O.B.I.T.

When a government administrator is mysteriously murdered at a research facility a U. S. senator played by Richard Breck discovers an unusual security device that is used to monitor its employees called The Outer Band Individuated Teletracer (O. B. I. T.) a device so invasive that it follows everyone's actions and is also labeled addictive by its users. A trial is held where a missing administrator is found, and soon the sinister and unearthly purposes of the device become apparent. This is a really good story that like another fellow reviewer stated probably isn't far from happening, there not run by aliens, but there also not any less invasive. The only reason this isn't rated higher is its very dialogue driven through its entire runtime and at times is rather slow, the final is great though.

Senator Orville arrives at a Military base, to investigate the murder of an operator of The OBIT device, Aka the Outer Band Individuated Teletracer, a device with remarkable capabilities.

Very different, very good, it's yet another very successful, original early episode. It's a good mix of science fiction and horror, and although it was set in the present (as was) day, it has a very futuristic vibe. It's very imaginative, and does a great job of throwing the political ramifications into the story.

It definitely has an odd vibe, the courtroom like setup was very strange, but allowed for some intense scenes. Once again I'll applaud the production team, for making great use of the limited special effects technologies that were available at the time.

Made way back in 1962, some of the themes explored and imagined here must have seemed so out of reach, so far beyond, skip forward sixty years, and they weren't too far off with some of their progressive ideas, some things truly haven't changed for the better.

It's put me in mind somewhat of a Dr Who episode that would come some years later, The War Machines, where powerful computer WOTAN was set to take over.

Very good, once again, 8/10.

Last night I refamiliarized myself with another "OL" episode that I had not seen in a good number of years: "O.B.I.T." In this one, as you may recall, a government research installation is being investigated by a Congressman (Peter Breck, who starred that same year in Sam Fuller's cult movie "Shock Corridor") after the murder of one of its workers. It turns out that morale in the facility is at an all-time low, following the introduction of the O.B.I.T. (Outer Band Individuated Teletracer) device of the title, which allows for intrusive surveillance of everyone in the compound. Ultimately, the facility's director (character actor Harry Townes), who had been declared insane after claiming that he saw a "monster" in the device's screen, is brought in to testify, leading to the revelation that his replacement, Lomax (Jeff Corey), is nothing less than an alien, from a race that has planted O.B.I.T. devices all over the world to sap Earthlings' morale and make them ripe for an eventual conquest. It is a talky and stagy episode, wall-bound but never dull, with reams of fascinating dialogue and a script that has much to say about governmental snooping...a subject that is, of course, as timely as ever. Director Gerd Oswald utilizes extreme close-up shots (especially of Corey) to engender an off-kilter atmosphere; the look of the episode, in a word, is striking. Probably not anyone's idea of a Top 10 "OL" episode, but still, an intelligent and well-crafted affair, much better than I had remembered, with fine performances across the board and a message that still resonates.

Except for two scenes of aliens murdering people, this episode would be a boring court room drama. All we get is people talking for an hour about something that could be summed up in one sentence: "There is a device that lets you see what other people are doing, and aliens built it. They want to destroy us with paranoia." There, done! We didn't need to hear different testimonies on that fact. Except for the very end, where you have the alien's true appearance on the screen combined with his human appearance, and the two aforementioned scenes of aliens murdering people, this is episode is probably the most boring thing ever put on screen; certainly one of dullest things I've seen in my life.

Peter Breck stars as a U.S. Senator who has been sent to a top secret military base to investigate the murder of a Captain Harris, who was strangled at his station on the O.B.I.T. machine, which stands for outer band individuated teletracer, a new invention that can monitor anyones feelings and thoughts anywhere to be viewed on an eye-shaped television, which has had the effect of destroying morale in various ways, as privacy is becoming a thing of the past, which may not be an accident, as there are many such obit machines in existence... Prescient episode with intelligent writing and a chilling premise. Perhaps a bit too talky and stagy, but otherwise first-rate.