Random Review Rec for an Episode of ....The Outer Limits?
Yes, in my never ending quest for something to watch that doesn't get my picayune goat (Oh, who am I kidding? Picking apart and finding fault are half the fun of viewing for me!), I am watching "The Outer Limits". The S.O. brought home the complete series for me last week. Apparently, he thought I needed cheering up. I'm not sure it cheers me up or makes me more grumpy to know that I think shows from the 1960s are generally more interesting, entertaining and non-irritating to watch than stuff being put out today. But enough of that, particularly when my most vivid direct memory of the show on its first run is running and hiding my face in the couch cushions when the opening credits came on and that guy started talking about controlling the TV set. One episode in particular is too great for words. It's called "Controlled Experiment".
"Controlled Experiment" is about Martian observers with the ability to control time (with a Time Converter, no less) who are investigating the troubling propensity of humans to kill each other. Mars, you see, is worried that humans murdering each other on a mass scale will end up doing bad things to the galaxy and, more importantly, to Mars. So they proceed to make a study of a murder to see if they have to do anything about it.
It's a simply little plot, but one that's delivered with a biting sense of humor. Some might find the main investigator's snippy, rude comments (he finds humans whiffy and "unspeakable" --- and the delivery on those points is pure gold) about humanity mean-spirited, but the kind of people who find the Blackadder series funny won't think so. And even though it's capped off with a upbeat little message about living in the here and now, it's done in a way that believably meshes with the study over the puzzle that is man's inhumanity to man that's been explored the whole way through. The whole story fits together and flows.
Plus, and I bring this up because of discussions I've had regarding "emphasis on character" over "emphasis on plot" (yes, they were about the RTD and Moffat eras of Doctor Who), the entire story is a pinnacle of letting characters show themselves --- their personalities and traits and, for the ones who change, how they change --- in the context of the events happening around them rather than the events being shoehorned in to showcase the character. You get to see the investigator grow from a snob of a total control freak who has to know why everything is the way it is to someone who can have some fun and who is unfazed by the idea that some things just are. You get to see the caretaker reveal, though bits and bobs, that he's something of a hermit not because he wants to be on his own but because he's unsure of himself, and that he really is a little lonely for company. Every single character revelation happens as a result of the plot moving forward, not the other way around. Plus, you get to see this done by Barry Morse sounding like Mr. Peabody and Carroll O'Connor sounding (and looking) like Charles Laughton. Tn fact, the only "off" thing about it now is all the cigarette smoking going on, which, it's funny to think now, was pretty much mandatory in those days.
This makes me sound like a codger, I know, but they really don't make them like they used to.
This entry was originally posted to Dreamwidth at http://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/112554.html. There are
comments to this post there.
"Controlled Experiment" is about Martian observers with the ability to control time (with a Time Converter, no less) who are investigating the troubling propensity of humans to kill each other. Mars, you see, is worried that humans murdering each other on a mass scale will end up doing bad things to the galaxy and, more importantly, to Mars. So they proceed to make a study of a murder to see if they have to do anything about it.
It's a simply little plot, but one that's delivered with a biting sense of humor. Some might find the main investigator's snippy, rude comments (he finds humans whiffy and "unspeakable" --- and the delivery on those points is pure gold) about humanity mean-spirited, but the kind of people who find the Blackadder series funny won't think so. And even though it's capped off with a upbeat little message about living in the here and now, it's done in a way that believably meshes with the study over the puzzle that is man's inhumanity to man that's been explored the whole way through. The whole story fits together and flows.
Plus, and I bring this up because of discussions I've had regarding "emphasis on character" over "emphasis on plot" (yes, they were about the RTD and Moffat eras of Doctor Who), the entire story is a pinnacle of letting characters show themselves --- their personalities and traits and, for the ones who change, how they change --- in the context of the events happening around them rather than the events being shoehorned in to showcase the character. You get to see the investigator grow from a snob of a total control freak who has to know why everything is the way it is to someone who can have some fun and who is unfazed by the idea that some things just are. You get to see the caretaker reveal, though bits and bobs, that he's something of a hermit not because he wants to be on his own but because he's unsure of himself, and that he really is a little lonely for company. Every single character revelation happens as a result of the plot moving forward, not the other way around. Plus, you get to see this done by Barry Morse sounding like Mr. Peabody and Carroll O'Connor sounding (and looking) like Charles Laughton. Tn fact, the only "off" thing about it now is all the cigarette smoking going on, which, it's funny to think now, was pretty much mandatory in those days.
This makes me sound like a codger, I know, but they really don't make them like they used to.
This entry was originally posted to Dreamwidth at http://evilawyer.dreamwidth.org/112554.html. There are
comments to this post there.