The Man Who Was Never Born

This episode works pretty well, but one can dismantle in a few seconds with a bit of thought. When that Connecticut Yankee of Mark Twain's went back, Twain ignored the implications of the whole scientific world. Here we must recognize those things. An astronaut finds himself 200 years in the future, encountering an Earth that will likely die soon. Some well-meaning biologist has done something that has caused this horror. Because the astronaut has gone through a time warp, he makes the trip back, accompanied by a hideous future denizen, a man of great moral character and sadness over the results of humanities stupidity. As they find their way back to the present, the astronaut disappears because of time factors. The creature, however, manages to land the ship and sets about trying to kill the person responsible for the great calamity. At the very least, to stop his wife from producing an offspring. He barges in using a convenient form of hypnosis, shielding his ugliness, and tries to destroy the relationship and stop the wedding. The story ends about the only way it could because of the messing with causality. It's a really depressing conclusion. I'm still waiting to see if someone can really produce something satisfying when it comes to time travel.

One more outstanding example of the equivalence that may exist between OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE series topics and atmosphere. Intelligent story that also may be the DNA of TERMINATOR and BACK TO THE FUTURE movies, where some folks try to change the fate of history. When the Marty Landau's character does his best to change the future of the world, by preventing a wedding, mother and father of a possible evil scientist, I thought of Michael J Fox's character trying to make his parents meet; if not he will never exist....The same process but in reverse; no one seems to have noticed it.

"The Man Who Was Never Born" is a sensitive fantasy about a man named Andro who is caught in a limbo of time and space. In this episode, he traverses through several worlds, searching for a sense of connection, solidity, and resolution, which is frustratingly elusive.

I will not provide more plot details, aside from the fact that the ending is absolutely stunning and unforgettable. Overall, this is one of the greatest Outer Limits episodes. Martin Landau delivers an outstanding performance in the title role with great support by Shirley Knight. Conrad Hall's soft-focus black/white photography and Leonard Horn's incisive direction complement Anthony Lawrence's spare, compact screenplay to create a powerful viewing experience.

It is difficult to imagine that you will not be moved after watching this. 10/10.

A guy must go back in time to prevent disaster from happening on earth.

Time travel is a theme that I always like. From The Time Tunnel to Star Trek I just can't get enough of it. I personally know Martin Landau from his two seasons of Space 1999 (1975-77) so it is rather pleasing to know his acting range, seen here, is much wider than that seen in Space 1999.

According to the connection section of this episode, Star Trek episode Miri (1966) lifted the "signal from planet" sound effect from this Limits episode. Nice to see the two shows cross over like that.

The Man Who Was Never Born is a fine hour.

This is when and how my love affair with Martin Landau began. I saw this when the Outer Limits series was new...I have NEVER forgotten this episode.

The story is quite interesting and the acting by ALL is top-notch. The set-up and the story line may be read in others' reviews so rent it, steal it just get a hold of a copy..I found mine this day on VHS and it remains as lovely as it was 47 years ago! Oh Heck..I'll give you a few details..It starts out NOT on earth. A spaceman has a conversation with this mutant creature of a man who speaks with style and grace...yep, it's Martin. He, Martin, gets to earth and meets the lovely Shirley Knight...evidently it's his power of suggestion, a hallucination, that changes his ugly self into an eloquent and handsome man. I refrain from saying any more.

WOW the early 1960's were quite filled, thankfully, with such interesting and intellectual programs in this vein. Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, etc, were a grand insight to how the brainy writers and actors appeared and we were treated to same in spades!