History Recap / TheTwilightZone1959S3E32TheGift

!! This episode includes examples of the following tropes:

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The place is Mexico, just across the Texas border, a mountain village held back in time by its remoteness and suddenly intruded upon by the twentieth century. And this is Pedro, nine years old, a lonely, rootless little boy, who will soon make the acquaintance of a traveler from a distant place. We are at present forty miles from the Rio Grande, but any place and all places can be- the Twilight Zone.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off the shelf- in the Twilight Zone.

* BittersweetEnding: It's an especially bitter one this time. Williams is killed by the panicked mob, who learn far to late that his gift was a peace offering; a vaccine that could've cured all forms of cancer, which was burnt before they could understand what it was. The only thing that keeps this ending from being an absolute DownerEnding is that Pedro finally finds a home, as he's adopted by the doctor.

In the Mexican village of Madeiro, a spaceship crash-lands within the village's perimeter, revealing its pilot to be a human-looking alien. Two police officers called to the scene are terrified and attack the alien, who accidentally kills an officer in a GunStruggle and is shot by the other. The alien stumbles into the local bar and collapses. A friendly doctor having a drink, extracts the bullets from the creature's chest and treats his wounds. As he recuperates, the alien introduces himself as "Mr. Williams" to Pedro, an orphan boy who sweeps up the bar, sharing a bond with him. Mr. Williams gives Pedro a gift, which he claims he will explain later.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
** Ignacio gives a rather measured one to Manolo after hearing the latter belly-ache about Pedro, and how cheerless he is. To this, the guitarist [[ArmorPiercingQuestion questions]] what exactly an abused and impoverished orphan like Pedro ''should'' be cheerful for:
->'''Manolo:''' I ask you this: did you ever see him smile?
->'''Ignacio:''' (''soberly'') Why would he ever smile, the boy? What is there to delight him? His poverty? Why ''should'' he smile? Perhaps, Manolo... Perhaps on some occasion, some festive occasion, instead of handing him a broom or a tray, extend him a hand.
** At the end of the episode, the doctor gives Manolo a more subtle and subdued one when it's revealed that Williams had brought a cure for cancer, which the paranoid townsfolk destroyed.
->'''Doctor:''' We have not just killed a man. We killed a dream.

A human-looking alien crash-lands outside the village. Two police officers are terrified and attack him. He kills one by accident in a GunStruggle and is shot by the other. He stumbles into the bar and collapses. A friendly doctor removes two bullets from his chest and treats his wounds.

While recuperating, the alien introduces himself as Mr. Williams and bonds with Pedro, the orphan boy who sweeps the bar. Williams gives Pedro a gift and says he will explain it later.

The bartender calls the army about the alien, and soldiers and villagers storm the bar. Williams tries to explain that he comes in peace. He tells Pedro to show them the gift, but the villagers take it from the boy and set it on fire. When Williams and Pedro try to reach for each other, the soldiers panic and gun him down until he dies, thinking he was about to harm the boy. The doctor pulls what remains of the gift from the fire. It reads, "Greetings to the people of Earth: We come...in peace. We bring you this gift. The following chemical formula is...a vaccine against all forms of cancer..."

The rest is burned away. The doctor sadly says, "We have not just killed a man; we have killed a dream."

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off the shelf- in the Twilight Zone.

* AliensInCardiff: Williams' ship crash-landed in the vicinity of the mountain village of Madeiro, UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, just over the border with Texas.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Williams speaks perfect English.
* BittersweetEnding: Williams is killed and the people learn belatedly that he meant to give them a peace offering, (in the form of a vaccine that could've cured all forms of cancer) which was burnt before they could understand what it was. The only thing that keeps this from being a DownerEnding is that Pedro comes out of the experience adopted by the doctor.
* BlindMusician: The guitarist Ignacio is blind.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Pedro immediately becomes friends with Williams because, as a mistreated orphan with no friends, he can relate to the stranger. Other than the doctor, he is the only person in Madeiro who believes that Williams is no threat to the village.
* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: The partially burnt gift is burned away just at the point where the cancer cure appears.
* CureForCancer: Williams came to Earth in order to provide humanity with a vaccine against all forms of cancer. Unfortunately, it's burned by the people in a fit of paranoia, driving home humanity's mistrust towards something they don't understand.
* FirstContact: Humanity makes first contact with an alien race in the form of Williams.
* HumanAlien: Williams is entirely human in appearance but he has a stronger constitution than the average human. He recovers very quickly from two bullet wounds to the chest. According to the doctor, his pulse is stronger than that of his healthiest patients.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Williams is killed by the paranoid and suspicious people of Madeiro, who believe him to be either Main/{{Satan}} or a practitioner of BlackMagic.
* InnocentAliens: Williams' goal in coming to Earth, giving humanity a CureForCancer, was entirely selfless and honorable.
* NoNameGiven: The doctor is not named.
* PrivacyByDistraction: When he's about to operate on Williams, the doctor sends Pedro out to stargaze.

