Tourist Attraction

This has multiple stories going, none of which is very interesting. You have the insensitive megalomaniac who abuses his female partner. You have the cowardly scientist who takes off, leaving his boss to the dangerous fish. You have the fish themselves which are about as stupid looking as any of the monsters (men in sweatsuits with fish heads). You have the banana republic leader who thinks he is helping people but is only serving himself. Anyway, the bossy guy is clueless. One of the most ridiculous scenes has to do with allowing an undependable alcoholic guard to watch over the captured fish-man (when it has been announced that this may be the discovery of the century). His buddy comes over with wine and a checkerboard and turns up the heat in the refrigeration unit and allows the guy to thaw. They get drunk and the prized possession gets out. Pretty dumb.

The forgettable "Tourist Attraction" is a terrible and messy episode of "The Outer Limits". The writer entwines a clichés dictator of a banana republic in Latin America with a coelacanth with an obnoxious and chauvinist American millionaire in a senseless story.The result is the worst episode of this intriguing series. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Atração Turística" ("Tourist Attraction")

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?

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.

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.