Apart from the spooky unsettling opening titles where the ‘control voice’ says they have taken over all that ‘you see and hear’ I don’t have any memories of this American cult series which I think I last watched when BBC2 got their hands on it and were showing it around midnight on Saturday evenings sometime in the mid 80s.
Despite the slightly battered box the discs themselves are in perfect condition and, with it lying the stock room shelves for quite some time elected to check out the contents myself and I’ve spent the past three weeks making my way through the seventeen episodes on offer.
Now I’m not planning to offer up a detailed examination of each episode but I felt I couldn’t let the moment pass when I hand it back to the shop without a few opinions and comments about all that I’ve seen.
On the first week it was disc one’s contents that obviously commanded my attention and I thought season opener “Soldier” was a fairly inauspicious beginning with little of note other than the stories title character Qarlo played by actor Michael Ansarea. I thought this was good casting as Ansara brings the same cold emotionless persona which he gave to the lead Klingon in the original series Star Trek story “Day of the Dove”. That story saw the Enterprise crew and rescued Klingons manipulated by a floating energy creature into fighting each other. I think things look more positive for ‘The Outer Limits’ with William Shatner playing returning Venus astronaut Jeff Barton in “Cold Hands, Warm Heart” which although offering up an interesting central premise I felt failed in giving a satisfactory resolution. I thought the two dimensional creature trapped in our world was fairly cute in how it was realised and “Behold Eck!” developed well over its entire duration. Other than offering us James Doohan without his more familiar likeable Scottish accent (best remembered as Enterprise Chief Engineer Scotty in original series Star Trek) playing a Police Lieutenant I found fourth episode “Expanding Human” very disappointing.
So onto the second week and for me the next disc sees ‘The Outer Limits’ offering up one of its strongest pair of episodes. In the former I can quite understand why “Demon With A Glass Hand” gained a Writers Guild Award because it offers an intriguing mystery which appealingly develops in such a gradually measured and tense way that it maintains the viewers interest right up to the surprising ending. We are initially told that Tent is the ‘last man alive’ and the answers he seeks can only be obtained by the safe return and insertion of fingers to his glass computer hand. The alien adversaries with their blackened pander eyes and lycra outfits are, I think, fairly laughable, particularly as they can be despatched merely with the removal of the necklace they wear. The other memorable aspect is the old fashioned building setting spookily lit and with a fine decorative wrought iron lift. With its menacing tumbleweeds and flying frogs there is certainly a ‘B movie’ feel to “Cry of Silence” but despite the bizarre goings on Andy & Karen Thorne’s diversion into Wild Canyon seems rather inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I thought next episode “The Invisible Enemy” was mildly diverting despite the fairly laughable puppet monster emerging from the sand on the surface of Mars but it was good to see ‘Batman’ TV series actor Adam West here as Mission Commander Merritt. I love the fascinating premise on offer in “Wolf 359”, which I think seems slightly similar to a latter season episode of ‘Star Trek : Voyager’ although in that instant the EMH Doctor spends time on the surface of the rapidly advancing planet surface. The creature whom terrorises Professor Jonathan Meridth can I guess be likened to the flapping white Kronos featured in the classic series Doctor Who Pertwee story “The Time Monster”.
I’ve had a couple of four episodes a week viewings but with a new month beckoning I’d thought I’d up the ante and rush to polish off the remaining nine over three days. Starting with the third disc and episodes ten and eleven was a two parter called “The Inheritors” and watching this early on the last Tuesday morning of August I found this the most disappointing of the entire season. In my opinion the premise of intellectually enhance military personnel using their new abilities for a secret purpose seems needlessly padded out to fill double the usual length. The ultimate payoff, hinted at in the viewing notes booklet, is well intentioned if somewhat self-indulgent, overly sentimental and somewhat slushy. Tuesday evening and either side of this I have mixed feelings about the ninth and twelfth offerings. I thought “I, Robot” was a touchingly moving piece of drama with a well-constructed costume for the central character. Naturally a welcome, albeit brief bonus is Spock actor Leonard Nimoy as a cynical reporter chronicling developments. A good alien costume on offer next but “Keeper of the Purple Twilight” failed to suitably enthuse me.
Moving on to the fifth disc and a similar lack of enthusiasm for me when viewing thirteenth episode “The Duplicate Man” which was the first of my Wednesday evening treble. Moving onto the fourteenth story and I thought “Counterweight” had a slight passing similarity with fourth season David Tenant lead Doctor Who story “Midnight” duo to its minimal cast and single studio location. For me the strongest of Disc Four’s trio of stories has got to be “The Brain of Colonel Burham”, a creepy somewhat disturbing tale of a terminally ill astronaut donating his living brain to a computer that’s being developed for space exploration. Although offering a passing resemblance to literature like Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ I guess you could associate this tale best with classic series Doctor Who story “The Brain of Morbius”. An example of this would be how the now detached brain becomes mad, gaining mind control of people and throwing dangerous electrical sparks across the room against those whom would do it harm.
After a days break Friday morning saw me return to the series and the season’s final pair of episodes occupying the fifth disc. Although sixteenth episode “The Premonition” goes down a familiar premise route to one explored in the slightly similar Star Trek original series story “Blink of An Eye”. This ‘Outer Limits’ instalment offers enough unique twists to make it memorable. Upper most in my mind are the partially visible afraid of fire man and the attempted rescue of tricycle riding girl in imminent danger of being run over by a runaway truck. In my opinion the Second Season of ‘The Outer Limits’ finishes in fine style with excellent seventeenth episode “The Probe”, a bizarre tale about the crew of a downed aircraft whom enter a nightmarish world of alien experimentation. It is a fascinatingly engrossing story with plenty of worthy plot developments to keep the viewer guessing about their location and eventual fate. For me at least I was applauding the end of not just the story but a curiously intriguing slice of cult 60s American sci-fi which although not worthy of retention in my DVD collection is on balance has been well worth viewing.
Great now that I've finished off that I'm off to weigh anchor and set sail for a few weeks watching 'Hornblower' (sorry I couldn't resist the temptation to crack a joke). Not really much worth commenting about at present and not much time either but if anything comes up worth mentioning I'll come back...
with best wishes
