December 23, 2024: Our Outer Limits rewatch continues with season 1, episodes 29-32!

Season 1, Episode 29, “A Feasibility Study”

This episode was first broadcast April 13, 1964

This was actually producer Joseph Stefano’s first script for the show. It was the ninth episode produced but the 29th episode aired because the network was slow to approve the controversial ending. According to Stefano: “She [the network censor] saw the act of martyrdom as a negative gesture rather than a noble one. But I probably proved my point when ABC saw the finished film, with everyone joining hands. It was very moving and inspirational, and that’s when they approved it. ”

Stefano did have to make some changes to the script however. He recalled: “They were absolutely treacherous when it came to having children in jeopardy.” In the original draft, the neighborhood kids and pets were the first to be stricken. In the end, all references to kids and pets were removed.

Director Byron Hoskin with the final word on those network censors: “They were bloated with self-importance, and threw down the most insane ukases of do this, don’t do that. It isn’t even the amusement business anymore, it’s the world of advertising – and any relation to honest drama is purely coincidental.“

The voice of the Elder of Luminos was provided by British-born Ben Wright who played Zeller in The Sound of Music (1965). Said Wright: “I rather imagine they wanted my British voice to contrast the American voices of the Earth people, to more clearly and easily differentiate them. I was originally to play the part as well, but when they tried to fit me into the alien mask,
they found my head was too big. Like most actors, I suppose.” 1st AD Robert Justman was actually in the suit and mimed the speech.

The highest compliment I can give this episode is that it could have been an episode of The Twilight Zone. It was like a mini movie with some terrific performances, great dialogue, and a surprising ending that, while dark, managed to prove uplifting as well.

Season 1, Episode 30, “Production and Decay of Strange Particles”

This episode was first broadcast April 20, 1964

Actress Allyson Ames, who played Arndis Pollard, was the wife of series creator Leslie Stevens, the writer and director of this episode, from 1965 to 1966.

This was the fourth and final episode of the series to be written and directed by Stevens.

Reflecting back on this episode, Stevens said: ” It was another case of trying to make something out of nothing. To do it with no money, to blast through in four or five days and hope for the best.” And in the end: “I did the best I could on the thing, but I don’t think it was worth a damn .“

The seemingly ever-negative series producer Joseph Stefano weighed in: “That was not an episode I would’ve bought if anyone but Leslie had come in with it.”

In an episode rife with silly technobabble, one scene in particular had everyone laughing. Leslie Stevens recalled the scene in which actor George MacReady makes his homemade nuke: “He’s reaching with needle-nosed pliers into this foaming pot, which is supposed to connect up to some atomic gadget. [Production Manager] Bobby [Justman] lost it, I got tickled, and I started laughing so hard I couldn’t call ‘cut,’ so George just kept messing with this pot of chemicals, on and on, getting more and more desperate because we’re not stopping him . . . because we’re falling out of our chairs with laughter!”

Steven concluded: “The only thing that makes that show interesting is that it’s the first and last time, that I know of, where footage of an atomic bomb explosion has been run forward and backwards.”

Hmmmm. Can’t say I liked this one, but I did enjoy George MacReady’s unhinged performance as Dr. Marshall whose wife refers to him as “Marshall” which leads me to assume his name is Marshall Marshall. Nice to see a young Leonard Nimoy in a scene that seems to pre-sage Spock’s demise in Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.

Season 1, Episode 31, “The Chameleon”

This episode was first broadcast April 27, 1964

This episode was written by Robert Towne who would go on to write the screenplay for Chinatown.

“The Chameleon” was the last episode of the show’s first season to be shot. At the time, the show was on the cusp of cancellation but series creator Leslie Steven promised the second season would be “wilder, woollier and more chilling.”

Series producer Joseph Stefano spoke positively about this episode: “It was a compassionate story, very moving.”

Not a bad episode even though there are times when it feels like a mishmash of its superior predecessors. I did like the story and I thought the aliens were unique and amusing, but found certain elements of the story a little silly. Still, as the last genuine Outer Limits episode of the season (the season finale, The Forms of Things Unknown, was actually a failed pilot for another show), it did a nice job of encapsulating many of the themes that came before.

Season 1, Episode 32, “The Forms of Things Unknown”

This episode was first broadcast May 4, 1964

Said 1st AD Claude Binyon: “That show was one of Joe’s bad dreams. I don’t know whether audiences can appreciate it as much as the people who made it; unless you understand Joe Stefano, it may not make any sense to you. It’s a world unto him, wholly, and he tries to translate it into lay terms so the rest of us can understand it.”

Director Gerd Oswald found the script no less impenetrable: “I had to read the script seven times and have the cast over to my house so I could explain it to each one of them. Joe and I had many ‘shrink sessions’ so I could find out what was really on his mind when he
wrote it.”

Series creator Leslie Stevens admitted: “It was an extraordinary and peculiar piece. But not a coherent thing for an ordinary audience to grab. It was perceived as being far too arty.”

This episode was actually a failed pilot called “The Unknown”. ABC had expressed interest in a mystery series, so writer-producer Joseph Stefano wrote an alternate version that stripped away the supernatural elements. The time-tilting machine didn’t actually work, Andre only faked his death because there really was no Thanatos tree, and instead of disappearing into the machine Tone is shot dead by Kassia at episode’s end. The two versions were shot simultaneously.

ABC’s refusal to allow Stefano to direct this episode outraged Stefano and Stevens – as would the network’s decision to change the show’s time slot. As a result, this would mark the final episode for series creator Leslie Stevens, producer Joseph Stefano, and composer Dominic Frontiere who would not for the show’s second season.

Series director Byron Haskin placed the blame on their departure squarely on the network: “The Outer Limits could have been one of the biggest hits on TV, if only it had had a little impetus. But I don’t hold much credence for any network attitude though. If you want the truth, they’re all fucking idiots. Really! How they can stay out of the way of bicycles, I have no idea.”

Actress Vera Miles, who played Kasha Paine, may be familiar to Twilight Zone rewatch viewers. She played Millicent Barnes in the excellent “Mirror Image”.

Cedric Hardwicke, who played Colus, also portrayed the titular character in the Twilight Zone episode “Uncle Simon”. “The Forms of Things Unknown” was his final television acting role before his death.

This episode was very unique and I have somewhat mixed feelings here. While I absolutely loved the haunting black and white cinematography, the beautiful direction, and its obvious Shakespearean influences as well as its echoes of Diabolique and Psycho, I found the script a little half-assed. There was little background or explanation for many of the key story elements and I wonder if this episode might have made a better movie. Also, I did really like Tone’s explanation for how his device “tilted” time, allowing elements of the future to tumble back to the present. I found that very interesting.

So ends our first season rewatch of The Outer Limits. Let’s take a seasonal break and resume our rewatch with season 2, sometime in the New Year. Date TBD!

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