The Sixth Finger

Professor Mathers experiments on Miner Gwyllim Griffiths, the experiment concerned speeds up the evolution process.

I can only imagine this episode gave kids and adults alike the most incredible nightmares imaginable, credit to them for creating a truly unnerving watch.

A truly imaginative storyline, with a commanding lead performance from the excellent David McCallum, plus some rather effective special effects, all of these elements make for one of the show's most creative and effective episodes.

Some of the family members sound as though they've come from the width and breadth of The British isles, with a multitude of regional dialects, and some Irish thrown in for good measures.

8/10.

Truly one of my favourite OL episodes, but I have to agree with the other UK reviewer about the truly extraordinary world that it creates for British audiences.

Not only is the town apparently located in Wales whilst the cast all speak in a sort of bastardised Yorkhire dialect (with a couple of Cockney accents thrown in), but - and this slays me every time I watch "Sixth Finger" - the motorcycle cops who square off against the creature immediately reach for their sidearms. For those non-Brits who aren't aware, few of our policemen back in the 1960s would have been allowed anywhere near a pistol or rifle. (Even today only specially-trained officers are allowed to carry guns.)

For all that, it's a cracking tale, very well told, with great performances from the leads. Sadly, as I pen this review I note that Jill Haworth passed away just a few weeks ago, of natural causes but at only 65. RIP.

David McCallum stars as Gwyillim Griffiths, a poor but bright young man in a rural Welsh mining village who is hired to be a lab assistant to a kindly research scientist named Professor Mathers(played by Edward Mulhare). He volunteers to subject himself to a breakthrough invention that somehow can accelerate the state of human evolution thousands of years, but this gives Gwyillim increased intelligence, and physically transforms him as well, which frightens the local villagers, though his girlfriend Kathy Evans(played by Jill Haworth) remains the one person he can still connect with before it is too late... Provocative episode with fine script and makeup effects that distinguish it, along with lines like "Your ignorance makes me ill and angry."

This episode features two British actors very familiar to 1960s American television--Edward Mulhare ("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir") and David McCallum ("The Man From UNCLE").

Mulhare is a genetic scientist who has been manipulating DNA in chimps in order to speed up evolution. The result is a chimp that is nearly as smart as a person! When a local dullard sees this, she begs the scientist to do this procedure on her boyfriend (McCallum)--a rather dull coal miner. Mulhare reluctantly agrees to his first human subject and McCallum is accelerated thousands of years--and becomes MUCH smarter and with psychic powers but also some contempt for mankind, as we are all very stupid in comparison. He continues to evolve--and each time, we become more and more like mere parasites to the point that he sees us as inconveniences. What's next? See this very interesting episode to find out for yourself.

I liked this one because it could simply have been about how noble mankind would one day become (BOOORRRIIINNGGG!). Instead, although McCallum seems pretty benign, over time his view of the human race is pretty scary! An insightful and clever show--well worth seeing because of this as well as it being incredibly unique!

I saw this episode when I was 9 years old and was glued to my TV. David McCalum's makeup was designed by John Chambers who later did the ears for Mr. Spock. This series had the best special effects people in the business, designing the most grotesque looking monsters you will ever see. Unlike the Twilight Zone which played their monsters for laughs, the teaser of The Outer Limits each week gave you a taste of what to expect in the next hour and you did not have to wait until the very end to see them. 1st Season Director of Photography, Conrad Hall and his camera man William Fraker shot episodes with fish eyed lenses and weird camera angles coupled with high contrast lighting producing black and white quality equivalent to feature films. Monsters like the Chromoite from THE MICE looked like a quivering Jelly Fish with claws for hands and a slit for a mouth where it ate its own goo from the lake and male and female Aliens from FUN & GAMES who used boomerangs as weapons to kill their opponents is an example of the monsters on The Outer Limits. Twilight Zone had nothing like this.