REVIEW: THE OUTER LIMITS: SEASON ONE
REVIEW: EP32: THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN
REVIEW: EP11: IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK
PRODUCTION: GERD OSWALD [ 1963 ] 51:19 / 51:20
PRODUCTION: VILLA DI STEFANO
PRODUCTION: DAYSTAR PRODUCTIONS
CAST: DAVID McCALLUM, SCOTT MARLOWE
CAST: VERA MILES, KENT SMITH
THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN:
IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK:
WTF-FILMOMETER: TIME-TILTING AND KILLER ENERGY FLUFF

"My Mr. Hobart tinkers with time just as time must tinker with Mr. Hobart . . ."

Gerd Oswald and cinematographer Conrad Hall more or less created the unique sense of style most fans today associate with the science fiction anthology THE OUTER LIMITS [1963-64], so its no surprise that he was tasked with directing what is, arguably, the strangest and most visually arresting episode of the series. Having previously produced the atmosphere-drenched episodes CORPUS EARTHLING and DON'T OPEN TILL DOOMSDAY, the pair's skills are omnipresent in THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN.

Andre (Steve Marlowe) is, for lack of better words, a rich and irresponsible misogynist asshole currently involved in an ambiguous relationship with Kasha (Vera Miles, dressed in sterling white). Along for the latest plot is the consistently paranoid Leonora (dressed in black), who's father is currently being targeted for blackmail by Andre thanks to a handful of romantic letters he sent to Kasha. Desperate to save her father (and his name), Leonora co-plots with Kasha to put an end to both Andre and his scheming ways. In a sequence that's almost dreamlike in its aesthetic, Andre is given a potent poison cocktail to drink whilst he stands in the middle of a pond in nothing but his trunks. In short order the would-be blackmailer is dead and floating face down in the water.

Kasha has Leonora, who is obviously affected by what has transpired, open the car trunk and, after Andre is dragged out of the water and loaded up, the two head off through the French countryside. They pass by an ominous funeral procession - the wife of the deceased throws a flower at the car - and eventually find themselves caught in the rain. That night the trunk of the car inexplicably opens, sending Leonora into hysterics about whether or not Andre is dead. Kasha forces her to look upon the body but, after claiming to have seen it blink, Leonora flees from the car and into the forest that surrounds the car. Kasha attempts to console her, but Leonora, spying a shadowy figure in a flash of lightning, rushes off again towards the car only to find trunk empty and Andre quite missing . . .

Kasha catches up with Leonora as she bangs on the door of a house in the forest - a blind man answers and invites the two inside and out of the rain. The house is full of the sound of ticking clocks - hundreds and hundreds of them - which the blind man, Colus (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), attributes to Mr. Hobart's special room upstairs. Mr. Hobart (David McCallum) makes a brief appearance, quotes from A Midsummer Night's Dream and apologizes for causing such a fuss - it was he whom Leonora had seen standing in the forest. Both Colus and Tone (Mr. Hobart's first name) leave the women to the room - Kasha decides to use the time wisely and exits the room intent on burying Andre's corpse with a pair of fireplace tools. She meets up with Tone again after dropping a poker in the hallway - Tone asks no questions of her.

Instead, he heads into the living room where Leonora sits, transfixed by a spinning metal toy dancer on an end table. Tone asks her about the death of Andre and she admits to her actions - a leaf from a Thanatos tree was plucked (by Leonora) and put into a drink (by Kasha), then served (by Leonora at Andre's request). After she is brought out of her near-trance, Tone explains to her just what he does - he's developed a theory that the past and the present are two parallel cycles, constantly spinning in extremely close proximity to one another. What's more, he's developed a machine that's capable of tilting those cycles and sending the past tumbling into the present and the present, likewise, into the past. He was brought back to life himself by it, it seems, and intends to experiment next on the newly deceased Andre . . .

Taking an obvious inspiration from the French film LES DIABOLIQUES [1955] and working from a subtle and incredibly symbolic script by PSYCHO [1960] screenwriter and regular THE OUTER LIMITS writer and producer Joseph Stefano, THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN ranks as the strangest and most substantive episode of the original series. Originally filmed as the pilot for Joseph Stefano's failed THE OUTER LIMITS sister show THE UNKNOWN with significant changes to the plot, the show was edited and instead released as the final episode of THE OUTER LIMITS' first season. The impressive cast includes David McCallum (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. [1964-68]), Vera Miles (PSYCHO [1960]), and dying actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke (narrator of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS [1953]) and the production, allotted twice the time of a typical episode, is the most impressive of the series.

THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN is steeped in symbolism - so much so, in fact, that a considerably more in depth article than this one will be required to cover it all. An obvious touch is the dress of the two female leads - Leonora is dressed in black and Kasha in sterling white. The colors here can be taken to represent the consciences of the two women - Leonora's is black with guilt over both having betrayed her father and being complicit in Andre's death while Leonora feels no remorse at all for her wrongdoing. Going further, Leonora's dress can be seen as that of an executioner - she is the one who picks the fatal leaf from the Thanotos tree and, though she doesn't mix the deadly concoction, she is forced, by circumstance, into being Andre's unwilling executioner. Colus (from the Latin for "dweller" or "inhabitant"), the owner of the house, is blind but seems to be able to see a number of things quite clearly (Leonora's beauty and the evil nature of Andre are notable examples). The final line spoken by Tone to Colus, "I thank God that kindness is blind," seems to be a hint as to the nature of the character - Colus is godlike in ways and perhaps a minor deity in the Roman or Greek tradition (literally Kindness).

