Nightmare

"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.

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

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.

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?"

This is quite a good study in human nature and includes some fine acting performances, including one by Martin Sheen. A group of intergalactic warriors are put in a prison camp on a remote planet and interrogated by the aliens there. Their understanding is that they are at war with these folks and the revert to the old name, rank, and serial number stuff. Unfortunately for them, the tactics employed are those often used. Divide and conquer, keep them guessing, turn them against each other. The aliens have a kind of want/weapon that can steal a person's speech or make them blind, or whatever is necessary to put them in a weakened position. The neat thing about this episode is that there is a kicker her which I will not mention. The interaction among the players is quite realistic and the audience is left out of the loop for most of the show. This is as much a psychological drama as it is science fiction. Well written and well presented.