Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The phrase is the dream and the trap in one: the longed-for solitude to read, granted at the price of everyone else on Earth. Bemis's story is one of television's cruellest ironies, and the title has become a standing joke for anyone who finally gets free time and then wrecks it, with Bemis's shattered glasses as the famous image. It is among the most referenced and parodied Twilight Zone episodes, and book lovers still reach for it when the to-read pile finally gets its moment.
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In context
Spoilers for The Twilight ZoneShow the scene
"Time Enough at Last" (The Twilight Zone, season 1, episode 8, aired 20 November 1959) stars Burgess Meredith as Henry Bemis, a bank teller whose boss and wife both mock his love of books. Reading in the bank vault at lunch, he survives a thermonuclear attack that flattens the city. Alone with canned food and no one left to talk to, he is about to give up when he finds the ruins of a public library with its books intact: all the books and, at last, all the time. Rod Serling wrote the teleplay from a 1953 short story by Lynn Venable. The title phrase is the line fans quote.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Time Enough at LastPlot and Production sectionsReference checked
- Twilight Zone Wiki: Time Enough at Lastinfobox and Opening NarrationReference checked
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