Behold Eck!

The script is good and the special effects for that era can't be beat-well done.

A lighter story than usual, about contact with an alien being.

I find that whenever Outer Limits dares venture into light comedy (Controlled Experiment, etc) the show fails. For decades I thought this hour was the biggest load of crap all due to the absent minded genius and the poor effects work of the creature Eck.

But after a few repeat viewings I came to understand that the story is actually very good and the lesser elements to the episode can be forgiven if you just centre on what is actually happening in the clever story.

The budget was probably $20 but I can forgive that point as well.

Peter Lind Hays stars as Dr. James Stone, an optometrist who one day comes to his office only to find it in shambles. His secretary,(played by Joan Freeman) has no idea what happened, but they will soon discover that it was caused by a two-dimensional creature called Eck who has, through a freak accident, slid sideways into their three-dimensional world, causing much havoc as a result. Eck needs a special lens made to enable him to find the dimensional rift he came through, and must return to soon or face imminent destruction. Parley Baer costars as Stone's brother Bernard. Whimsical episode undeniably suffers from very limited F/X, but has an imaginative story and sympathetic creature that keep viewer involvement. Quite endearing despite its limitations.

Peter Lind Hayes is an expert in corrective lenses. He is himself myopic. He is accompanied by a beautiful secretary/fellow researcher who has the hots for him, but he doesn't know a spyglass from an hourglass. A series of optical labs have been destroyed. Upon entering the destruction of his own, he picks up a pair of special glasses and sees a threatening, glowing, two-dimensional creature. Oddly, it is humanoid in shape. We should ask ourselves why it has these appendages if it has no need to walk or grasp. Hayes goes to his brother, a scientist, to ask questions of the viability of such a creature. Since there is no love loss between the two, Hayes is treated like a nut case. Eventually, the creature begins to communicate, but the police are involved and things begin to go haywire. A very average episode.

Given the highly negative reviews this episode has gotten, an opposite opinion is needed. Anyone who thinks "ZZZZZZZZ" is a good episode needs to be disagreed with.

I'm 70 and saw this episode when it premiered. It falls back on a basic plot -- the absent-minded professor no one will listen to -- but it's gloriously silly. It's apparently the only TV episode that ever considered a two-dimensional universe and beings. (The idea has been treated in much more depth in "The Planiverse", which really ought to be made into a film.)

Parley Baer (Dr Stone's brother) was the original "Chester" on the radio version of "Gunsmoke". He would later be accidentally "killed" by Judge Stone (odd coincidence) on "Night Court".