The crew of a prop plane flies in bad weather, ultimately getting caught up in a hurricane near Japan. As we cut to the commercial, it doesn't look good. When we return all but one of them is in a life boat in the fog. As the fog lifts, it reveals that they are sitting in their inflatable on a plastic floor. They are soon subjected to several rays emanating from an eye near the top of a ceiling. It makes them warm; it makes them cold; it makes them wet; it makes them dry. It also has a laser beam that cuts a piece off the raft. There is another force. Some silly looking rubbery creatures move around at a snails pace but there is no doubt they are a threat. Eventually, doors are opened and they begin to explore rooms, including one that could be a control center. The leader begins to analyze things, trying to put two and two together. The young female scientist screams and yells things like "Where are we?" and "What will they do to us?" Fortunately, she does get her wits about her and becomes helpful. The series didn't have many competent women. They were mostly their to support or nag their husbands. The leader of the group somehow deduces what is going on (though I have no idea how). But it's a fun episode. For some reason, the series was summarily canceled, even though it was reasonable successful. It was great to watch these one more time an I will miss them.
9 Reviews
Fortunately, the series ended well.
planktonrules1 July 2012
"The Outer Limits" was too good an anthology series to have only lasted two seasons. However, according to IMDb, the network inexplicably killed the show by moving it to an impossible time slot--even though the show was initially quite popular. So, after only a short run, it ended with this particular episode, "The Probe".
"The Probe" begins aboard an airplane that has strayed too close to a hurricane. Despite their best efforts, the craft goes down in the water and it looks as if the folks on board are goners. Then, inexplicably, their raft is sucked inside some strange vehicle--a vehicle that eventually proves to be some sort of probe from another planet. But these folks cannot live inside this probe for long--there's apparently no food and they aren't adapted for planet hopping. Can they somehow communicate with the beings who created this probe and find a way to escape? While this is not a brilliant episode, it is intriguing and doesn't have some trite ending. Its theme of alien life and compassion are pretty consistent with the show and make for an interesting finale.
By the way, the lady in the episode was played by Peggy Ann Garner--who had made quite a name for herself as a child actress playing in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" two decades earlier (for which she received a special Oscar).
"The Probe" begins aboard an airplane that has strayed too close to a hurricane. Despite their best efforts, the craft goes down in the water and it looks as if the folks on board are goners. Then, inexplicably, their raft is sucked inside some strange vehicle--a vehicle that eventually proves to be some sort of probe from another planet. But these folks cannot live inside this probe for long--there's apparently no food and they aren't adapted for planet hopping. Can they somehow communicate with the beings who created this probe and find a way to escape? While this is not a brilliant episode, it is intriguing and doesn't have some trite ending. Its theme of alien life and compassion are pretty consistent with the show and make for an interesting finale.
By the way, the lady in the episode was played by Peggy Ann Garner--who had made quite a name for herself as a child actress playing in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" two decades earlier (for which she received a special Oscar).
Final Transmission
AaronCapenBanner18 March 2016
Last episode of the series sees a cargo plane traveling through a hurricane and making a crash landing into the sea. The survivors(including Peter Mark Richman and Peggy Ann Garner) find that their rubber life raft is not on the water, but instead is on a metal surface, and indeed they appear to be inside some mysterious structure that turns out to be an unmanned alien probe that had scooped them up for examination, though a strange microbe creature has escaped sterilization, which just might keep them alive if they can figure out a way to communicate their plight to the unknown intelligence...Good episode has fine acting and an intriguing premise that holds viewer interest. Though the series' cancellation was unfortunate, this does at least provide a fitting end.
The Hour Begins Well And Ends Well
StuOz20 July 2014
A few people are trapped in a space probe at sea.
It begins to well, it ends well, but that boring 20-question routine in the middle will put you to sleep. This would have been a classic if it only lasted 25 minutes, so do yourself a favour, once act one ends, picture search to act four, and you will have a gem!
The mutant creature seen in this hour actually looks better when seen in colour in the Star Trek episode: Devil In The Dark.
