tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post3873848778866308849..comments2024-03-13T23:42:41.022-07:00Comments on We Are Controlling Transmission: The MutantJohn Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15830334036783163702noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-20976454975945056192018-06-25T00:07:50.589-07:002018-06-25T00:07:50.589-07:00Pretty enjoyable episode for me. Loved the bug-ey...Pretty enjoyable episode for me. Loved the bug-eyed mutant creation; very creepy to look at! But this was also a sympathetic villain; we could understand Fowler's horror at what he has become, and his reluctance to be left all alone in this harsh world.<br /><br />The primary weakness of the episode for me was the romantic sub-plot; the dialogue between the former lovers seemed a bit trite and whenever the story focuses on their relationship I felt I was watching just another soap opera.<br /><br />The episode has some padding (all that running to and from the cave), presumably included just to up the running time. And the disintegration of one of the characters by mutated ant comes out of the blue, and is a bit silly. The whole hypnosis plot element is kind of ridiculous too---of course Fowler will instantly be able to tell just what Dr Riner has been up to, no matter whether Marshall remembers if he’s been hypnotized or not. And they picked a stupid word to trigger the memory.<br /><br />The flaws of the episode knock the quality down to middling, but I really enjoyed this one, much more so than many of the other middle-of-the-road episodes.<br />octobercountryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10730345596655835129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-33798348673611848292018-03-27T18:49:12.222-07:002018-03-27T18:49:12.222-07:00I suppose Larry Pennell is one of the few actors o...I suppose Larry Pennell is one of the few actors on Outer Limits OR Thriller who could be called a "beefcake" kind of actor, so no wonder they kept giving him those tight shirts that get all the jokes.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-41765497323555778672017-10-18T18:41:11.298-07:002017-10-18T18:41:11.298-07:00Okay, Ike was out of office only three years. And ...Okay, Ike was out of office only three years. And Zanti not Xanti. Sue me.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13487541939371929701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-41524762274153256232017-10-17T16:28:21.616-07:002017-10-17T16:28:21.616-07:00Way to go Warren O.!Way to go Warren O.!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13487541939371929701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-89624859817926934992017-10-17T16:24:59.622-07:002017-10-17T16:24:59.622-07:00I think there was a terrible steal here (or "...I think there was a terrible steal here (or "nod" if you like) to one of my boyhood favorite books Ruthven Todd's _Space Cat Visits Venus_ (1955). Venus is nice except all the plants are telepathic. And it rains ammonia once a day-- don't get caught in that. <br /><br />I saw this episode when it played originally when I was eight. Like most of the Outer Limits it scared hell out of me. The isotope rain. The cave with giant ants! (Yeah, they're Xantis). The BEM.<br /><br />The telepathic all-powerful Fowler is also recognizable as telepathic all-powerful kid in "It's a Good Life" (Twilight Zone, 1961 from a Jerome Bixby story). There's nothing to screw up a community quite like one of THOSE.<br /><br />And there's also one more nod-- ever notice how much the Fowler creature GRINS? If you like Ike, this episode will make you miss Harry. Yeah, the BEM is Eisenhower, still alive when this episode showed, and only out of office four years. Very recognizable. That grin is fake. He's really pissed off. <br /><br />Steve BHAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13487541939371929701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-28903481721858567942015-05-13T11:27:54.465-07:002015-05-13T11:27:54.465-07:00Anyhow, I rather liked the late Larry Pennell (192...Anyhow, I rather liked the late Larry Pennell (1928-2013) as the handsome, headstrong, youthful and colorful skydiver Ted McKeever on Ripcord (first-run syndicated: 1961-1963), along with the also late Ken Curtis (1916-1991) as his inseparable level-headed older mentor and partner Jim Buckley.lina.umpierre@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16935526518282872531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-46774112514218175802015-05-13T11:22:26.226-07:002015-05-13T11:22:26.226-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.lina.umpierre@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16935526518282872531noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-85703341389741272222015-05-07T22:38:33.849-07:002015-05-07T22:38:33.849-07:00"First saw it in the 70s...and it was SCARY!!..."First saw it in the 70s...and it was SCARY!!"