Behold Eck!

Somewhere in here is the genesis of a story such as ET: The Extraterrestrial.

Dr James Stone, an optometrist created a prescription lens from a quartz extracted from a meteor. When he puts them on, he suddenly sees a two dimensional creature in a three dimensional world.

Dr Stone goes to his brother for advice, he works for the government. He dislikes James and gives him short shrift.

Later Dr Stone decides to help the creature get back home by assisting to see a rift that will take him to his dimension.

By now James is pursued by his brother and the police. The creature caused some damage in the city which ignited their interest.

Tonally the episode is all over the place. Dr James Stone is like the absent minded professor. There is the bickering between the brothers. Even the creature is meant to be cartoonish, he is certainly drawn that way.

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.

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.

Being a long time fan of the original Star Trek Series, and other TV shows of that era, I had no problem with the 'low-budget' special effects of this show in general and this episode in particular.

(Or, I could take another tack and say 'How dare they not use the latest technology and insane budgets available to TODAY'S movies and TV shows??)

I could, but I won't, because THAT would be just plain silly.

Judging this show on the only FAIR merits that I can, I pronounce it to be a well-written, well-scripted episode with a dash of 'hard science' which would (and should) appeal to any Star Trek fan.

'Nuff said!