A Small Talent for War: Difference between revisions

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{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

'''A Small Talent for War''' is an episode from [[The Twilight Zone]].

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode

| series = [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]

| image = A Small Talent for War.jpg

| caption = Scene from "A Small Talent for War"

| season = 1

| episode = 15

| segment = b

| director = [[Claudia Weill]]

| writer = * [[Alan Brennert]]

* [[Carter Scholz]]

| production =

| airdate = {{Start date|1986|1|24}}

| guests = * [[John Glover (actor)|John Glover]] as Alien Ambassador

* [[Peter Michael Goetz]] as American Diplomat

* [[Stefan Gierasch]] as Soviet Diplomat

* [[Fran Bennett]] as UN Chairman

* Jose Santana as U.S. Aide

* Gillian Eaton as British Delegate

* Richard Brestoff as British Aide

| prev = [[Monsters!]]

| next = [[A Matter of Minutes]]

| episode_list = List of The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes

}}

"'''A Small Talent for War'''" is the second segment of the fifteenth episode of the [[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) (season 1)|first season]] of the [[Television show|television series]] ''[[The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)|The Twilight Zone]]''.<ref>{{Citation |title=Monsters!/A Small Talent for War/A Matter of Minutes |date=1986-01-24 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734721/ |access-date=2022-11-29 |series=The Twilight Zone}}</ref> In this segment, an advanced alien race claims to have created human beings and proposes to wipe them out unless they change their ways.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Leunig |first=Maximilian |date=2022-10-27 |title=The 10 Best Twilight Zone Episodes — Across All 4 Versions |url=https://collider.com/the-10-best-twilight-zone-episodes-across-all-4-versions/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221107235859/https://collider.com/the-10-best-twilight-zone-episodes-across-all-4-versions/ |archive-date=2022-11-07 |access-date=2022-11-29 |website=Collider |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Plot==

The scene is set with the [[United Nations Security Council]] bickering between nations over how to respond to the appearance of an extraterrestrial vessel near the council building.

{{spoiler}}

An ambassador from an [[extraterrestrial life|alien]] race then appears to them and claims that his race seeded life on Earth millions of years earlier. He tells them that his race is displeased with humanity's "small talent for war," as they have failed to produce the potential that the aliens had nurtured, and his fleet will destroy all life on Earth. The Security Council pleads for and is granted a 24-hour reprieve to prove humanity's worth.

The Security Council and the [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] negotiate an accord for lasting global peace and present it to the alien ambassador. He is amused at the peace accord and explains that his race was, in fact, seeking a ''greater'' talent for war, as they had genetically seeded thousands of planets to breed warriors to fight for them across the galaxy. They perceived humanity's conflicts as erratic and clumsy, weapons as crude and primitive, and longing for peace as a fatal flaw. As the ambassador calls down his fleet to destroy Earth, he praises the Security Council for the amusing day, commenting that while war is their goal, good humor is an even more difficult talent to master.<ref>{{Citation |last=SunsetCast Media System |title=1986-01-24 - Rv1 S01 E15b - A Small Talent For War |date=2009-04-15 |url=http://archive.org/details/podcast_sunsetcast-the-twilight-zone_1986-01-24-rv1-s01-e15b-a_1000429932486 |access-date=2022-11-29}}</ref>

== References ==

<references/>

==External links==

* {{IMDb episode|0734721}}

* [https://vimeo.com/2531533 Episode "A Small Talent for War" on Vimeo]

{{The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) episodes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Small Talent For War, A}}

John Glover is an alien emissary from a race that supposedly genetically engineered humanity. He directly challenges the [[United Nations]] (UN) to prove humanities worth, citing how wasteful and warlike we are. With the survival of humanity at stake the UN hurredly establishes an accord for lasting global peace and presents it to the emissary. The emissary is unimpressed however; it's not peace they wish to make humans aspire to, it's war. The aliens created humans to be their soldier slaves and they expected us to be better and more efficient at war. Having failed to impress them, the aliens destroy humanity.

[[Category:1986 American television episodes]]

[[Category:Television episodes about ancient astronauts]]

[[Category:The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series) season 1 episodes]]

[[Category:Works by Carter Scholz]]

[[fr:Risque de paix mondiale]]

{{stub}}