A Feasibility Study

If you watched Outer Limits back in the day, you probably were watching Twilight Zone as well. Outer Limits was the scifi show with rubber monsters, Twilight Zone was the home of the speculative, the bizarre and the conduit for the social beliefs of Rod Serling. It was this last that separated the two shows. Outer Limits rarely produced the kind of thoughtful episodes that touched the feelings of the viewer.

This episode is one TZ would be proud of. It starts out as many OL shows do, with aliens taking Earth people way for nefarious purposes. But as it develops, and at it's memorable conclusion, there is a moral intellectual message that is the equal of the best of TZ or anything else that was broadcast at the time. The writing, the cast, the premise are all superior to most of the other shows. This is a very worthwhile viewing experience.

A Feasibility Study is directed by Byron Haskin and written by Joseph Stefano. It stars Sam Wanamaker, Phylliss Love, Joyce Van Patten, David Opatoshu and Frank Puglia. Music is by Dominic Frontiere and cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr.

Season 1 - Episode 29

Episode sees an entire neighbourhood transported to the planet Luminos, where the inhabitants, Luminoids, are suffering from a disease that renders them as living statues. They are conducting a study to see if humankind can be used as slave labour, and thus this neighbourhood are the guinea pigs.

Super concept on offer here as the key twist in the tale revolves around a critical choice the humans have to make. This choice gives The Outer Limits one of its better episodes because it leads to an emotionally pumped, poignant and unforgettable finale. 8/10

I recently saw this excellent episode, and I noticed several things that brought to mind similarities in Star Trek TNG and Star Trek Voyager. The idea of scooping out an entire area was also shown in the TNG episode The Best of Both Worlds - Part 1, where the Borg removed the entire New Providence colony. In fact, the post-removal shots in both episodes look very much alike.

Also, the disease symptoms in A Feasibility Study look similar to the Phage, which afflicted the Vidiians in Star Trek Voyager. The Phage looks more terrifying possibly because the makeup budget was no doubt smaller in the Outer Limits episode.

An extraterrestrial civilization performs an experiment with amazing characteristics. They abduct an entire neighborhood from Earth and transport it to their planet, they need to know if humans have antibodies to a virus that affects them. The inhabitants of the neighborhood begin to notice strange phenomena, lack of energy and disconnection of services among other things, but the worst will happen when they cross the limits of their streets and find horrified that they are on a dark and nebulous planet. A story of great creativity that over time has become an emblematic episode of this series and that was one of the few chosen to make a remake in the series of the 90s.

The Beverly Hills neighborhood existing on a six-block section in Midgard Drive finds itself carved out and taken by an alien ship to the planet Luminos, where the inhabitants are to be used as a forced slave labor. The Luminoids are suffering from a leprosy-like disease that has blighted their planet, and unaffected humans will be used as test subjects that requires a choice, since human vanity and selfishness are being counted on to keep the abducted under control, in order to insure that the rest of the Earth will be viable for abduction. Can the people(some of whom are already infected) make the right choice? Outstanding episode is among the best, with an intelligent, ambitious script being matched by haunting visuals, atmospheric direction all leading to a noble, deeply moving climax that may move viewer to tears.