Sandkings

When his research project is closed down, Simon Kress rescues a few of its living subjects and transplants them to a recreation of their native Martian environment in his barn. They grow and learn, but then Kress makes an error with disastrous implications.

BBC2 debuted this episode of the new The Outer Limits I think on Sunday the 1st of May 1995. I was familiar with original series from the 1960's, but the new version of this particular episode really impressed me with a hidden or subversive message with the warning to scientists trying to play or replace the power of god through scientific advancement.

I've read this short story/novella several times and it's always been enthralling. Pacing, characters, setting, everything. Just something that George RR Martin penned decades before Game of Thrones. The TV episode of Outer Limits that is supposedly based on 'Sandkings' is really a sad treatment of a great story. To be honest I haven't seen the episode in years but I can still remember the excitement and anticipation I had waiting for the episode to first air and then the complete disappointment when I actually viewed it and thought to myself "What the heck was that?" The despair and loneliness, the utter horror, the creepiness, the style, basically everything that made the story great was missing from the TV episode. All I can say is, do yourself a favor and read the story before (or instead of) viewing the TV episode. You won't be disappointed.

Also, the story itself is not very long (maybe 35 - 40 pages?) and should be available free online. Check it out.

This is one of those plots that has been done a hundred times. Beau Bridges (along with his old man) appear in a pilot of the much revered new version of "The Outer Limits." "The Sandkings" is about a pile of sand, taken back to Earth after a Mars mission. It contains living organisms, and Bridges's character is on his way to a Nobel Prize if he can continue his research. Unfortunately for him, he gets so obsessed with his effort that he becomes a danger to the people he works with. He chooses to ignore security and gets himself fired. When he betrays his friend/supervisor and steals some of the sand, he sets everything in motion. At first it is scientific. He goes overboard as he watches the little critters evolve and one might say he had a right to consider his research. Eventually, the Sandkings, which he has dubbed them, grow their own cultures; they become civilizations. They are builders and creators within the confines of a glass case Bridges has built for them. Soon, he loses his scientific objectivity and begins to play god with the little creatures. He deprives them of food and this forces them to wage war against their own kind. They build a monument with Bridges' face, Rushmore like, in sand. Of course, there are obstacles. One is the inability to hide what is going on from his family, his wife and little boy. Also, the scientists at the lab come to realize that a fair amount of sand is missing and he is the only possible suspect. There is a sort of maudlin subplot, where Bridges' own father, Lloyd Bridges (remember "Sea Hunt," and "Airplane"), takes on the fictional role. The younger Bridges resents his father for favoritism toward a brother who became a casualty of war. All this plays into the plot and, of course, when the Sandkings go through thirty-some generations, they begin to get fed up with their god. It is pretty entertaining, starting the series on a positive note, but at times it is really heavy handed. There is a scene where Bridges takes a stained glass window (his wife works in glass), and places it on the high wall of his barn/laboratory. He stands in front of it as the light shows through, arms spread in the ultimate Christian pose. But that's OK. It was really a fun series, running some seven years.

This episode is inspired by the George Martin short novel Sandkings. It is actually a very different story with different themes and concepts and ideas.

Most good science fiction is a metaphor for real life in the time in which it was written. It generally explores themes and ideas going on right here and now, and usually provides insight into modern problems or issues. The Sandkings episode of The Outer Limits doesnt really touch on any of the moral, philosophical, or ethical issues of the original short story. Its basically a god-complex story about a man who starts as a scientist, seeking to increase human knowledge, then goes off the rails as a maniac possibly infected with a disease making him act irrationally. There isnt much growth in the protagonist and no one really has a character arc. Nor do they debate the topics of one person having power over a lower life form, or letting a dangerous life form get out of control, or what kind of horrible things one man would do to either advance science or stoke his ego. And theres a lot of filler/fluff material about families that just doesnt work because its not well done or interesting. The dialog is cheesy, especially compared to later episodes of the series, and its all kind of a mess. Other sci-fi movies and shows have explored these topics better, and usually with a more satisfying resolution. I won't get into spoilers but lets just say the ending is pretty typical of lazy horror or sci-fi films and fails to capture the essence of good story telling, unlike the original short story which was very poignant.

3 / 10 and not a very good start to a series that would eventually become excellent. In fact the very next story about a live-in Android helper woman is superb by comparison.

Probably the most interesting thing about this episode in this day and age is seeing 3 generations of the Bridges family on screen together - Lloyd, his son Beau, and HIS son Dylan - playing those same positions of grandfather, father, son. Oh, and getting to see a younger Kim Coates.

The story itself is decent enough, too - creatures found in a soil sample from Mars, by Earth scientists, are deemed too dangerous to live but the man who made the initial discovery takes matters into his own hands and hi-jinks ensue - and it's all acted capably by the aforementioned actors and Helen Shaver.

The 'moral' is pretty predictable, but really, it's the journey that we're here for and it's a decent enough journey.