The Inheritors Part II

In Part 2 of "The Inheritors" ep of "The Outer Limits", government agent Adam Ballard (Robert Duvall) continues his pursuit of Lt. Phillip Minns (Steve Ihnat) and his three men-Sgt. James Conover (Ivan Dixon), Pfc. Francis Hadley (Dee Pollock), and Pvt. Robert Renaldo (James Frawley)-all of whom are in some alien mind control. And now Ballard finds out they're taking some handicapped children with them...Okay, let me say just now that while there's some suspicion among the men under Minns about their mission and why they're doing what they're doing on it, the explanation puts nearly everyone at ease when it's said in a calm and understanding manner especially concerning the kids. So on that note, both eps of "The Outer Limits" called "The Inheritors" are recommended. P.S. I didn't mention in my review of the previous installment that a couple of "Hogan's Heroes" future players were in that one: besides Dixon-who was Sgt. Kinchloe there, Leon Askin-known as General Burkhalter there-was his boss here though he had no scenes with Dixon. Also, one of the children was played by Suzanne Cupito who later changed her name to Morgan Brittany as an adult and played Katherine Wentworth on the original "Dallas". Incidentally, she also played a child of similar condition as here previously on a movie called Stage at Thunder Rock which I reviewed a few days ago.

I was really disappointed in this. What was designed to be some hard edged science fiction turns into some maudlin thing that you could see a mile away. After the mysterious building of some sort of space ship, we now have the gang, led by Robert Duvall, chasing the "bad" guys. The hard part is that they really had no power to do a thing. Everything is set up until the very end. A group of children are targeted. They have a plethora of disabilities. One is blind; one can't walk; etc. They are gathered up by the brains of the outfit as Duvall yells superlatives. It is so unrealistic that it is laughable. There are connections here at home that would have made this such a breach of simple decency. The writers never took into account the realities of the world, despite the relative unfairness of them. Sludge!

And totally unexpected.

We get a glimpse of this when "The Lieutenant" meets the child "Johnny" near the end of Part 1, and we wonder if the children themselves are the pullers of strings. No, but willing and eager participants.

The only question is "of what?"

In a contemporary retelling, this would have ended badly or bloody.

Odd that words were not trusted, but words, the right words, solve the entire conundrum.

When I watched this two-part episode of "The Outer Limits", I had no idea that it was a two-parter. Instead, I accidentally watched the second episode--because the DVD had part one and part two on different sides of the disc. Oddly, however, part two alone made for one of the greatest episodes in the series! Episode one begins with a tiny recap of the first--hence I was able to understand what I missed very easily. It seems that a G-man is out to discover why four men are behaving the way they are. It seems the four were shot in the head and, oddly, they survived AND began exhibiting severe changes in their mood and TWO separate brain wave patterns---like some alien force is living within them and controlling them. The men all are compelled to work on what seems like a crazy project--and the G-man (Robert Duvall) seems destined to try to stop them.

This episode was so good in so many ways. Instead of the typical malevolent aliens, this episode is a sharp contrast--and offers a different sort of alien invasion scenario. Intelligent, very touching and DIFFERENT--and I really liked that. My one gripe, by the way, is not a serious one. Back in 1964, the expression 'deaf and dumb' was quite acceptable. As a father of a deaf daughter, I encourage you simply to use the word 'deaf'--it's much more accurate and not especially cruel. I also liked how the kids in the show were not all white kids--a nice subtle way of saying such things are unimportant to superior beings! black and white kids

I pity those who are so cynical that they find this episode overly sentimental. It's beautifully written and acted, and the message is one of hope and love, something we could all use.

"The Inheritors are on their way. In a universe of billions of stars, there are places of love and happiness. On this earth, in this spot, magic settled for a moment, wonder touched a few lives, and a few odd pieces fell smoothly into the jigsaw of creation. "