Fun and Games

Nick Adams and Nancy Malone star as Mike Benson and Laura Hanley, two strangers in an apartment building(he on the run from the police, she an innocent inhabitant) who are selected by an advanced alien race whose unseen leader tells them that they are going to play a life and death gladiatorial game on the planet Andera, which is part of their reality entertainment. The stakes are the fates of the Earth and their opponents called Calco, whose ape-like inhabitants will show them no mercy. How can these two unlikely combatants defeat these creatures and save their world? Exciting(and influential) episode with two fine lead actors, though there are some undeniably silly elements as well.

A guy and girl fight for life, when playing a game on another planet.

1966 Star Trek stole a lot from this hour, in fact after spending time on these IMDb reviews of The Outer Limits it would seem Trek took one hell of a lot from The Outer Limits.

I wonder how many of those "Trekkers" know that Trek was often going Where The Outer Limits Had Gone Before???

Fun And Games is a good looking hour but I would say Trek did it best. It would seem nearly all Outer Limits aliens have the same voice??? Thankfully he sounds cool to me but it would have helped if Lost In Space's Ron Gans helped with the voice-over work sometimes.

Nick plays an ex-boxer teamed up with Nancy Malone to do battle on a distant planet with two aliens. Good scarring make up on close ups of Adams who plays a Terry Malloy type from "On the Waterfront." Adams did his obligatory usual "freak out" scene, and there were few better in Hollywood at the time that could lose it as good as "Johnny Yuma" could. Adams was an authentically tough and athletic man whose passions included playing semi-professional baseball and he was also an avid practitioner of the martial arts. This fine actor left us far too soon and catch this if you are a fan of his as it is a great period curio of a time long gone.

The plot of this episode is weak with many gaps in logic. However, the talented leads, Nick Adams and Nancy Malone, demonstrate how good acting can strengthen mediocre writing. They are both gifted and experienced enough to draw the focus away from the flawed script and toward their dynamic personalities. Nancy Malone is one of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age of Television. I've never found her work to be less than the highest caliber. Nick Adams' work is of equally high quality. His authentic Jersey accent and athletic background served him well as a cynical fighter who has found the world a disappointing place. I have never seen Nick Adams give a bad performance. Regardless of the quality of the vehicle in which he was cast, his work was always topnotch. I am not science fiction or Outer Limits fan, but that isn't necessary to enjoy these talented performers. The episode ranks as good entertainment largely due to Adams and Malone's skill at their craft. Watch and enjoy.

Once again, an indifferent entity takes it upon themselves to make a life and death decision that doesn't affect them at all. Nick Adams and his companion are given the task of fighting for their lives against an alien. The winner saves his planet. The loser, well.... Anyway, it is the modern man versus an ugly, rubbery reptilian (much like a gorn). He is armed with a boomerang with saw blades. They have only their wits for their defenses. There is a great deal of talk about the worthiness of the human race and what have they done for me, etc., etc., etc. The forces seem to have a lot of power and their boredom seems to be the reason for everything. The whole thing begs the question of whether the people of earth have any free will if there is a superior culture that can utterly manipulate their very existence. It's a good idea but pretty much stretches even a far-fetched plot.