The Brain Center at Whipple's story
A factory owner decides to replace his human employees with machines. Directed by: Richard Donner. Story by: Rod Serling.
11 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| workers replaced by machines | choice | Mr. Whipple wanted to replace tens of thousands of workers with an "X109B14 modified transistorized totally automatic assembly machine". |
| boss and employee | major | We saw Mr. Whipple callously layoff one employee after another. |
| cruelty | major | Mr. Whipple was an extraordinarily callous person with absolutely no regard for the people who had worked for him for decades. |
| poetic justice | major | Mr. Whipple, who had callously replaced all his workers with machines, was finally himself replaced by a robot. |
| the need to be treated with respect | major | A newly laid off foreman forcefully explained to Mr. Whipple that men need work (presumably to to fulfill a basic need for dignity). Later Mr. Whipple was distraught when his own pink slip came and he was chucked out "like he was some kind of a part". |
| compromising one's ethical principles for personal advantage | minor | Mr. Whipple was chided for pursuing profit at the expense of human feeling. |
| descent into madness | minor | When Mr. Whipple had only one employee left he was noticeably disheveled; after firing the last one, he went insane and neurotic and was fired by the board. |
| early computer | minor | Mr. Whipple's "X109B14 modified transistorized totally automatic assembly machine" resembled a 1960s era mainframe computer. |
| father and son | minor | Mr. Whipple mentioned his father several times. |
| humanoid robot | minor | The last scene revealed that Mr. Whipple was replaced by a robot - actually Robby the Robot. |