The Outer Limits (TV Series) The Sixth Finger (1963) User Reviews

The Outer Limits-The Sixth Finger

[Scarecrow-88 · 8/10 · 14 November 2009]

"Now I must break the last barrier between flesh and the spirit."

An intelligent coal miner, Gwyllim(David McCallum), who hates the town he lives, desiring for something more, begins to work with an English scientist, Professor Mathers(Edward Mulhare) seeking a genetic breakthrough to increase evolution in man which would move us away from the primitive emotions of violence and yearning for power. Through the use of a time machine which can alter the genetic make-up of whoever enters, affects Gwyllim, both from an intelligent and physiological standpoint. Outside the machine, Gwyllim's body continues to change(..he grows a sixth finger, pointy ears, a large cranium, with an overall appearance quite alien and his brain power(..to both read minds and inflict harm without physically touching those who possibly threaten him) evolves to a vast degree. Cathy Evans(Jill Haworth), a 'basket girl' who delivers goods to locals, may be the only one who can reach the remaining 20th century human left in Gwyllim for she was the only person who truly believed in him. His hatred for the town could result in devastating consequences, considering the power he is now equipped. Can Professor Mathers stop him or will the evolutionary process itself advance Gwyllim past the primitive feelings that afflict us all?

As was always the case, The Outer Limits has yet another episode featuring a thoroughly fascinating and thought-provoking script, questioning and exploring themes of the time, including the desire to remove the emotional entanglements which cause cruelty, hate, revenge, and other benevolent feelings that had created the Atom bomb and World Wars. Again, science, meant to cure what ails mankind, instead creates an even more dangerous monster. Interesting development is when we discover, as Gwyllim's highly evolved mind reveals to us through his newfound power of telepathy, that one of Mathers' reasons for conducting his experiments was for his contributions to the creation of the Atom bomb. The make-up for McCallum, and David's performance as well, develop a chilling effect on the viewer as we watch him slowly morph into a superior being, losing his humanity as he gains unlimited power and intelligence.

Even in the future, people are still pretty dumb!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 24 June 2012]

This episode features two British actors very familiar to 1960s American television--Edward Mulhare ("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir") and David McCallum ("The Man From UNCLE").

Mulhare is a genetic scientist who has been manipulating DNA in chimps in order to speed up evolution. The result is a chimp that is nearly as smart as a person! When a local dullard sees this, she begs the scientist to do this procedure on her boyfriend (McCallum)--a rather dull coal miner. Mulhare reluctantly agrees to his first human subject and McCallum is accelerated thousands of years--and becomes MUCH smarter and with psychic powers but also some contempt for mankind, as we are all very stupid in comparison. He continues to evolve--and each time, we become more and more like mere parasites to the point that he sees us as inconveniences. What's next? See this very interesting episode to find out for yourself.

I liked this one because it could simply have been about how noble mankind would one day become (BOOORRRIIINNGGG!). Instead, although McCallum seems pretty benign, over time his view of the human race is pretty scary! An insightful and clever show--well worth seeing because of this as well as it being incredibly unique!

Human Evolution

[AaronCapenBanner · 8/10 · 10 March 2016]

David McCallum stars as Gwyillim Griffiths, a poor but bright young man in a rural Welsh mining village who is hired to be a lab assistant to a kindly research scientist named Professor Mathers(played by Edward Mulhare). He volunteers to subject himself to a breakthrough invention that somehow can accelerate the state of human evolution thousands of years, but this gives Gwyillim increased intelligence, and physically transforms him as well, which frightens the local villagers, though his girlfriend Kathy Evans(played by Jill Haworth) remains the one person he can still connect with before it is too late... Provocative episode with fine script and makeup effects that distinguish it, along with lines like "Your ignorance makes me ill and angry."

The VERY Best of the Outer Limits Series

[wdbasinger · 10/10 · 19 June 2006]

I am an avid fan of the original Outer Limits program from the 1960s. Many episodes such as "Speciman - Unknown", "Moonstone", and "The Human Factor" will always leave one with a sense of awe.

"The Sixth Finger" will always leave me with a feeling of awe and fascination. The plot deals with a scientist's efforts to project a human being thousands of years, indeed, even a million years into the biological future. This has always been a very interesting premise and based on what we currently know about molecular genetics, perhaps a potentially plausible one as well. Since I worked in geology and geochemistry (mostly from the standpoint of applications software) for 11 years, with a strong interest in historical geology and paleobiology, this program particularly sparked my interest.

