Encounter

Historic episode was among the first to seriously take on the controversial topic of UFO's, as a small construction crew intercept a desperate plea from a pilot who has encountered a strange and large flying object that he cannot escape. The pilot's worried wife shows up, but then the plane is discovered crashed later, covered in a strange substance called "Angel Hair", which mysteriously disappears after a time. The pilot will later turn up, but his fate will be tragic and still mysterious, as he claimed to have been kidnapped... Just what happened here? Good entry, though is quite talky, and no UFO's or aliens are to be seen either.

At long last, there is a science fiction element in this TV show dedicated to paranormal and fantasy. But, strangely, I have never really thought about it, nor even hoped, it's just a good surprise. Because eerie, paranormal, fantasy lines are not necessarily irreconcilable with science fiction, but so far, there was no science fiction at all in ONE STEP BEYOND. Now, the door is opened; I doon't remember if there is more like this one further in the series. I am not sure. However, in the meantime, just enjoy this excellent story. And, again, this plot could have been used in TWILIGHT ZONE. So, to summarize, this episode is a kind of crossroads between ONE STEP BEYOND, TWILIGHT ZONE and OUTER LIMITS.

Far out in the wilds, the manager of a mining company listens to the desperate last words of his pilot, apparently talking about an alien kidnap before disappearing from the air. The manager is sceptical of any supernatural talk, and assumes the pilot must be dead, sending only one plane to search for the wreckage, while he presses on with the urgent road-building project that is front-of-mind with him. The pilot's wife/widow accuses him of not doing his utmost, possibly because she had been the manager's girlfriend before rejecting him in favour of the pilot. (This makes for a strong sub-plot, which should have been developed further.)

Events now get rather confused, when a wreck is found, covered in a mysterious lacy ribbon they call 'angel hair' which disappears when touched: cue the familiar spooky music easily recognisable from other episodes to signal that something strange is happening. At the same time, the pilot is heard sending a message from 1000 miles away... and there we have to leave it, partly because I didn't really understand the ending anyway!

Strong performances by the English actor Robert Douglas as the manager and Michael Forest as his deputy. Another team-member seems rather too willing to believe in UFO's, apparently bolted on to Astral Projection as the theme of today's episode, rationalised with charm, rather than conviction, by our long-serving host John Newland.