episode #40 - Wolf 359

Episode # 8 of 2nd season
Air Date: 11/7/64 writers: Seeleg Lester, Richard Landau Director: Laslo Benedek

This is the one with the scientist (Patrick O'Neal), financed by a corporate grant, who recreates in miniature a planet from about 8 light years away. This little planet is about 5 feet in diameter; he has introduced plant cultures to it so there's life there, but it's all greatly sped up: for every second our time, 11.5 days pass on the little planet. There's a special camera overhead, like a mechanical godlike eye, greatly magnifying the surface. However, when no one is looking, a ghostly presence appears over the planet. Eventually, this alien presence becomes a threat, draining the life from other beings - it starts small, with ants, but moves up the food chain. The scientist sends his wife (Sara Shane) and assistant (Peter Haskell) away, to deal with the alien ghost himself.

This introduces a fantastic premise and the intriguing suggestion of how our own existence may be under a microscope, but it goes into a bad direction, becoming mostly about this ghost-like thing. The incredible proposition that life similar to our own quickly evolves on the little planet is brushed over, as is the prospect that the scientist will soon see our future played out in miniature. Instead, it's mostly about the latest monster-of-the-week. It's also never explained how this scientist actually 'made' this little planet, a kind of godlike capability. I did like the atmospheric photography in this one - the planet, not the ghost. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Outer Trivia: Dabney Coleman pops up again in a small role; he was previously in Specimen Unknown and The Mice. Sara Shane is best known for her role in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)