In addition, to a strong, well-structured plot, the characterizations in the show are also planned well. Everyone in this show is three-dimensional, including the futuristic being played by David McCallum who subconsciously wants to maintain his humanity on one hand, and continue to go further "to infinity" leaving his humanity behind on the other. Even though the main character has artificially evolved into a being of superior intelligence, he shows that he still possesses the basic weaknesses and foibles that are found in all people. One of these foibles is a tendency toward emotional immaturity despite his superior intelligence. The David McCallum character remains human in all stages of his evolutionary advance.

I read that there were several possible endings planned for this particular segment. One is where the futuristic human succeeds in shedding the flesh and becoming "all mind and no matter". Another is when he retreats back to primitive life-forms, indeed, even toward the protozoa. The ending on which they finally decided is the situation in which the David McCallum character returns to his original self via the transmission machine thanks to Cathy's efforts and love. This is probably the best choice.

This episode has many great facets, including the Bach music that the David McCallum character plays. (I think his real-life father was a professional violinist.) Also the different philosophical discussions in the show pertaining to the nature of man, creativity, and the ultimate future of the human race made this segment one of the best of the Outer Limits Series. Also all of the women in this program, Cathy, Gert, and Mrs. Ives remain eye candy as well for all fans.

For me, this is my all-time favorite of The Outer Limits, a series which remains, my all-time favorite for all time.

Hugo-Award winning material throughout.

10 out of 10.

Dan Basinger

"Need I remind you, that everything is relative?"

[mercuryix2003 · 10/10 · 18 February 2007]

I agree with the other users' comments that this episode stands out as the very best of all of the Outer Limits episodes. Ellis St. Joseph wrote this story, and deserved to win the Hugo and Nebula awards for his screenplay. I don't know what awards if any he won for it.

The writer doesn't miss a single facet to explore in this man's accelerated evolution; will man lose his emotions, or will they always be in control of us? Will he evolve beyond violence and prejudice, only to also lose his humanity? The story has many memorable lines, the music supports the tension and emotions, and the 1950s technology lends the story a charm that modern technoglitz wouldn't.

If you love sci fi, check this out if you haven't seen it. This episode (and the whole original Outer Limits series) is far out of the league of the stomach-churning and inane new series that wasn't even a pale copy of it. The main reason: the original series provoked thought, while the new one didn't; instead relying on special effects. The new series put fancy (and meaningless) special effects first in importance. I can hear the producers now pitching the idea: "With today's technology and sfx, we'll do things the old series couldn't dream of!" Sorry, guys.... the old series did things you couldn't dream of, because you missed the three most important things that made the original great; first and foremost the writing, but also the great cinematography and great actors. I remember the old episodes vividly after 20 years; who can say they remember one single episode of the new series?

I give this episode 10 out of 10. It doesn't get any better than this for sci fi - no matter when it was made.

Superb Episode and Series

[pjb2354 · 10/10 · 14 June 2010]

I saw this episode when I was 9 years old and was glued to my TV. David McCalum's makeup was designed by John Chambers who later did the ears for Mr. Spock. This series had the best special effects people in the business, designing the most grotesque looking monsters you will ever see. Unlike the Twilight Zone which played their monsters for laughs, the teaser of The Outer Limits each week gave you a taste of what to expect in the next hour and you did not have to wait until the very end to see them. 1st Season Director of Photography, Conrad Hall and his camera man William Fraker shot episodes with fish eyed lenses and weird camera angles coupled with high contrast lighting producing black and white quality equivalent to feature films. Monsters like the Chromoite from THE MICE looked like a quivering Jelly Fish with claws for hands and a slit for a mouth where it ate its own goo from the lake and male and female Aliens from FUN & GAMES who used boomerangs as weapons to kill their opponents is an example of the monsters on The Outer Limits. Twilight Zone had nothing like this.

Welsh miners with Yorkshire accents and pistol-packing policemen...

[kducklin2 · 10/10 · 11 February 2011]

Truly one of my favourite OL episodes, but I have to agree with the other UK reviewer about the truly extraordinary world that it creates for British audiences.

