The Ivy Curtain

When the story begins, some pilot (Jack Warden) is flying an old DC-3 to New Mexico. However, the weather is horrible and the plane looks like it's in trouble. As the passengers are tossed about, some equipment falls on one and when his arm is struck, the pilot sees that there's no blood and his flesh looks like plastic! This human had no idea he was transporting aliens to some weird indoctrination center called Midlands Academy in New Mexico.

Naturally, David gets wind of Midlands Academy and he infiltrates it...and finds it's training aliens by using mind control techniques. But to do what? And why the indoctrination? And, when David learns about the pilot, he spends the rest of the episode trying to find him.

While it does seem odd the aliens would rely on a human pilot and a plane already about 30 years old instead of some other form of transportation, it is a very good episode. Paranoid (as you'd hope) and exciting....especially with what they are doing at the indoctrination center! Very much worth your time and very well written.

By the way, it is interesting that Susan Oliver stars as the pilot's wife, as in real life she was a pilot herself. She even flew solo over the Atlantic the same year she made this episode.

Paranoia Plus in this episode, still potent material after all these years, a story often bantered about by alien theorists to this day.

Next stop: New Mexico. David turns up at an ominous educational institute (Midlands Academy) which has a connection to the Invaders. The academy is a front, a "school" that trains aliens how to blend in on earth. Bottom line; how to become an earthling in order to fool everybody. Pretty scary stuff, making you want to look over your shoulder twice!

Excellent writing by Don Brinkley, who was quite in demand at the time, working on three other tv series. He later created TRAPPER JOHN.

Brinkley also tossed in a soap opera theme, which was kind of switch here. Jack Warden plays David's connection to the academy, a former WWII pilot, who has fallen on hard times, recruited by the Invaders to fly the aliens into the center. Warden is paid handsomely for his trouble, and puts the money to good use because he has a young wife (played by Susan Oliver) whose getting kind of bored with him. Money talks, whether its from aliens or not, right?

Fine supporting cast featuring David Sheiner, who always looks supicious. Veterans Murray Matheson (BANACEK) plays Dr. Reynard and Byron Morrow plays Gilbert. As always, both Warden and Oliver shine in their dramatic roles.

Creepy stuff, best seen late night. Truly, producer Quinn Martin engineered this show to give viewers an occasional frightmare, much like Rod Serling did with TWILIGHT ZONE.

Best of SEASON 1 EPISODE 10 remastered dvd box set. Beautiful color dvd box set. 5 dvds. Released 2008. Thank you METV for the chills and thrills.

🌟 ONE OF THE BEST episodes of 👽 THE INVADERS 👽 in the series... This kind of story is so way way before it's time. It is amazing this series was made way back in the 1960's because its storyline is so serious and dark.. So unlike other sci fi series of its time like STAR TREK and LOST IN SPACE... The PARANOIA this series created was powerful and realistic... The concept of evil intelligent aliens slowly taking over our planet by bringing in new aliens that look human but Indoctrinating and educating them on human behaviors and how to mimic them is fascinating... It's so hard to believe this series was made so long ago and yet it still has such impact... This is just episode 11 and it reaches new heights and COMPELS YOU TO WATCH THE ENTIRE SERIES FROM START TO FINISH.