William Benteen is the main protagonist of "On Thursday We Leave for Home", the 16th episode of the 4th season of The Twilight Zone, the episode airing in 1963. He is the leader of an American colony on distant desert planet V9-Gamma, who eventually grew delusional with an obsession of power, finally snapping when he found that his power was to be taken away.
Benteen was portrayed by the late James Whitmore.
Biography[]
In 1991, William Benteen, then 15 years old, joined 112 other Americans aboard the Pilgrim I spacecraft, which left for the distant planet V9-Gamma to escape the constant turmoil of war on Earth. When the ship landed, they found that V9-Gamma, a world in a binary star system, was covered in vast planet-wide deserts dotted with jagged mountains and caves, and that it was devoid of native life. Regardless, the colonists attempted to settle down and create a new society, where Benteen discovered that there was no night on the planet, and that in order to farm, crops had to be covered by glass that filtered out the intense light and heat, or else they would catch on fire. As he grew older, he learned medical skills such as how to fix a broken arm, teaching skills to tutor child colonists, and gradually became a leader among the colonists, until eventually, presumably after the death of the original captain, Benteen was granted the title of captain and placed in complete control of the colony.
For 30 years, Benteen led the V9-Gamma colony, erecting refrigerated underground houses, using caves for shelter against deadly meteor showers, maintaining devices that made liquid water, making whatever tough decision he had to, and keeping up the spirit of the colonists, especially the younger ones, by telling them stories of Earth, recounting romanticized memories and parts of Earth history. Despite his best efforts, suicide was not uncommon among the colonists, nor was dying to the planet's various hazards. By 2021, the colony managed to send a message to Earth that they wished to return. However, Benteen, in his desire to protect the people, started growing increasingly obsessive and firm with his power, building an almost cult-like mentality among the colonists to look to him as their one and only leader, seeing them as nothing more than children, and seeing himself as an almost divine figure who needed to rule the colonists, strongly rebuking any who dared to question him or his judgement.
Two months after sending their message to Earth, the colony received a message back from Earth, telling them that a ship was on its way, but the journey would take six months. In the intermediate time, there was no communication, and eight colonists committed suicide. One day, at the end of the travel period, Benteen checked on the radar, asking if the operator, Hank, had heard anything, insisting that Hank keep trying to get a signal even though Hank said there was nothing all morning. Benteen then passed by a group of colonists who were getting water, some colonists asking if the ship was lost, but Benteen replied that space travel took time. Benteen then found a colonist named Julie, and asked her to retrieve her husband Al, who was supposed to take Hank's shift that morning, but failed to show up. After trying to encourage the colonists by reminding them that they'd be drinking sodas on Earth in six months, Al arrived, and Benteen demanded to know why he didn't take his shift. Al claimed he overslept, but Benteen berated him and told him to take the current shift, and the entire next day shift. When Al protested by saying it only happened once, Benteen said that once was often enough, and Al had a habit of oversleeping. Al then called the radar a game, saying that they've picked up nothing for 30 years. Benteen, instead of answering, left to look at a monument of the landing, made from a piece of the Pilgrim I's hull.
Sometime later, Benteen visited an underground cave where the settlement's power grid was located, finding that the machinery was falling apart. Knowing the colony needed power to keep their housing refrigerated, Benteen was forced to shut off the water converter to use its parts for the main grid, telling the grid engineer that the ship was on its way. However, when the engineer left, he then called Benteen outside, where colonists had gathered around a woman who had just hung herself. Benteen ordered the colonists to cut her down, and an hour later, had her buried, where he began a prayer to forgive the woman for her sin, but Al, angered by the planet's problems, spoke that the woman knew exactly what she was doing, the ninth suicide in sixth months, insisting that dying was the right of the colonists. Benteen said that such words were blasphemy, but Al declared that the colony's conditions were so harsh that Benteen's strict rules only made things worse, asking for the right to live and die in their own way. Benteen, however, chastised Al by saying that Al was suggesting to just give in to death and let the colony descend into anarchy, leaving no survivors, at least no sane ones, left for the ship. He then insisted that the ship was coming, starting to repeat it and ordering the colonists to repeat it with him, getting the crowd to chant his words. However, they were suddenly cut off by an incoming meteor storm, making Benteen redirect them to the cave, personally carrying in Julie, who was injured by debris from the various meteors striking the nearby area.
