OUR RATINGS:= One of the very best episodes, a must-see.
17. The Possessed
Original air date: January 2, 1968 -- Music: Stock
SUMMARY:
Dr. Ted Willard (Michael Tolan) suspects aliens have "invaded" the laboratory at the sanitarium which he and his brother Martin (Michael Constantine) operate, so he contacts his college roommate David Vincent. Prior to Vincent's arrival, Ted snoops in a filing cabinet in the lab, trying to get information on the death of James Garner, father of his fiancée Janet (and major benefactor for their research into treating mental illness via "behavior control"). Ted is caught by the ruthless chief alien, Adam Lane (William Smithers) and almost murdered before his brother Martin intervenes. Instead of killing Ted, at Martin's suggestion, Lane inserts a device in Ted's head which is used to control him via a microphone and a huge rotating antenna-like device in the lab. When Vincent arrives, Ted has forgotten why he called his old pal, and instead says that they want Vincent to design a new pavillion for their research center. Lane and his nurse friend (Lynn Hobart) quickly figure out Vincent's true intentions, and Lane directs Ted to run over Vincent with his car (he fails). After Vincent gets Janet to ask for a post mortem on the body of her father, who died under mysterious circumstances, Lane programs Ted to kill her, and Vincent just arrives in the nick of time to prevent this. When Vincent throws Ted away from Janet and Ted hits his head on the wall, the brainwashing device in Ted's head is conveniently deactivated, and the two men go to the lab where they confront Martin and Lane. Ted fatally shoots Martin, and Lane escapes, ending up in a violent car crash, shortly after which he disintegrates.
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
Well written, paced and acted, though the wrap-up in the Epilog is a bit too quick. William Smithers as Lane is particularly evil.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- Vincent identifies Lane as alien when Lane puts his hand on a desk while getting Martin to sign some papers -- revealing the extended pinky.
- When Janet goes to the coroner asking for the post mortem, the coroner's assistant tips off Lane.
SMOKING:
- Ted lights up when he goes to visit Janet, prior to attempting to strangle her.
MORE TRIVIA:
- When Ted and Lane fight in the lab at the beginning, it's obviously two stuntmen. The one playing the Lane part has a different hair color and hair style than William Smithers!
- Constantine's character's name is identified in the spoken opening credits, which is unusual.
- Ted's driver's registration shows his address as the Willard Sanitarium, 1017 Old Lane Road, Las Palmas, New Mexico. The sanitarium's visiting hours are 10-12 AM [sic] and 3-5 PM.
- In the filing cabinet along with the James E. Garner file are numerous other folders with "Unidentified Flying Objects" on the tabs at the top.
- There is some interesting camera work using unusual angles and a fish-eye lens when Lane is using his brainwashing machine on Ted. Ted tries to drown out the pounding noise in his head by putting Chopin's very noisy Military Polonaise on the hi-fi.
- William Smithers appeared in season one as a Maine fisherman being harassed by The Invaders.