In fact, now that I mention it, there were several times during the 49 episodes of The Outer Limits where I would say: "I would love to see this in colour".
But the B&W is fine, B&W is sometimes good for sci-fi, the B&W first season of Lost In Space looked better than the two colour seasons that came after. So The Outer Limits stands as a gem with only six stinkers in the 49 episode run: not bad at all!
It begins to well, it ends well, but that boring 20-question routine in the middle will put you to sleep. This would have been a classic if it only lasted 25 minutes, so do yourself a favour, once act one ends, picture search to act four, and you will have a gem!
The mutant creature seen in this hour actually looks better when seen in colour in the Star Trek episode: Devil In The Dark.
In fact, now that I mention it, there were several times during the 49 episodes of The Outer Limits where I would say: "I would love to see this in colour".
But the B&W is fine, B&W is sometimes good for sci-fi, the B&W first season of Lost In Space looked better than the two colour seasons that came after. So The Outer Limits stands as a gem with only six stinkers in the 49 episode run: not bad at all!
"I think we're in the eye of the hurricane!"
classicsoncall8 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I guess I'm the outsider in my review for this episode. Unlike most of the other comments offered here, I didn't think this was a very good story, and as Amanda Frank (Peggy Ann Garner) stated to Jeff Rome (Peter Mark Richman) at one point - "There's no meaning or pattern to this". I felt that most of the dialog among the trio trapped in the plastic-like enclosure amounted to a bunch of meaningless and baseless assumptions. And that goofy, crawling blob! I could just picture some guy in that rubber suit with his arms outstretched and moving about, this way and that, and just laughing to himself about the absurdity of it all. It reminded me of a creature called the Horta in the 1967 Star Trek episode 'The Devil in the Dark'. But at least there was a rationale for that organism, while none was offered for the strange life form here. Throughout the story, Jeff, Amanda and Coberly (Ron Hayes) tried to rationalize an alien presence into human terms and it just didn't work for me. Which was kind of a downer since this was the last episode of the Sixties series, whereas one would have expected the program to go out on a much finer note.
Every episode to be cherished.
wadeswaxmuseum8 October 2020
I do not remember seeing this episode when I was 10 the year it was aired.The Original OUTER LIMITS was( and still is) my favorite TV show of the 60s.We were lucky indeed to be watching in the 60s..The Man From Uncle,Get Smart,The Avengers,The Prisoner,Rat Patrol,the Invaders,The Twilight Zone,etc etc.The Outer Limits was the pinnacle of Sci Fi entertainment for me.The music was esp captivating.A shame it only last 2 seasons.It's a treat to watch even the weaker episodes..searching for imagery I missed the prior times before.I cherish very episode!
The Probe, it grows on you.
Bill-1618 November 2017
Well, the Probe in the episode doesn't actually grow on you. Warts grow on you.
However, the actual episode grew on me. I have been around long enough. I was a small child when this episode originally aired in 1965 and surely saw it. We only had 1 TV in a 6 person family, but Outer Limits was a show that we watched.
Having watched all the OL episodes many times since, I can tell you 'The Probe' was one of my least favorite episodes. But each time I see it again I understand that the story and acting are what is important, not the SPFX and it gets better and better.
Peter Mark Richman is another 'thing' that gets better and better the more I see him. He was very popular TV actor well into the 1990's and is still in the business as late as 2016.
If you think 'The Probe' is a weak episode to end the Too Short of a run The Outer Limits enjoyed, Give it another watch. It is a Smart episode that the actors and writers took serious. Also, the whole premise and feel of the episode would show up, again and again in the SciFi world.
Thanks for reading, I know others lay out what is in the episode, so I sort of just spew out an anecdote or 2. PlanktonRules is the best reviewer I see on IMDb and pretty much every review he does (and that is a lot) seem to come directly from my own mind. eeeeeeewwwwww, cue the OL Opening Theme.
However, the actual episode grew on me. I have been around long enough. I was a small child when this episode originally aired in 1965 and surely saw it. We only had 1 TV in a 6 person family, but Outer Limits was a show that we watched.
