The Zanti Misfits

I remember seeing this for the first time and thinking those ugly little ant guys with their threatening faces were the stuff of nightmares. A spaceship is about to land with permission of the U.S. government. The alien culture has said that they are sending a group of prisoners and misfits to Earth. They are to be confined to a place in the desert. If Earth does not comply, God knows what they will do to us. A military installment has been put in a ghost town to oversee the arrival. Everything is fine until Bruce Dern, a bank robber, and his hyped up girlfriend break through a checkpoint, guarded by one guy. He is killed by their car and they make their way into the confined area. Their car overheats and they are stuck without water. Dern is nuts and has domination over the women. He becomes curious when he sees a tiny spaceship has landed on a rock edifice. When he goes to investigate, he is startled and falls into a crevice. Some of the aliens exit the ship. They are large ants with expressive faces, very threatening. An historian who has been writing about the whole process volunteers to check things out as the head of the operation tries to convince the aliens that the invaders are not part of the plan; that they have barged in on the scene. The little ants chase the woman and she is rescued by the historian and brought back to the control center. The story has to do with how we would confront such an unknown which threatens our way of life. The woman (who will probably be charged with being an accessory to robbery and murder) represents the cynical fears of the citizen toward the government. She seems to have nothing to lose and presents a sad subplot. It's obvious that she has never really taken a stand in her life and now that life may be over.

"There is nothing wrong with your television set…"

In the appropriately named ghost town of Morgue, California, the "historian of interplanetary events" known as Prof. Michael Tolan (as Stephen "Steve" Grave) meets stone-faced Maj. Claude Woolman (as Roger Hill) to prepare for a penal spaceship from the "perfectionist rulers of the planet Zanti." Personnel at the military base hope the top secret landing will be peaceful, but the Zanti are not giving Earthlings any choice in the matter; refusing to allow "The Zanti Misfits" landing without incident will result in the "total destruction" of Earth...

Gen. Robert F. Simon (as Maximillian R. Hart) assures the Zanti they may land, but the aliens suspect trouble. "Do not betray us," they warn. However, boozing bank robber Bruce Dern (as Ben Garth) and his tightly-wound lover Olive Deering (as Lisa Lawrence) crash into the scene, with a wad of stolen money and an overheated car. Imaginatively directed by Leonard Horn and intelligently written by "Outer Limits" producer Joseph Stefano, with a wonderful soundtrack and one of the most memorable alien life forms ever seen on television...

"We now return control of your television set to you…"

********** The Zanti Misfits (12/30/63) Leonard Horn ~ Michael Tolan, Olive Deering, Robert F. Simon, Bruce Dern

Here are some little-known but unverified facts about this episode :)

* The given name for the Planet Zanti is Zant; Zanti is actually a nickname. Zanti was chosen as the planet's name to make it less than obvious that the planet was named for an ant. It's also because it rhymes with "auntie", as in "Zanti Mame". The large mounds of earth and rock near the Zanti spaceship are known as "zanthills".

* The inspiration for the humanoid faces on the Zantis was the 1958 horror film "The Fly", which featured, near the end of the film, a fly with the head and arm of a human being (Al Hedison). However, the fly even sounded human ("Help me! Help me!"), having exchanged atoms with a scientist, whereas the Zantis only buzzed, disturbingly so. "The Fly" then evolved, or de-evolved (either word is correct depending upon your point of view) into the 1986 film version, in which the entire scientist becomes a hybrid of a fly and a human being.

* Ben Garth, the Bruce Dern character, didn't use the gun in the glove compartment to attack or defend against the Zanti Misfits, because he knew it wasn't loaded.

The Zanti Misfits is directed by Leonard Horn and written by Joseph Stefano. It stars Michael Tolan, Olive Deering, Robert F. Simon, Claude Woolman and Bruce Dern. Music is by Dominic Frontiere and cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr.

Season 1 - Episode 14

The planet Zanti requests Earth to provide a penal colony for its misfit criminals, the ship must not be in anyway interfered with or Earth will face dire consequences. Ceding to the demand, the ghost town of Morgue, California, is set up to receive the criminals, but just as the penal spaceship lands, a fleeing bank robber and his girlfriend put everything on red alert...

The Zantis of the title are a grotesque creation, unsettling in appearance and audible sounds. It may now be true to smile at the rudimentary primitive effects work, but the impact the creatures have remains to this day capable of raising the gooseflesh on your skin. Horn directs some smart set-pieces once the Zanti have been unleashed, all building up to a terrific final reckoning.

Once the episode reveals its hand, with a caustic observation on the human species, we end up with easily one of the best and most memorable episodes from out of the entire Outer Limits catalogue. 9/10

In the desert town of Morgue, California, an assembled group of military and scientific personnel await the dreaded arrival of an alien ship carrying exiled prisoners from the planet Zanti, whose leaders have communicated to Earth officials that they had better let it land, or risk severe retaliation in response. They cooperate, but a runaway car carrying two wanted criminals breaks the barricade and crashes near the ship, which may lead to disastrous consequences...or will it matter at all? Famous episode because of the memorable design(and sound) of the Zanti creatures, which are larger ants with distorted human faces! Effective for its sheer audacity, though does teeter a bit to the comical at times. Nice(if obvious) end twist as well.