The Troubled Spirit

Air Date: 2/5/76    written by Johnny Byrne    Directed by Ray Austin

This was one those 'haunted house in outer space' type of stories, complete  with a scene which resembles a seance. That's how it begins - one of Alpha's scientists (Giancarlo Prete) is conducting experiments to communicate with plants. He is opposed by an elder associate, who considers these experiments to be dangerous. He is right - the experiment unleashes some kind of force, which soon manifests itself as a shadowy, disfigured and murderous figure. The radical scientist's associates fall victim to this malevolent force, one by one. Such attacks are accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature in the area and the victims appear to be dying of fright. Koenig's investigation seems fruitless - the obvious suspect was in another area when the attacks happened - until they finally isolate the scientist, forcing the deadly apparition to materialize.

This episode has a natural creep-out factor built in; on the surface, it seems like a simple malevolent spirit on the loose, a ghost story transposed over the usual sci-fi storyline. But, the story layers in an additional sci-fi element: the ghost is the result of a death that has yet to happen. Don't bother waiting for explanations for everything happening - the episode ends on a disquieting, perplexing note, as both Koenig and the audience are left without all the answers. Why the twist to the usual ghost story? Does it have something to do with the location of the moon, somewhere out there deep in space, causing this aberration to how a spirit usually comes to be?  Have the laws of nature and the supernatural been twisted slightly way out there somewhere in outer space, perhaps because the Alphans were not meant to be so far from home? It's anyone's guess. In all, a spooky episode, for sure. BoG's Score: 7 out of 10