The Mutant

The premise of this episode is that a small exploratory team has been sent to a very Earthlike planet. They have been there for some time and a psychologist has been sent to check on their progress and overall mental health. There is only one woman in the group, and all are highly educated. My outlook on the show was almost immediately soured when the woman was dressed in high heels and a calf-length skirt. The idea that such attire would be used by a member of an initial exploratory team was ridiculous. All the men were dressed in very utilitarian work shirts and pants. One member of the group was turned into a Bug-Eyed Monster or BEM that is capable of controlling the thoughts and actions of the other team members. His powers extend to being capable of somehow vaporizing people that have displeased him. The action then becomes a struggle between the BEM or mutant and the other humans that are struggling to survive. Of course, the BEM is defeated, but not without the woman uttering a high-pitched scream when there is danger and whirling away from the sight into the sheltering arms of a man. While I realize that was what was done in those times, it is still a bit overdone. Science fiction allows women to have some backbone.

This is the first Outer Limits episode I ever saw as a little kid, and found it incredibly scary. When I recently picked up a box set of episodes, it was the first one I watched just to see how it held up.

While not nearly as frightening as when I was small, it still had plenty of punch and overall is still very eerie, and wholly chilling. Warren Oates is not recognizable as himself playing the human space-explorer crewman turned mutant with a Napoleon complex, but gives his usual fine performance.

Quite interestingly, the premise was rehashed in a Star Trek episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before, however two years later, with less hideousness and fright but just as much maliciousness by the affected crew member.

Larry Pennell stars as Dr. Evan Marshall, a psychiatrist sent to a remote outpost planet called Annex One that had been designated suitable for colonization, but that has since changed, since one of them has died, and it's obvious that the survivors(who are forced to wear thickly tinted goggles from the endless sunlight) are covering up something which turns out to be the botanist Reese Fowler(played by Warren Oates) who was caught outside in the planet's acidic rain that has transformed him into a bug eyed mutant capable of reading thoughts, and acquired the power to kill on touch. Just how can Reese be stopped before all is lost? Oates is good here, though story is sparse, and script too talky.

An unfortunate space traveller gets incredible power on a sun drenched planet when a kind of toxic rain falls on him. He begins to mutate and with that loses his humanity. Unfortunately, for him, he longs to be with people but has a killer inside him. His very touch kills and he enjoys intimidating those around him. As you can imagine, once people get wind of this, they try what the can to survive, as each meets a violent death. There are good performances here, especially by Warren Oates, who plays Reese, the mutant. This has been done in other sci fi efforts, but the eeriness of this makes it a good bet. It all gets down to what a one of a kind personage can do when he has absolute power to destroy.

The People of Earth have spread their wings, and travelled far and wide, reaching a habitable planet named Anex One, communication with the first exploration party fail, so Doctor Evan Marshall is sent to learn just what's gone wrong.

This has been the hardest episode to review so far, in some ways it's one of the best episodes I've seen so far, it has some great elements, but there are a couple of flaws.

So, on the debit side, the romance element was a disappointment, hard to believe, it just didn't serve any purpose in the episode. Why on Earth was Julie in an immaculately pressed skirt and high heels. I can't say I was sold on Fowler's appearance, Warren Oates was chilling, he delivered the lines well, but the ultimate in BEM's, I wasn't sold.

The idea of a planet similar to Earth, but closer to the son, I'm not sure how that would work scientifically, but a great concept.

The story however was wonderfully creepy and sinister, the idea of those scientists being held captive by Fowler was chilling, he was definitely intimidating.

It's a story that could easily be developed into a movie, there's so much to it, I could see it as a blockbuster.

A small cast deliver, Larry Pennell was very good as Evan, the hero of the piece.

Overall, I'd still say it's one of the better episodes, it deseverd to be a top three, just a few to many flaws.

8/10.