episode #02, segment 3: Chameleon

#2c: CHAMELEON written by James Crocker; Directed by Wes Craven

This begins a bit confusingly, utilizing real footage from NASA of space, astronauts and the doomed Challenger ship, but soon emerges as an interesting, tantalizing tale of alien visitation. The plot begins with a malfunctioning camera on an orbiting space shuttle. Back on Earth, at the base, a technician (John Ashton) detaches the camera and begins to walk away with it for repairs. However, he suddenly stops, is enveloped in a bright light and disappears; all that remains is the camera. A fellow technician witnesses this and declares an alert.
Most of the rest of the episode takes place in the containment room where the camera is taken to and the lab from where several personnel observe what they soon deduce to be a visiting alien lifeform from outer space. The camera, of course, is not really a camera, but the alien in disguise. The alien is able to totally absorb another living object which touches it. The story reminds one of innumerable sci-fi films, everything from The Quatermass Xperiment (1955) to The Thing (1982) to Starman (1984). The twist here is that the alien may not be hostile, despite what it puts several Earthlings through during the course of the episode. The episode is filled with tense and surprising moments, such as when the alien seems to transform itself into a working nuclear bomb, with a countdown of just over 2 minutes! BoG's Score: 7 out of 10
The key to all this is that the alien is also able to absorb all the knowledge of the subject it takes in. In some ways, this alien invader/visitor tale is superior to many of the films with a similar storyline because it tackles a more intriguing aspect of such an encounter. It's not simply about an invasion or a simplistic visit, even if the alien itself makes it sound simple by way of its response when asked as to why it came to Earth. No, the ending is much more poignant than that, believe me. And, it helps to have very good performances, led by Terry O'Quinn and Ben Piazza. You wish the alien had revealed more before the end, of course, but would that be possible?