episode #155 - The Fear

air date: 5/29/64    written by Rod Serling    Directed by Ted Post

It is nighttime - a state trooper (Peter Mark Richman) drives up to a remote cabin in the woods, where a city girl, a magazine editor (Hazel Court), has chosen to escape from the rigors of the world. He's checking up on her because she had made comments about seeing lights in the sky the previous night when she had been in town. She is somewhat hostile, coming off as a snob to hide her fears and insecurities. As he is about to leave, more light suddenly shines in from outside, as if from something flying overhead. But, that's only the beginning - soon his patrol car is moved by an unseen force, there are broken tree limbs and they hear something on the roof, as if pressing down on the house. The crowning effect are huge fingerprints on the re-positioned vehicle - all signs pointing to a giant alien lurking nearby. The trooper stays the night, but the morning yields even more terrifying evidence - a gigantic footprint. At this point, the female finally panics and bolts, but her course leads her to the alien itself - or does it?
This episode has a been there-done that quality to it, reminiscent of earlier episodes such as The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.  This again revolves around the premise of aliens from outer space using our own fears and paranoia against us, but this time in a dull, perfunctory fashion, and limited to just the two characters for the entire episode. Since neither character is very interesting, it's no surprise that it's a bit boring, not helped by the overwritten dialog. The climax is almost like a parody of the usual TZ twists - we've seen something like it before; besides the episode already mentioned, there's also The Invaders. But, where it's dramatic and scary in the older episodes, here it's unintentionally comical and by-the-numbers. BoG's Score: 6 out of 10
Twilight Trivia/Star Trek actor alert:
many years later, actor Richman would appear in the 1st season TNG episode, The Neutral Zone (another zone!)