A Little Peace and Quiet
Encyclopedia
"A Little Peace and Quiet" is the second segment of the first episode of the first season (1985–1986) of the television series The New Twilight Zone
.
One day, Penny works in her garden while her neighbor loudly removes tree limbs with a chainsaw. As she digs, she discovers a wooden box containing a beautiful gold pendant in the shape of a sundial, which she takes inside and puts on.
At the grocery store, Penny is harassed by her whining children and by annoying customers. While driving home as her children loudly fight, Penny seems to be on the verge of a total nervous breakdown. While she tries to cook dinner, her children begin to pester her again and her husband comes downstairs complaining about a rip in his shirt. As the noise level becomes too much, she yells at them to shut up and they freeze in time. She is confused at first, but soon realizes that the pendant is an amulet that can stop time. She tells her family to start talking and time restarts. She is happy as she realizes that she will finally have a little peace and quiet. "Shut up" is the word to stop time and "start talking" restarts time. However, the power will only work if Penny is wearing the amulet.
Later that night, Penny watches a news program about the recent peace talks between the United States
and the Soviet Union
. She becomes annoyed and briefly freezes time, then expresses her happiness and goes to sleep.
The next day, Penny uses her time-stopping power to enjoy a peaceful breakfast with her family, to shop at the grocery store without incident, and to avoid being pestered by two anti-nuclear weapons activists; she drags their frozen bodies into the yard, lays them down, then restarts time, and the shocked activists decide to skip her house.
Later that evening, Penny enjoys a relaxing bath when air raid sirens go off and she hears her husband calling loudly from the bedroom. When she goes into the bedroom, the radio announcer reveals that nuclear missiles are heading for the United States
and the TV is showing the Emergency Broadcast System. When the radio reveals that ICBMs have entered U.S. airspace, her husband and son begin to weep and an explosion is heard in the distance, Penny quickly freezes time, leaves her house and walks through a frozen town. As she approaches the movie theatre (where the marquee announces a double feature of Fail Safe
and Dr. Strangelove
, two Cold War thrillers about nuclear exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union) she looks up to see what the frozen people are looking at...and is horrified to see a Soviet nuclear missile frozen over the city, nose down and seemingly a second or two from detonating.
The episode ends with Penny facing an impossible dilemma: Will she live eternally alone in a silent but safe world...or unfreeze time but die instantly?
" which involves a man who seeks a refuge from life while reading when the world ends through a nuclear war, and "A Kind of a Stopwatch" which involves a man who gains the power to stop time using a stopwatch.
The New Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is the first of two revivals of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1950/60s television series of the same name. It ran for two seasons on CBS before producing a final season for syndication.-Series history:...
.
Opening narration
Synopsis
Penny is a very harried housewife with a dim-witted husband, Russell, and four children, Janet, Susan, Gertie, and Russell Jr., who simply do not get along with each other. A typical morning consists of Penny being awakened by her excessively loud clock radio, cooking breakfast while the children fight and interrupt her, Russell complaining about something, the phone ringing, the dog barking, and the washing machine acting up.One day, Penny works in her garden while her neighbor loudly removes tree limbs with a chainsaw. As she digs, she discovers a wooden box containing a beautiful gold pendant in the shape of a sundial, which she takes inside and puts on.
At the grocery store, Penny is harassed by her whining children and by annoying customers. While driving home as her children loudly fight, Penny seems to be on the verge of a total nervous breakdown. While she tries to cook dinner, her children begin to pester her again and her husband comes downstairs complaining about a rip in his shirt. As the noise level becomes too much, she yells at them to shut up and they freeze in time. She is confused at first, but soon realizes that the pendant is an amulet that can stop time. She tells her family to start talking and time restarts. She is happy as she realizes that she will finally have a little peace and quiet. "Shut up" is the word to stop time and "start talking" restarts time. However, the power will only work if Penny is wearing the amulet.
Later that night, Penny watches a news program about the recent peace talks between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. She becomes annoyed and briefly freezes time, then expresses her happiness and goes to sleep.
Later that evening, Penny enjoys a relaxing bath when air raid sirens go off and she hears her husband calling loudly from the bedroom. When she goes into the bedroom, the radio announcer reveals that nuclear missiles are heading for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the TV is showing the Emergency Broadcast System. When the radio reveals that ICBMs have entered U.S. airspace, her husband and son begin to weep and an explosion is heard in the distance, Penny quickly freezes time, leaves her house and walks through a frozen town. As she approaches the movie theatre (where the marquee announces a double feature of Fail Safe
Fail-Safe (1964 film)
Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It tells the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis...
and Dr. Strangelove
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, commonly known as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 black comedy film which satirizes the nuclear scare. It was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and featuring Sterling...
, two Cold War thrillers about nuclear exchanges between the United States and the Soviet Union) she looks up to see what the frozen people are looking at...and is horrified to see a Soviet nuclear missile frozen over the city, nose down and seemingly a second or two from detonating.
The episode ends with Penny facing an impossible dilemma: Will she live eternally alone in a silent but safe world...or unfreeze time but die instantly?
Themes
This episode is similar in theme to two episodes of the original series; "Time Enough at LastTime Enough at Last
"Time Enough at Last" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was adapted from a short story by Lyn Venable , which had been published in the January 1953 edition of the science fiction magazine If: Worlds of Science Fiction...
" which involves a man who seeks a refuge from life while reading when the world ends through a nuclear war, and "A Kind of a Stopwatch" which involves a man who gains the power to stop time using a stopwatch.