Controlled Experiment

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".

"The Outer Limits" goes for tongue-in-cheek in this episode with two Martians (assuming ordinary earthling appearance) who are sent to earth to study human beings. They are told there will be a murder taking place at a 'less than first class hotel' and take their equipment to the scene and wait for the event to take place.

The scene: A sexy blond waits in the lobby. The elevator door opens, a man steps out. The blond stands up and faces him.

Blond: "Bert Hamil!! You're a two-faced, no good, black-hearted two timer!" Man: "Carla!! Don't shoot!!" Blond: "Don't come begging to me. Take that!!" The gun goes off, the man grabs his chest and falls to the floor. (Love the dialogue--right out of a 40s murder mystery.) The Martians watch but are dumbfounded and have no clue so they decide to rewind the scene (in real time) but still draw a blank. Then they run it in slow motion, backward, forward, upside-down, inside-out, stop the action stepping into the scene for human physiology tests such as blood pressure, temp, etc., and now take the scene further back in time and follow him to find out where the man was coming from on the upper floors--a sexy brunette is up there. Still nothing. They finally decide to redirect the bullet trajectory to see what result that produces, and do so but according to headquarters, what they have done will alter future events with a devastating result to the solar system. Now they're in quandary and discuss what to do.

Considering television was in its teens in 1964, this "Outer Limits" episode isn't bad. Carroll O'Connor plays one of the Martians and its interesting to see him in action prior to his "Archie Bunker" fame.

The plot was hokey but enjoyable and the Martian equipment looked like gadgets anyone could have bought at a toy store in 1964; the special effects are simplistic (the director got a lot of mileage out of "the scene" by playing and replaying it) and when the Martians stepped into the stopped action, the actors did their best to hold their positions and not flinch.

If its a Saturday night and there's nothing else on cable, give this one a shot. Ooops.

I was amazed to find this episode of Outer Limits, which I'd never seen before! . OL usually scares the crap out of me, and has since I first watched it as a child (older now!") So this episode was a pleasant surprise! Suspenseful to a point and too many special effects and noise but overall this one got me smiling. There is hope for change and humor. Great episode! Left me in a good mood and ready for bed. Recommended.

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.

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)