Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, the mind boggles

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Dewey1960
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Post by Dewey1960 »

Thanks for another incisive OUTER LIMITS review! Isn't it amazing how many episodes have drug-related themes?
-Dewey
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Well, they didn't call it the psychodelic sixties for nuthin'!
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
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Dewey1960
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Post by Dewey1960 »

Your point, as usual, is well made.
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Date watched:6/9/2007
Title: Outer Limits TV Show Season 2 Made: 1964-65
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror Studio: MGM
Format: DVD Extras: Booklet
# of times viewed: This is the first time I've seen these in 20 or more years

This set is all 17 episodes from Season 2.
Episode watched:
Demon With a Glass Hand Originally aired: 10-17-1964

Do not attempt to adjust the picture....

This is another fine script by science fiction writer Harlan Ellison.

Plot: Trent (Robert Culp) holds the future of all mankind in his hand....literally. An episode in which the viewers are only gradually let in on the details of the plot as Trent himself begins to understand why aliens are appearing out of the woodwork on an otherwise empty world, trying to assassinate him. Trent relies on his glass hand, which has a programmed intelligence, to help him survive and understand what is going on. The one problem, the hand is missing several fingers that Trent must find and add to the hand. With the addition of each finger the hand becomes smarter and is able to fill in more of the blanks.

A completely unique plot that leaves viewers straining for answers. A very emotional performance by Mr. Culp full of unexpected twists. One of the best episodes in this thought-provoking series.

The script won a Writer's Guild Award.

We now return control of your television set to you....

9(out of 10) If you were only going to watch one episode of this series this might be it.

And no drug themes in this one!
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

"Demon with a Glass Hand" is very good. As I mentioned earlier, it was filmed in the Bradbury Building in LA, which is where "Blade Runner" would be filmed. So if you like "Blade Runner," watching this one is a treat. (I think the original "DOA" was filmed in the Bradbury building as well.)

Also, this was one of the two episodes that inspired Harlan Ellison's lawsuit against "The Terminator." You can see a few similarities between that story and this one.
klondike

Post by klondike »

jdb1 wrote:I always thought of Outer Limits as a pale imitation of TZ, but it had its moments. I remember (vaguely, though) one called "The Zanti Misfits." Remember that one?

Something about aliens or alien prisoners or something coming to a place and everyone's freaked out. When they arrive in their space vehicles, they are insects - stop-motion animated, I think, and they've got little moustaches and eye patches, and little teeth, and hats and such. It was a trip, man.
Hey there, sultry Brooklyn Gal!
Yes I do remember The Zanti Misfits, specifically because it was so very different than other Outer Limits episodes; there was so much going on int his one ep, I've often wondered why some ambitious studio line producer didn't grab it up and spin it out into some 90-minute drive-in B flick.
First off you had the stereotypical squabbling trio of fugitives, deperately fleeing the cops, then they capture a hapless young couple, then hold them hostage as the badges corner them & start moving in, then everybody stumbles into a mysterious, barricaded government reserve way out in the desert (complete with styrofoam boulders), and only then do the unnerving little "ant-aliens" make their entrance!
I recall that the "twist" to this stop-motion scare-fest was that the stranded antoids were actually convicts on their own world, and were being incarcerated here as an accomodation to their home-world government! :shock:
Almost clever enough for the Zone, don't you think?
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

No question, that was one cool episode, witnessed by the fact that we remember it tho' it was long ago. I swear I think those little critters are in my dreams once in a while. I remember their little procession, coming out of the space ship, each one stopping to look around, making little growling noises -- it was like a demented George Pal "Puppetoon." I'll probably dream about it tonight, now that it's on my mind once again.

Regards,
The formerly sultry, but now decidedly matronly, Judith
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

I'm sorry, but "The Zanti Misfits" doesn't hold up for me. When they attack the people at the end of the movie, it is almost too obvious that they are plastic bugs on strings being pulled along. (And usually, stuff like that doesn't bother me.)

I was more impressed with "Don't Open Till Doomsday," which is like a cross between "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and H. P. Lovecraft. Miriam Hopkins plays this demented relic from the 1920s whose bridegroom has been trapped between dimensions by an alien... It plays better than it explains.
klondike

Post by klondike »

Wow, Mike, I'm sorry I missed that one, sounds very unique for OL!
In fact, it reminds me more of something you could've found on my personal fave of the goose-flesh set: One Step Beyond, or maybe even Boris Karloff's Thriller (remember "Pigeons from Hell"?).
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

Yes, "Don't Open Till Doomsday" has a very Gothic feel and would fit into THRILLER. "Pigeons from Hell" is good, but it isn't my favorite episode from THRILLER. Still, I am amazed that they got away with showing an axe stuck in someone's head.

