Recap / The Twilight Zone (1959) S3E28: "The Little People"

William beholds the Little People's statue of their "god".

Rod Serling: The time is the space age, the place is a barren landscape of a rock-walled canyon that lies millions of miles from the planet Earth. The cast of characters? You've met them: William Fletcher, commander of the spaceship; his co-pilot, Peter Craig. The other characters who inhabit this place you may never see, but they're there, as these two gentlemen will soon find out. Because they're about to partake in a little exploration into that gray, shaded area in space and time that's known as the Twilight Zone.

Air date: March 30, 1962

William Fletcher (Claude Akins) and Peter Craig (Joe Maross), a pair of astronauts who each happen to be the chief thorn in the other's side, land their ship in a canyon on another planet to make emergency repairs. As he scouts around, Peter discovers a tiny city, populated by a race of people no bigger than ants. He promptly begins to terrorize the microscopic population by crushing some of their buildings, proclaiming himself their god. Although William says that these people are no different than he or Peter are, his co-pilot believes that they've "been created in his image", even going so far as forcing them to build a giant statue of him. William comes to inform Peter that the repairs are finished and they can depart, but Peter pulls his gun on him and orders his superior to leave him alone, since there's no room for two gods. The disgusted William leaves, but as soon as he does, another ship lands. The pilots of this ship, a pair of astronauts as big as mountains, emerge to make their own repairs. One of them spots Peter and picks him up, accidentally crushing him to death before tossing him away. The Little People rejoice at the death of their "god", pulling the statue they built down on Peter's lifeless body.

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The Little Tropes:

• Accidental Hero: It wasn't the giant aliens' intention to kill Peter, but in doing so, they freed the Little Peoples' civilization from his tyranny.
• A God Am I: At the height of his madness, Peter begins referring to himself as the Little People's god.
• Aliens Speaking English: The giant aliens, although it's possibly a case of Translation Convention.
  • Averted with the Little People who are mentioned as not speaking any earth language and so Peter relies on numbers and symbols to communicate.
• All Take and No Give: The nature of the Little People's relationship with Peter. To clarify, Peter makes them give him all their food and water, uses his size to make them bend to his will, forces them to make a statue of his likeness, etc. When William asks Peter he gives the Little People in return for all their work, he responds by saying that he gives them his "smiling beneficence" and his promise to NOT trample their town. Peter doesn't hold up to the second one, unfortunately.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Peter was a giant to the Little People, but he's accidentally killed by people who are giants to him.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: After their "god" is killed by a giant spaceman, the Little People gleefully pull down the statue Peter forced them to build atop his dead body.
• Asshole Victim: Peter, who is accidentally crushed by aliens that are as big to him as he is to the Little People. Considering his treatment of the latter beings, there was much rejoicing indeed.
• Bad Boss: Peter enslaves the Little People and destroys their town in spite of all the work he forces them to do.
• Binary Suns: The Little Peoples' planet has two suns.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Little People, under Peter's rule, have had many of their numbers killed and their buildings crushed, but the end of the episode has them secure in the knowledge that they'll never have to face him again.
• The Bully: Peter, with his greater size, forces the Little People to obey him for his own sociopathy.
• Chromosome Casting: All the characters who actually appear onscreen are male. It's likely that some of the Little People are female, but we never see them.
• The Devil: William accuses Peter of being the Little Peoples' Devil rather than their god.
• A Dog Named "Dog": The Little People's species is never given a name, so William and Peter just refer to them as "The Little People".
• Dramatic Irony: When the giant aliens accidentally crush Peter, they express guilt over it for a moment. What they don't know is they've just saved the Little People from his reign of terror, who are more grateful to them for destroying their tyrant than they will ever know.
• The Dreaded: Peter quickly becomes this to the Little People, and he enjoys the feeling immensely.
• Drunk with Power: It takes mere minutes for Peter to let his newfound power over the Little People go to his head.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength:
  • The giant alien who kills Peter crushes him by accident while curiously trying to pick him up. Unlike Peter's killing of the Little People, he actually feels bad about it.
  • Peter himself knows that he is much stronger than the Little People and takes full advantage of it.
• Establishing Character Moment: Both Peter and William's personalities are demonstrated in the first scene. William is checking on the repairs for the ship while Peter lazily does nothing but complain. This continues when Peter complains about their location and the freeze-dried food they have to eat, which he throws away. Infuriated by his actions, William grabs the food and berates Peter, telling him that he should be grateful that they're still alive, on a planet with oxygen, and they at least have any food and water at all. This shows that William is the responsible, sensible member of the duo and Peter cares only about himself.
• Everyone Has Standards: William is a rather impatient man, but he expresses pure horror and outrage when he sees that Peter has deliberately crushed some of the Little People's houses and likely killed many of them. He even tries to stop him from crushing anymore of them and begs the small aliens for forgiveness for what his malicious co-pilot did.
• First-Contact Math: Peter is able to communicate with the Little People by writing equations in the sand.
• For Want Of A Nail: The whole plot could have been avoided had the astronauts' ship not needed repairs.
• A God Am I: It doesn't take long before Peter sets himself up as the Little People's god. It takes even less time for things to get worse.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: William invokes this trope to Peter, telling him that he will suffer from loneliness if and when left behind. Peter doesn't live long enough to see if this would have been the case. Of course, given how maniacal he was at that point, it's debatable how much further his sanity could have declined.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: When Peter tries to get William to leave the planet so he can have the little people's "adoration" all to himself, William only asks for one thing in return: for Peter to explain what he has to gain from ruling alone. Yes he'll have power and control, but William can't fathom why any rational human being would think that's more important than returning home or having human companionship. Unfortunately, Peter isn't a rational human being and never answers that question. He instead reminds William he has to choose between leaving or dying.
• Good Is Not Nice: William is easily the morally superior of the two, but he's very stern and short-tempered himself. It's justified, having Peter as a co-pilot, as he apologizes to the Little People and plead that they don't hold the human race accountable for his actions.
• Hate Sink: Peter Craig. As the episode goes on, it becomes clear just what a cold-blooded sadist he is as he takes enormous pleasure in being worshipped by the Little People, keeping them in line with fear and crushing their civilization anyway for his own amusement.
• Here We Go Again!: Subverted. After Peter dies, one of the giants wonders if there are any other tiny aliens around. Instead of looking for them, he joins his partner in getting back to work repairing their ship.
• Human Aliens:
  • The giant spacemen are essiantially human beings the size of mountains.
  • While we never see them, it's possible that the Little People are this, too. It's hinted since they seem to have a similar civilization comparable to humankind's.
• Humans Are Cthulhu: The Little People, a race of aliens smaller than ants, worship Peter when he discovers them. This allows him to brutalizes the poor things for his own twisted sense of humor.
• Irony:
  • Peter claims that the Little People worship him as their God, but we soon see that the small aliens likely do not hold any reverence for him at all, only doing as he says because they fear him.
    • It's revealed that Peter is well aware of this fact, but he still lords over them, using their fear to make them do whatever he wants.
  • The giant spacemen wonder if there are any other "little people" like Peter, but have no time to look as they're repairing their ship. Also, they apparently have a much better working relationship than William and Peter did.
  • Peter compares the Little People creating his statue to the Lilliputians tying up Gulliver. He is later killed by a pair of giant, Brobdingnagian-like aliens.
  • Peter enjoys crushing the Little People's buildings, likely killing many of them, in order to demonstrate his power over them. In contrast, the giant alien who accidentally kills Peter feels momentary guilt about it.
  • For all of Peter's belief that he's a God to the Little People, it's William who lampshades that Peter's cruelty has gotten them to believe there's such thing as the Devil.
• I Resemble That Remark!: After William rightfully tells Peter that he's out of his gourd, Peter tries to kill him.