<br /><br />I know just how Henry Kujawa feels, because it STILL works on me.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-18153746764990789852014-12-01T17:36:14.182-08:002014-12-01T17:36:14.182-08:00My intro to Warren Oates was in the very 1st LOST ...My intro to Warren Oates was in the very 1st LOST IN SPACE I ever saw-- "Welcoime Stranger", where he played cowboy-hat wearing "Jimmy Hapgood", in an intersellar spacescraft no bigger than a Mercury space capsule. How could he stand it?<br /><br />First saw this in the 70s... and it was SCARY!!<br /><br />Regarding overpopulation (a topic only very briefly touched on in the earliest moment of the LIS pilot episode)... I've long felt that since "SOYLENT GREEN" came out, nobody-- and I mean NOBODY-- even wants to touch the topic for discussion. That film killed it as a "serious" issue, by being turned into one really bad "punch line" ("Soylent Green is made out of people!!!"). The insanity has to stop. MORE THAN HALF the human population on this planet needs to go for the sake of every other living creature here. (I vote for the politicians, lawyers and bankers to go first...)<br /><br />As for "color OUTER LIMITS"... I've long considered the film "BLADE RUNNER" as one of those. Dark, bleak, dreary, depressing, thought-provoking... and its central plot mirrors "The Duplicate Man". Plus, its climax is filmed in The Bradbury Building, just like "Demon With A Glass Hand".<br /><br />But recently I've found another candidate... the seriously flawed STAR TREK episode, "The Alternative Factor". I've come to the conclusion this script was heavily re-written TO DEATH, and actually may have started life as an unfilmed 2nd-season OUTER LIMITS story. I also suspect it originally took place on Earth. The range of devastation caused by a matter-antimatter explosion shuold be no more than the entire planet... NOT the entire UNIVERSE. Come on!!!<br /><br />By the way... considering more than half of LIS' 3rd season were goofier variations of 1st season STs, how ironic is it that "Alternative" was remade-- and much better-- as "The Anti-Matter Man"?? (I love the "bridge" between the 2 universes.)Henry R. Kujawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607373491331529952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-83582417299064742632014-05-24T08:49:19.097-07:002014-05-24T08:49:19.097-07:00Is Betsy Jones-Morland by any chance a sister of D...Is Betsy Jones-Morland by any chance a sister of David Opatoshu? In scenes with this actress, I kept thinking of his facial features and manner (e.g. in Star Trek's "Taste of Armageddon). I didn't find anything to confirm a blood relationship, but perhaps someone knows of it.Wurmbrandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17345523517796356674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-12243650444487213622013-05-29T20:56:55.350-07:002013-05-29T20:56:55.350-07:00As crazy as I am about THE SIXTH FINGER, I agree w...As crazy as I am about THE SIXTH FINGER, I agree with Gary Gerani about how believable Warren Oates is, including the "weeping" and "self-loathing" -<br /><br />Julie: "I'm not in the habit of lying to people, Reese."<br />Reese: "But then I'm not really PEOPLE anymore, am I, Julie?"<br /><br />I may be the only one who thinks of the "tin roof" look of building as an asset. Because of how simple it looks, it adds to the spookiness. Just as Oates makes you feel that this is how a Reese Fowler WOULD act, that building looks the way some outpost on another planet might actually look.Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-91328918166568980802013-01-08T16:04:32.696-08:002013-01-08T16:04:32.696-08:00My mother used to make fun of this episode by putt...My mother used to make fun of this episode by putting fried eggs over her eyes.Doc Thompsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08255204147754923490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-52118711496733899872012-10-10T13:21:26.705-07:002012-10-10T13:21:26.705-07:001/2 Zanti. Another tiresome O.L. romance takes up...1/2 Zanti. Another tiresome O.L. romance takes up most of the episode. I was excited by the cast-Walter Burke, Larry Pennell, Warren Oats, but I was disappointed. Best moment was seeing one of the Zantis again. I wish they didn't keep going back to the same locations in this one, they probably had limited space in Griffith Park, but still. It just goes on and on, I wasn't even impressed by the usually reliable Oates.Cmacnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-77619238916808952402012-01-05T21:55:02.675-08:002012-01-05T21:55:02.675-08:00How