episode #14 - The Zanti Misfits

Air Date: 12/30/63

Perhaps the most famous O L episode: Bruce Dern, playing his usual own brand of misfit in the early years of his career, actually has a small role in this one; as a small-time criminal, he's the first Earthling to encounter a Zanti face.. to.. face. The bigger roles are played by Michael Tolan (as a civilian attached to a military unit) and Robert F. Simon as the main military man.
The set-up is a little strange (and surreal): the military are ensconced in some deserted ghost town in the desert and arrangements have been made with an alien race, the Zanti, to received their criminal misfits in this desolate area. A small alien craft goes in for a landing. It was meant to go smoothly - but never in the Outer Limits; I never really understood why Dern's character decided to crash through a fence into this cordoned-off area, even killing a guard; Dern was a loser but he didn't seem to be homicidal. I suppose something drastic was required to put a chink in all the plans.
There's an early scene with Tolan's character, as he contemplates the nature of the Zanti - whether they would be subhuman, beyond human or inhuman. He then casually flicks away an ant which he spotted on a wooden post. This is a rare moment of darkly humorous foreshadowing that is all-too-rare in series TV - it sticks in your mind. The scenes of the lone female (Olive Deering) in jeopardy in her automobile in the middle of the desert are some of the scariest & spooky in TV history, recalling the better scary fifties films. The climactic battle is, likewise, one of the most intense TV shockers, reminding me of the climax of Fiend Without a Face (1958)
This one anticipates many of the later cheesy sf movies for the SciFi Channel, but it's done with a more creepy style and is in b&w. It's also one of several O L episodes which could conceivably be remade as a full-length feature film nowadays - with the latest computer FX, natch.
BoG's Score: 7.5 out of 10

Outer Trivia: some of the desert scenes were filmed at the famous Vasquez Rocks area, used by other famous shows like Star Trek TOS (as in the episode Arena).