The Children of Spider County

An agent from the Space Administration is dispatched to Spider County to check out some weird goings on. A group of young men have been persona non grata for a time. These young men are connected in some way. When the agent arrives, he knows that one of the fellows is about to be tried for murder. What ensues is an encounter where the young man meets a guy claiming to be his father. This is apparently true, but he is his intergalactic father. This alien comes from a planet where war and destruction and evil thinking have pretty much wiped out the mail population. Thoughts and dreams have been discounted and the five Spider County guys are the hope of the future. Unfortunately, the alien (who has tremendous powers of destruction, despite his role) has no success in talking the young guy into coming with him. The disconnect has become too great and better the enemy you know than the "friend" you don't. I found the episode a little bit dull an the motivations of the young guy sort of one dimensional. For one with big time powers and great intellect, he doesn't offer much. Still, it was somewhat intriguing.

Small town boy Ethan is suspected of murder, his case is worsened when he runs away from the scene. His girlfriend believes his story, as does a stranger, who claims to be his father.

So, I'll credit this episode for its boldness and complexity, it's definitely one or the more layered and deeper storylines I've seen....trouble is I didn't particularly care for it, I'm not sure what was up with this one (from my point of view,) but I just couldn't connect with it.

I found the flow of it very poor, it felt pretty clunky, it took too long for Aabel to explain his mission, and what he wanted, by thr time it became clear, I'd all but lost patience.

It took too long for Ethan to learn that he was a bit different, and had a few additional skills.

I think they definitely had something here, but the production let it down, and some of the acting felt a little average.

The first episode I've found a bit disappointing.

5/10.

This episode of "The Outer Limits" stars the very prolific actor, Kent Smith as well as the less well-known Lee Kinsolving. Lee plays a young man who just doesn't fit in with society. He's not a bad guy--but is odd. And, when he's accused of murder, everyone but his girlfriend is quick to accept that he's responsible. However, he is innocent and he's about to get help from his long-absent father. Why wasn't he there? Because dad (Smith) is an alien and now he's returned to help extricate his son--and take him back to their home world. But the young man, though out of place on Earth, isn't very quick to abandon the only world he's ever known. Why? What is it that keeps him from chucking it all and seeking a galactic asylum?

Overall, this is a rather weak episode of the series. It's not bad, really, but also has few interesting twists or irony. Plus, the mask they put on Smith to make him look like an alien is particularly cheap and silly in the few scenes where people can see him as he actually appears. Fair but not a must-see episode by any standard despite good acting.

This is perhaps my favorite Outer Limits show from the original series. The young man who has an alien father is a compelling character and he is faced with a hard choice. The father is a very compelling character too, who faces a difficult decision. And the man from the space agency investigative division is very sympathetic too. The small town sheriffs are narrow-minded and mean. The father has some interesting alien powers, but he is basically a good alien, even if he doesn't really understand his son. Altogether, it's a great plot with interesting characters, with some interesting twists. The alien looks horrible when he's not in disguise, but he's still a sympathetic character. This episode has a beautiful message too, about people who are different and dreamers.

Kent Smith stars as a mysterious alien called Aabel who has come to earth to reclaim his half-human sons who were originally left in Spider county, U.S.A., a rural and superstitious farming community that drove four of the young men out, who have already been collected. This comes to the attentions of the authorities, who send an official emissary to intercept the fifth and final man named Ethan(played by Lee Kinsolving) who has gotten into trouble with the law on a false murder charge, though with the aid of his father and a local girl who loves him, they set about getting back to his spaceship, that is if Ethan chooses to go...Interesting parable about acceptance, even if there are few surprises in the narrative.