Form of Things Unknown


One of the more bizarre hours of television out there. "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" also have much to offer for those seeking a departure from the norm.

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It's brilliant and daring, rather pretentious, yet somehow it works. Of the uber weird eps, Don't Open Till Doomsday even stranger and more successful for what it is. Its elliptical aspects enhance the strange way the story is told, while in Forms/Unknown the time tricks and poetry are distracting. Another weird one that works for me: The Invisibles, with its bizarre sexual subtexts, make of them what you will.

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What do you think of "The Guests"?

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I like The Guests a whole lot. I'd say love but I've become punch drunk about the episode. A downside of easy access (too easy), I suppose. Maybe the best ensemble of actors in the series, or, more properly the best ensemble acting in any episode. Excellent characterizations, it's almost like a play. Other problem: the love is the answer to all the world's problems gets tiresome to hear (albeit in different forms) in an Outer Limits, even as I basically agree with it at an emotional/spiritual level. However saying or implying this repeatedly does not make for good drama. I found the underlying existentialism implicit in (especially) the words of the Alien Of The Week not to my tastes. Still, flawed as it is, it's a thousand times better than anything on TV today, or anything that I know of.

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People today who think quality television started with "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" obviously have never watched "The Guests." I agree with you that it's a flawed episode. Yet, even with its shortcomings it remains pretty incredible. Its "Twilight Zone"-vibe appeals to me greatly. It shares with the very best episodes from that show a heavy-reliance on sharp dialogue that would make the transition from screen to stage a smooth one.

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What do you think is the difference between Twilight Zone and Outer Limits?

I was in single digits age when I watched Outer Limits and I was naturally drawn to OL as it just stimulated my imagination so much ... but I never got that feeling from Twilight Zone and didn't watch it much. Those two series were so close and yet so far apart.

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>> Still, flawed as it is, it's a thousand times better than anything on TV today, or anything that I know of. There are still good things on TV, or cable or streaming occasionally. Amazon's video series of Philip K. Dick's "Man In The High Castle" is interesting. The sci-fi series "The Expanse" is pretty good. Few and far between for sure.

So true. At the end of the 60's there seemed to be a kind of alien invasion to me. The nature of TV and music began to change. By the end of the 70's everything was dark and superficial, selfish and greedy. I got hooked on TV as a kid and the things that appealed to be just dried up, but I still spent too much time getting my brain rotted by TV and movie ... and what music turned into.

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I think I understand what you mean, Brux. Simply put (as I see it), when prime time went all-color (1966-67) was the beginning of the end for high quality television. I'm not saying that good, even great things haven't been done (of the best, post-60s, The PBS anthology, American Playhouse, featured usually either high quality contemporary plays or modern classics, and some old and established classics that were always worth seeing done differently). I'm being vague here, as much of the best dramatic stuff shown on PBS came from abroad, by which I mean primarily Great Britain. These were aired in different "packages",--sometimes Masterpiece Theater, sometimes not--and it meant for grand TV viewing at least once or twice a week, and one has to be "up" for it. This was television for grownups, and for people who are prone to think and feel deeply about life (emotions, morals, relationships, et al).

As to the mainstream commercial viewing, the color dominance pretty much killed the anthology series, the rubric (anthology) under which one would classify The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Thriller, the Hitchcock shows and just about every dramatic series that didn't feature recurring characters. However, some funny things had been happening since as far back as the mid-50s: several TV series, formally speaking, genre one and all, whether crime, adventure, police procedural or western, began using the anthology style to tell their stories. Thus in many a western (hour long especially) the main characters, whether they lived in Dodge City, the Ponderosa or traveled west on wagon trains, were essentially witnesses to events that were happening to others. In some shows this was more heavily emphasized than others. Less so on detective series than the usually longer western and crime series of the Naked City and the 8th Precinct kind. Same for war-based shows like Combat, The Gallant Men and 12 O'Clock High.

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Sorry, Brux: I ran out of space: those high quality series, whether literally anthology or the figurative kind (Route 66 being an excellent example of an outstanding "figurative" anthology) began to fade. The networks, led by NBC, owned by RCA, and determined to sell more color televisions, started showcasing series that emphasized color and movement. I Spy is a good example of that. More location shooting, less back lot stuff. Most of these new shows weren't so well written or character-driven.

