Final Appeal

If you liked that last episode of Seinfeld you will like this one as well :-)

A time traveler is put on trial for re-introducing technology at a future time when technology is blamed for unleashing death on the world. The courtroom scene is an excuse to play snippets of past Outer Limits episodes.

I'm not a fan of flashback episodes at all.

I especially dislike this episode because the previous episode in this series 'A Stitch in Time' was a real gemstone. A Stitch In Time is definitely worth watching.

This episode should have had a 10. It has wonderful actors and really neat subject matter. It involves a society that has rejected the use of science because of the war that scientists produced. Now a woman time traveler, played by Amanda Plummer, is on trial for her life. The Supreme Court of the United States is hearing her case. She is charged with several murders, committed while she was time traveling. It's also about the future of science (by the way, the clothing and numerous other advancements seem to be OK.). What's wrong is that every year when this series concluded, they mocked up an episode, showing scenes from non-related episodes. This could all have worked out with a little effort on the writers' parts. You have Chuck Heston, Hal Holbrook, Cicely Tyson, and other stars working their ways through this. Also, Wally Langham, from CSI comes on as the wost nightmare in recorded history. It's interesting, but not because of the science. It's a court case that will give direction to the world of the future.

Okay, so it's one of those episodes that make us all groan, a clips episode with an epilogue plot no one wanted. But it was the late '90s/early 2000s, so we couldn't watch every episode at the click of a button like we can now, so clips episodes at least made sense. The real problem with this episode is Michael Moriarty, playing Gannon. He missed the message that this is The Outer Limits, not Saturday Night Live; he does his lines with an annoying mocking cadence of speech like he's parodying a certain real attorney. When it first aired, we got one episode per week, so I suffered through it but barely remember it. Re-watching the episode tonight, I made it barely halfway through the episode. I just can't stand Moriarty's readings of the lines.

A casting gold medal is deserved here. Although the story is solid, i had a hard time getting over the multitude of amazing actors in one outer limits episode! I had to pause to check out the listed cast which was limited to 13. But, oh my! This has more iconic movie legends in one place than any of their many blockbuster histories! Wow! There were even uncredited snippets of Richard Thomas ( John Boy, the Waltons), Beau Bridges, hello! And thats not even the leading cast! This is the best ever Outer Limits episode ever cant wait to see the second half. Charlston Heston, Frank Longorria, Cisily Tyson, Swoosie Kurtz, oh my! Too many legends to list! This is something special!!!!

As I've said before, these end of season episodes are so contrived that they have no center to hold them. While the conclusion of this one is comfortably in the canon, it offers us nothing new. It opens up a series of unanswered questions. There are so many tricks to dealing with time travel. The immutability of time creates a situation where going back just creates too many questions. It's a nice idea, but like so many efforts in the past, it doesn't wash. I was amused that the best performance was by long time bit player on CSI, Wally Langham. I also wonder why they didn't use the budget for the big stars to create a really top notch episode. All that aside, I haven't watched the seventh season but hope it fares better.