Soldier

Michael Ansara stars as Quarlo, a hardened soldier from the future who has accidentally been sent back in time to 1960's America, where he uses his advanced weapon to destroy a police car, though after his helmet is knocked off, he is captured and held in a secret location, where language expert Tom Kagan(played by Lloyd Nolan) tries to make contact with him, much to the disbelief of Agent Paul Tanner(played by Tim O'Connor) When a second future soldier is sent back to this time as well, Quarlo must make one last stand to defend his non-enemy Kagan, and his family... Entertaining and imaginative episode may well have inspired "The Terminator", even if the film greatly improved the scope and F/X on display here. Teeters close to the comical at times, but never does fall over.

This episode is one of the best pieces of 60's television that I've ever seen(and not just of science fiction), out of nearly a 100 total. I can completely imagine someone watching this on TV remembering it for years, even decades, after. Honestly, I don't see how you can realistically watch this and the also excellent Demon with a Glass Hand, and not recognize elements of them in The Terminator. I love the work of James Cameron, and I don't personally believe he intended to plagiarize anyone, but several of the concepts of that film clearly came from these two stories by Harlan Ellison, an author I intend to delve deeper into the writings of. The script is excellent, and the execution leaves rather little to be desired. From the dark, dystopian and terrifying future to the psychological accuracy, it's all almost entirely invariably spot-on. The editing and cinematography are magnificent. This is impeccably well-acted, including the kids, who are pretty convincing. Ansara is absolutely stunning; he has the chops to pull off the role, as well as the physicality to be credible in that aspect. This is exciting, engaging and chilling, with strong commentary. The plot is compelling, and it's well-paced from start to finish. I recommend this to any fan of sci-fi that isn't cheery and optimistic. 8/10

Harlan Ellison's story Soldier is probably the best known of The Outer Limits one. After all Ellison sued James Cameron and ended up with a story credit for The Terminator movies.

The opening scenes in the battlefield of the future has similarities as well as two fighting soldiers getting transported back to Earth of the past.

Qarlo Clobregnny (Michael Ansara) is captured and put in a padded cell as he is too prone to violence. Tom Kagan (Lloyd Nolan) is the linguist expert who comes to understand that Qarlo is speaking an evolved form of English. That he has been bred from war and is from Earth of the future.

Tom wants Qarlo to understand about humanity and love, not war. Tom even persuades his superior Paul Tanner to let him take Qarlo to his house. All the time the other soldier is also somewhere in Los Angeles.

There are some interesting concepts but it is stuck with limitations of 1960s television. It was odd how Tom offers Qarlo a cigarette and lighter when they first meet. Apart from giving this potential alien a cancer stick. I kept wondering what if Hannibal Lecter was there instead of Tom. Just how he would had used a lighter and a lit cigarette as a weapon. That is before a killing machine is taken to Tom's home and perfect family.

Much of the concepts remain unexplored as the story comes to an abrupt end.

A soldier from the future appears in 1964.

I like the opening few minutes when the "soldier" is in the future and then in the streets of 1964. The very ending is also cool. But I can't say I am the biggest fan of what happens in the endless cage scenes. It just seems to go on and on a bit. However, I am sure the whole hour was a knockout in 1964. Season two has several wonderful episodes and this is not the best season opener to me.

My views of season two are a bit different to many other posters. I actually like the "William Shatner going frozen episode" and the "Killer Weeds episode". In fact in my view at least, the season only had two stinkers and the rest of the shows were okay or fine. However, The Outer Limits requires repeat viewings, there have been many cases where an episode sucked to me in the 1980s but is rather cool today.

I loved this episode, my uncle Allen Jaffe and Michael Ansara had mutual respect for one another. When I would visit him he would tell nearly endless stories about the people he worked with. He had fond words for Michael And are.

This particular episode I was allowed to stay up really late, for a young school boy, and watch him fight once again.

Lloyd Nolan was great at being the one who decodes Quarlo's speak. This was my introduction to the great series The Outer Limits. Between outer limits and twilight zone, we learned that alternate worlds and universes existed, at least on TV. These two shows also brought forth some of the greatest actors, writers, and other talent and produced a high quality show with little to no budget. There are many of my generation that still love to watch the show, I'm glad there are reruns and DVDs of these great shows.