The Mutant

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.

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.

And they just did that episode! I tuned in late and frankly, when I saw that repeated already, I lost interest. I wish we didn't have to leave such long reviews. It makes everyone look crazed. For some reason I had the idea that The Outer Limits was the most sophisticated of the sci-fi sixties shows. We didn't watch it growing up and I don't think it was available to rerun so I didn't know much about it. Their monsters are hilariously outfitted like the ones on Lost In Space! I didn't know it was that campy😂! I watch it now for that reason. Like I watch Batman and Lost In Space on Saturday night on MeTV. The Outer Limits on Pluto every night.

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.

A colony in outer space is troubled by a guy with special powers.

For decades I was turned off by this episode by one thing: the make-up job on that guy's eyes. I just could not get past the fake look of it.

But, as I have said in past reviews, repeat viewings do wonders for The Outer Limits, and now today I actually love this hour.

Thanks to the other reviewers, I never picked up on the cross over with Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before, but in my opinion at least...Trek did it better!

Be warned, this hour is a bit slow...but well worth watching...once you get past the guy with the big eyes.