episode #39 - Invisible Enemy

Episode # 7 of 2nd season
Air Date: 10/31/64 writer: Jerry Sohl Director: Byron Haskin

This one was a straightforward presentation of possible future space exploration and the troubles mankind may encounter in taking the first steps for establishing colonies 'out there.' This episode presents the very first step - the astronauts who will do the first surveys for upcoming settlements. It's also sort of a remake of It! the Terror From Beyond Space! (1958), utilizing footage from that film of the long shots of a Martian landscape and the rocketship standing there. This does take place on Mars; the 2-man astronaut team there is terminated by a mysterious menace. 3 years later, another team of astronauts, led by Adam West as the major and Rudy Solari as the wise-guy captain, are about to make another attempt to survey. Back on Earth, the general (Joe Maross) in charge stresses how certain procedures must be strictly adhered to, but men start to disappear again.
This all would have worked better if the astronauts here were not the most undisciplined bunch I have ever seen, usually behaving very stupidly. The whole scenario is silly from the get-go: in the earlier expedition, a solitary astronaut is out of sight exploring when they already know something sinister is going on; why this strange approach? So, the prime rule established by the ones in charge is that no one ever go out of sight from another member of the crew, but that's one of the first things the new crew do. Then, the major himself allows one of his men to go out of sight behind a scrap of wreckage for a minute, for a foolish reason, and we know what happens. Later, two of the crew members deviate from protocol again, one to collect diamonds and another, with a bazooka, for no reason. Solari's character especially acts like a total tool, regarding the whole mission as some private joke, even if he is the one with an epiphany which seems very obvious. This could have been much better. BoG's Score: 5 out of 10
Outer Trivia: Star Trek TOS actor alert - Solari, back from Production and Decay of Strange Particles, would be in The Paradise Syndrome; Peter Marko has a small role as one of the oblivious astronauts; he played another doomed crew member in The Galileo Seven. Adam West also appeared in Robinson Crusoe on Mars about this same time; he is best known as the TV Batman. Ted Knight also has a role as a government man back on Earth; he would later be a regular on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.