The Cube

On February 23,1969, a Sunday afternoon, the anthology show NBC EXPERIMENT IN TELEVISION aired a one-hour teleplay by Jim Henson, then best known for being the man behind "Ralph the Dog" on the JIMMY DEAN SHOW. This unique film, titled simply THE CUBE, starred Richard Schaal as a man trapped in a white cubical room. He had no idea how he got there or where it was. And although anyone could enter, he couldn't leave....

In 2002 I posted the original IMDb comment on THE CUBE and started the long struggle to expand the credits on this long-lost, long-forgotten classic. Soon other IMDb users were regaining their memories of this odd but invasive show. After a few months of this it seemed a good idea to create a common place to share thoughts, memories, and discoveries about THE CUBE.

And another place online where you can show people and go AH-HAH! SEE! I TOLD YOU IT EXISTED!!!!

Location: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JImHensonTheCube/

In the three years of existence, we've gone from the barest of information online to full cast lists and a reconstructed script. Next, actual screen images from THE CUBE. Come join us! Feel free to add anything you want, anything you can find, from personal thoughts to actual files and images!

-------Postscript, 29July2008------- Six years later and we've accomplished much of our goals. The biggest success was bringing out of hiding both BW and COLOR copies of this lost masterpiece. Those copies are now available online, both for free and in the form of pirate copies others have made. We're still hoping that Henson's kids will bring out a legit, newly-remastered edition.... In the mean time, we've reconstructed the original script, collected a mass of screen caps, and seen the creation of TWO stage versions (one in US, one in Germany).

--David

The Cube was shown on NBC as part of a series called Experiments in Television. To my knowledge it was only shown twice, but it was a wonderfully surreal program unlike anything I had ever seen before.

The series showed other unusual things like a series of cartoons that were written by British playwright Harold Pinter.

I certainly wish NBC would find these shows and re-air them, because in the year 2003, they would still look incredibly modern!

How do you fight an imaginary monster? Understand that it is your mind that makes it real. The paradox is that the mind can't change what it has created... because it believes in itself. I just received a copy of The Cube. I had not seen it in about 30 years. It made a strong impact on me as a kid... probably because children see their reflection clearer without all the assumptions that now cloud our sight. We search for meaning and children just see it. I have written plays because of the impact of productions like this. There is a lot of value here. It is certainly dated, but in a comedic sort of way that seems intentional. One of my first thoughts on seeing it again is that Jim Henson created The Cube and then he spent the rest of his life doing The Muppets... beautiful. A great tribute would be a reproduction of The Cube using The Muppets... Kermit trapped inside with all of the others coming through the panels... if you listen closely to the dialogue... you can hear them all. Don't miss this one.

Not to just repeat what others have said, but memories of this show have been floating around in my head for some 30 years now!! I must have been no more than 5 or 6 and I only remember tiny bits of it. I often started to wonder if I had just dreamed the whole thing! But this is most definitely it.

I remember the people telling the guy in the cube, "This is my door, you can't use it", so much so that when somebody does offer to let him escape he protests, "I can't, that's your door!". I also seem to remember that it was shot on videotape, not film. That's about all I can picture. I must have missed the ending.

It seems so appropriate to find out that this show was done by Jim Henson! Because I also have memories of watching 'Hey Cinderella' and 'The Musicians of Bremen' at about the same time (early 70s).

I have been searching for this for years. I remember seeing it as a kid as well on TV during the sixties. The only reference I had seen for it was in Vincenzo Natali's "Cube". I actually saw it a few times late at night and even ran across it as a cult movie in a theatre during the 80's. The previous summary is fairly accurate. Obviously, the cube is a metaphor for life in an existential sense. One can sense and test the boundaries of our Self, but can't actually get out. Which is obviously very frustrating for even a small amount of self-awareness. It brings into question such subjects as the metaphysical "Who am I?", free will and interactions between what we perceive to be our Self and others. This is a really cool little film. It had a lasting impression an me. To my knowledge it has never been put on video.