pieces of furniture. The 1960s TV series The Outer Limits frequently used such sets when under particularly tight budgets, and doing the opening scene in this way allowed "The Star" to be produced. Ellison also suggested that Gerd Oswald, who had directed many episodes of The Outer Limits, including one written by Ellison, be the director. Brennert wanted Donald Moffat, whom he had worked with on an unproduced series called The Mississippi, to play Fr. Matthew Costigan, but Oswald said he could not see Moffat as a priest and insisted on Fritz Weaver in the role, with Moffat playing Dr. Chandler. The planetary surface was a matte painting. While Clarke's story ended with the priest in despair after the revelation that the alien civilization had perished in order to light "the Christmas star," the TV episode added an epitaph by the aliens, revealing their acceptance of their place in the universe. Brennert later commented that "Over the years I've taken a little bit of heat from certain fans in the science fiction community for changing the ending of this story. I actually maintain that the ending as it is in this episode is implicit in the story and is not really at odds with the kind of metaphysical work that Clarke did in Childhood's End." He also stated that prior to filming the episode, Clarke was asked if he objected to the different ending, and as The Twilight Zone team never received a reply to this query, they concluded that Clarke had no objections. References External links Adaptations of works by Arthur C. Clarke 1985 American television episodes American Christmas television episodes Atheism in television The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series season 1) episodes Television episodes about religion Television shows based on short fiction Religion in science fiction Fiction about supernovae Star of Bethlehem Television episodes directed by Gerd Oswald fr:L'Étoile du berger