"Steel" is an episode of the
American television
Television is one of the major mass media outlets in the United States. , household ownership of television sets in the country is 96.7%, with approximately 114,200,000 American households owning at least one television set as of August 2013. ...
anthology series ''
The Twilight Zone
''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...
''. Set in the near future, its premise is that human
professional boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
has been banned and replaced by android boxing. The story follows a once-famous human boxer who works as a manager for an antiquated android while struggling to come to grips with his career having been taken over by machines.
The episode is based on the short story of the same name by
Richard Matheson
Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres.
He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...
first published in the May 1956 issue of ''
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...
''.
Opening narration
Plot
In the near-future year of 1974,
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
between human fighters has been criminalized and the sport is dominated by fighting robots. Former boxer Timothy Kelly (nicknamed "Steel" because, as a heavyweight, he was never knocked down) manages a B2-model robot called "Battling Maxo", an older model that is no longer in demand. Kelly and his partner, Pole, have used the last of their money to get to the fight venue. They are being given this chance because one of the scheduled fighters was damaged in transport. Kelly has to assure fight promoter Nolan and his assistant Maxwell that Maxo will be able to fight. After they leave Nolan's office, Kelly and Pole argue about Maxo's fitness. Kelly feels that Maxo should be able to go through with the fight despite its age and condition. Pole tests Maxo's functions and an arm spring fails, effectively prohibiting it from fighting as they don't have the funds to repair it.
Kelly decides that he will disguise himself as Maxo in order to collect the money necessary for repairs. Despite a valiant effort, he is unable to damage Maynard Flash, the B7 robot that he is fighting, even when he lands an unblocked punch directly into the back of its head. He is nearly killed but manages to last a little under three minutes of the first round. The crowd jeers and boos at Maxo's performance, it being Kelly under disguise. Afterwards, the fight promoter withdraws half of the promised reward due to poor performance; Kelly dares not protest to prevent recognition. Badly bruised but stubborn as ever, Kelly tells Pole that they will use whatever they have to repair Maxo regardless.
Closing narration
Production notes
This was the first episode sponsored by
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
(alternating sponsorship with
American Tobacco
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of ...
), who usually "pitched"
Crest
Crest or CREST may refer to:
Buildings
*The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York
*"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York
*Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...
toothpaste, Lilt Home Permanent, and
Prell
Prell is a viscous, pearl-green shampoo and conditioner product manufactured by Scott's Liquid Gold-Inc through their Neoteric Cosmetics subsidiary.
History
Prell was introduced by Procter & Gamble in 1947. The original formula was a clear gree ...
shampoo, among their other products. Serling was not required to endorse any of P&G's products at the end of their episodes.
Serling, in his narration, had predicted that professional boxing would be outlawed within five years of the episode's airing; at the time, the sport was mired in controversy after
Emile Griffith
Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who won world titles in three weight divisions. He held the world light middleweight, undisputed welterweight, and middleweight t ...
killed his opponent
Benny Paret
Bernardo Paret (March 14, 1937 – April 3, 1962), known as Benny Paret or Benny "Kid" Paret, was a Cuban welterweight boxer who won the World Welterweight Championship twice in the early 1960s.
Paret's death occurred 10 days after injuries ...
in a nationally televised and
particularly brutal 1962 match. With Paret's death at Griffith's hands, as well as the death of
Davey Moore from a neck injury sustained in a March 1963 contest,
the specter of the sport being outlawed was a realistic possibility at the time "Steel" was broadcast.
Serling's prediction did not come to fruition; although boxing declined in popularity in the succeeding years, it has never been outlawed.
Each of the five credited cast members appeared in one other episode —
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alth ...
starred in
"The Grave" (October 1961),
Joe Mantell
Joseph Mantell (né Mantel; December 21, 1915 – September 29, 2010) was an American film and television actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as best friend Angie in the 1955 film '' Marty'', which h ...
starred as "
Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room
"Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room" is episode 39 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. It originally aired on October 14, 1960, on CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its for ...
" (October 1960),
Chuck Hicks
Charles Dallas Hicks (December 26, 1927 – May 4, 2021) was an American actor and stuntman. During World War II, Hicks served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and later in the Navy. had an uncredited bit part as a mover in "
Ninety Years Without Slumbering
"Ninety Years Without Slumbering" is episode 132 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. The title comes from the lyrics of the song "My Grandfather's Clock", which is sung or played throughout the episode as a recurring ...
" (December 1963, two months after this episode), Merritt Bohn was billed at the bottom of the cast list in a bit part as a truck driver in ''Twilight Zones second episode, "
One for the Angels
"One for the Angels" is the second episode of the American anthology television series ''The Twilight Zone''. It originally aired on October 9, 1959, on CBS.
Opening narration
Plot
Lew Bookman is a kindly sidewalk pitchman who sells and repairs ...
" (October 1959) and Frank London was billed third from the end in a bit part as a driver in "
"A Penny for Your Thoughts" (February 1961).
See also
*''
Real Steel
''Real Steel'' is a 2011 American science fiction sports drama film starring Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo and co-produced and directed by Shawn Levy for DreamWorks Pictures. The film is based on the short story "Steel", written by Richard Mathe ...
'', a 2011 American science fiction film also based on Richard Matheson's short story
*"
I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot
"I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot", also known as "I, D'oh-Bot", is the ninth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 11, 2004. This ...
", a 2004 episode of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' with a similar plot
*"
Raging Bender
"Raging Bender" is the eighth episode in the second season of the American animated television series ''Futurama''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 27, 2000. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and direc ...
" from the second season of ''
Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
'' also depicts a hidden human controller of a robotic boxer.
References
*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). ''Trivia from The Twilight Zone''. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media.
*Grams, Martin. (2008). ''The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic''. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing.
*Zicree, Marc Scott: ''The Twilight Zone Companion''. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition)
External links
*
{{Richard Matheson
1963 American television episodes
Adaptations of works by Richard Matheson
Boxing mass media
Television episodes written by Richard Matheson
Television shows based on short fiction
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series season 5) episodes
Television episodes about robots
Fiction set in 1974