Not only is the town apparently located in Wales whilst the cast all speak in a sort of bastardised Yorkhire dialect (with a couple of Cockney accents thrown in), but - and this slays me every time I watch "Sixth Finger" - the motorcycle cops who square off against the creature immediately reach for their sidearms. For those non-Brits who aren't aware, few of our policemen back in the 1960s would have been allowed anywhere near a pistol or rifle. (Even today only specially-trained officers are allowed to carry guns.)

For all that, it's a cracking tale, very well told, with great performances from the leads. Sadly, as I pen this review I note that Jill Haworth passed away just a few weeks ago, of natural causes but at only 65. RIP.

"If the whole human race could be rendered intelligent, beyond hatred, or revenge, or the desire for power? Is that not, after all, the ultimate goal of evolution?".

[b_kite · 7/10 · 12 July 2019]

Our episode begins In a remote Welsh mining town, a scientist Professor Mathers discovers how to speed up evolutionary mutation. Gwyllim Griffiths, a disgruntled local miner, volunteers for the experiment, threw a friend of his and potential love interest Cathy Evans, enabling the scientist to give him enhanced mental capabilities and, incidentally, a sixth finger on each hand. But when the mutation process continues while outside of the scientist's control, the mutant miner takes over the experiment. Now equipped with superior intelligence and telekinetic powers capable of great destruction, Griffiths decides to take revenge on the mining town he loathes. But, can Cathy and Mathers stop him for he does harm to the whole town and virtually himself. So once again were given an episode that pretty much follows the same plot line like I discussed in the last episodes review. A scientist usually taking something normal (usually a person) and conducting scientific experiments until said subject gets out of control and the whole thing pretty much ends horrifically with a morale narration at the end. This one is no different, but, the fact the the story goes at a really brisk pace and that we have two really good British actors in Edward Mulhare and David McCallum really helps. The ending is really good, but, you can defiantly tell the cheapness of the budget here, as the episode barely goes outside and and pretty much just has two inside sets. Plus Grittiths build up never really goes anywhere, he literally knocks a cop off his motorcycle and thats about it. The ending possibility that man can evolve past hate and what not is really great though. Overall the series manages to put out another good episode.

Interesting and unnerving.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 6 March 2023]

Professor Mathers experiments on Miner Gwyllim Griffiths, the experiment concerned speeds up the evolution process.

I can only imagine this episode gave kids and adults alike the most incredible nightmares imaginable, credit to them for creating a truly unnerving watch.

A truly imaginative storyline, with a commanding lead performance from the excellent David McCallum, plus some rather effective special effects, all of these elements make for one of the show's most creative and effective episodes.

Some of the family members sound as though they've come from the width and breadth of The British isles, with a multitude of regional dialects, and some Irish thrown in for good measures.

8/10.

Very good episode from a classic old show

[MoviesRT · 7/10 · 6 June 2015]

When I was a kid this was the best science fiction there was.

I loved a majority of these episodes. They were like the Twilight Zone on steroids. Some were not so great, but you had to love the way they delved into the issues of the day.

Great imaginative ideas that touched on human frailties, and this one is not short on lessons we can learn about human nature.

This episode is based on a belief in macro-evolution, showing how the TV writers thought back in the 60's. Today we know better, since there's simply no evidence that monkeys evolved into humans, but they didn't know that in the 60's and these kinds of beliefs make for great science fiction stories. So I'm not critical of their mistakes.

Most of the Outer Limits stories are flawed by the lack of knowledge of the day, but they always had good lessons to learn.

Basically, it's a humanistic story where a professor has a machine that will take any being either forward or backward in evolutionary time. Kind of hokey, right? But it had a good moral.

David McCallum does a great job in this. He's always been one of my favorite actors. (He's still alive too, and he looks great for being in his 80's!) The boy in the monkey suit was not very convincing, but for the time that was all they could do.

Anyway, it seems that by evolving into the future, man not only becomes psychically powerful and intelligent, but also very angry and evil, not to mention extremely ugly.

Spoiler: the girl who loves him manages to get him back to normal using that same machine and he reverts to his old caring nature.

A good moral on not dabbling with things we know nothing about. And maybe that love conquers all?

As I said, these were great stories when I was a kid, but they don't work as well nowadays, which is sad. I guess we've moved on in our knowledge and don't believe in this stuff anymore, but it's still fun to watch what was, in my opinion, one of the best shows of the era.

