The Obsolete Man
E237695
"The Obsolete Man" is a classic 1961 episode of the anthology series The Twilight Zone that explores themes of totalitarianism, individual worth, and censorship through the story of a librarian condemned as obsolete by a dystopian state.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Obsolete Man canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2120486 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Obsolete Man Context triple: [The Twilight Zone (TV series episodes), hasNotableEpisode, The Obsolete Man]
-
A.
The Old Arbitrator
The Old Arbitrator was the famous nickname of Bill Klem, a pioneering and highly respected Major League Baseball umpire known for his authoritative style and influential role in shaping modern umpiring.
-
B.
Men of Our Times
Men of Our Times is a biographical work by Harriet Beecher Stowe that profiles prominent 19th-century figures and their moral and social influence.
-
C.
To the Unknown Man
"To the Unknown Man" is a melodic, synthesizer-driven instrumental piece by Vangelis, noted for its atmospheric, emotive build and enduring popularity in his catalog.
-
D.
The Four Just Men
The Four Just Men is a 1905 thriller novel by Edgar Wallace about a secretive group of vigilantes who use extralegal methods to punish wrongdoers and prevent political crimes.
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E.
The Man
"The Man" is a 2017 funk-influenced rock single by American band The Killers, known for its swaggering, self-confident lyrics and bold, retro sound.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Obsolete Man Target entity description: "The Obsolete Man" is a classic 1961 episode of the anthology series The Twilight Zone that explores themes of totalitarianism, individual worth, and censorship through the story of a librarian condemned as obsolete by a dystopian state.
-
A.
The Old Arbitrator
The Old Arbitrator was the famous nickname of Bill Klem, a pioneering and highly respected Major League Baseball umpire known for his authoritative style and influential role in shaping modern umpiring.
-
B.
Men of Our Times
Men of Our Times is a biographical work by Harriet Beecher Stowe that profiles prominent 19th-century figures and their moral and social influence.
-
C.
To the Unknown Man
"To the Unknown Man" is a melodic, synthesizer-driven instrumental piece by Vangelis, noted for its atmospheric, emotive build and enduring popularity in his catalog.
-
D.
The Four Just Men
The Four Just Men is a 1905 thriller novel by Edgar Wallace about a secretive group of vigilantes who use extralegal methods to punish wrongdoers and prevent political crimes.
-
E.
The Man
"The Man" is a 2017 funk-influenced rock single by American band The Killers, known for its swaggering, self-confident lyrics and bold, retro sound.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
The Twilight Zone episode
ⓘ
television episode ⓘ |
| airDateYear | 1961 ⓘ |
| antagonistRole | Chancellor ⓘ |
| basedOnWork |
The Bible
ⓘ
linked to:
Bible
|
| blackAndWhite | true ⓘ |
| centralConflict | individual versus totalitarian state ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| director | Elliot Silverstein ⓘ |
| episodeType | standalone anthology story ⓘ |
| followedByEpisode |
The Twilight Zone season 3 premiere Two
ⓘ
linked to:
The Twilight Zone (TV series)
|
| format | half-hour television episode ⓘ |
| franchise |
The Twilight Zone (original series)
ⓘ
linked to:
The Twilight Zone (TV series)
|
| genre |
dystopian fiction
ⓘ
science fiction television ⓘ speculative fiction ⓘ |
| hasCultFollowing | true ⓘ |
| hasMoralOrAllegory |
critique of authoritarian regimes
ⓘ
defense of human dignity and faith ⓘ |
| leadActorRole |
Burgess Meredith as Romney Wordsworth
ⓘ
Fritz Weaver as the Chancellor ⓘ
linked to:
Fritz Weaver
|
| mainCharacter | Romney Wordsworth ⓘ |
| medium | television ⓘ |
| narrator | Rod Serling ⓘ |
| notableFor | exploration of totalitarianism and censorship in popular television ⓘ |
| notableQuote | You are obsolete! ⓘ |
| originalAirDate | 1961-06-02 ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| originalNetwork | CBS ⓘ |
| originalRunOrder | season 2 finale ⓘ |
| partOfSeries |
The Twilight Zone
ⓘ
linked to:
The Twilight Zone (TV series)
|
| precededByEpisode |
The Twilight Zone episode The Mind and the Matter
ⓘ
linked to:
The Twilight Zone (TV series episodes)
|
| productionCompany | Cayuga Productions ⓘ |
| protagonistOccupation | librarian ⓘ |
| seriesSeason |
The Twilight Zone season 2
ⓘ
linked to:
The Twilight Zone (TV series)
|
| setting | dystopian future state ⓘ |
| starring |
Burgess Meredith
ⓘ
Fritz Weaver ⓘ |
| teleplayBy | Rod Serling ⓘ |
| theme |
censorship
ⓘ
freedom of thought ⓘ individual worth ⓘ state control ⓘ totalitarianism ⓘ |
| timePeriodDepicted | near future ⓘ |
| writer | Rod Serling ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Obsolete Man Description of subject: "The Obsolete Man" is a classic 1961 episode of the anthology series The Twilight Zone that explores themes of totalitarianism, individual worth, and censorship through the story of a librarian condemned as obsolete by a dystopian state.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.