Sandkings

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.

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.

The scientist Dr. Simon Kress (Beau Bridges) has been researching the development of a species using eggs found in a sample of Martian soil. When one bug escapes from the laboratory breaking the security of the facility, the project is shut-down by the government due to its hazard. Dr. Simon expected to win the Nobel Prize and steals 275 g of the sample ground, bringing it to the barn of his property and developing new species. He hides the truth from his wife Cathy (Helen Shaver) and shares the secret with his smart son Josh (Dylan Bridges). Along the days, Simon realizes how intelligent the creatures are and feels like a god since they seem to worship him. However, when Simon is bitten by a subject, he changes his irresponsible behavior to insanity, jeopardizing his family, his friend and mankind.

"Sandking" is the pilot of "The Outer Limits" show and presents a story very similar to "The Fly": an ambitious scientist that makes a mistake with his experiment, being affected and becoming insane with the transformation. The story is disclosed in a low pace, with reasonable special effects for a television show, but the character of Dr. Simon Kress looks like a "crazy scientist" since the very beginning with his irrational behavior when one subject escapes. The final message criticizing scientists that wish to behave like gods is silly and shallow, since the development of science is important and necessary within the limits of ethic, otherwise humanity would still be in the Dark Age. The deranged Dr. Simon Kress is not a good example of a responsible man-of-science. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Quinta Dimensão - Reis da Areia - Partes 1 e 2" ("Fifth Dimension - Sandkings - Parts 1 & 2")

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.

Science-as-horror entertainment for the entire family. Adults can indulge the gleeful overacting while kids get to experience fright night as they take everything at face value. Casting is marvelous, with Helen Shaver as the mad scientist's blonde wife an especially inspired choice. Years before, she had played the protagonist's love interest in the voodoo-horror flick "The Believers" in which her classically beautiful WASP face was progressively disfigured by ugly boils that turned out to be ... spiders living under the skin! With this subtext under the viewers' belt, the horrifying encounters she has with the "sandkings" carry an added resonance and punch.

Of course the TV show's plot has been greatly altered from the sci-fi short story, no doubt partly due to budget limitations. I didn't mind. Lloyd Bridges is content to play out his part's stereotype to the hilt, but Beau Bridges gives an acting masterclass by additionally injecting some truly disturbing moments into his performance (the bathroom scene, as noted by other reviewers). For a TV drama, the music score is above average.

Recommended for a rainy evening while curled up in front of the fireplace.