Production and Decay of Strange Particles

This post is less a review and more of a discourse of why I thought this ep was so...awesome...

"The Production and Decay of Strange Particles" borrowed heavily from physics and lent the idea that life or at least consciousnesses could come from atomic particles. Man, that's awesome! The ep really introduced infinity and the possibilities that infinity could provide.

The lead was played George Macready and Mr. Macready was easily the most dignified actor on the American screen. If you needed a diplomat, scientist, pope or executive, Macready always delivered.

The plot was weak; a new life form arrived somehow, possessed humans and caused a big explosion. Macready had to understand and counter act the the events and with inspiration from his wife he ...."used his brain!".

There was plenty of stock footage used and in fact went over the line into classic stock but I forgave all of that just to hear all of the chemical compound names and even more.... chemical compound names plus isotopes! The over the top nerdiness was much more rewarding than the morality lectures of the Bellero Shield et all. Even a nuke explosion and then a another nuke explosion to put everything back! Dude!

TOS was scary because the intro parroted civil defense drills, every Outer Limits episode was a nuclear attack warning and this ep took you right to the fission.

I'm more experienced in life now and more critical but this ep's thrill is not gone. I don't visit the quality of the ep any longer, I visit the quality of the experience.

Usually The Outer Limits often offers a science fiction subject, always in a easy language that allowed to the audience a total understanding what it refers, instead "Production and Decay of Strange Particle" the writers developed a hard tech-jargon that puzzle over the viewers in such unusual lines, including isotope, plasma, anti-matter, subatomic, quantum physics and so on, looks like a scientist exposing his master's degree with those mid-blogging language.

All start at high advanced complex of nuclear reactor that allows all kind of experiments on nuclear field spearheaded by nuclear physics Dr. Marshall (George Macready) where he got a skilled scientist staff in research, the plot is fuzzy about the source of the material on nuclear fission inside the reactor, it somehow starts a chain reaction if it reaches at high heat could be explode all complex, even such reactor having bars to equalize the temperature.

Turn out that the scientists even using radiation suit with mechanical hands dealing with the matter inside the reactor becomes them into a energy bodies, meanwhile Dr. Marshall tries out find a way to overturn the growing process aiming for to save the complex about to explode where will affect the place nearby at least within a mile radius.

This episode somewhat didn't gets fire properly, even with a fine casting especially Leonard Nimoy on small role, they had to use a massive stock footage to fill out some sequences, overrall an average presentation.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.

I first saw this episode when it aired in the original run and it made very little sense. I thought that seeing it with a more seasoned eye might add to my comprehension and that the presence of Leonard Nimoy in the cast would make it watchable.

Well, our Star Trek buddy has about 3 lines before sticking his arms into some unexplained thing and turning into another unexplained thing. The rest of the time George Macready and Signed Hasso wander around looking very concerned, while being confused as we are by the whole deal.

Subpar for the series.

I will admit my ignorance of what was going on here. I know that as the principles are dealing with materials from space, things go haywire. Eventually, the stuff morphs into a sentient being. Now we have a series of emotional displays that ultimately lead to a final display of courage from the man who set up the whole thing. There are endless scene of sparks flying an men walking back and forth in radiation gear. There is a blonde woman who feels she needs to get to the core and rescue her husband. What a mess this whole thing is. It's practically impossible to describe the physics at work. Is there any validity to this? Would any of this work? I don't know. Did they? This plot probably would work in a Star Trek episode. They don't explain anything there either. Just a misfire for the series as there are bound to be.

George Macready stars as Dr. Marshall, head of the BroadbBridge nuclear facility that one day has a tragic accident occur, as a fresh infusion of irradiated subatomic particles in a cyclotron comes into contact with an isotope that somehow causes an inter-dimensional crack to open, enabling an unknown but inimical form of super energy to emerge, taking over every worker it comes into contact with, leaving the protective suit empty of a man, but instead housing the energy. How can Dr. Marshall stop this emergency from escaping into the wider world, and having the crack turn into a door? Leonard Nimoy costars in a small role. Aptly titled episode may not make much scientific sense(though that is cleverly set up in the story) but remains fascinating viewing. Deserves credit for sheer ambition and narrative audacity.