Tourist Attraction

A wealthy Norteamericano scientist (Ralph Meeker) brings his team to a banana republic in search of scientific fame. He discovers that a legendary lake monster is in fact a living fossil, an ichthyosaur. The millionaire's egotistical plans for the monster are obstructed, however, by the egotism of the local dictator (Henry Silva), by his own team's commitment to scientific integrity, and by certain remarkable properties of the monster itself...

Once again, as too often on THE OUTER LIMITS, a decent story is undermined by clumsy plotting and awkward direction, which combine with low budget to stumble us to the usual preachy moral, which could have been better supported by the story elements.

Wealthy American publisher Ralph Meeker (as John Dexter) takes secretary Janet Blair (as Lynn Arthur) and handsome marine biologist Jerry Douglas (as Tom Evans) out for a cruise in South American waters. While Mr. Douglas rubs suntan oil on Ms. Blair's back, Mr. Meeker spots an odd looking fish under water. Though looking slightly out-of-shape, manly Meeker decides to immediately plunge into the sea and capture the giant fish. It turns out to be surprisingly easy to hoist the rubbery-looking thing aboard. As it turns out, the animal is probably from a prehistoric species, and is worshiped by locals as a God. The big fish is also desired by tyrannical South American republic General Henry Silva (as Juan Mercurio). While they and a narrator banter about trying to make some sense of this episode, something fishy is brewing underwater...

***** Tourist Attraction (12/23/63) Laslo Benedek ~ Ralph Meeker, Janet Blair, Jerry Douglas, Henry Silva

Another take on The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

Not a favourite episode of this series but the goofy sea creatures remain forever locked in the memory and it is fun watching the character "Tom" as the actor playing him - Jerry Douglas - would go on to play a time traveller in one of the very best episodes of - Irwin Allen's Land Of The Giants - titled: A Place Called Earth (1969).

These are not really solid reasons for making this hour good but I just can't bring myself to calling Tourist Attraction a stinker. Perhaps you would do better watching the three Creature From The Black Lagoon films of the 1950s?

This episode of Outer Limits is really fun. I love the creatures, they're really cool, and for an Outer Limits it was pretty ambitious.

John Dexter head to The Caribbean to make his scientific mark, he discovers and captures a bug eyed beast, and takes it back to a scientifically facility, a tug of war for ownership begins.

It isn't totally woeful, I could watch it again, but when I compare this to almost every other episode I've seen, it's not in the same league. If you're a fan of 1950's monster horror, then this may just appeal to you, it is essentially a dupe of Creature from The Black Lagoon, only it doesn't really have the same charm, and unusual for this show, it looks a bit cheap.

It really is just a monster of the weak episode, but every single cliché imaginable is here, the loud tycoon, the tin pot dictator, the bug eyed monster, the South American dictatorship, the useless armed guards, the list goes on.

Ralph Meeker was the best thing about it, Dexter was a strong character, sadly the others, and the episode in general are forgettable.

4/10.