The Borderland

About a power station that can contact the afterlife.

I never liked the way this was pushed back to episode 12 when in fact it was the second episode produced! It would have made a fine 2nd episode so why push it back??????

Guest stars Alfred Ryder and Mark Richman both appeared in several 1960s sci-fi shows (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, QM's The Invaders, etc,) to the point that it was almost expected that one or both of them should turn up a 1960s sci-fi show. They were both very welcome! In this, Ryder's character has a touch of Dr Smith in Lost In Space.

The Borderland has a nice epic-feel (thanks to the Power Station set) and the hour is a bit different as it features no monster.

All in all, a fine episode.

As a rich man attends a séance, the plug is pulled and the medium and her partner shown to be fakes. One of the attendees then approaches the man and tells him that he has developed a machine that could move one into another dimension. How he is able to assume that the afterlife is even a possibility is beyond me. However, the man is so desperate to make contact with his son (who died suddenly and violently in a car accident, that he is willing to pay for one hour of time at a power plant. There is a necessity for test before the scientist himself will become the guinea pig. Unfortunately, there are some adversaries: the medium and her assistant (who is nuts) and a man who controls the purse strings and insists on a first level of information. The former is understandable, but the latter could simply be lied to. Anyway, like any story worth its salt, there are some complications along the way. I was rather disappointed with this one.

Peter Mark Richman stars as Professor Ian Fraser, who, along with his wife Eva(played by Nina Foch) and a fellow colleague(played by Philip Abbot) claim to have discovered a doorway into the fourth dimension that they accidentally discovered via electrical fields. They need the backing of a wealthy man named Dwight Hartley(played by Barry Jones) who has recently lost his beloved son in an accident, and is desperate to make contact with him. They manage to make use of a power station to recreate the experiment, but the sabotage of a vengeful, discredited medium(played by Gladys Cooper) and her associate(played by Alfred Ryder) threaten all their plans... Interesting episode with good writing and ideas, even if it does leave many unanswered questions in its wake.

You can hand it to Professor Ian Fraser (Peter Mark Richmond.) His team are trying to open a portal to another dimension by reversing the polarity.

An experiment seemed to have gone wrong but his left hand ended up being reversed.

To continue with his experiments, he needs funding from business mogul Dwight Hartley. A man desperately trying to contact his dead son though a fake medium Mrs Palmer.

Hartley is convinced that by going through the portal, Fraser could contact his dead son. The medium is exposed as a fraud. Hartley's business executive has his own agenda to take over the company.

There are a lot of plot threads but it is mysticism versus science fiction. Mrs Palmer is upset to lose out in getting money from Hartley and attempts to scuttle the experiments.

Somehow the story gets muddled, it finds itself spinning too many plates. The experiments does not even look safe with a mouse exploding. There also seems to be a lot of padding but it was enjoyable hokum.

Man of wealth Dwight Hartley is desperate to contact his dead son, after a failed seance with Mrs Palmer, he's approached by Professor Ian Fraser, who claims to have found a path to the fourth dimension, Hartley sees a potential means for contact.

A thoroughly imaginative, creative episode, I think this is without a doubt one of the more interesting ones from series one. We have the obvious sci fi element, but it's also mixed in with the occult to.

It's a very solid production, very well made, with some age defying special effects, and a quality that still shines through decades later, huge credit to the production team.

The acting is spot on, Mark Richman and Nina Foch are both great, the character of Dwight Hartley was very well played by Barry Jones, you did get the impression of a desperate father, and of course a wonderful turn from the wonderful Gladys Cooper, who played the dodgy medium.

9/10.