The Betrayed

Dynamic paranoid story, particularly for the appearance of veteran actor Ed Begley, about as intense an actor as you can ask for. Producer Quinn Martin was lucky to get him.

Next Stop; Houston, TX.

David camps out at the company of oil tycoon Simon Carver (Begley), playing the waiting game, hoping to catch another glimpse of the Invaders and what they're up to. They cleverly set up operations in an abandoned oil tanker, David managing to snag a valuable computer tape, before their hasty exit. Again, large dose of poetic license, David that incredibly lucky not to get vaporized in the first place!

He takes the tape to an ex-NASA engineer (played by Norman Fell) who has to ability to read it -- but will he live to tell anything? Also complicating matters for David is Carver's beautiful daughter, Susan (played by Laura Devon), whom he falls in love with. Thus breaking a pledge in his secret mission. Don't get too close to clients and bystanders, sort of from the Joe Mannix school of detective work that always fails.

The acting is spot on, prime role for blonde Laura Devon, who at the time was compared to actress Sharon Tate. She later retired to marry composer Maurice Jarre, behind mega hits like, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.

Credit also to poker face Norman Fell, long before his sitcom days. Fell always looked like he was doomed.

I agree with the last reviewer, an interesting script (pre X-FILES material) by pioneer sci fi writer Theodore Sturgeon, who wrote for STAR TREK. Sturgeon inspired Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. John Meredyth Lucas directed, also a Star Trek alum, long time director for POLICE SURGEON.

Creepy late night entertainment, for surelies. Thank you METV. SEASON 1 EPISODE 11 remastered color dvd box set. Beautiful color cover box set for fans.

The great science fiction novelist Theodore Sturgeon wrote the story for this segment of "The Invaders", one of his bread jobs that even included writing a novelization of a minor movie Western.

It's not as engrossing as the usual Paranoia-themed episodes, but more of a human interest story as Roy tries in vain to report on an actual UFO he's photographed landing and decipher a computer tape he's stolen from an alien installation.

Casting of the utterly beautiful blonde Laura Devon as his romantic interest is a wonderful chance to see this underrated actress in action -she epitomizes the look Hitchcock was popularizing in the '50s and '60s. I fell for her when she was a regular on the groundbreaking "The Richard Boone Show" anthology series, TV's finest repertory company show starring in constantly new roles the likes of Robert Blake, Jeanette Nolan and Bethel Leslie.

On this episode she's delightful as an offbeat femme fatale. The segment has rousing action to begin, and then provides tantalizing hints about the aliens as Roy continues on his difficult mission to expose them. And his discussion of how the aliens would first disrupt Earth's oil supply before invading is still topical, considering how earnest (except among diehard right-wingers) our energies are to move away from dependency on fossil fuels.

When the story begins, David is in Texas at some oil fields. He has traced the aliens to a strange hideout...a tanker car that is actually a transmitter. After breaking in, he manages to steal some computer storage tape...but he needs to find someone who can read it and understand it. But his task is made tougher by his new girlfriend...a lady who loves David...but not enough to be honest with him. What is that about?? Well, see the show.

It is funny that these really advanced aliens use a tape backup storage system for their computers, but back in 1967 many other types of storage media weren't even developed yet. Overall an other interesting episode...one that show David is best just staying single!