Abduction

I loved the new Outer Limits series and Abduction is my favorite episode. Zachery Ty Bryan from Home Improvement fame plays a great role as the befallen sports hero. Kandyse McClure is wonderful as the spiritual leader of the pack and provides the faith that holds them together. Jesse Moss nails it as the guy you love to hate. This episode brings back memories of my high school days and the many friends I had that were like all the characters here.

I'm the same age as Zachery Ty Bryan. I remember when this episode first aired. It was such a joke of an episode. We knew the writer was trying to make some sappy little solution to school violence. Instead, they made a thoughtless, cruel episode that does the opposite.

And of course the episode has the standard Breakfast-Club-style caricatures: the jock, the nerd, the tough guy, the rich snob, and the good girl. Those distinctions aren't so clear in reality.

The way they resolved it is so so so wrong, and so so so damaging to kids who watch the episode. They resolve the problem in the end by all of the bullies saying to their victim that they need to feel sympathy for their bully. The snobby girl's, "I laughed at you when you asked me out, but YOU need to forgive ME"... really? What did this episode hope to accomplish? Make victims of bullying feel even more victimized? More ignored? More dismissed? If I were in that position and saw this episode, knowing that my own bullies do see them selves as better than me and more worthy of sympathy, knowing that my own bullies in reality would never show any care for me at all, this episode would've nudged me in the wrong direction. Fortunately I wasn't in that exact position. I was a defeated bullying victim. And I knew that anything I did in return to them would only make me as bad as they were, so I refused ever to fight back. But I'm sure a lot of kids saw this episode and were only reminded of how they're treated every day and that NO ONE UNDERSTANDS and NO ONE CARES.

After the initial "Oh my God; I can't believe this is happening," this episode of The Outer Limits becomes quite gripping. Each of the kids is a stereotype, just like the gang from "The Breakfast Club" back in the eighties. Here, an alien comes to a high school and singles out a group of five young people to torment. They represent a pecking order in the school. They include the nerdy science guy, the jock, the pretty girl with the reputation, the religious girl, and the angry misfit who represents the kind of kid who could act like the two desperate characters at Columbine. A light comes over the hallway during passing and suddenly these five find themselves alone. Not only that, they are unable to depart the scene. Once classroom is open to them, a bathroom, and a few other places, but there is no escape. When they try to leave through the entrance on one end, they are quickly delivered back through an opposite entrance. Suddenly, an alien presence (the Outer Limits lizard guy of the day) tells them that by three o'clock they must decide which of their group must die. If they choose, the others will be allowed to carry on their business. Of course, since they are all relative foes, this causes great distress among them. The misfit guy is really disdainful of life and associations, feeling he has been victimized his whole life. This is really well done as they try to sort our their feeling and do the right thing. This is really well done with a solid conclusion. Take the time to discuss it. As a former teacher, it would have been fun to have my kids talk about the implications of the episode. While there are some pretty clichéd things presented, it still works quite well.

The ending is extremely well written. And hit's on the very root's and reasons why event's like columbine happen. Aired only 2 years after the columbine events. I think this episode really has helped some teens who have watched it. And how under certain circumstances bulling can push some kids to far. That's how well the end is written, and performed.

This is an outstanding series. I just started getting back into it again. I wish they would come out with another science fiction show that has the same plots and story lines as The Outer Limits. Based on science future/past/present fiction and fact, It's an outstanding series, that really get's you thinking. Highly recommend TV series.

For those not old enough to remember, back in the 80's ABC had a show called the 'Afterschool Special'. This show was way out of line. It always had some creepy over-dramatic cheesy story trying to shove some overblown moral down your throat. This episode reminded me of those shows. It starts out ok, 5 high school stereotypes get abducted by an Alien that demands they choose one of them to die, or all 5 of the kids will die. It goes downhill very quickly from there, it has that unnatural dialogue, where the characters are being used at a mouthpiece for some point the writer is trying to make, rather than speaking from character, - The X-files would fall into this lazy type of writing / narration quite often. Although it is done in a much more entertaining way, I could not escape the feeling I was watching an errant episode of the 'Afterschool Special' that somehow is masquerading as an 'Outer Limits' show. The last half falls into this degeneracy more than the first half. One of the weaker episodes if you ask me... and no more naked ladies like Valerie 23... shame.Thanks to OL I got to find out that the chick from 'Who's the Boss?' has a nice rack... small but firm and shapely... Tonight on a special 'Outer Limits'... Samanatha gets naked.God Bless Amerka and Trumpty Dumpty 2024!