THE OUTER LIMITS (1963) | CLASSIC TV REACTION | Season 1 Ep. 6 | The Man Who Was Never Born |
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- Welcome to season 1 episode 6 of The Outer Limits titled, "The Man Who Was Never Born" This week we continue our journey through this science fiction series from the 1960s.
If you enjoyed The Outer Limits, The Man Who Was Never Born, Episode 6 from Season 1 Reaction, don't forget to like and subscribe to follow along and check out a new episode every Wednesday.
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Hey, Livingston!
This episode was very special for many reasons:
• the opening excerpt was a nod to a very famous scene from the original 1931 movie _Frankenstein_ ;
• in the long version within the show, we see Noelle kissing a frog, like in _The Frog Prince_ fairy tale, indicating she didn't really love Bertram Cabot;
• the story was so well crafted that we were actually rooting for the "monster", this time;
• the scene set on Earth in 2148 was a model rocket shot in-camera with the actors in the forefront, superimposed with the use of a green-screen rather than shot in an actual desert. Most likely, it was done so because of all the strife the actors and crew of The Twilight Zone experienced while filming those dreaded desert episodes like: _King Nine Will Not Return, The Rip Van Winkle Caper, The Lonely_ and many others;
• the library matte painting and set will be featured in a season 3 episode of _Star Trek_ and, for once, it will be a "Pay Forward" situation;
• the year 2148 was not selected at random. It is one of many numbers called "Angel Numbers" and are supposedly divine messages sent from the spiritual realm. One "Angel Number" you may have encountered yourself (repeatedly) is 11:11 on a digital clock.
*Thank you for your great reviews!*
Time travel stories are always confusing, but I give this one credit for trying to be consistent with its internal logic
My favorite The Zanti Misfits
Several things work to make this a successful episode. 1) the reason for their falling in love with each other is that they are both dreamers who live their lives through books. All Andro has in his bleak world is the enjoyment of books. His first instinct when he approaches her picnic blanket is to glance at her book. She is seen reading twice and characterizes herself as NOT a person like her betrothed, who is a man of action. 2) It's a completely unrealistic plot and premise pretty much right from the start, which works in its favor because you have to suspend your disbelief right away and are not bothered later on when the story dives completely into romance. 3) The dialogue, music and photography. 4) The unexpected ending, which is tragic. Everybody loses except the human race.
Did you notice that after the escape from the wedding he never "transforms" himself when she approaches him in the forest? She loves him, so she can't see (or rather sees past) his physical ugliness at this point.
His completely wacko attempt at dissuading Bertram Cabot from marrying Noelle is consistent with a man who has little to know practice with 1960s social graces.
On the technical side, the dissolves from Andro crushing the flower (foreshadowing what he thinks he will have to do later) to the church bell (indicating the impending wedding) to him lying on the bed with the gun was a very rare and narratively effective use of multiple dissolves. Also Conrad Hall's photography and lighting-- Shirley Knight never looked better in her life; Martin Landau's tooth gleaming with a blast of sunlight just as he says that he is ugly; Noelle running through the forest in her wedding dress, wreath-like, being photographed using a diffusion filter. The two of them running along the river bank reflected in the water; the light coming up on Martin Landau's face, which had been in shadow, as Shirley Knight tells him they CAN make a better future and then kisses him.
Anthony Lawrence went on to write a lot for TV-- he wrote a handful of Hawaii Five-O episodes, some of which were quite good. He also wrote one of the first season's worst episodes (Children of Spider County), which has a couple of top-notch soliloquies delivered by Kent Smith, but otherwise makes little to no sense and is poorly directed.
For me, this is one of `two` outstanding episodes in this shows history. The other episode was in the second season and won the show a U.S Television award. This episode was very brave in its `downer` ending, because as far as I know U.S network executives liked `positive` endings. But, lets not forget that mankind`s future would be assured, so not all was negative. One of the few `Outer Limits` Episodes that I rewatch and still enjoy.
@@alansmith1989 Is the other outstanding episode with a downer ending the one where the girl falls in love with the hero but dumps him when she finds out what he is?
Andro disappeared because in changing the future he extinguished his own existence. The original spaceship pilot disappeared because he was now surplus to the story.
The term which describes a TV show that has no recurring characters is "anthology series". I enjoy your reactions very much, even though my estimation of Architects of Fear is different from yours. I forgive you. It's interesting to see how someone your age reacts to old school TV. I grew up with this stuff.
Don't open unitl Doomsday is my favorite