Such a disappointing coda to a once-great show.
The plot lacked coherence: we never learn where the probe comes from, or where it's going. The characters are "disinfected" to repel the creature...but the probe later self-destructs so it can't harm anything. Surrounded by plastic flooring, walls, columns, and gas emitting wall-holes, the group's leader deduces that they're all under a giant microscope. And (very) suddenly, it's all resolved -- or at least rushes to a conclusion -- when our intrepid crew is picked up by a rescue plane. Afterward, no one seems particularly concerned about the presence of an alien vessel, neither in the ocean nor as it lifts off and flies away...only to explode.
The "special" effects were bargain-basement, too: lots of blinking lights, a couple of animated light beams and a rubber "creature" that just shuffled along on the floor.
And the dialogue was inept: didactic and stiff. As a sound grows louder and louder, the leader observes "That sound is growing louder and louder! If it keeps increasing, it could break our eardrums!" Or in an attempt to communicate with the aliens: "Keep repeating E=MC-squared! It's the law of the universe!" As long as everyone in the universe uses the English alphabet, I guess.
Overall, it's on a par with cheap B-movies from the '50s. And that's really too bad. Because The Outer Limits could be fantastic sci-fi: "Demon with a Glass Hand," for example, "The Bellero Shield," or "The Architects of Fear."
"The Probe" just isn't very good.
The plot lacked coherence: we never learn where the probe comes from, or where it's going. The characters are "disinfected" to repel the creature...but the probe later self-destructs so it can't harm anything. Surrounded by plastic flooring, walls, columns, and gas emitting wall-holes, the group's leader deduces that they're all under a giant microscope. And (very) suddenly, it's all resolved -- or at least rushes to a conclusion -- when our intrepid crew is picked up by a rescue plane. Afterward, no one seems particularly concerned about the presence of an alien vessel, neither in the ocean nor as it lifts off and flies away...only to explode.
The "special" effects were bargain-basement, too: lots of blinking lights, a couple of animated light beams and a rubber "creature" that just shuffled along on the floor.
And the dialogue was inept: didactic and stiff. As a sound grows louder and louder, the leader observes "That sound is growing louder and louder! If it keeps increasing, it could break our eardrums!" Or in an attempt to communicate with the aliens: "Keep repeating E=MC-squared! It's the law of the universe!" As long as everyone in the universe uses the English alphabet, I guess.
Overall, it's on a par with cheap B-movies from the '50s. And that's really too bad. Because The Outer Limits could be fantastic sci-fi: "Demon with a Glass Hand," for example, "The Bellero Shield," or "The Architects of Fear."
"The Probe" just isn't very good.