The Chameleon

A much younger Robert Duvall volunteers to be changed into an alien so he can infiltrate a space ship that is potentially dangerous. When confronted, some soldiers have been killed and it is assumed that the aliens are out for blood. An overzealous Colonel wants to destroy them while the scientists try to convince him to show patience. Duvall, who has disdain for the world, feels it is worth the consequences of being transformed for the rest of his life. He is a subversive assassin and is filled with self-loathing. He is able to infiltrate the space ship but is immediately recognized as an invader ("It is like a dog being able to recognize a cat" says one of the aliens). Most of the tension is brought about by the possible decision to kill these guys. The hesitation is that they may have fissionable material on board, leading to a potential big time explosion. The ethics of this are as true today as they were in 1964. We are confronting a lot of threats these days; how will be approach them.

Robert Duvall stars as Louis Mace, a world-weary government agent/assassin stranded in Mexico who is approached by a government official if he would be interested in a special, top secret mission. Mace readily complies, even when he is told that it involves him going undercover in a crashed alien ship by undergoing a radical new surgery using the alien DNA to literally turn himself into an exact replica of them! A cover story is contrived, but the other aliens don't buy it, though Mace is surprised to find them non-hostile, and that he prefers his new identity to the old one... Duvall is excellent as always, giving the unlikely premise a much needed boost of credibility.

Aside from some weird giggling, this is a very good episode--quite original and worth your time. It begins with learning that a space ship has landed and a couple folks were killed by the two aliens. However, apart from that, nothing has happened...nothing. While the government would like to just blast the ship, they dare not--as it appears as if the ship has some nuclear material and blowing it up could trigger something drastic. So, in a weird and difficult to believe twist (just suspend disbelief with this one), they get a master agent (Robert Duvall) to agree to undergo surgery to make him look like one of the aliens. The plan is to then have him pretend to be one of the aliens who crashed there previously. Sure it's far-fetched but interesting--particularly when you see what this agent does and how the aliens respond to him. Not a brilliant episode but one that is strikingly original and a worthy addition to this excellent series.

An Alien craft containing two alien beings lands on Earth, the security services send in an undercover agent, who is physically altered beforehand to fit in.

I have to give huge credit to the writer for the sheer originality of the storyline and script. If I'm totally honest, I can't say it's one of my favourites, but for sheer originality, it's impressive.

It's a story of fear, the fear of the unknown, not knowing what the other side wants, frightened to act directly, instead relying on infiltration. It's so cleverly plotted, overall it just works.

The alien beings themselves look pretty good, but it's their character, the movement and menacing laughs that gives them some credence, they could easily have just been a man in a rubber suit monster, but they were so much more.

Well acted, Robert Duvall stood out in particular for me.

8/10.

Scientists turn a human into an alien.

Most Limits episodes get about five IMDb reviews but to my deep surprise The Chameleon only gets one other review! How could this be?????? This is one of the true classics of the series and indeed one of the top ten of the whole series.

For reasons I can't explain too well, there is a feeling of B&W Lost In Space Season One (1965-66) in this episode. Perhaps it is the B&W photography or the look of the aliens or the story that has shades of Lost In Space's Invaders From The 5th Dimension/The Keeper.

Whatever the case, I am lost-in-space with this hour and The Chameleon has survived about ten viewings in my lifetime. I love it!