Human Evolution

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 14 February 2018]

The British scientist Professor Mathers is researching human DNA and evolution in a chimpanzee in a laboratory in the countryside. When he meets the bread delivery girl Cathy Evans, she decides to bring her boyfriend Gwyllim Griffiths, who is an ambitious unemployed coal miner, to look for a job at Mathers´ laboratory. Gwyllim offers to be his assistant and to be submitted to his experiment. Mathers accepts the offer and soon Gwyllim´s intelligence and knowledge enhances, growing his head and a sixth finger. His evolution proceeds and Gwyllim achieves the power of telekinesis, threatening Mathers. Where will his evolution reach?

"The Sixth Finger" is an intriguing episode of "The Outer Limits". The story is engaging and the impressive makeup of David McCallum is top notch. Unfortunately the corny conclusion is disappointing. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Sexto Dedo" ("The Sixth Finger")

Fine Hour With Great Make-Up Work

[StuOz · 26 June 2014]

David McCallum plays a coal miner who wants more for himself so he gets transformed into a weird creature.

The storyline of someone is a lesser job wanting something big time is well explored. Who could not like this episode? Who could not like the creature make up? I would love to see this episode in colour!

I personally liked McCallum more in the coming episode - The Forms Of Things Unknown - as I would put that hour as McCallum's best work ever! However, The Sixth Finger is fine, but to me at least, it is not one of the best hours of the series.

Trivia: the guy inside the ape costume was also be in an ape costume in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea/Lost In Space/Land Of The Giants.

What Will We Become?

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 2 January 2015]

This has the potential to be a great episode. It builds momentum and then drops off with a ridiculous, sappy ending. David McCallum plays a mine worker who has no future. He is sad and depressed. Through a series of circumstances, he comes in contact with a geneticist who has the power to boost brains. He has taken a chimp and taught him to be a file clerk (sounds kind of dumb, doesn't it). When McCallum asks him to make him smart, the doctor agrees and uses his machine to boost his intelligence. There is a ridiculous lever that when pushed forward makes one's brain go into the future; if you pull it back, it causes regression. Well, the young man soon begins to evolve to monumental abilities, including mind reading and telekinesis. He also sees the "worthlessness" of the current human condition. He becomes bored and pensive and a danger to those around him. He also realizes that he is in potential danger from the stupid native coal miner population. He wants to boost his brain to even a higher lever, where it can transcend the limits of the corporeal being. Oh, well, a little imagination from the writers would have helped, but perhaps they weren't as evolved.

Parallel universes

[john-souray · 3/10 · 19 February 2007]

If you didn't see The Outer Limits at the time, then watching them now is an odd experience. It lacks quite the quirky charm of the Twilight Zone, but it still capable of taking you by surprise with unexpected flashes of imagination. A lot of it is embarrassing, or just plain boring, though none of it is ever as bad as the worst science fiction B movies of that time, and certainly the strong casts reliably outperform the limp scripts. I won't comment particularly on the several very strongly favourable comments here. I think they are all tinged with a wash of nostalgia. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's actually very interesting to see, but it's unlikely to persuade anyone coming to this episode for the first time in the twenty first century. I still revere The Prisoner, but I wouldn't dream of recommending it to a new audience now.

But what makes this episode in particular stand out, and be worthy of a special recommendation, especially to British viewers, is the quite astonishing portrayal of what seems to be a Yorkshire, or possibly, Welsh mining village. It is as though the opening chapters of Sons & Lovers (D.H.Lawrence) had been re-imagined in the world of The Darling Buds of May (H.E.Bates). What would that mean for an American reader? What about On The Waterfront re-imagined with the characters and setting of Tobacco Road? It is that grotesque.

There is no sign of a pit, and the village is more or less a rural idyll, but there are random roving working class types, extremely grimy, and ever ready to subject any available maiden to a bit of sexual harassment (hey-nonny-no) while knocking off the odd traditional shanty on the button concertina. It defies all rational analysis, and has to be seen to be believed.

And the voice of the young woman (Constance Cavendish) behind the counter in the village shop must surely be a candidate for one of the most bizarre screen accents of all time, in which Welsh, Gestapo, Asian and robotic elements are perpetually at war with each other. I recently laughed at an American survey of Dick van Dyke's career which said that though his "Cockney accent in Mary Poppins was notoriously bad, nevertheless he remained popular in the UK". No, no, no; there's no nevertheless to it. It's because his Cockney accent was so bad that we all love him. We British are a bit strange like that; we admire incompetence in all its forms. But by these standards, Constance Cavendish should have been an international megastar. Whatever became of her? Unmissable.

