Controlled Experiment

I have no problem with a "serious" show occasionally going for a few laughs. It was also fun to see "All in the Family" star Carol O'Connor and "The Fugitive" star Barry Morse playing a couple of Martians (in disguise, I assume). But the thing would never get to the point. It wasn't the fact that we watched that girl (Janice Rand from Star Trek) shoot that idiot coming out of the elevator. It was the endless discussion and the faded negative effect that we had to wait through to get to the next event. I'd swear that half the episode was a gray mass, first out of focus, and then back to whatever was going on. I did enjoy the stolid, serious Martian, Morse, getting into cigarettes and coffee, but it took so long to deal with the issues. What they do at the end is sort of startling, but it's all in good fun.

One of the non-speaking characters, the one on his own left sitting on the couch, drops a newspaper when the gun goes off. The newspaper's headline: "I Let Go of the Bumper and the Bus Ran Over Me." Amazing what you can do with a high-def TV.

Second factoid, the actress playing Arlene Schabel (upstairs love interest), has her name spelled Linda Hutchins in the credits. She is otherwise known as Linda Hutchings.

Several members of this episode's staff, the blonde actress (mentioned in other reviews) the production manager Lindsley Parsons, production associate John Erman, makeup supervisor Fred Phillips, art department Richard Rubin, assistant director Robert Justman, went on to work on Star Trek projects.

Special effects Ray Mercer went on to work on Star Wars.

Two aliens begin a meticulous study of human behavior. They go to a hotel where a crime of passion has been committed, they use an ingenious device that controls time and this will help them advance or delay the action quickly or slowly and even stop it if necessary. Perhaps with today's technology where any of us can fast-forward, rewind, or freeze frame any movie with a simple remote control, this chapter may not seem that sophisticated, but if we go back to the 1960s, being able to see all that action is quite a novelty. What also makes this story interesting is that the aliens can study the details from different angles and the conclusions they draw as the investigation progresses is hilarious.

2 Martians disguised as humans are sent to investigate the strange human custom of murder, and use a machine that can alter time to help uncover the mystery.

I couldn't believe it when I first saw this episode in syndication in the 70's. THE OUTER LIMITS was always so dark, so spooky, so scary, so... SERIOUS. But not this time! I guess every show needs at least one comedy to balance things out, and this one was it. It starts out low-key enough, as a hard-nosed inspector shows just how alien he must be by exhibiting no knowledge of even the simplest of Earth-- or "human"-- customs. But once the "experiment" gets underway, he begins to enjoy himself just too much. I guess he was more "human" than he realized!

The cast is a real stand out. The inspector is played by Barry Morse-- future "Inspector Philip Gerard" for 4 years on THE FUGITIVE, and later, "Prof. Bergman" on the 1st season of SPACE: 1999. The outpost manager is Carrol O'Connor, 7 years before he played "Archie Bunker" on ALL IN THE FAMILY, and even longer before he played "Chief Gillespie" on IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT. The blonde packing heat determined to shoot her boyfriend is Grace Lee Whitney, 3 years before she played "Yeoman Janice Rand" on the earliest episodes of STAR TREK!

If the IMDb is correct, Leslie Stevens both wrote & directed this-- uncredited. I didn't see any credits on screen for this one. Gee, I wonder why? (heh heh)

Two Martians land on earth to do a silly experiment.

Firstly, let me say loudly and proudly, I love this series, I am even reviewing all 49 episodes on the IMDb, but having said that, I have real issues with this BORING hour. I have watched it about four times in my lifetime and each time it struggles to keep my attention. Limits had six stinkers and this is indeed one of them.

But only six bombs in a 49 episode TV series is actually a very good track record. Most 49 episode TV shows would have more bombs than that! This is just the nature of TV. So Limits still stands as a knockout TV series...and better than The Twilight Zone (1959).

Perhaps I have just spent too much time watching Barry Morse in deadly serious roles in QM's The Fugitive, one episode of QM's The Invaders and Space 1999 to take him as a comic actor in Controlled Experiment. But it is not just the two leads that bore the crap out of me but also the constant use of reverse motion footage that may of looked funny in 1964 but looks rather stupid in 2014.

Some males might enjoy looking at the cute lady in this hour but that is the only good thing I can say about "Un-Controlled Experiment".