Nightmare

This episode brought Joseph Stefano, the series creator and writer of this episode, into conflict with Rod Serling. Serling fully supported the military and authority, and many of his "Twilight Zone" episodes revolved around the military. In Serling's script for "The Rack," a man who broke under torture in the Korean Conflict is blamed for being weak and failing America. In Serling's view, the military was always right.

"Nightmare" is a new view of this situation; the quotes of the general in the episode are essentially correct about the number of American prisoners who were broken in the war. Serling couldn't imagine American soldiers permitting torture, especially on other Americans. This despite such things as the Tuskeegee Syphillis Project and the exposure of soldiers to atomic blasts to determine the effects of radiation. One wonders how he'd react to Abu Gareb, water torture, and the show "24" in which torture is approved as standard American heroic action.

For those who think these "old TV shows" were simplistic compared to today's shows with CGI, sexual content and viral-marketing web sites, consider this; have there been any modern shows that dared raise a debate about their premises like the ones raised by Stefano and Serling? Would anyone produce a series arguing against the right-wing paranoia presented in "24?"

During an interplanetary war, a UE (Unified Earth) crew of human men is taken as prisoners of war on the enemy planet Ebon. Elected leader Ed Nelson (as Luke Stone) demands to be the first interrogated, but the aliens choose mentally unstable Martin Sheen (as Arthur Dix) instead. Ironically, Mr. Sheen has just been relieved of his ability to speak. One by one, the Ebonites use sensory powers on their prisoners. They want to know some details about an impending attack from Earth. As the aliens acquire information, the men begin to suspect a traitor among themselves. Beautifully written by "Outer Limits" producer Joseph Stefano, "Nightmare" is an excellent and thought-provoking episode of the acclaimed series.

******** Nightmare (12/2/63) John Erman ~ Ed Nelson, James Shigeta, Martin Sheen, Bill Gunn

One of the most creative plot ever made on The Outer Limits series, which is one my favorite, due this has a science fiction background, on a near future the Earth has an unique army Unified Earth, which was raided by the Ebonites from the distant Planet Ebon, After sent several missions to fight at Ebon, somehow the last spacecraft was attained and all crew are arrested in sort of POW, each one has been forced by Ebonites to confess where they planned to strike on their planet, a strange device discharge a sort of laser, wounded the soldiers on many ways, clearly an anti-war episode, due they quote Korean war, suggesting that the soldiers at POW under the worst psychological distress, they confess even the undisclosable, smart screenplay letting us to think about a true nightmare that war offers, and remarkable and unexpected final!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8.5

"Nightmare" is an episode of "The Outer Limits" that would be easy to dismiss. After all, the sets are minimalistic and the show, like the rest of the series, features aliens which look a bit silly today. But don't give up on this one--it's very good and well written.

The show begins with a group of soldiers from Earth traveling by rocket to fight in a war across the galaxy. The ship is captured and they awaken to a hellish prison run by a scary looking alien who seems almost godlike with his powers. He torments them by blinding one and making another mute. He restores these powers later but seems like an incredibly nasty alien bent on breaking their wills and making them betray their planet. But naturally, there is a BIG twist.

Clever writing and a nice twist makes this one worth seeing. It also gives you a chance to see a young Martin Sheen in a rather emotionally-charged role.

This episode has horror and effectiveness, and yet is so simple. There is hardly any set or decoration. A couple of quite bare rooms and little more than scene cubes on a bare sound stage floor for the prisoner of war camp. The "enemy" was in make-up, yet there were just two of them. Everyone else was in off the shelf uniforms or costumes. There were very few props and almost nothing in special effects.

In this day where CGI can make anything appear, what made the episode so effective? To begin with, a wonderful cast. A young Martin Sheen played a pivotal role. Sad, wise looking John Anderson was under the alien make-up. Their talent helped. But that wasn't all.

The story resonated within us. It showed the true monster and enemy of mankind - man himself. Every inch of it lead to that final, wonderful last decision.

See this for yourself if you ever can.