We have a problem here at NORCO, Professor Peters . . . As a matter of fact, we are slaves to it . . ."

Fitting into the more traditional view of what an episode of THE OUTER LIMITS is supposed to be and not nearly as allegorically inclined as that which was previously discussed, IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK is an effective little exercise in intelligent science fiction / horror. Helmed by Oswald with cinematography by Hall and another taught script by Stefano, IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK is THE OUTER LIMITS at its best.

A cleaning woman working overnight at the Energy Research Commission (dubbed NORCO) discovers an unassuming looking collection of lint-like material in the corner of a lab. She vacuums it up without much thought and, in doing so, unleashes a shapeless and malevolent mass of living energy into an unsuspecting world . . .

An undetermined length of time later, professor Stuart Peters (Michael Forest) parks outside of NORCO with his younger brother, Jory (Scott Marlowe), to get a look at the place where he'll be working. The guard at the gate is none too happy about this but allows the two to look for a short amount of time. Suddenly remembering something, the guard scribbles a note on his matchbook and asks Jory for a cigarette just as the brothers are about to leave - Jory gives him one and receives both his cigarette pack and the book of matches in return. Shortly after the brothers drive off for good the mysterious mass of energy returns and destroys the tattle-tailing guard. At their motel, Stuart is going over his work for the next day and Jory is talking a dinner date out of the young Gaby Christian (Barbara Luna). He tosses the book of matches he received earlier to Stuart, who lights his cigarette and notices the strange message left behind by the guard:

The next day Stuart heads to NORCO to meet up with his new employer, Dr. Bloch (the wonderful Kent Smith, of CAT PEOPLE [1942] fame). Dr. Bloch lets Stuart know that NORCO has a problem and that he hopes Stuart, with a younger and fresher approach, might be able to help solve it. Jory is brought up - Dr. Bloch specified that Stuart, if hired, was to have no dependents - but doesn't seem to be a problem big enough to result in Stuart losing his new job. The young professor is introduced to the uneasy Professor Linden (Joan Camden), who wastes no time in showing Stuart the way to something called "The Pit" - an energy chamber at the end of a long corridor locked at either end with remote controlled doors. After letting Stuart know that NORCO's problem is finding a way to break the Conservation of Energy law the young man is locked in the corridor while the energy being living in "The Pit" is let loose . . .

That night, Gaby calls on Jory at the motel to find him in an odd state. It seems that Jory, after coming home from apartment hunting, smelled something sickly sweet in the air and felt the compulsion to sleep. And sleep he did up until a few moments before Gaby knocked. More suspicious, the room had been cleaned while he was asleep - something he cannot account for given that the maid had not been to work that day. Feeling that something strange is going on, he confesses to Gaby about his past - when he was 8 his parents went sailing and were killed when their boat was dashed upon the rocks in a storm. Jory was not allowed to go with them because he was being punished and, to this day, he fears that his brother thinks he should have been with them. In an effort to find out what's going on, Jory and Gaby head to NORCO.

He is given a suspicious story from the guard out front and, when Jory pressures him to let him see his brother, the guard reveals a pacemaker - something seen on all of the NORCO workers so far, save for Dr. Bloch. The next week Stuart returns home and demands that Jory go back home, claiming that he's too dependent on his older brother and that it's time he grew up. The confrontation grows ugly quickly, and Stuart accidentally falls into the tub Jory is preparing for a bath. At that moment the pacemaker on his chest malfunctions and explodes, instantly killing him. An investigation into the death by Inspector Siroleo (Edward Asner) quickly turns from focusing on Jory and the death to the recent pacemaker implant surgery that seems to have occurred under the guiding hand of the sinister Dr. Bloch . . .

While not garnished with the lofty symbolism that makes THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN so intriguing, IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK still possesses a lengthy set of underlying themes that are intelligently put forward and explored. The idea that a person's actions live on forever is represented by the young Jory - he carries with him a small stuffed rabbit that symbolizes his childhood and the unhappy events that will forever mark it. The monster of the episode is less the energy beast living in the pit than Dr. Bloch - the problem at NORCO, in turn, is not the control of the entity (it seems to be perfectly contained in the pit) but the ruthless ambition of the man who wants to control the seemingly unlimited power it represents. This is a theme that would be explored in a number of episodes - notably THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR and NIGHTMARE - and marks one of the first overt stabs taken by series creators at the danger of loosed atomic energy.

The cast this go around includes the wonderful Scott Marlowe - here playing a sympathetic character with a well-developed life history - and the previously mentioned Kent Smith, who's first big break as an actor came with Jacques Tourneur's CAT PEOPLE in 1942. Other familiar faces can be found in TV regulars Barbara Luna and Edward Asner, who both do a wonderful job of pulling off their respective roles. The scripting by Stefano is much more linear this go around and does a good job of providing depth for characters who could easily have been caricatures. The direction by Oswald and cinematography by Hall ensure that the episode never lacks in the rampant atmosphere that helps make many episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS so effective - extreme closeups and tilted shots are the order of the day. Completing the package is the wonderful score provided by Dominic Frontiere - why his music was replaced for the second season is quite beyond me.

THE OUTER LIMITS is a wonderful anthology of thoughtful science fiction meanderings from a time long since passed, and THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN and IT CRAWLED OUT OF THE WOODWORK are two examples of the very best it had to offer on a number of fronts. I have fond memories of watching this series as a young child and, thanks to the intelligence displayed by its screenwriters and other creative personnel, it still holds up remarkably well today.

These two episodes come highly recommended.