David McCallum, musician

[mikeos3 · 8/10 · 24 November 2021]

David McCallum is shown playing classical piano in one scene. Rather than using a piano double, it actually is his own playing. McCallum was trained from a very early age in both oboe and piano, and is capable of playing to professional standard. His father was leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

I loved this episode, but...

[DrSamba · 8/10 · 18 July 2006]

I watched this episode again recently, and have always enjoyed it immensely. The acting and characterizations were superb. (I was also a boyhood fan of David McCallum in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."). However, there have always been some questions that bothered me about it based on my (admittedly limited) understanding of evolution.

First, evolution is not an immutable genetic program. The primary mechanism of evolution is natural selection--small, random mutations occur over generations; those mutations that improve the organism's chance to survive and procreate are passed on to future generations and become the new baseline, as it were, of the species. Individual mutations that reduce the chance of survival and procreation simply die off.

There is nothing in genetics, at least to my knowledge, that predisposes us to develop six fingers in the distant future. If that were true, then by the same logic, four-fingered cartoon characters are humans from the distant past. All of our protohuman ancestors had five fingers, as do modern apes. In our modern society, having a sixth finger might make one a more versatile concert pianist (see _Gattaca_), or be able to spear one additional olive, but I doubt it would help him get more women.

Second, the enormous cranium of future Gwyllim (McCallum). Any woman who has given birth and any man who has been in the delivery room knows what I mean. For humans to develop a larger cranium would require women to simultaneously develop a larger birth canal. Otherwise, the only humans who survived would be those relative few with access to hospitals and Caesarian sections. The fact is, homo sapiens has not evolved genetically in probably 100,000 years. We are the same basic humans as the Cro-Magnon man. Our modern society has largely eliminated the genetic pressure to evolve. We no longer need to outrun predators or outwit our prey. Children who are born with life-threatening genetic defects are now given a chance at life by advanced medical procedures. (I'm not a eugenist--as the parent of a child with asthma, I wouldn't have it any other way--but the point is that those genes can now survive and be passed on to future generations.)

So as interesting as it is to speculate about what future humans might look like, I suspect it will be quite different: (sarcastic social commentary begins) a species that can tolerate higher average ambient temperatures, that can breathe air with elevated carbon dioxide and monoxide levels, that can possibly live underwater as well as on land, that has a more robust immune system, and that is resistant to radiation and environmental toxins such as mercury. (sarcastic social commentary ends)

The other plot hole I found is at the very end, when Gwyllim asks Cathy to help him move into the infinite future, why doesn't he activate the machine himself with his telekinetic abilities, and can't he read her mind to find out that she's going to send him backwards, and mentally force her hand in the forward direction? Does something in the chamber block his mental powers?

A fine piece of classic science fiction

[kyyankee · 8/10 · 8 April 2020]

What happens when you take an ordinary laboring man and accelerate his mental and physical evolution? A very familiar question posed over the years in sci fi literature, and one addressed here in one of the best shows in the series. A very good cast, a believable premise and execution.

A pretty good showcase for David McCallum's talent.

[Clive-Silas · 8/10 · 12 March 2022]

In a plot taken from early 1930s sci-fi (ie before the Golden Age of Science Fiction) a scientist finds a way to direct radiation at "every gene in the body" in order to get a sneak preview of Humankind 's evolution. Knight Rider's Edward Mulhare is the scientist and a pre-U. N. C. L. E. David McCallum is the simplistic Welsh miner who gets to be Mulhare's guinea pig. The plot is predictable enough: McCallum's evolution takes him from a simple man with a good heart to a soulless Megamind with the globular head to match. It must be said, however, that the good looking young man who could have been simply looking to get a foothold in Hollywood TV, demonstrates here a substantial range. When he first gets higher brain powers he simply drops his regional accent to sound "superintelligent". But in the later stage of megalomania, it's not just "more of the same". McCallum imbues his performance with an element of maturity, so that he really seems to have lived the extra million years of human evolution. It's quite the best acting to be found in such material, and succeeds in lifting it above the banal.

apes and monkeys

[michaelwyzan · 3 May 2020]

While this episode is one of my favorites, one thing is particularly laughable: it is supposed to be about evolution, yet even Prof. Mathers do not seem to know the difference between an ape and a monkey. He repeatedly calls what seems to be a chimpanzee a "monkey." At one point, when Cathy asks him why the chimpanzee did not further evolve, he explains that this type of "monkey" did not evolve into man, bespeaking another confusion--that we evolved from apes rather than that we had a common ancestor. How much the writer should have known about such matters in 1963 is an interesting question...