is it even possible to have a planet where it&...How is it even possible to have a planet where it's always daytime? If one side is always facing the sun (as our moon does with Earth), then another side would be facing away and be always dark. (There might even be a ribbon of the planet where getting from light to dark would be a trivial drive in the car.) Maybe there were supposed to be two suns, one for each side of the planet or something? I've really tried to resolve this one, but I just can't see how such a place could exist, even in TOL.Aaron Andershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02256261105124237331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-79321635834919197052011-04-20T07:20:43.544-07:002011-04-20T07:20:43.544-07:00I'm very glad to read Lisa's comments, bec...I'm very glad to read Lisa's comments, because I sometimes feel like the only one on earth who even remembers how to SPELL overpopulation, let alone considers it a problem. You don't have to hate the idea of people wanting to be fertile to hate hearing people CELEBRATE every single breakthrough in it, just as she says.Grantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-2591676879133338162011-04-16T13:31:10.897-07:002011-04-16T13:31:10.897-07:00Personally, I think this episode isn't bad. Of...Personally, I think this episode isn't bad. Of course, I'm biased.Reese Fowlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06138534697475907588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-54620451257628986142011-02-10T09:16:55.336-08:002011-02-10T09:16:55.336-08:00Maybe not a great episode, but a memorable title p...Maybe not a great episode, but a memorable title performance by Oates, who managed to make Reese both terrifying and pathetic. There's something truly horrible about a monster around whom even your thoughts are not private, and though everybody feels badly for Reese, he's gotta go.<br /><br />The romantic-ish scenes and all the dialogue about why the lady isn't conceiving are something out of "Dr. Kildare" or "Ben Casey" -- not bad but just too much information for here. I wanted more Reese and would have loved more flashback to when Reese was a good guy. <br /><br />Reese Fowler is sad..."I'm a man named Reese" he plaintively keeps trying to tell us. Not with those googly eyes, you're not! Sorry.<br /><br />(And I agree with the previous comment on the overpopulation aspect to this one -- Earth is already too crowded, and all they want to talk about is why this woman isn't popping them out on the next Earth. And how amazing that nearly fifty years later the world still -- and even America, for goodness sake -- can't quite get out of the Dark Ages and stop romanticizing unfettered reproduction.)<br /><br />Maybe not a top notch episode, but Reese Fowler -- the creature, the actor -- pulls this one out of the fire -- or the radioactive rain -- for me.Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00345830456539347899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-64909291769770186432011-02-06T10:39:39.785-08:002011-02-06T10:39:39.785-08:00Oh, right, I forgot ... And as for the DVD on this...Oh, right, I forgot ... And as for the DVD on this episode. Picture quality. Crap. Sound. Double crap. <br /><br />Possible spoiler: Cold Night's Death<br /><br />Is that the TV movie where it turned out it was the dogs? Good one. <br /><br />Many TV movies are turning up in Warner's DVD on demand program. Universal has one going, too.Hollywoodaholichttp://www.hollywoodaholic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-37839860556702255342011-02-06T07:39:45.645-08:002011-02-06T07:39:45.645-08:00Thanks, UTW, I'll check it out there. Haven&#...Thanks, UTW, I'll check it out there. Haven't seen it since its premiere, way back in '73, but have encouraging memories.<br /><br />Right you are, Larry R---! There's the Culp still. Another reason why it's lodged itself in my memories: I've referenced Gary's book a thousand times.<br /><br />UTW--- Same film:<br /><br />"Og Oggilby? Sounds like a bubble in a bath tub." <br /><br />"Now don't make fun of the man, Junior---YOU'D like to have a nose like that full of nickels!"Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-41494677975744315022011-02-05T19:39:37.169-08:002011-02-05T19:39:37.169-08:00FYI--
Our own Gary Gerani's iconic book "...FYI--<br /><br />Our own Gary Gerani's iconic book "Fantastic Television" features a still from "Cold Night's Death" on p. 179. Culp is all caked with ice; almost looks like he has fried eggs for eyes...or maybe poached.<br /><br />LRLarry Rapchaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-33942475244743075042011-02-05T17:19:01.445-08:002011-02-05T17:19:01.445-08:00Larry R.-
