The Cube

Like so many others here, I too saw it, when it was first run, as a teenager - WOW. And yes, I too can't get it out of my head, and just today learned that it was Jim Henson!!! The man WAS a genius!!! And, like the rest of you - I want a copy!!! Just to prove to my friends that I'm not as crazy as you think I am.

I remember the band playing "You'll never get out.. You'll never get out... you'll never get out of the cube.."

Towards the ending, when he's shown the casket... and given the gun... oh man.. that scene is vivid in my mind right now, 30+ years later after having seen it that one time, in', as we used to say, living color.

But really.. isn't life all just strawberry jam?

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

This little project still works, to judge from the comments here. Viewers still think there is something profound going on. There is, I think, but not in the sophomoric story.

You may find this hard to view, so let me describe it. A man finds himself in a white cube, apparently imprisoned forever. For an hour, people enter and leave this cube and a large number of vignettes are played out. Each one deals with some notion of perception or reality.

Careful watchers will see that these episodes are not coherent. They do not incrementally add to a whole view or comment on being. They are, in fact, random and often contradictory. One involves sex, another race, affirmation, communication, religion, family and so on. Each little episode adopts the path of least theatrical resistance regardless of what went before or after. There is no overarching philosophy that they fit into.

I believe that is precisely the point. Henson wasn't interested in making a point. No, he never was, ever. His interest then was to create and explore a theatrical framework that could be easily read by us. And then within that, he could move small, encapsulated dramas in and out. It was essential to him that they NOT be related in any way.

You see, his goal was to design a channel, not the content of that channel. And he did, only later that year with what became the Muppets. His achievement was to create a sort of framework within which any content or message could be packaged and then delivered wholesale.

Its how he sold it to "educational" TeeVee, as a vehicle for whatever they wanted to cram in there, and to change and test however wildly they wished.

So, when you watch this, look for the deliberate dissonance among all the worldviews of the dozen or so episodes and marvel that such a wrapping framework could make them seem so unified and digestible. At least to most viewers.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

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.

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.