"The Cheaters" scared me when I was a kid, and "The Prisoner in the Mirror" is a superb episode that keeps you off guard and ends bleakly. "The Incredible Dr. Markesan" is another fine THRILLER episode.
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Here is an Outer Limits episode based on one of my favorite sci-fi writer's story....

Date watched:6/20/2007
Title: Outer Limits TV Show Season 2 Made: 1964-65
Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror Studio: MGM
Format: DVD Extras: Booklet
# of times viewed: This is the first time I've seen these in 20 or more years

This set is all 17 episodes from Season 2.
Episode watched:
I, Robot Originally aired: 11-14-1964

Do not attempt to adjust the picture....

Opening narration:
God looked upon his world and called it good, but man was not content. He looked for ways to make it better and built machines to do the work. But in vain we build the world, unless the builder grows.

This is an adaptation of the classic robotic sci-fi story by Isaac Asimov.

Plot: Adam Link (Read Morgan) is a robot built to serve mankind. His creator has been found murdered and Adam is put on trial for the murder. D.A.Thomas Coyle (Ford Rainey) does everything he can to convince the jury that Adam poses a threat to society. Robots, by nature cannot be trusted he claims. Cutler even uses the novel Frankenstein to try to prove his point about the evils of manmade life. His goal is to have Adam dismantled.

Lawyer Thurman Cutler (Howard De Silva) tries to defend Adam and his value to society, insisting that he is no threat and could not possibly have harmed his creator. Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek) is around as the cynical reporter Judson Ellis.

The story is very stagebound and confined mostly to the courtroom. Whereas interesting arguments are used, it comes across as flat and an opportunity lost if you've ever read Asimov's excellent, well-developed story. The conclusion holds your attention better than the story leading up to it.

Closing narration:
Out of every disaster, a little progress is made. Man will build more robots, and learn how to make them better. And, given enough time, he may even learn how to do the same for himself.

We now return control of your television set to you....

4* (out of 10) It may register better with a casual viewer. I am a big Asimov fan and was very biased against this interpretation.
Last edited by cinemalover on February 12th, 2008, 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
jdb1

Post by jdb1 »

Chris, I remember thinking at the time I saw this episode (I, Robot) that rather than following Asimov's story, they chose to do a tepid imitation of Inherit the Wind, which is what the courtroom arguments reminded me of.
klondike

Post by klondike »

jdb1 wrote:Chris, I remember thinking at the time I saw this episode (I, Robot) that rather than following Asimov's story, they chose to do a tepid imitation of Inherit the Wind, which is what the courtroom arguments reminded me of.
Actually, that episode was based on a pulp sci-fi novel titled Adam Link, Robot!, by Eando Binder.
Why the scripters felt compelled to hi-jack the Asimov title, or how they legally got away with it, I haven't the foggiest!

:roll:
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cinemalover
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Post by cinemalover »

Wow, I have never heard that. In one of Asimov's nine robot stories (Robbie) collected in I, Robot there is an almost identical scene to the conclusion of this Outer Limits episode where Robbie saves the life of a little girl by jumping in front of an oncoming vehicle. There is also the same prejiduce against robots that is detailed in the episode. I'm not sure how they could have gotten away with stealing ideas so clearly defined in Asimov's writings. Robbie was first published in Super Science Stories in 1940.
Chris

The only bad movie is no movie at all.
MikeBSG
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Post by MikeBSG »

I think the chain of events went like this. "I, Robot" was a story published in 1939 by E. and O. Binder, who were brothers. Asimov's robot stories started getting published in 1940 or 1941, with "Strange Playmate" being the first.

Toward the end of the Forties or start of the Fifties, when SF was finally getting published in books instead of pulp magazines, some publisher wanted to publish Asimov's robot stories. Asimov selected the stories and wrote bridging material between the stories, but the publisher decided on the title "I, Robot" without consulting Asimov, who was pretty sore about it, because he remembered the Binder story.

However, over time, Asimov's book became far more famous than the Binders' story.
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