Froug’s episode was to be called “Many, Many Monkeys,” and was meant to be an allusion to the Three Wise Monkeys maxim that finds its origins in 8th-century China. Of the three monkeys, one covered its eyes, one its ears, and one its mouth. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. The original maxim was meant to encourage the eradication of evil thoughts from mind and deed, but in the modern world, the maxim implies a deliberate ignoring of evil in the world, a quest to remain ignorant.
“Monkeys” was about a nuclear disaster that triggers a bizarre facial condition in the world’s population. Flaps of flesh would melt down from people’s foreheads and cover their eyes, rendering them blind. There were to be several lines of dialogue about how humans’ physical blindness was meant as a symbol for their inner hate, their inability to “see” others. Makeup was not designed for the episode, but one can picture the 1960s-era special effects that would have been required.
Froug did sell this script to the company, but it was shelved. Froug said: “I think they had the feeling it was too grotesque.”
For the “Twilight Zone” revival in 1989, however, Froug’s script was brushed off.
“Monkeys” was, it seems, a medical drama about a patient (Karen Valentine) afflicted with cataracts. She declares that her blindness is not biological, but divine. The blindness eerily spreads to the world. There is eventually a biological explanation — it’s a spreadable bacteria — but Valentine still insists it’s God’s punishment. The episode ends with Valentine revealing her blindness to be psychosomatic.
As one can see, the blindness effect was achieved with “milky” contact lenses, not flesh blobs. It’s unsettling, but not horrifying. Perhaps “Monkeys” wasn’t so grotesque after all.