Good Story Terrible Ending

[WYAdams · 7/10 · 20 December 2021]

An interesting and engrossing story line. Of course, the science is utterly implausible, but this is science fiction after all, so we should not expect strict adherence to scientific facts. There is this prevailing theme in Science Fiction that we will somehow evolve into beings of pure energy with no need for physical bodies which is nonsensical. As I just wrote, it is Science Fiction so we must suspend belief and go with the premises that make the story work.

There is a creepy moment of a close up of the Professor staring at Cathy with this partial smile and expression that makes him look like some kind of sexual deviant. It was really creepy and inappropriate. Frankly, I'm surprised Cathy didn't go running from the room never to return.

The ending was nonsensical. Gwyllim has evolved to the point where he has telekinetic power strong enough to destroy an entire town, yet he is unable to move a simple lever on the evolution machine's control panel, having to rely on Cathy to do it for him.

So, being a selfish person, she ignores Gwyllim's request and brings him back to the present. Then in a moment of incredible hubris, she declares that he was glad she did it.

There are two things about the end that are particularly annoying.

First, it is not clear if Gwyllim dies or is simply unconscious. We are left hanging without knowing his fate.

Second is the sappy inane moral they had to include at the end of every episode. The "voice" says the experiment was too soon and too swift, but there was nothing wrong with the experiment, had the little twit Cathy not screwed it up for her own selfish reasons. Gwyllim had already evolved to the point where he no longer felt anger, nor lusted for power, which is exactly what the Professor wanted. The experiment was a complete success, so the sappy moral made no sense.

Despite the few negative parts and the ending, I like this episode, and it is one of four that I have in my Amazon Prime Video Library.

Great episode thanks to McCallum, Mulhare and Haworth

[bmulkey-81597 · 10/10 · 7 April 2023]

The episode is about a filthy coal miner Wilhelm( David McCallum) who is persuaded by his beautiful and very highly appealing girlfriend , Cathy ( Jill Haworth) to leave the coal mines and go to work for a job as an assistant to a brilliant professor of genetics (Edward Mulhare). The Professor soon turns the former coal miner into an evolved large brained creature of the future.

The ep is similar to the second Star Trek pilot ' Where no man has gone before' in the premise of a regular man mutating and becoming super knowledgeable and super intelligent. Neither ep of either series is that particularly realistic in it's treatment of the subject matter as actually the universe and life in it is too complicated to have just been a coincidence. (But neither mutated man in either show may have read books or computer-located screen info showing that but in Star Trek pilot's case that is unlikely!) Also, the Bible has scientific accuracy like round Earth and jet streams and more also showing and much more proving it is the word of God indeed. Did either mutant in either episode read about such Biblical accuracy?

( Both eps were directed by James Goldstone!)

Why?

[Picgoer · 6/10 · 29 January 2024]

I concur with much written by other reviewers. As old fashioned entertainment it ticks all the boxes. As a U. K. reviewer however I can't fathom what the creators were thinking of when they set the episode 'somewhere in Britain'? Other than the principle actors, David McCullam, Jill Haworth and Edward Mulhare, Scottish, English and Irish respectively, (even their accents wavered) the accents were atrocious! What benefit to the story was setting it outside of the U. S.?

As has also been mentioned the supposedly British Police Officers, seemingly just on patrol (it's unlikely that a village would have more than one officer) would not have been armed with firearms. All they would have had to defend themselves were wooden truncheons! Today only a limited number of police in the U. K. carry firearms. Most have nothing more than a baton (the successor to the truncheon) and pepper spray, most don't carry tazers regularly either.

McCullam's performance was quite nuanced and he managed to convey much with just his eyes, when in full makeup. Mulhare's performance was as one would expect. I've not come across Howarth before but she seemed reasonably accomplished.

The story didn't do much for me but was of its time although I thought the special effects were good and not particularly over the top.

Worth seeing once.

