Demon with a Glass Hand

I met and talked with Harlan Ellison at an early '70s Star Trek Convention, and the conversation drifted to DEMON, and how he hated the way the writers butchered & disgraced his story. "Imagine", he said: "Creatures from a far-future century fist-fighting and shooting at each other with pistols! Gimme a break!" Its saving grace, apart from its being a terrific sci-fi story, was actress Arlene Martel, who later gained fame as Spck's wife in a Star Trek episode AMOK TIME. That's the one that truly made her famous, previous to that one, she was but a struggling young actress. Her role in DEMON I thought outstandingly underplayed.

Directed by veteran Byron Haskin, this is one of two episodes by Harlan Ellison that earned 'The Outer Limits' it's exulted status among students of serious sci-fi, creating an unearthly setting merely by locating it's nightmare in a dilapidated old office block and photographing it in gothic black & white.

In additional to the perennially underused Robert Culp as "the last hope of humanity" the other members of the cast also provide interesting resonances since Arline Martel - already far from being a conventional heroine - later played Spock's bride T'Pring in the 'Star Trek' episode 'Amok Time', while Abraham Sofaer, who leads the pursuing aliens, actually played God himself in the classic 'A Matter of Life and Death'.

I beg you to remember that this was written when most TV fans thought of science fiction as Buck Rogers or Flash Gorgon. The ideas and concepts were way ahead of their time for TV. Today we laugh at the special effects and Cosme's but also remember that TOL was made on a very tight budget. lighting effects and camera angles were used with he music to try and add the confused feeling that Trent and Consuelo were enduring. All in all it worked by 60's standards.

You can poke holes or take exception to certain issues that were not addressed but hey, they only had an hour (about 48 minutes without commercials). All in all I feel this is one of the most ingenious and in some ways eerie plots in early TV scifi. It has rightfully earned its place in the hearts of scifi fans.

Robert Culp with an oddball hand is chased by oddball villains.

Please don't "not useful" me for saying this, but for decades I hated this hour! The look of the guys in masks, the hand, some story elements, it just turned me off!!!!!!!!!! But now I love it!!

I will never know why some Limits shows require added screenings before they really grow on you??

Yes, I agree with the other posters, this is a knockout and one of the best episodes of the series. Too bad the writer was not totally pleased with the end product, but who cares, I love it, and so do most others. Perhaps the best thing Robert Culp ever did.

I met Robert Culp in 2010 at the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival. He had white hair, but was still unmistakable.

He was having dinner and was rather angry I interrupted. I said, "Mr. Culp. please forgive me for interrupting you dinner, but this is probably the only chance I'll have to get an autograph." I guess my humble tone of voice was enough to calm his anger. I didn't mention "I Spy," or "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," which everyone thought would make him a star. I said "the one thing I've never forgotten was your performance in "The Demon With A Glad Hand." He replied "Oh, yes." Then he looked up at me rather pensively--thinking I was going to start a long conversation. I had already been told not to do that. I said "Thank you Mr. Culp, I love your work," and walked away. He evidently had a short fuse and I wasn't going to provoke a scene. Ten stars for "The Demon" and ten stars for the man.