Stranger in Possum Meadows
"For Danny Wilkins, a sunny afternoon is a world of adventure. He's a typical boy who likes nothing better than following a trail, just to see where it goes. But today, that trail will lead Danny through a private reserve, which lies just inside the borders — of the Twilight Zone."
Young Danny Wilkins (Benjamin Barrett) heads over to nearby Possum Meadows to play in and around the creek. When he gets there, he meets a man in a gray suit who calls himself "Scout" (Steve Kanaly). Danny learns that Scout is intently studying the native wildlife in Possum Meadows, which he doesn't entirely understand, and is able to make things disappear by pointing at them. Danny's mother (Laura Press) is angry and fearful that Danny trusted a complete stranger, and forbids Danny from meeting with Scout again. When Scout claims that his mother and his dog Biff are at his house for dinner, Danny gradually learns that his mother was right to be suspicious about his new friend.
Tropes
- The Beastmaster: As a means of obtaining Earth animals for study, Scout has an ability to exhibit control over them, as seen when he quiets Biff when he starts barking at him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Scout realizes that Danny's mother will miss him terribly, and allows him to return to her instead of taking him back to his homeworld. The only bitter part about this is that he doesn't return Danny's dog Biff with him.
- Children Are Innocent: Danny doesn't see anything suspicious about Scout and his misunderstandings about Earth wildlife, seeing him as a new friend to play with.
- The Collector: Scout was sent to Earth to collect specimens of lifeforms, including a deer and Biff, for his people to study. Danny himself is chosen as a human specimen and is briefly placed in cryostasis aboard Scout's ship. However, Scout's thoughts turn to his own family and how he would feel if something happened to one of them, so he lets Danny go.
- Disappeared Dad: Danny never knew his birth father, who abandoned his mother either while she was pregnant with him or shortly after he was born. Ms. Wilkins had a boyfriend who served as a surrogate father to him for several years, but he eventually left too.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: It's not stated outright, but it's clear that Danny's mom forbids him from spending time with Scout because she's afraid that he's a sexual predator. His odd and creepy demeanor seems to confirm this, and she instructs Danny to come home straight after school instead of showing Scout around Possum Meadows. Sometime later, Scout tells him that he talked to Ms. Wilkins and that she said that it was okay for Danny to come with him. Danny is reluctant, but Scout convinces him to do so by reminding him that they're friends. Scout isn't a molester, but he's actually an alien who came to Earth to collect specimens. He chooses Danny as a human specimen, but eventually lets him go.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he isn't explicitly "evil", Scout tells Ms. Wilkins that he has a wife and children who don't see him very often because of his work. His decision to let Danny return to his mother is brought about by how he would feel if a member of his own family went missing.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Biff frequently barks at Scout, an alien who intends to take Danny back to his planet for study. Scout uses his power over animals to silence the dog and later takes him as a specimen. Although he eventually releases Danny, Biff isn't so lucky.
- Human Aliens: Scout is a shapeshifter who takes on a human form to gain Danny's trust.
- Human Popsicle: Danny is placed in cryostasis aboard Scout's ship as a human specimen in his study of Earth. However, he's only frozen for, at most, several hours before Scout begins to feel guilty and returns him to his mother.
- Minimalist Cast: Danny, his mother, and Scout are the only characters to appear.
- Properly Paranoid / Improperly Paranoid: Ms. Wilkins distrusted Scout immensely, his fascination with Danny painting him as a child molester. Though that isn't exactly the case, she was still right to be distrustful of him, as he baits Danny into going into his ship and being cryogenically frozen so he could go to Scout's planet for study.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Scout isn't genuinely malicious, he just has a task to perform regarding his collection. He ultimately releases Danny when he imagines that his mother would despair after losing him, noting that he would do the same if his wife and kids went missing.
- Reality Has No Subtitles: Averted, as Scout is translated by gratuitous subtitles as he speaks in his native tongue.
- Struggling Single Mother: Danny and his mother live in a dilapidated trailer. His father left them years ago, as did his mother's subsequent boyfriend. As such, she works almost every night in order to provide a meager living for the two of them.
- Unnamed Parent: Danny's mother has no spoken name.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Scout is shown to belong to a race of shapeshifters. In his report, he says that it was easy for him to assume human form.
"Danny Wilkins, beneficiary of an act of kindness offered by a stranger. A stranger who's been reminded of a truth, the power of which cuts across races, cultures, and even species: the love between parent and child. It's a truth that can change minds and actions, even in a place known — as the Twilight Zone."
