I was fortunate to have lived through the original broadcast of this series. For the most part, the first year was dark, brooding, frightening, etc and yet maintained a certain level of intelligence in the story telling and/or morality that it attempted to convey. Rather than cater to its audience, it expected the audience to keep up. The days following each of those episodes we would gather and discuss the episodes and try to explain or expand on the theme presented. So, we were a bit disoriented when this show was moved to a different day and time. The music was decidedly different as well.
Keep in mind that I was an unsophisticated 7 year old. What did I know about the politics of running a major broadcasting station or cobbling together a plausible science fiction tale? What I do remember is at the conclusion of this episode I was not experiencing the same 'awe and mystery' promised by the control voice at the beginning of the episode. I was entirely unsatisfied by the resolution and, most telling, is that we barely felt the need to discuss and ferret out this episode's nuance over the next few days. In fact, we discussed the unique cigarette featured more than the helmet, the weapon, morality play or anything that we should have been discussing. Thus, this episode fell into the bin of the unmemorable.
Having viewed this again has not made me do any more than pine-melancholic for the spirit of the first ground-breaking season. Harlan Ellison may be a great sci-fi writer, but it doesn't show here. The more obvious flaws are the contradictory nature of the language Michael Ansara speaks (guttural, chopped and nearly indecipherable) versus that which menaces from his helmet's ear-phones (clear, concise and easy to understand). It is not clear why the broadcast of the message continues to command after the time travel has completed. One would be likely to believe that that the broadcaster no longer exists in our time(?). The helmet, armor, and weapon outfitting the 'soldiers' are unimaginative and underwhelming. The best part is when Ansara disintegrates a police car - and the weapon isn't even in this particular shot. Once captured we have to be told verbally how completely unusual and far beyond our capabilities the weapon is. I was never convinced. It looks like a toy and not even one I wanted to have even at 7 years old. Meanwhile, a second soldier involved in the time travel is being kept suspended somewhere until the plot apparently needs him. Then he is conveniently released from the 'time lock' so he can track down Ansara and both can conveniently disintegrate on the living room floor while the family seems to stand there tapping their feet awaiting the end of this semi-epic struggle. Too many conveniences in this plot. Afterward the control voice speculates about whether Ansara ever did really feel any familiarity or compassion for the family that took him in. At no time did this story convince me of anyone's motives except for the doctor who made the attempt to be empathic to the soldier.
Yes, there seemed to be a major shift in the show's attitude that even 7 year old fans noticed then. It was disappointing when I first saw it. It still is disappointing today. Ben Brady and gang seem to have no idea how to handle this genre. Instead of a multi-layered thought provoking adventure, we ended up with something slightly better than average 1950s drive-in theater vehicle. Instead of me questioning my place in the Universe after the episode, I wondered whether next week's episode would be better. Alas, it wasn't.
Keep in mind that I was an unsophisticated 7 year old. What did I know about the politics of running a major broadcasting station or cobbling together a plausible science fiction tale? What I do remember is at the conclusion of this episode I was not experiencing the same 'awe and mystery' promised by the control voice at the beginning of the episode. I was entirely unsatisfied by the resolution and, most telling, is that we barely felt the need to discuss and ferret out this episode's nuance over the next few days. In fact, we discussed the unique cigarette featured more than the helmet, the weapon, morality play or anything that we should have been discussing. Thus, this episode fell into the bin of the unmemorable.
Having viewed this again has not made me do any more than pine-melancholic for the spirit of the first ground-breaking season. Harlan Ellison may be a great sci-fi writer, but it doesn't show here. The more obvious flaws are the contradictory nature of the language Michael Ansara speaks (guttural, chopped and nearly indecipherable) versus that which menaces from his helmet's ear-phones (clear, concise and easy to understand). It is not clear why the broadcast of the message continues to command after the time travel has completed. One would be likely to believe that that the broadcaster no longer exists in our time(?). The helmet, armor, and weapon outfitting the 'soldiers' are unimaginative and underwhelming. The best part is when Ansara disintegrates a police car - and the weapon isn't even in this particular shot. Once captured we have to be told verbally how completely unusual and far beyond our capabilities the weapon is. I was never convinced. It looks like a toy and not even one I wanted to have even at 7 years old. Meanwhile, a second soldier involved in the time travel is being kept suspended somewhere until the plot apparently needs him. Then he is conveniently released from the 'time lock' so he can track down Ansara and both can conveniently disintegrate on the living room floor while the family seems to stand there tapping their feet awaiting the end of this semi-epic struggle. Too many conveniences in this plot. Afterward the control voice speculates about whether Ansara ever did really feel any familiarity or compassion for the family that took him in. At no time did this story convince me of anyone's motives except for the doctor who made the attempt to be empathic to the soldier.
Yes, there seemed to be a major shift in the show's attitude that even 7 year old fans noticed then. It was disappointing when I first saw it. It still is disappointing today. Ben Brady and gang seem to have no idea how to handle this genre. Instead of a multi-layered thought provoking adventure, we ended up with something slightly better than average 1950s drive-in theater vehicle. Instead of me questioning my place in the Universe after the episode, I wondered whether next week's episode would be better. Alas, it wasn't.