Television became a more high concept medium than a writer's one. This was the beginning of the Great Decline. It was a depressing phenomenon, and I could feel the (television) earth move on a weekly basis; thus I watched few shows regularly; and eventually almost nothing new. My tastes were always more for the movies than TV shows per se, and I'd always liked drama, and I still do. The high concept stuff wasn't awful, it just didn't draw me in, whether it was in Hawaii with Jack Lord or on "impossible missions" with the MI team. TV movies became, in effect, the new anthologies, and some were very good. Sadly, though, they were often more genre than dramas, and they generally lacked the quality control imposed on the better anthologies.

Also (and it's gettin' awfully late): teens and young adults seemed (stress on seemed) to be moving away from the small screen. Feature films were actually gaining ground for the first time in nearly two decades, and much of that ground came from movies geared to younger folk. TV was coming to feel more like either "kid stuff" or for older people, as in old-timers past the age of thirty. Boomers brought a sea change to television, with the usual good and bad thrown into the mix. There was no going back to the (relatively) modest production values of the often intelligently written and thoughtful anthologies and anthology-like shows. Enough on this topic for me for the time being. I hope I've made some sense along the way.

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A fine, insightful analysis, telegonus! The best from the B&W era is superlative work that more than stands the test of time, to my mind. I'm not sure that the best of it has ever been matched, either (a sweeping generalization, of course, but not entirely overblown).

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Interesting comment about "The Invisibles." I find sexual subtexts, but to me they are homosexual in nature. Is this
your take as well?

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In The Invisibles, yes, almost wholly gay but for the relationship between the hero and the senator's wife. This is true in many episodes of the series. There was a lot of that on prime time anthologies back then; on and off, of course. The Twilight Zone; no, not that I can recall. Thriller, yes; and many Hitchcock half-hours, too.

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I hadn't seen "The Invisibles" in decades, as I only owned the first 13 or so eps on DVD (when they split up
the seasons).

When I bought the Blu Ray (both seasons, which I cherish) I was able to revisit this astonishing series. And,
yes, I, too, was struck by the stark gay sexuality of it. I agree that Don Gordon's character is straight, but
his young cellmate is clearly infatuated with him. There is also something raw and sexual about all the men
with their shirts off, then lying on their stomachs, "submitting" to the creature.

That being said, the episode is so much more than this. And, sadly for me, while I recognize its brilliance
it fails to fully grab me, so I find watching it more of a chore. It's one I appreciate, rather than love.

I also detect a strong homosexual element to the otherwise mediocre "The Children of Spider County."
Something odd between Lee Kinsolving's character, Ethan, and his "father."

Don't know how well-versed you are on Rod Serling, but he was a noted homophobe. In both bios I read,
he was completely mystified by gay people, especially gay men. This, despite his overt humanity and
disgust with racism.

I also read - ONCE - years ago, that OL producer Joseph Stefano went into therapy just
after "Psycho" and before OL. He was quoted as saying that one of the things he
was dealing with was his own homosexuality. Yet I have never read this since, nor have
I seen it anywhere else, so I doubt the authenticity of this, but you never know.

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Tardy return: I didn't know that about Joe Stefano, am actually a little surprised. In interviews he always came off (to me) as a "regular guy" sort of writer, kind of like Rod Serling, but more seriously intellectual. Serling's moralizing can wear on me after too much TZ, while Stefano, even when he goes weird and over the top, holds my interest.

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I saw this show as a kid ... maybe 5 or 6 and I absolutely loved it. Outer Limits was my favorite show until Star Trek came along. I think a lot of my personality was formed based on these two shows.

I remember to this day seeing that episode, "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", and it creeped me out so much at the time. I could not grasp as a kid what was going on with the dust, and the time-lapse smoke ... it was a brilliant effect ... and they were incredible at the time with the primitive special effects.

So many good stories with so many cool morals and meanings. TV back then was a primer in morality. It worked for me ... I loved the "Outer Limits".

Tried watching the show when it made its encore series many years later and it was just not as good, I could not get through a full episode.

Since that series came out, the world has been nothing but a big science fiction horror story. Great writers and actors, and now the media is so juvenile and simple-minded. Odd that a series made for adults at the time, OL and ST, appealed to a kid, and that kid today has so much trouble finding anything that worth watching on TV at all.

What was also weird was that as much as I liked ... loved OL ... I never really cared much for Twilight Zone, which people seemed to think was similar.

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