Within the cave, Benteen made sure everyone was accounted for, telling the colonists to wait out the storm while treating Julie's wounds and a broken arm that Al suffered in the escape. Benteen then encouraged a young boy named Jo-Jo to be calm, and at the colonists' urging, began to recount tales of the Earth again, telling them that Earth was a place of color, such as rivers, clouds, and the changing leaves of autumn. He then described the night sky, something Jo-Jo had never seen, and described snow and cool weather, something even the older colonists had forgotten. When Jo-Jo asked why he left such a nice place, Benteen replied that he thought he could escape war and build a better place, but only found an arid, dead world, where all they could do was watch a clock. Then, he heard the sound of a spaceship approaching, and called out that they were going back to Earth, exiting the cave with the other colonists, calling Al over and declaring that the ship had come. Above, a spaceship from the United States, the Galaxy IV, descended from the sky and landed, where the colonists gathered around as the doors opened. The ship's commander, Colonel Sloane, greeted Benteen and said he was there to return the colonists to Earth, making the people rejoice, Benteen nearly embracing Sloane while demanding to know what took him so long, and told Sloane about the conditions of V9-Gamma, bringing Jo-Jo over to meet Sloane. Benteen then asked Sloane if the Earth had changed, and while Sloane clarified that war still existed, WW3 never happened, and society still stood, assuring him that the Earth was as he left it. However, when Benteen tried to mention his position, Sloane was more concerned with the construction of living quarters for the colonists.
Sloane clarified that the colonists had three days to prepare to leave, the ship set to take off on Thursday, ordering them to take only what was needed as to not exceed the ship's weight limit. As the colonists began preparing, Benteen noticed that Al's arm was out of a sling, where Al said that Sloane gave him a magnesium armband that would have his arm fully repaired by Saturday. Additionally, Julie's wound was treated by a medicinal bandage given by Sloane, which would fully heal it in 24 hours. Benteen, not wanting to be outdone in his own profession, tried to tell Al to keep his arm in a sling regardless, but Al ignored him and left to keep packing. Later, with only 36 hours left on the clock, Benteen gathered all the colonists in the caves, starting to go over the weight requirements, but Sloane and his men entered, saying the departure regulations could wait and offering to answer questions the colonists had about Earth. Benteen tried to protest, but the colonists began asking Sloane about Earth anyways, making Benteen upset to see his power starting to dwindle as the colonists were entranced by Sloane's words. A young colonist then asked Sloane about baseball, and Sloane offered an impromptu game of baseball, making all the colonists follow him outside, Benteen futilely trying to warn them about the heat and keep them in the cave, becoming more upset.
Outside, Benteen met with Sloane, watching the colonists and crewmen play, and warned the colonel that the heat would cause suffering among the colonists, although Sloane said it was only a game. Benteen then said that while he would follow all the colonel's orders once aboard, while on V9-Gamma, he was in command, demanding to be addressed as captain. When the colonel tried to say that he wasn't trying to usurp Benteen, Benteen interrupted and said that he was concerned with the people. With that, Sloane stopped the game and ordered his men back inside, Benteen having the colonists return to their homes. He then ordered Sloane to stay in the ship until it was time to depart, claiming that he had to be firm in order to hold the people together. Sloane tried to say that the people wouldn't die now, asking Benteen to relax, but Benteen stubbornly refused, saying that he had never been able to relax due to his responsibilities, insisting that the people were his and his alone. He then returned to his living area, although Sloane began to see Benteen's increasingly delusional desire for power, likening Benteen to a god who believed he was being removed from his own paradise.
The next day, with 10 hours left on the clock, Benteen boarded the Galaxy IV, showing Sloane the list of colonists, their approximate weights, and the weight of their belongings. Sloane began to talk about how the colonists would be welcomed back on Earth, but when he mentioned that the colonists would scatter across the 50 states, Benteen suddenly said that the colonists would stick together with him on Earth. Sloane asked if that was a decision the colonists had made, but Benteen said that no decision was necessary, making Sloane realize he never bothered asking them. Benteen then said that the colonists were socially children, saying that he'd have to keep watch over them back on Earth, and said that he didn't even need to tell the colonists of his plan. Sloane tried to question how Benteen could just have the colonists who have waited 30 years trapped in a complex return home just to walk into another complex, but Benteen claimed that the people wouldn't have it any other way, saying it would be cruel to just 'abandon' them on Earth. Sloane still asked Benteen to get the colonists' opinion, and Benteen gathered the colonists in the cave.
