Air date: December 22, 1961
An Army major wakes up to find himself trapped inside in a large metallic cylinder. He soon meets a clown, a hobo, a ballerina, and a bagpiper. None of these people have any memory of who they are or how they became trapped. The major, being the newest arrival, is the most determined to escape this prison. He is told the only way out is through the ceiling, which is too high to reach. Nonetheless, he investigates, and his questioning reveals that the characters have no need for food or water, and seem to feel nothing in general.
The characters question who and what and where they are, with the ballerina informing the major, "We are in the darkness; nameless things with no memory – no knowledge of what went before, no understanding of what is now, no knowledge of what will be." Guesses are made about the nature of where they are: the ballerina speculates that they're on another planet or a spaceship, while the bagpiper that they're "dream figures in someone else's dream", the hobo that they're dead and in limbo, and the major speculates that they are in Hell.
Eventually the major suggests a plan to escape: having everyone forming a tower of people, and reaching the ceiling to escape. The plan almost works, but a frighteningly loud sound shakes the cylinder and sends the five tumbling to the ground. Now even more determined, the Major fashions a grappling hook out of loose bits of the others' clothing and his sword. By reforming the tower, he manages to grab onto the edge of the cylinder. As he turns to survey the area surrounding their prison, he tumbles to the ground outside. The other characters talk about him, and the clown says the major will return, but not to rescue them: "He may have been right...this may be Hell."
The scene cuts to a little girl picking up a doll from the snow – in the dress of an Army major. A kindly woman tells her to put it back "in the barrel with the rest of them." It is revealed that the cylinder is actually a Christmas toy collection bin for a girls' orphanage, and all five characters are nothing more than dolls. The loud noise was the shaking of a handbell which the woman used to attract donations. The five characters themselves are left motionless as the ballerina moves to hold the hand of the major, her glass eyes filling with tears streaming down her painted face.
Five Tropes in Search of an Exit:
- Alien Abduction. Discussed. The ballerina believes that she and the others have been abducted by aliens, and are either on another planet, or on a ship on the way to one.
- Ambiguous Situation: The end of the episode shows that the major returned to the barrel with the other dolls. It's not clear if his temporary escape made him realize the truth about himself and the others, or if he went into a "toy mode" once he fell out and thus couldn't sense what was happening. The ballerina's taking his hand and crying only muddies things further. Is she breaking down over the truth, or simply comforting the distraught major after his plan failed?
- Black Comedy: Invoked by the clown, who delights in singing nursery rhymes and making sarcastic quips about the hellish situation he and the others are trapped in. It's heavily implied that this is only a front to keep himself from insanity.
- Bottle Episode: A majority of the episode is inside a small room, and only one street corner.
- Children Are Innocent: As noted by the final narration, which says the toys will be adopted and cared for by some of them someday.
- Christmas Episode: One of the surprises of the episode, as the characters are nothing more than toys stuck in a barrel waiting to be sold to an orphanage.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Each character has gone through this. Much like the major, they begin in a state of panic and are desperate to escape the strange room, but gradually become resigned to their fate and give up hope ("It gets easier after a while."). The major, as the newest arrival, hasn't reached this point yet, and the ballerina still maintains some slight optimism, but the clown, hobo, and bagpiper are no longer trying to get out.
- The Cuckoolander Was Right: The hobo's guess about the group's predicament is "We're dead. We're dead, and this is limbo." While they aren't exactly dead, the ending narration does confirm that they are in a kind of limbo: they're toys waiting to be donated to an orphanage, where presumably they'll receive love and attention from the children who will play with them.
- Dream People: Discussed. The bagpiper speculates that the quintent are nothing more than characters in someone else's dream.
- Dutch Angle: They're used when the characters form a Human Ladder to climb out of the strange room. The effect is particularly obvious with the bagpiper, whose kilt is clearly hanging down to lie on the "wall."
- The Ending Changes Everything: Rewatching the episode with the knowledge that everyone is actually a doll makes it an entirely different experience.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Since the characters don't remember their names, their costumes are all they have to go on.
- Foreshadowing: There are a few clues to the characters' true identities sprinkled throughout the episode:
- The ballerina points out that none of the prisoners feel hunger, thirst, cold, heat, or any physical sensations. The clown later adds that they are capable of feeling pain, which is proven when the ballerina sprains her leg. Dolls don't need to eat or sleep, but they can be broken.