** Ignacio gives a rather measured one to Manolo after hearing the latter belly-ache about Pedro and how cheerless he is. To this, Ignacio [[ArmorPiercingQuestion questions]] what exactly an abused and impoverished orphan like Pedro should be cheerful for.
-->'''Manolo:''' I ask you this, did you ever see him smile?
-->'''Ignacio:''' (Soberly) Why would he ever smile, the boy? What is there to delight him? His poverty? Why ''should'' he smile? Perhaps, Manolo... Perhaps on some occasion, some festive occasion, instead of handing him a broom or a tray, extend him a hand.
** At the end of the episode, the doctor gives Manolo a more subtle subdued one when it's revealed that Williams had brought a cure for cancer.
-->'''Doctor:''' We have not just killed a man...we killed a dream.
* SkipTheAnesthetic: Williams catches the doctor as he's about to administer ether before operating and insists he not use anesthetic. His pain tolerance exceeds a human's, so it's less necessary.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Don't kill aliens and burn their gifts, or you might rob the world of a cancer cure.
* WeComeInPeace: Williams tells the mob that he has come to Earth in peace shortly before they kill him. Similarly, the document that he gave to Pedro says, "We come as friends and in peace."
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Type 1. Williams is peaceful; it's the ''humans'' who are aggressive.
* WholePlotReference: This episode is a sci-fi version of the story of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}. Williams is an alien visitor who has arrived on Earth with a gift for humanity but he is killed and the gift is destroyed. The parallel is made clear when the doctor says that the bartender Manolo, who has told the Mexican Army of Williams' presence, should have been christened "Judas."
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* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Ignacio gives a rather measured one to Manolo after hearing the latter belly-ache about Pedro and how cheerless he is. To this, Ignacio [[ArmorPiercingQuestion questions]] what exactly an abused and impoverished orphan like Pedro should be cheerful for.

* CureForCancer: Williams came to Earth in order to provide humanity with a vaccine against all forms of cancer.

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: When he's about to operate on Williams, the doctor sends Pedro out to stargaze.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': The place is Mexico, just across the Texas border, a mountain village held back in time by its remoteness and suddenly intruded upon by the twentieth century. And this is Pedro, nine years old, a lonely, rootless little boy, who will soon make the acquaintance of a traveler from a distant place. We are at present forty miles from the Rio Grande, but any place and all places can be- the The Twilight Zone.

A human-looking alien crash-lands outside the village. Two police officers are terrified and attack him. He kills one in self-defense and is shot by the other. He stumbles into the bar and collapses. A friendly doctor removes two bullets from his chest and treats his wounds.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off the shelf- in The Twilight Zone.

This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
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* AliensSpeakingEnglish

* FirstContact: The point of the episode.
* HumanAlien
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters
* InnocentAliens

* WeComeInPeace: Quoted in the document given to Pedro.
* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Type 1. The alien is peaceful; it's the ''humans'' who are aggressive.

* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: The partially burnt gift.

* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Type 1. The alien is peaceful; it's the ''humans'' who are aggressive.

* ConvenientlyInterruptedDocument: the partially burnt gift.
* FirstContact: the point of the episode.
* HumansAreJerks

* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: type 1. The alien is peaceful; it's the ''humans'' who are aggressive.

* WeComeInPeace: Quoted in the document given to Pedro.

* WeComeInPeace: the alien.

->'''Creator/RodSerling''': Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off the shelf- in The Twilight Zone.

->'''Rod Serling''': The place is Mexico, just across the Texas border, a mountain village held back in time by its remoteness and suddenly intruded upon by the twentieth century. And this is Pedro, nine years old, a lonely, rootless little boy, who will soon make the acquaintance of a traveler from a distant place. We are at present forty miles from the Rio Grande, but any place and all places can be- the The Twilight Zone.

->'''Rod Serling''': Madeiro, Mexico, the present. The subject: fear. The cure: a little more faith. An Rx off the shelf- in The Twilight Zone.

The bartender calls the army about the alien, and soldiers and villagers storm the bar. Williams tries to explain that he comes in peace. He tells Pedro to show them the gift, but the villages take it from the boy and set it on fire. When Williams and Pedro try to reach for each other, the soldiers panic and gun him down until he dies, thinking he was about to harm the boy. The doctor pulls what remains of the gift from the fire. It reads, "Greetings to the people of Earth: We come...in peace. We bring you this gift. The following chemical formula is...a vaccine against all forms of cancer..."

While recuperating, the alien introduces himself as Mr. Williams and bonds with Pedro, the orphan boy who sweeps the bar. Williams gives Pedro a gift and says he will explain it later.

->'''Rod Serling''': The place is Mexico, just across the Texas border, a mountain village held back in time by its remoteness and suddenly intruded upon by the twentieth century. And this is Pedro, nine years old, a lonely, rootless little boy, who will soon make the acquaintance of a traveler from a distant place. We are at present forty miles from the Rio Grande, but any place and all places can be- the The Twilight Zone.