Having watched all the OL episodes many times since, I can tell you 'The Probe' was one of my least favorite episodes. But each time I see it again I understand that the story and acting are what is important, not the SPFX and it gets better and better.
Peter Mark Richman is another 'thing' that gets better and better the more I see him. He was very popular TV actor well into the 1990's and is still in the business as late as 2016.
If you think 'The Probe' is a weak episode to end the Too Short of a run The Outer Limits enjoyed, Give it another watch. It is a Smart episode that the actors and writers took serious. Also, the whole premise and feel of the episode would show up, again and again in the SciFi world.
Thanks for reading, I know others lay out what is in the episode, so I sort of just spew out an anecdote or 2. PlanktonRules is the best reviewer I see on IMDb and pretty much every review he does (and that is a lot) seem to come directly from my own mind. eeeeeeewwwwww, cue the OL Opening Theme.
A sad, sad ending
fjaye96925 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
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.
A hesitant microbe.
fedor85 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
A nice set-up: a plane caught in a storm crashes into the ocean, then its crew finds itself trapped in an unusual edifice.
"It's really something... but certainly not from OUR world."
Yeah, thanks. We kinda knew that already, Blondie. Besides, Jeff already mentioned five times earlier that you're all in an alien probe.
"Am I getting through to you?! Or are you all machine and no humanity???"
Hardly humanity, Blondie.
But I nitpick. Most of the dialogue in the latter half is decent. Some of the early dialogue is very typical of the 50s/60s sci-fi B-movies, while some of it is less pedestrian. It improves.
The pizza-monster blob is better than most TOL creatures. Hardly the pinnacle of special-effects artistry, but not nearly as unconvincing as many of the show's far goofier critters and aliens. The interior sets are also better than what we usually get in TOL.
Far less credible is the alleged space map, which merely looks like a photo or a drawing of a lunar landscape. How the producers believed that such a random Moon depiction would pass off as a map is mystifying. Maps aren't simple drawings.
The observation/conclusion by Jeff that the pizza blob is a microbe is an interesting idea, but it doesn't fly, not entirely at least. Its actions are way too intelligent to be such a low form of life. For one thing, it shows hesitation. How many hesitant microbes have we discovered so far on Earth? None, I'd venture to guess. "Star Trek's" crew (TOS) gave such blobs much more credit than that.
Typical low-rated episode i.e. One of the shows best. Because, and I never tire from repeating it: TOL fans rarely get it right. They praise the weakest episodes, misunderstand hence underrate the best ones.
"It's really something... but certainly not from OUR world."
Yeah, thanks. We kinda knew that already, Blondie. Besides, Jeff already mentioned five times earlier that you're all in an alien probe.
"Am I getting through to you?! Or are you all machine and no humanity???"
Hardly humanity, Blondie.
But I nitpick. Most of the dialogue in the latter half is decent. Some of the early dialogue is very typical of the 50s/60s sci-fi B-movies, while some of it is less pedestrian. It improves.
The pizza-monster blob is better than most TOL creatures. Hardly the pinnacle of special-effects artistry, but not nearly as unconvincing as many of the show's far goofier critters and aliens. The interior sets are also better than what we usually get in TOL.
Far less credible is the alleged space map, which merely looks like a photo or a drawing of a lunar landscape. How the producers believed that such a random Moon depiction would pass off as a map is mystifying. Maps aren't simple drawings.
The observation/conclusion by Jeff that the pizza blob is a microbe is an interesting idea, but it doesn't fly, not entirely at least. Its actions are way too intelligent to be such a low form of life. For one thing, it shows hesitation. How many hesitant microbes have we discovered so far on Earth? None, I'd venture to guess. "Star Trek's" crew (TOS) gave such blobs much more credit than that.
Typical low-rated episode i.e. One of the shows best. Because, and I never tire from repeating it: TOL fans rarely get it right. They praise the weakest episodes, misunderstand hence underrate the best ones.
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