The Premise Is Utter Bilge

[johcafra-150-658402 · 8/10 · 7 August 2021]

...but this remains among my favorite episodes of The (original) Outer Limits because its premise is more than offset by the direction, photography and acting, that last part in particular by David McCallum.

I hold this series in high regard if only because I viewed many of the episodes at their Stateside TV broadcast premieres. I didn't consider The (original) Twilight Zone preparatory in any way, for viewing that at an impressionable age hadn't scared me--on the outside--while TOL pulled all the stops the network censors would explicitly permit, and that took as much courage.

If you can, read up on how TOL was conceived, pitched and produced. I wouldn't call it ahead of its time (save for its episode "O. B. I. T.") but what it managed with what it had available should continue to be studied. Joseph Stefano edited the first-season scripts, and he himself merits study.

As for this episode, focus on McCallum, whose portrayal progresses along with his makeup. There must have been an agreement to "keep the face free" so he could "act through the makeup". Truly, his is a transcendent performance.

And, yes, to address other reviewers' concerns, maybe this wasn't set in Wales, maybe they were company police who could in fact bear arms "on premises", and maybe McCallum's character in his most advanced state just couldn't bring himself to remotely manipulate that of Jill Haworth (or, maybe he did anyway). Regardless, you'll want to stay to the very end. In these times that alone provides sufficient incentive for a viewing.

Finally, there's more than a little George Bernard Shaw in the script, but "Man and Superman" isn't the GBS play to read. Instead, find "Back to Methuselah". And be sure you're well rested, for this playwright just loved to explain things...and himself...a lot.

Had High Hopes

[kyrn123 · 5/10 · 17 October 2021]

I had high hopes for this episode because I thought it was a classic Outer Limits episode but it faltered for me with the less than special special effects and a man wearing a monkey suit. The episode also seemed to have a lot of padding in the story. Is it essential to see the happy villagers congregate at the bakery playing a concertina and doing a jig? I didn't find any of the characters likable, especially David McCallum. The makeup department must have had it out for him. They came up with some of the most hideous getups as his future self emerges.

So what exactly IS "the point" of evolution? Answer below...

[fedor8 · 21 April 2021]

If you agree with me that McCallum is an amazingly bland, dull, nepotistic beta male, wait till you find out how he changes in this episode...

He steps out of the "accelerated evolution" machine, covering his face, which makes sense because McCallum SHOULD be ashamed of his appearance, but in terms of the story it is illogical because he has no mirror in the machine. Hence how can he know that his forehead had increased, making him look like yet another B-movietard - complete with a dumb evil smirk which McCallum (or the director) must have considered wickedly effective. But he's just a sneering nerd, hence forget about the sense of menace the director was going for... The episode definitely suffers for casting this dullard, though the writing isn't much better.

Once McCallum becomes the stereotypically big-headed genius, the plot moves in very predictable, generic ways. Hence boredom sets in quickly.

And nonsense too. Such as the miner with the vaguely Irish accent playing a harmonica in a pub (because the Irish are always cheerful, even after they'd just had a hard shift at the mine), yet again with an unwashed face. So miners never wash up after mining? And what a dumb series of conversations in that pub... Third-rate dialogue.

The only good things about this episode are the good performance of the guy playing the scientist, the OK ending, and the solid looks of the lead actress, who unfortunately plays a one-dimensional character. The story is horribly cliched, quasi-philosophical (pulp level mostly), and the make-up laughable. McCallum ends up looking like a bloated Petr Korda, while blathering like a New Age hippy. The guy in the monkey suit could at least hide, I suppose... Nobody can prove he was in this episode.

Very typically, this very mediocre episode got one of the highest ratings... because human evolution has stopped hence audiences are mostly mindless zombies? So ironic, considering the central theme is evolution.

Plenty of padding too. This should have been no longer than 30 minutes.

Amusing end-scene narration, paraphrasing: "Can't we hope to develop a method to turn the entire human race intelligent? Beyond the desire for power, revenge, beyond hatred... Is that not after all the ultimate goal of evolution?"

Since when does evolution have a "goal"?! The only goal of evolution, if there were one to choose, would be to get us smart enough so that nobody votes for Democrats and socialists anymore. That's all the evolution we basically need. Can we have a machine for that? Instead, McCallum first turns arrogant, then eventually decides he'd prefer to be just a spirit not reliant on a physical body. The usual sci-fi hogwash...

Check out my TOL list, with reviews of all the episodes.