The Little Black Bag story
In 1971, a disgraced doctor (Burgess Meredith) finds a medical bag from 2098. Note: Based on a short story of the same name by C.M. Kornbluth Directed by: Jeannot Szwarc. Story by: Rod Serling.
12 total · 6 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greed for riches | major | Heppelwhite murdered his hobo-doctor friend, William Fall, and took his medical bag from the future to try and make a fortune from its contents. |
| healing ability | major | William Fall became a veritable miracle worker with his medical bag from the future. |
| medical occupation | major | The disgraced physician William Fall wanted to use his medical bag from the future to cure people of disease and didn't care about making money. |
| speculative smart tool | major | The medical tools told William Fall how to use them and also assisted in various ways. |
| time travel | major | A medical bag from 2098 was accidentally sent back in time to the year 1971. |
| what it is like to be homeless | major | The story follows the experience of two hobos who stumble upon a medical bag from the future. Part of the story is set in a homeless shelter. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | The bums where clearly abusing alcohol. |
| cure for cancer | minor | William Fall used a special scalpel from his the medical bag to cure Charlie Peterson of cancer. |
| desire vs. conscience | minor | Heppelwhite tried to convince Fall to use the bag for material gain, but Fall stuck to his morals and wanted to use the bag only for good. |
| fall from grace | minor | A disgraced and now homeless physician, William Fall, found a medical bag from the future. |