• Jerkass: Even before discovering and abusing the Little People, Peter was an unpleasant individual who desired power and ego-stroking.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: William is stern and a bit gruff around the edges, but he isn't a bad guy. He's clearly horrified at Peter's behavior and seeks to protect the Little People from his wrath, apologizing to them for his actions. He also tries to sincerely reach Peter and get him to come back to Earth, seemingly sorry to see him crack up so badly.
• Karmic Death: After spending the majority of the episode tormenting the Little People and crushing them to force them to do obey his demands, Peter is similarly crushed by a giant alien that shows up in the end.
• Kick the Dog: After Peter declares himself as the Little People's "god", he proceeds to stomp on their town, crushing many of them and their structures, after the Little People had already helped him find food and water.
• Large Ham: Peter's going off the deep end is accompanied by some truly epic scenery chewing on his part.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Peter is killed by a giant spaceman, crushed to death like he has been doing to the Little People.
• Laughing Mad: After going off the deep end, Peter devolves into manic laughter that would make The Joker uneasy.
• Lilliputians: The titular race of Little People that Peter discovers.
• Lonely at the Top: When Peter tries to get William to leave the planet at gunpoint, the latter tries to figure out the former's thought process of being the only "god" to the Little People. He tries to warn Peter that if he remains, he'll enjoy "a million little microbes honoring [him] with torchlight parades" for two days at most. The way William sees it, all that worship won't change how Peter will be starved of companionship. If Peter shooting his own statue as a warning is any indication, he thinks otherwise.
• Minimalist Cast: Played With. While the story deals with an entire civilization of ant-sized people, we never see them. Most of the episode features just William and Peter, and the only other characters with speaking parts are the giant aliens who appear briefly at the end.
• Must Make Amends: William begs the Little People for forgiveness for what Peter did to them, in the hopes that they'll forgive the human race as a whole.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: On Earth, Peter would be an unremarkable human. But the titular little people consider him to be the Devil and fear him.
• One-Book Author: This is the only credited role of Richard Eaton, who played one of the giants.
• Only Sane Man: William is a no-nonsense astronaut who rightly calls Peter out for his actions.
• Pet the Dog: Despite Peter's horrible acts, including threatening him at gunpoint, William still tries to reason with him and get him to return to come back to Earth.
• Psychopathic Manchild: It's clear from the start that Peter's not very mature, as he acts sullen and hates authority. His later interactions with the Little People are very much in the vein of a child taking pleasure in tormenting helpless creatures, or a schoolyard bully picking on a weaker kid. One has to wonder how someone so lazy, immature, unstable, and outright depraved could have become an astronaut to begin with.
• Sadist: Despite claiming to doing what he does to "discipline" the Little People, it's obvious that Peter takes great pleasure in crushing them and forcing them to be his slaves for his own sadism, even looking forward to his plans to "remind them not to make him angry".
• Sanity Slippage: Peter's sanity deteriorates as soon as he meets the Little People, spiraling into a full blown God complex.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After seeing that Peter has utterly lost his mind and threatens him to leave at gun point, William complies, but warns Peter that he will regret this.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Peter exhibits all seven throughout the episode:
  • Envy: He expresses jealousy at the sight of the giant aliens, as he wanted to be the ONLY giant around.
  • Gluttony: He overindulges himself on the the Little People's food and water, refusing to share with anyone else, including the Little People themselves.
  • Greed: He didn't want to "share" the Little People with his co-pilot and hoarded them, seeing them as nothing more than his property.
  • Lust: Not for sex, but for power, as Peter expressed desires to be in charge even before he discovered the Little People.
  • Pride: Peter has A LOT of it. He deems himself "God" to the Little People and even demands to have a statue made in his likeness as a sign of his massive ego.
  • Sloth: The beginning of the episode shows Peter lazing around while William does all the work on their spaceship. When asked by William what HE can offer the Little People for all the labor he makes them do, Peter replies that he can give them his "smiling beneficence" and NOT trample on their town.
  • Wrath: After William rightfully calls him out on his cruelty towards the Little People and tells him that it's time to go, Peter threatens him with his gun, telling him to leave or he will kill him. He also really enjoys terrifying the Little People with his displays of fury.
• Square-Cube Law: Apparently, the giant aliens have never heard of it.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: Peter fires a warning shot when William tells him that he's lost his mind.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Peter is nothing more than a jackass astronaut from Earth, but as soon as he discovers the Little People, he proclaims himself their "God" and begins abusing his power over them.
• Stock Footage: The ship that William leaves in looks exactly like one of the Mercury rockets.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: William and Peter can't stand each other, but the former at least tries to put the hatred aside so they can get home.
• Too Dumb to Live: Peter dies when a giant alien picked him up, accidentally crushing him. To clarify, the moment the giant aliens arrive, Peter has a Villainous Breakdown and demands that they leave, as his ego cannot accept someone bigger than him being around. Had he remained quiet and tried to hide instead of demanding that they leave, they likely would never had noticed him and gone away once their own ship was repaired, while Peter would still be alive.
• Toppled Statue: In the final scene, the Little People topple the statue Peter made them construct on his dead body.
• Two First Names: The protagonists are William Fletcher and Peter Craig.
• Ungrateful Bastard: What does Peter do after the Little People help him find edible food and drinkable water? He proclaims himself their "God" and threatens to crush them if they don't bend to his will. He even does crush some of them just to demonstrate the power he has over them, as well as for his own amusement.
• The Unreveal: We never get to see what the Little People actually look like, though they're most likely Human Aliens.
  • In-Universe, William leaves the planet just before the giant aliens arrive, so as far as he knows, his ex-colleague is destined to waste away from loneliness on an alien world.
• Villainous Breakdown: In his final moments, Peter is left futilely screaming at the giant aliens to go away, claiming that he is the god, not them. His screaming soon becomes pained as one of them grabs and accidentally kills him.
• Villain Protagonist: Peter, a lazy, selfish, sadistic, tyrannical bully who uses his massive difference in size to enslave the Little People.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Peter has no problem bullying and terrorizing the Little People. William, meanwhile, averts it by denouncing Peter's actions and sincerely apologizing to the tiny aliens for what's happened.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Although Peter was already an unstable Jerkass, he becomes Drunk with Power as he lords it over the Little People.

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Rod Serling: The case of navigator Peter Craig, a victim of a delusion. In this case, the dream dies a little harder than the man. A small exercise in space psychology that you can try on for size in the Twilight Zone.

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