Tales of Tomorrow A Child Is Crying (1951–1953) Online

These Tales of Tomorrow episodes really have an edge to them. In this one a couple of real Neanderthals, a Senator and a General, find out about a young girl who has an incredible mathematical and scientific intellect. She is almost zombie like in her being. When they decide to remove her from her home and sentence her to a life as an "asset" to the federal government, she readily agrees. The problem for these two paragons of horror is that she has the ability to manipulate them and match them at their own game. We find out early, that she knows something awful is going to happen, but because she doesn't want to have an effect on history and the inevitable she won't tell them. And all their blustering does no good at all. I thought the stage presence of this girl and her acting ability were superb. I wish I could say the same for the others, but it doesn't matter. Had I been a child watching this in 1951, I would not have been able to sleep for a week.

One of the best Science Fiction stories written by the great John D. MacDonald and presented by the premiere Science Fiction show of the 1950s and precursor to "Outer Limits" and "Twilight Zone", "Tales of Tomorrow"! Lily is a little girl with the extraordinary intellect of Einstein, da Vince, Hawking, and Archimedes combined with a dash of Nostradamus thrown in.

Pre-dates "The Midwich Cuckoos" (Village of the Damned and Children of the Damned) by ten years.

Terrifying tale of the future, and a message as true today was it was in 1951 when this episode premiered!

In 1957, the story "The Midwich Cuckoos" was published and a movie version, "Village of the Damned" came out just three years later. However, in this episode of "Tales of Tomorrow" (which debuted in 1951), several plot elements of "Midwich" can be found. Perhaps it is a coincidence--perhaps one helped inspire the other. The stories are not at all the same--but as I said, there are similarities.

The film begins with a young girl being examined by military doctors. It seems that she is an incredible super-genius and they are trying to determine how bright she really is. It turns out she is smarter than the scientists and the military folks want to keep her and use her to protect us from 'the enemy'. As time passes, it becomes apparent that she not only is a super-genius but she has insight into what WILL happen in the world. This is a serious problem, as some of her comments sound as if the world as we know it is coming to a swift end--most likely because mankind is essentially stupid. There's quite a bit more to it--so tune in and see this interesting installment.

In many ways, this is an interesting curio of the Red Scare and commentary on our overwhelming desire to destroy ourselves. It also bears similarities to "Midwich" because the child has been altered by some power and now she has super-human mental powers--and people are rather afraid of her. Fascinating and well worth seeing.

Those were the words of my buddy Bob the day after this episode aired. fine example of superior writing used to overcome budget limits. If memory serves the only set was sparsely dressed to look like an office or a conference room. This episode is also an example of the Cold War thinking that ruled us all. We had nuclear attack drills in school. We all lived our normal lives but with the idea that it might all end at any time. The episode captures the atmosphere perfectly.

Robin Morgan does a superb job of representing the child with the super intellect an the ego to match.

Spoiler: Robin Morgan's on camera transformation from the supercilious intellect to the frightened child on camera is a wonder.

Maybe not the inspiration of "The Village of the Damned", but inspiration of "The Space Children" (directed by Jack Arnold and written by Tom Filer), that's for sure! To compare, there is the peaceful children all over the world to protect the Earth, the atomic rocket, the U.S. Army General who wants absolutely a striking solution to solve the cold war. The only difference of "The Space Children" is that the pacific solution is impulsed by a brain from outer space, and not by a superior race of children, created by the Evolution. It's even much better that the Arnold's movie and precedes it by 7 years. Highly recommended and topnotch episode of "Tales of Tomorrow".