The Deprogrammers

"The Deprogrammers" is the best written, acted, and directed of the new Outer Limits series. It has the creepiest and scariest "monsters" and the plot line is close to flawless. By far, it is my favorite. The ending is a real surprise, and it has great twists and turns.

It fits in perfectly with the theme of other episodes dealing with wars with alien races. It manages to compress a great deal of plot material into an hour episode. James Crocker is apparently a master science fiction writer and a word craftsman.

Anyone who wants to capture the essence of the Outer Limits series can do without some of the more forgettable episodes, but this is definitely not one of them.

The problem with The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone is the anticipation of a twist. I won't go into that, however. This is a tale of a future society where people have been programmed to serve a new master alien race. It begins with a sycophantic human being at the behest of an ugly, scaly alien. These guys were all quite similar in appearance in the newer series, generally quite reptilian. This man is kidnapped and taken to a facility run by Brent Spiner (Commander Data from The Next Generation. He is like a drill sergeant as he badgers, physically abuses, and tries to reprogram the poor fellow. I should also mention that his wife is at the scene and participates in his "rehabilitation." They work to turn him human. Through time he comes to realized that these creatures were responsible for the death of his daughter and all children on the planet. The whole episode is quite satisfying. The catch is that of our expectations which diminishes the result.