The Obsolete Man-- The Twilight Zone

[Tanuki]

(Starring Burgess Meredith)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Obsolete_Man

Opening Narration
You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace. This is Mr. Romney Wordsworth, in his last forty-eight hours on Earth. He's a citizen of the State but will soon have to be eliminated, because he's built out of flesh and because he has a mind.[2] Mr. Romney Wordsworth, who will draw his last breaths - in The Twilight Zone.
Plot
In a future totalitarian state, Romney Wordsworth is put on trial for being obsolete. His professed occupation as a librarian is punishable by death, as the state has eliminated books. His faith in God is taken as further proof of obsolescence, as the atheist state claims to have proven God does not exist. Following a bitter exchange, the Chancellor finds Wordsworth guilty and sentences him to death within 48 hours, allowing him to choose his method and exact time and place of execution. Wordsworth requests that he be granted a personal assassin, who will be the only one who knows the method of his death, and that his execution be televised nationwide from his room at midnight on the following day. Although Wordsworth's demand for privacy is unprecedented, the Chancellor grants both requests.

At 11:15 the following night, the Chancellor visits Wordsworth in his now-monitored room, responding to the latter's invitation out of curiosity. Wordsworth reveals that he has chosen to die in a bomb explosion at midnight. The Chancellor expresses approval until Wordsworth further states that he has locked the door, and the Chancellor will die with him. He also points out that, as the events are being broadcast live, the State would risk losing its status in the people's eyes if it chose to rescue the Chancellor. Wordsworth brings out an illegal, long-hidden copy of the Bible, reading Psalm 23 and portions of several other psalms aloud to express his trust in God.

In the final minute before midnight, the Chancellor breaks down and begs to be let go "in the name of God". Wordsworth agrees to do so and gives him the key to unlock the door. The Chancellor flees from the room just before the bomb explodes, killing Wordsworth. Due to his cowardly display in Wordsworth's room and invocation of God, the Chancellor is replaced by his own subaltern and declared obsolete. He protests against this verdict and tries to escape, but the tribunal's attendants overwhelm him and beat him to death."...(more)

[harumph]

1. Ah yes, back when the ginned up fear was an "atheist" totalitarian state.

Because atheists fear books, ya know.

[marble falls]

2. Obsolete!

[elocs]

3. I've seen that one as well as the one also with Burgess Meredith where he was the bank teller

who wanted to read all the time, even at work. He was in the bank vault when "the bomb" dropped and everything was rubble but there were lots of books to read with nobody to stop him and all the time in the world. Then when he looked down his glass slipped off his face and the lenses broke when he hit the cement. The final words on the episode by him: "It's not fair, it's not fair".