"Twilight Zone" didn't have a lot of one-hour episodes, and, generally speaking, they weren't all that good-- what might work in a half-hour format sometimes required too much padding and fluff to extend it into a workable hour. This one benefits greatly from the late, great James Whitmore in the main role as the leader of an Earth colony stranded on a 2-sunned asteroid. The script was written by Rod Serling, which probably accounts for its faults. Serling was capable of genius, but he also had a tendency to become heavy-handed and preachy sometimes while trying to make a point, particularly when the intended point involved the rigid Cold-War politics of the era in which he wrote. Nothing innovative, imaginative, or outside the box here. "Socialism" (although the word isn't used) is very, very bad; "rugged individualism" (as personified in the Tim O'Connor character of "Colonel Sloane") is very, very good...couldn't that point have been made in a half hour? If something good can be said of the episode, I suppose it sort of anticipated by several years the whole "Star Trek" paradigm. The episode isn't quite as obvious as the episode featuring Peter Falk as a faux-Castro (can't remember the name), but it also isn't as entertaining. Whitmore's character of "Captain Benteen" makes little dramatic sense; he escalates quickly from a benevolent and fatherly sage into a messianic nut-job, and the transition isn't realistic, despite Whitmore's considerable and convincing acting talent. Then again, think how dull and silly the episode might have been without Whitmore. Sadly, so far as I know, this was the only "Twilight Zone" episode he appeared in. R.I.P., James.

One of TZ's numerous excellent cautionary tales...

Very good parable on the power and control exerted by cult/small group leaders--particularly when the group's very survival is at stake.

What I liked best about this episode was that Whitmore's character isn't totally unlikeable. Yeah he does get carried away with power, but he probably was instrumental in his group lasting for so long, as they probably would have turned to chaos to an extent without him. That makes it something different than a typical good versus evil story. I like how they portrayed the hardships the group endured over the 30 years. I guess the only real flaw here was that I have a hard time believing Whitmore's character (Capt Benteen was it) would allow himself to be left behind, regardless of the circumstances. Especially with no chance of future ships coming.

Great episode. This one really had me thinking. What do you do when you've become a big fish in a small pond? What do you do when you seem to get what you've wanted all along? What happens when you have a chance to make a sudden life-altering change in your life? Felt for James Whitmore's charatcter.

A clever study of the negatives and positives of power, James Whitmore and James Broderick make the most of Serling's fine script. Unfortunately the direction doesn't quite match them.