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Title: Demon with a Glass Hand (17 Oct 1964)
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| Episode complete credited cast: | |||
| Robert Culp | ... |
Trent
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| Arlene Martel | ... |
Consuelo Biros
(as Arline Martel)
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Abraham Sofaer | ... |
Arch
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| Rex Holman | ... |
Battle
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Steve Harris | ... |
Breech
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Robert Fortier | ... |
Budge
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Days ago Trent awoke with no memory of his past. Since then, sinister men have pursued him constantly. He manages to stay one step ahead of them by following the advice of... his hand! Made of glass and apparently capable of speech, Trent's hand can answer many of his questions. But it cannot tell him who he is or why his enemies seek him until he finds all of its fingers. The only trouble is, they're in the... hands... of his enemies! Written by CommanderBalok
This well-regarded episode of the influential 1960's science fiction series "The Outer Limits", written by Harlan Ellison, tells the story of a man who awakens to discover he is being pursued by alien beings and has no idea why. Robert Culp plays Trent, the mysterious amnesiac whose only aid and link to his past comes in the form of a mechanized hand grafted onto his wrist. The hand is missing 3 of it's fingers which are actually components of it's computerized brain. Trent must retrieve these missing pieces to make the hand fully functional so it can fill in the missing pieces of his memory.
Though the talking hand's exposition in the first ten minutes is a bit of a chore to follow, the episode really takes off when Trent encounters his alien pursuers in a towering office building.
Much of the episode's appeal can rightly be attributed to the casting of Robert Culp as the mysterious Trent. He exudes intelligence, humanity and not an ounce of hysteria, but rather a quiet desperation as he dodges attack after attack during his dangerous search for answers. A quest further complicated when he encounters Consuelo (Arlene Martel in an excellent, heartfelt performance), an office worker who's also trapped in the building. She becomes Trent's ally and soon, amidst all the excitement and suspense, an engaging little love story develops here, too.
There are aspects of the production that, for some anyway, might not hold up so well since it first aired in the 1960's. For example, the aliens are supposed to be on Earth passing themselves off as humans, but for some reason they look like they are wearing a lot of eye shadow with stockings pulled over their heads. Also, for an advanced alien race you'd think they'd have come armed with something more sophisticated than ordinary revolvers. A teleportation device just looks like a funhouse mirror, and the scoring is, at times, quite jarring thanks to the plinking of an overbearing piano. However, these shortcomings do not overshadow the considerable appeal of it's intriguing story, exciting action sequences and the high caliber of it's lead performances.
Also quite a fascinating character in it's own right is the glass hand. A glittering piece of art with printed circuitry exposed beneath it's transparent "skin", this is one of the coolest props ever designed for a science fiction show and Robert Culp himself supplies the voice of the computerized appendage.