A Small Talent for War

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"A Small Talent for War"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from "A Small Talent for War"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 15b
Directed by	Claudia Weill
Written by	Alan Brennert Carter Scholz
Original air date	January 24, 1986 (1986-01-24)
Guest appearances
John Glover: Alien Ambassador Peter Michael Goetz: American Diplomat Stefan Gierasch: Soviet Diplomat Fran Bennett: UN Chairman Jose Santana: U.S. Aide Gillian Eaton: British Delegate Richard Brestoff: British Aide
Episode chronology
← Previous "Monsters!" Next → "A Matter of Minutes"
List of episodes

"A Small Talent for War" is the second segment of the fifteenth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. In this segment, an advanced alien race claims to have created human beings and proposes to wipe them out unless they change their ways.

Plot[]

An ambassador from an alien race arrives and claims that his race genetically engineered the people of Earth. He tells the United Nations Security Council that his race is displeased with Earth'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 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 were, 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, our weapons as crude and primitive, and our longing for peace as a fatal flaw. As the ambassador calls down his fleet to destroy Earth, he thanks the Security Council for an amusing day.

External links[]

• "A Small Talent for War" at IMDb