I of Newton

Sam (Sherman Hemsley) is a college professor who is frustrated at his multiple failures to solve a complex mathematical equation, angrily exclaiming, "I'd sell my soul to get this thing right!" A demon (Ron Glass) instantly appears and announces that Sam's math problem "had the right phonetic structure to be a good old-fashioned demonic invocation." He makes it known that he intends to steal his soul and sell it to otherworldly bidders. Despite Sam's protests that the "selling my soul" remark was an idle afterthought, the demon explains that it set the deal in motion anyway. The demon also explains that Hell has been able to thrive due to the real world's weakening belief in spirituality, remarking "You bring up Dante to most people these days, and they ask how you liked Gremlins!"

The demon says the term will be as follows: Sam is permitted to ask three questions about how the process works or of demonic powers. Sam is then permitted to ask a fourth question or make a request of the demon. If the demon fails to perform the task or is unable to answer the question, the deal is off and Sam's soul is spared. When Sam unthinkingly asks "Really?" the demon responds "Yes, really," and that Sam has posed his first question.

Frustrated by the trick, Sam carefully plans the second question. He asks if there are any physical limitations to the demon's powers. The demon gleefully claims that he is able to travel faster than the speed of light and can make two electrons occupy the same quantum state, and that he further has access to every bit of recorded information in multiple universes.

For the third question, Sam queries if there is any place from which the demon cannot find his way back. The demon chides Sam and informs him that he can move through galaxies in a microsecond and even see alternate history timelines, such as "Berlin if the Nazis had won the war" or Rome had Alexander the Great "lived to a ripe old age." He then demands that Sam pose his final question or task. Sam calmly provides the impossible task: "Get lost." Defeated, the demon screams and melts away, leaving only his sunglasses. Sam throws them away and turns back to his math problem with a rueful smile, noting, "Well, that guy wasn't any help at all."

Another of our continuing tips on what to do if the Devil shows up on your doorstep. A public service announcement from the Twilight Zone.

• Omnipotence paradox

The teleplay was based on a short story by Joe Haldeman which first appeared in the June, 1970 issue of Fantastic Stories magazine (Volume 19, no. 5). In the original short story, the exclamation that is tacked onto a string of math to summon the demon is "no, goddammit," which is possibly censored for television. The demon plans to eat Sam's soul rather than sell it; he observes, "Unfortunately the loss of your soul will drop your intelligence to that of a vegetable — I am also a vegetarian." When the demon has been banished (his final words being "You and Ernest Hemingway!"), Sam plays with the Fermat's Theorem disproof fragment the demon left behind and thinks about summoning the demon and tricking him again. The final sentence is fashioned after Aesop and suggests that if there was a devil there must also be a God, "watching his language."

A boom mic is briefly visible at the top of the screen in the scene where the devil is telling Sam about selling his soul to the big chains.

The inside joke about Dante was likely homage to Joe Dante directing multiple episodes of the show.

In this episode, the Devil is wearing a T-shirt with a message on the front, which changes several times. The messages, in order, are:

• HELL IS A SUMMER FESTIVAL
• HELL IS A CITY MUCH LIKE NEWARK
• OVER 2,000,000,000 SERVED
• GEHENNA MORE THAN A PLACE A WAY OF LIFE
• LET'S DO DAMNATION

• "I of Newton" at IMDb
• "I of Newton" at TV.com