"The Outer Limits" Controlled Experiment (1964)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Writers:

TV Series:

"The Outer Limits" (1963)

Original Air Date:

13 January 1964 (Season 1, Episode 16)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Two Martians, equipped with a device for controlling time, try to understand the human phenomena of murder. They choose a crime of passion in the lobby of a shabby hotel. But what seems like a simple assignment rapidly runs out of control. |

Plot Keywords:

Anthology | Cult Favorite | Psychotronic | Alien | Supernatural

Cast

Barry Morse	...	Phobos
Carroll O'Connor	...	Deimos
Grace Lee Whitney	...	Carla Duveen
Robert Fortier	...	Bert Hamill
Bob Kelljan		(as Robert Kelljan)
Linda Hutchings	...	Arlene Schnabel (as Linda Hutchins)

Runtime:

51 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Daystar Productions

Trivia:

The names of the two Martians posing as Earthmen in this episode, Phobos and Deimos, are also the names of the two moons of Mars.

"The Outer Limits" goes for tongue-in-cheek in this episode ...

"The Outer Limits" goes for tongue-in-cheek in this episode with two Martians (assuming ordinary earthling appearance) who are sent to earth to study human beings. They are told there will be a murder taking place at a 'less than first class hotel' and take their equipment to the scene and wait for the event to take place.

The scene: A sexy blond waits in the lobby. The elevator door opens, a man steps out. The blond stands up and faces him.

Blond: "Bert Hamil!! You're a two-faced, no good, black-hearted two timer!" Man: "Carla!! Don't shoot!!" Blond: "Don't come begging to me. Take that!!" The gun goes off, the man grabs his chest and falls to the floor. (Love the dialogue--right out of a 40s murder mystery.) The Martians watch but are dumbfounded and have no clue so they decide to rewind the scene (in real time) but still draw a blank. Then they run it in slow motion, backward, forward, upside-down, inside-out, stop the action stepping into the scene for human physiology tests such as blood pressure, temp, etc., and now take the scene further back in time and follow him to find out where the man was coming from on the upper floors--a sexy brunette is up there. Still nothing. They finally decide to redirect the bullet trajectory to see what result that produces, and do so but according to headquarters, what they have done will alter future events with a devastating result to the solar system. Now they're in quandary and discuss what to do.

Considering television was in its teens in 1964, this "Outer Limits" episode isn't bad. Carroll O'Connor plays one of the Martians and its interesting to see him in action prior to his "Archie Bunker" fame.

The plot was hokey but enjoyable and the Martian equipment looked like gadgets anyone could have bought at a toy store in 1964; the special effects are simplistic (the director got a lot of mileage out of "the scene" by playing and replaying it) and when the Martians stepped into the stopped action, the actors did their best to hold their positions and not flinch.

If its a Saturday night and there's nothing else on cable, give this one a shot. Ooops.