ZZZZZ

An entomologist conducting research on bee behavior is visited by an exotic and intriguing woman who offers herself as his assistant. In reality, she is a queen bee that has taken on the human aspect for the sole purpose of copulating with the scientist and turning him into a human drone. The worst thing about this episode is unfortunately the FX, absolutely poor and simple. The best are the performances mainly by Joanna Frank who has a hypnotic, intriguing and mysterious appearance, her mere presence is disturbing, and the script is very solid.

francodomenico mentioned that Ms. Frank was only 19 when she was in this episode, but if you click on her name in the above credits, it will take you to the IMDb page for Joanna Frank. It plainly shows that she was born in 1941. Unless they filmed this episode of The Outer Limits in 1960, and waited to air it in 1964, then she couldn't possibly have been 19 years old when she was in it. Her year of birth was confirmed on another website before I posted this comment, so it is unlikely to be an error on the part of IMDb for posting the incorrect year of her birth.

I do agree that she gave a wonderful performance in the episode. She definitely gives you the impression that her character (Regina) is trying to 'blend in' but not picking up on the nuances of human interactions in order to accomplish that completely.

When this was first aired back in the 60s, I felt a strange love and empathy for 'Regina'. I was only 6 and I fell in love. I felt gutted by the episode's conclusion. But that was when I was 6. Decades later I was happy to be able to view this again through the magic of DVDs. Yes, I own them ALL. I was hesitant to watch this episode. I still had this pit in my stomach. There was something about this episode that lingered and haunted. The title....UGH! Is it corny or clever? After putting it off long enough I finally sat down with it. Here is an excellent example of an outrageous story...an unlikely tale. I know the Outer Limits of the 60s had nearly no budget, but these special effects were surprisingly poor. And yet, despite the apparently ridiculous plot and the dismal effects, I found myself suspending disbelief. The effects, as bad as they were, were simply a device to portray the idea of what was happening, not an attempt to dazzle the eye. Somehow, I overlooked the poor effects and found myself focusing on the story. The acting was superb. Joanna Frank's unsettling beauty and unbalancing sultriness brought me back to being 6-years old again. (As I understand it, Frank complained that she was given no helpful direction as to how to play Regina. This turns out to be a genius move because she delivers her lines as if she really isn't certain of her humanity or the impact of what she would say) I fell in love and was ultimately gutted at the conclusion, again. I wouldn't take anything away from Philip Abbott or Marsha Hunt. Both are more than convincing in what would by all other definitions a ludicrous idea for an episode. The tension between Frank and Hunt ends up being fine drama as does Abbott's final tirade to an unwelcome Frank. Frontiere's usual anxiety provoking music seemed to be practically non-existent here. It's there, but this is an anomaly...a quieter episode. So, I may have a bias since I hold the original series in reverence. It was a part of my childhood and was the only fantastic oddity on TV then. But, I was once again enchanted by this episode. It should have been lame. It wasn't. A fine example of better than average story telling enacted by a committed cast of professionals delivering credible performances. I'm sorry I didn't watch it sooner.

Along with "The Zanti Misfits," this is the episode that I most recall from my childhood. An entomologist is perfecting communication with bees. He has a machine that actually translate their sounds into English. He is a bit of a distant character, as are some of these scientific types, but lives with his loving wife in a kind of idyllic setting. As the story opens, we see a bee in a garden, morphing into a beautiful young woman. The professor has been seeking a lab assistant and she is suddenly there, with a real knowledge of these creatures. She is also sultry and defiant, seeing the wife as an adversary. We come to realize that she is the queen from the colony, designated to mate with the professor, give the bees longevity, and take over the world. There are so many holes in the story, but the sexual byplay taking place with the professor is really quite erotic. This is a really embracing episode at times and we watch the professor to see if he is going to allow his maleness get in the way of his good judgment.

One of my favorite OL episodes. I remember watching this when it originally aired and it certainly helped expand my eight year old imagination. Especially when I was around my grandfather's beehives.

Having recently watched it again for the first time in 45 years it was just as good as I remembered it but for slightly different reasons.

I can now better appreciate the beauty of Regina. And I am also very impressed with the ability of the bee colony to not only engineer a queen who could transform into human form (and what a form) but also a human form complete with a designer dress and underwear. However I still don't know where the bees had hidden their laboratory.