The Twilight Zone - Changing of the Guard*

****/****

I love Changing of the Guard. It just resonates with me. I think anyone who has taught young minds or mentored those in need of guidance for many years will get so much out of this episode. Especially when the end comes and there is perspective and dwelling on potential accomplishments and failures. I think a good many of us hope at the end of a long career/profession, there is evidence or residue—results—that remains for us to contemplate and be proud of. Also, though, when we reach the end, how to accept that it is over, right? How to be proud and not wind up so far into the dumps when retirement comes if you love and live for that profession/mentorship that you contemplate what Professor Fowler does during Changing of the Guard before “ghosts of the past” return to visit him. A gun in his study’s desk, Fowler doesn’t realize what his teaching at the boy’s preparatory school accomplished, feeling that he was an abject failure who left behind no imprint on his students. Certain students who died young but bravely, visiting Fowler in his classroom after the school bell alarms him of something he investigates (when at the grave of a great educator, complete with an erected statue in his honor), recount to him how the poetry taught to them by him left an indelible mark, actually educate the professor. Fowler needed to be reminded that 51 years wasn’t a waste, and that he did imprint upon them lessons in life they took to heart, not for granted. I just can’t help but react emotionally to material so wise and rich, performed as it is by Pleasence who might have been in his early 40s (with old age makeup adding years on him) but seemed to astutely understand and convey those raw feelings that someone, having spent years and years as an educator to generations of boys, might undergo when told his services are no longer preferred. That “changing of the guard” feels more like “putting out to pasture”, Pleasence gets that agony and heartbreak across so well. You see the professor, grinning at the thought of teaching the great grandsons of former students, being told by the headmaster of his school (Liam Sullivan) that a letter in the mail didn’t have a contract to renew as his face loses color and the end sinking in. Leaving the headmaster’s office, greeting two of his former students as they had dismissed for the Christmas holidays, the tears well up and trying to conceal his ache proves difficult; Fowler somehow tries to process what just happened. One moment he was preparing for the holidays without a care in the world (and a radio broadcast awaiting), the next he is dealing with the prospects of his classroom occupied by a much younger professor. Pleasence emotes all of that to great effect. His maid (Philippa Bevans) had cooked some supper for the professor while he was dozing and listens as he browbeats his career without saying a word, the tears in her eyes and aching heart speaking volumes.

When Serling is at his best, his writing for the Twilight Zone could make an impact. He could communicate with a message that reached people. I think this episode is such an example. Pleasence is just the right actor for the part, too, even if he wasn’t necessarily of the age of his character and needed the work of a makeup artist in order to benefit from Serling’s script. To come to that realization, after considerable personal abuse, through the visitation of past apparitions in their previous teenage form that his career did have merit and value leaves a satisfaction because there is acceptance and understanding, contentment and, most importantly, happiness. Christmas carols from his current (and final) class of students and a melodic hymn from his radio, with warm food on the desk of his study, Professor Fowler ruminates on a career that had worth and substance. A smile on his face as Fowler takes retirement no longer do depressingly.

*I had forgotten that this episode was set at Christmastime. This would have been an ideal viewing right in the heart of the Christmas season. Maybe next year.

*There is a scene where Fowler visits the grave of the educator, seemingly during the lateness of the hour, clearing a poem on his statue, as the snow covers the area, really complements this time of year for me. A splendid experience I recommend to old and young TZ fans.
*An icon like Pleasence on my favorite show upon first viewing was really cool.
*Fowler remembering his students, reminiscing is one of my favorite scenes. I can just visualize human institutions reflecting back on those students from old yearbooks.