Wolf 359

I won't pretend this is one of the great Outer Limits episodes. There aren't many of those, but some avoid total failure by holding interest to the end. "Wolf 359" is one that had always intrigued me, mostly because it manages to sustain the weird feeling that the show occasionally evokes. I must have seen a syndicated version with edits because seeing it again there is more to it than I'd remembered. The concept of replicating a tiny part of a planet nearly 8 light years from Earth is fascinating (as long as you don't think too much about how anyone could know enough about the planet's properties to attempt this in the first place). What happens to make the episode interesting is just fine--but then the old problem of what producers of the show called "the bear" knocks it all down a few notches. The budget was pretty limited, but it's too bad a malevolent being from a distant planet ends up looking like a cheaply designed "ghost". The music and the good actors help to keep us watching, so we can suspend disbelief. Still, we can wish they'd come up with something a little creepier than this particular "creature".

Scientist Jonathan Meridith recreates a model of nearby Planet Wolf 359, in a bid to see if it's suitable for humans to inhabit. The project appears to be a success, until Meredith, and his wife Ethel are tormented by a creature that grew from the project.

Is this one a contender for most ambitious episode, I think you could make a case for it, it's certainly daring, and presents the viewer with a far more complex science fiction story than had perhaps previously been offered.

It isn't a favourite, imagine if this story were to be made now, they could do so much with it, terrific ideas, almost ahead of its time. Great ideas, good script, an episode that shows some of the constraints of technology at that time I guess.

Very good performances from the two leading actors, Patrick O'Neal and Sara Shane.

Weird and enjoyable.

6/10.

A tiny model of another planet is created...then a creature comes out of it.

This episode of The Outer Limits sits perfectly when seen late at night when you are more willing to put up with the slowness of the story. You even feel like you are in the desert with these three people.

However, I find if you go in expecting some knockout bit of retro sci-fi, you start getting bothered by the fake looking creature and at times you might want to press the picture search on your DVD to get things moving a bit faster.

So basically, I like it, but only when seen at 11pm.

Patrick O'Neal stars as scientist John Meredith, who has managed to build an enclosed miniaturized clone of a planet in the nearby star system of Wolf 359. He seeds it with human DNA in an effort to speed up the planet's evolution, roughly 1 second equals eleven minutes Earth time. The experiment appears to be a success until a mysterious ghost-bat like creature emerges, striking fear in his wife(played by Sara Shane) and his colleagues, before finally coming after him. Just what is the creature, and what does it want? Ambitious story here, with some big scientific and philosophical ideas at work, though dramatically it isn't as compelling as it should be, with too little action. Still worthwhile though.

Patrick O'Neal is a scientist who is observing a planet where a strange bat-like creature lives. He watches this planet and then creates a miniature of this and observes it with a high powered microscope. The creature finally manifests itself in the house, killing the research animals and some plants, and frightening O'Neal and his wife. He fires his lab assistant and sends his wife to stay with her family. Heis doing this to protect these people. He is in one of those situations that a 1960's scientist is in where he knows the dangers but can't give up on the work. There is that element of the 60's male who can never admit vulnerability, or even admit that something may be wrong. It's an interesting episode, but as is often the case, the characters are careless and shortsighted.