, prompting Beechcroft to conjure an earthquake and a lightning storm.
* MesACrowd: When he grows bored with his newfound isolation, Beechcroft uses his new abilities to remake the human race to be exactly like him. To his chargin, this means Beechcroft now has to put up with a world of people who are just as rude and grouchy as he is.
* NoSocialSkills: Beechcroft is pretty lacking in this department, though he doesn't care much, being a misanthropic curmudgeon.
* RealityWarper: Beechcroft develops the ability to manipulate reality through sheer willpower after reading the titular book. He uses his newfound powers to make everyone disappear, since he utterly hates people. After he gets bored being the only person on Earth, he creates an earthquake and an electrical storm, but it doesn't really help. Beechcroft ultimately gets the idea to create a world full of people just like him, but he quickly discovers that a lot of himself is just as irritating as a lot of everyone else, if not moreso.
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: One of the few ''Twilight Zone'' episodes with no cruel twist. After experiencing his grouchiness firsthand, multiplied by the hundreds in fact, Beechcroft gains a new outlook on his own life and changes his attitude.
* TodayXTomorrowTheWorld: After Beechcroft removes his landlady from existence, he excitedly declares "Today the landlady, tomorrow the world."
* TomeOfEldritchLore: ''The Mind and The Matter'', an occult book Henry gives to Beechcroft as an apology for spilling coffee on his lap. He finds it interesting enough to read throughout his shift, his train ride home, and while he has his dinner, and the book either teaches or grants him the ability to control reality itself via sheer concentration.
* TookALevelInKindness: In the end, Beechcroft becomes a nicer person, having grown a lot more understanding of people's faults, as well as his own.
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->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Mr. Archibald Beechcroft, a child of the 20th Century, who has found out through trial and error – and mostly error – that with all its faults, it may well be that this is the best of all possible worlds. People notwithstanding, it has much to offer. Tonight's case in point – in the Twilight Zone.

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