I spelled the phrase that way because i...Larry R.-<br /><br />I spelled the phrase that way because it was easier then looking up the spelling of the actual quote. I believe "This house is sho goin' crazy!" would be accurate. <br /><br />DJS & Ted R.-<br /><br />'A Cold Night's Death,' is available on Youtube. I just happened to watch this dark, claustrophobic, little gem of a movie this evening. Big thanks to DJS and Larry B. for the recommendation. Don't worry, I won't give away any spoilers. I will say that while viewing, one couldn't help but compare the location of the film to John Carpenter's 'The Thing.' Except where Carpenter's science base setting was pretty sterile, 'A Cold Night's Death,' arctic station just reeked of gloomy atmosphere. I could just imagine the smell of garbage, rotting food, and monkey urine when Culp and Wallach first arrived.<br /><br />Culp gives a great, haggard performance. You could just tell his character was unhappy to be out in the frozen tundra just from the beginning, while he was sipping coffee. If he only knew how bad things were going to get.....<br /><br />Well, I don't know about you gents, but I'm not sure which I'm looking forward to more: Tomorrow's Superbowl, or Monday's 'Second Chance' discussion. I haven't seen the OL episode yet, though I gather it's about a bear's tyrannical takeover of a carnival ride with hostages. <br /><br />Hopefully, the show will consist of the alien torturing, mutilating, and murdering the carnie rubes. That would be awesome. The perfect ending would have my new hero, from 'The Invisibles,' Don Gordan, duking it out with the extraterrestrial beast on top of the tilt-a-whirl ride, while the carnival burns in flames, the fate of the world at hand! <br />Even if that doesn't exactly happen, I'm sure the ep. will be satisfactory.<br /><br />W.C. Fields: Was I in here last night, and did I spend a twenty dollar bill?<br /><br />Bartender Joe Guelpe (Shemp): Yeah. <br /><br />W.C. Fields: Oh boy, what a load that is off my mind. I thought I lost it.Jockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16292833295819266389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-82603297473075011822011-02-05T16:02:07.448-08:002011-02-05T16:02:07.448-08:00Ted, ' A Cold Night's Death' was on yo...Ted, ' A Cold Night's Death' was on you tube about a year ago, which does allow for downloadsBobby jossonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-25753745956273270002011-02-05T15:21:45.189-08:002011-02-05T15:21:45.189-08:00Larry R--- He didn't tell you, "I'll...Larry R--- He didn't tell you, "I'll show you a picture, what IS a picture"?<br /><br />You could have had your clay fight, right there in front of the Art Institute, then "let bygones be bygones," and ambled on to your dignified lecture.Ted Rypelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-79636634994513556682011-02-05T13:32:57.655-08:002011-02-05T13:32:57.655-08:00Notice I have remained silent re: the male suscept...Notice I have remained silent re: the male susceptibility to Stooge-itis. However, NOW I will briefly break my silence.<br /><br />UTW--- Seems you (wisely) omitted the actual phonetic spelling of the line from "A-Plumbing."<br /><br />ALSO--a few years ago, I'm walking from my car to do a lecture in downtown Chicago, when I pass the Art Institute. There's this art-dude with his easel set up on the sidewalk, working on his new painting of the skyline. I walked up behind him and says to him (w/ straight face) "I'll tell you what's wrong: you don't have enough Ana-can-pana-san". Puzzled and disdainful looks were exchanged before I explained my comment. Still no change, so I continued on my way.<br /><br />THE END.Larry Rapchaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8535833613343533564.post-68457111507802088552011-02-05T02:06:21.862-08:002011-02-05T02:06:21.862-08:00My favorite thing about this episode, besides Warr...My favorite thing about this episode, besides Warren Oates, was that the story was based on a common trope of 60's SF, namely "Well, Earth's population is exploding, so, in the future, mankind will have to colonize the stars to find suitable living space for all those people . . . "<br /><br />Hellllooo! What's the cost of millions of interstelar station wagons compared to millions of condoms or birth control pills? It's as though neither the filmmakers nor the (aparently silent) viewing public thought it was proper to challenge the cultural or religious tenets behind unchecked procreation.<br /><br />That's so surreal, in the context of today's no-subject-is-taboo public discourse, that it could be the basis for . . . . a TOL episode.hockey24hrshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17665339445715581362noreply@blogger.com