In the cave, Benteen explained some aspects of American cities and living areas, but when he mentioned that the colonists would not go somewhere cold, certain colonists began saying that they planned to live in cold or cool areas. Benteen then said that they would meet their relatives, but then declared that he would petition the US government for a land grant so that the colonists could stay together as an intentional community, where he would remain as their guide and counselor, but then, Al said that he and Julie wanted to start a farm. Benteen tried brushing it aside, claiming they could farm on his planned community, telling them how Earth farms were easier to work than V9-Gamma farms due to only having one sun, but then saw the colonists silent and not meeting his gaze. He asked what was wrong with them, and Al told him that they didn't plan to stay together. Benteen rebuked him, saying that Al never understood anything and that the colonists wouldn't survive alone, but Al said that they would survive regardless, and that it was their right to split up if they wanted, backed up by Sloane, who was also present. Benteen tried to order Sloane to not intervene, saying he and the colonists could settle their differences alone, accusing the colonel of disillusioning the colonists, starting to lose his temper while insisting that alone, human beings would turn violent and savage, insisting that the only way to survive was together, and asking the colonists to repeat 'together' with him. While some complied, as Benteen kept repeating the word, the colonists all went silent, looking away from him. Distraught, Benteen left the cave, soon followed by Sloane as he returned to the hull of the Pilgrim I.
Sloane then tried to go over some last department issues with Benteen, but Benteen said that Sloane was once seen as a messiah, before accusing Sloane of bringing selfishness, dissatisfaction, and divisiveness to the colony. Sloane then said that the only reason V9-Gamma supposedly had no germs and disease was because it was a test tube, just a sterile cell, but now, the tube had to break, and the colonists had to be allowed to be individuals again to rejoin human civilization. Benteen, however, then declared that the Earth he told his people about was nothing more than an imaginary garden, saying that it was too late to return to Earth. Then, seeing the colonists leaving the cave, Benteen ordered them to gather around, and started to tell them about what was wrong with Earth, such as violence, hatred, and jealousy, saying that Earth was an unfamiliar place to them that would reject and destroy them, comparing their departure to animals being loaded into a zoo. Benteen then declared that the colonists did not belong on Earth, but Sloane ordered Benteen to let the colonists themselves take a vote. Benteen angrily replied that he would only allow it if the colonists knew what Earth really was, yelling that it was never the garden he described. Sloane then stepped in and clarified that while Earth still had prejudice and wars, it allowed humans to be their own masters and experience freedom, not the supposed children that Benteen claimed they were, and called Benteen out for seeing himself as some sort of god.
Sloane then called for a vote, asking what colonists wanted to be back on Earth, where every colonist except Benteen raised their hands. Benteen, unable to accept the loss of his power, then ran to the nearby radar tower, ripped a metal pipe off the radar dish, and then ran to attack the ship itself, striking its landing gear before being restrained by Sloane, ignoring a colonist asking him to calm down. Benteen instead declared that he would stay on V9-Gamma, where he believed the colony belonged, denouncing the colonists as fools going to a false paradise, telling Sloane to leave when he had to, and offering the colonists a chance to stay with him. However, all the colonists boarded the Galaxy IV, and Benteen, still unable to accept their decision, fled to the cave, hiding in the upper levels.
Five minutes before 8 AM, the time the ship would leave, Sloane and Al tried to find Benteen in the cave, pleading with him to go on the ship, or else he would be left behind, and saying that there would be no more ships. Benteen did not answer or show himself, so Sloane and Al left to the ship, just in time to make the launch window. Benteen, on the other hand, appeared to have become completely delusional, walking down into the cave's main gathering area while speaking as if the settlers were still with him, telling an imaginary Jo-Jo about the Earth again. As he heard the ship take off, Benteen began reminiscing about the beauty of Earth, briefly snapping him out of his delusions, where he ran outside, only to see the ship leaving the atmosphere, remembering how the Earth was green. Realizing how wrong he was, Benteen broke down and began sobbing for the ship to come back, now stranded on V9-Gamma, where he was doomed to die alone from a lack of resources.