- The major's sword breaks against the side of the metal chamber. Since he's a doll, it's merely a prop made of plastic, and thus extremely fragile.
- The characters' lack of names and identities beyond their jobs isn't a case of amnesia; they don't have personalities because dolls aren't given them.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The titular five characters form one:
- The major is the Optimist: He still believes that the characters can escape and tirelessly works to find a way out, as well as solve the mystery of what's going on.
- The clown is the Cynic: He's given up hope of escaping and mocks the others' attempts to both get out or figure out what's happening.
- The ballerina is the Realist: She is the most self-aware regarding the situation, mediates between the major and the clown, and agrees to the major's plans when they make logical sense.
- The bagpiper is the Apathetic: He participates the least in the group's conversations and writes off the whole experience as a dream with very little hesitation.
- The hobo is the Conflicted: He's clearly the most depressed and frightened about the situation, and while he does participate in the group's escape attempt, he's also willing to accept it as a failure.
- Human Ladder: The group tries this twice to attempt an escape. The first time fails, injuring the ballerina's leg. The second time the Major escapes, where the truth about him and the others is revealed.
- Living Toys: The major (pardon the pun) surprise of the episode.
- Manly Tears: The major begins to sob after his numerous attempts to escape the room fail. He is also no closer to figuring out what is going on. The ballerina is able to comfort him in their doll state.
- Mood-Swinger: The clown switches between funny and serious.
- Nameless Narrative: None of the characters, human or doll, have any proper names.
- Non-Ironic Clown: The clown. He's not scary in the slightest, but he tends to switch moods at the drop of a hat and endlessly teases the major. He's also something of a Sad Clown, as his occasional dips into philosophical musings prove.
- Ontological Mystery: Five people are trapped in a room with only one hard-to-reach exit and no memory of where they came from or who they are.
- Out of Focus: The major, ballerina, and clown get the lion's share of the dialogue, meaning that the other two characters only get a few lines each; the hobo has about six, and the bagpiper four. It's even reflected in the credits, which have the first three as the main characters and the latter two on an "Also Starring" list.
- Pet the Dog: The clown may be a cynical jerk, but he genuinely enjoys the ballerina's dancing and encourages her to perform to cheer up the major up.
- Purgatory and Limbo: Discussed. The hobo speculates that they are trapped in Limbo.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: Our five mismatched heroes are trapped and isolated for now, but they're toys meant to be donated to an orphanage, and Serling's ending narration suggests that they'll be loved unconditionally by the children there.
- Snowclone Title: To Six Characters in Search of an Author.
- Tears from a Stone: In the final scene, having been revealed to be dolls, the ballerina cries as she moves her hand towards the major.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Deconstructed. While the major does successfully escape, it's possible that the sudden realization that he and the others are little more than toys might actually make his predicament worse, especially because he's thrown back into the barrel without getting to experience actual freedom.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Possibly. The major might have realized he was a toy when the little girl picked him up and put him back in the barrel, and he may have shared that information with the others, but the episode ends before it's confirmed.
- Tragic Abandoned Toy: An Army major, a clown, a bagpiper, a ballerina, and a hobo find themselves trapped in a metal cylinder, without knowing who they are or how they got there. They try to escape, first by forming a tower and afterwards with a grappling hook formed by the major. He is the only one to succeed, but he tumbles to the ground outside. We then cut to a little girl spotting a doll in the snow; a woman gently asks her to put it back in the barrel. It's then revealed that the five characters are actually dolls and the cylinder is a Christmas toy collection bin for a girls' orphanage.
- Troll: The clown is a first-class example. He mocks the major's escape attempts (at one point singing "We're Here Because We're Here" as the major bangs on the wall), cracks jokes about the other characters, and generally delights in irritating the group.
- Unbuilt Trope: The story takes a far more haunting look at the idea of sentient toys than most other media, since the characters are more unaware of their true natures and think they are in some kind of awful afterlife for much of the episode. The fact that they don't have any human needs is also a clear sign that they're not quite human. The episode comes across as "What if Toy Story were played for horror?" despite predating it by three decades.
- Wild Mass Guessing: In-universe among the characters. They try to figure out where they are, and everyone has a different theory. The clown is the exception, as he doesn't see any point in figuring it out.
- You Wake Up in a Room: Dressed as a major, surrounded by a clown, a hobo, a bagpiper, and a ballerina.
