episode #25 - The Mutant

Air Date: 3/16/64 Director: Alan Crosland Jr.
writers: Allan Balter, Robert Mintz, based on the story by Jerome B. Thomas

This has a similarity to the earlier The Sixth Finger - a human male is altered into some kind of superior entity, causing natural fear in the normal humans. Most of the fear here is warranted; the mutated man (Warren Oates) rules the small group via his new powers. It's sure an unusual visual - he literally becomes a bug-eyed mutant, due to being caught out in the open when some kind of radioactive rain falls. At times, it looks amusing; at other times, it's kind of creepy. It must have been startling to those who first watched this episode years ago; Oates is first seen with goggles (people need to wear these in the continuous sunlight) - so when he takes them off, it's an unexpected sight.
As with a few episodes, this one is hampered by some unnecessary soap opera dialog and scenes. The newly arrived man (Pennell) at this failed little colony has a history with the one female member (Julie Betsy Moreland); as a result, we have a couple of scenes of them going over their troubles, which just brings everything to a halt. But, the threat and sudden death stuff is tense. Oates, as usual, brings more to the part than expected, projecting a psychotic inner turmoil. I didn't much care for the ending - it was abrupt and convenient - but perhaps others find it appropriate. BoG's Score: 7 out of 10

NOTE: this episode's theme and plot bears a similarity to the whole mission on Star Trek TOS - finding new worlds to explore and possibly inhabit; this one is the downside of it all - and also has some similarity to the TOS episode Where No Man Has Gone Before