18. Counter-Attack
Original air date: January 9, 1968 -- Music: Duane Tatro
SUMMARY:
David Vincent teams up with Professor Eliot Kramer (Ross Elliott, one of several great character actors in this episode) who has figured out a way of interfering with the signals which guide The Invaders to earth. When the two are attacked outside the university faculty annex by two aliens, the professor is killed and the aliens both burn up after they are shot, which throws suspicion on Vincent as Kramer's killer, especially after Vincent runs off with the professor's briefcase full of information. Kramer was a friend of Edgar Scoville for many years, which results in some tense moments when Edgar gets together with Vincent later -- Scoville thinks that Vincent put Kramer in jeopardy through their association. Scoville even says he may have to sacrifice Vincent because "our duty is to our work." Scoville's niece Joan Surrat (Ahna Capri) is more sympathetic. After Vincent is fired from a construction project he was working on because of the publicity over his detainment for the professor's murder, he is seen getting loaded in a bar with a blonde barfly (Pamela Curran) who tries to pick him up. (She, of course, turns out to be an alien.) He tells her, "You're happy and you don't have a brain in your head." When the barfly swaps Vincent's cigarette case for one containing a transmitter, he pretends to be abandoning his quest. The aliens, under the direction of the English-accented Don Davis, kidnap Vincent, saying they want his co-operation, since Vincent is at a dead end and an outcast. Vincent says he wants two million in a Swiss bank account and immunity from whenever the aliens win. But this is all a ruse on Vincent's part. Vincent leads them all (including Joan, who the aliens have also kidnapped and threatened to kill) to the transmission tower where Edgar and his chief engineer, the geeky Jim Bryce (John Milford) and the disbelieving Colonel Archie Harmon (Lin McCarthy) are waiting. The aliens are incapacitated with some knockout gas, and strapped to beds where they are studied. Unfortunately, because of regeneration issues, they burn up, but not before everything has been captured on video tape. The show ends with the believers adjourning to a room at Edgar's house to study some "material that just came down from Canada."
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
Drags in the second half, but manages to throw some light on Vincent's private side. He even cracks a smile when the barfly gets seductive.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- When the head alien (Davis) is outside the construction project, his extended pinky is a bit too obvious, and when he points in Vincent's direction with his index finger, the pinky points up in the air!
SMOKING:
- Vincent is obviously very stressed in this show, he smokes four times: when he arrives at the project (and he takes the cigarette with him in the cop car); at the police headquarters; in the restaurant when he is chatting up the barfly alien; and when talking to Colville's niece.
MORE TRIVIA:
- When Vincent and Edgar Scoville are driving near the beginning, there is a mediocre process shot of the road behind them. This pales in comparison to the laughable special effect where the alien spaceship crashes in the ocean after being misdirected by the radio transmission.
- On a sign outside a construction project, Vincent is revealed to be a member of the A.I.A. (American Institute of Architects).
- Other character actors include the gravelly-voiced police lieutenant played by Ken Lynch and the university caretaker played by the geezer-like Walter Baldwin.
- The police case against Vincent is conveniently "taken care of" by Edgar.
- Considering the design of Vincent's cigarette case is rather elaborate, the aliens must have done some work to produce a duplicate.
- When the aliens and Vincent arrive at the transmission tower, their leader pulls out a special gizmo which unlocks the automated gate -- pretty cool!
- Near the end, Vincent blasts one of the aliens hassling Joan with a huge ray gun that the aliens used to bore a hole through the wall of the transmission tower. Considering he is several feet away, Vincent has pretty good aim not to hit Joan, who is right beside the alien.
- Roy Thinnes sports a slicked-down Julius Caesar-type haircut in this episode (and most of the next).
19. The Pit
Original air date: January 16, 1968 -- Music: Stock
SUMMARY:
Professor Julian Reed (Charles Aidman) works at the Slaton Research Centre, a "think factory" dealing with problems relating to the space program. At the beginning of the show, Reed freaks out, suffering from paranoid psychosis induced by a device called the "dream machine"and calls David Vincent. This machine is an electroencephalograph-like device that records when people are dreaming, and wakes them up when the dreams reach a certain intensity level so the dreams can be recorded (presumably by subjects relating their experiences on audio tape). Julian was attached to this gizmo, and according later to his alien-with-a-pulse assistant Jeff Brower (Canadian actor Donald Harron), the relay which was supposed to turn the wake-up feature off after five successive iterations failed, thus subjecting Julian to incomplete dreams for a period of a week, resulting in his psychotic state. The question here is: did the aliens purposely torture Reed with this machine, or was he doing this in the "name of science"? If the latter, and he was wakened by the machine, wouldn't he be conscious enough to realize what was going on, and have himself disconnected (especially if this went on for several days)? Following his breakdown and prior to Vincent arriving, Reed is locked up in the bug ward of the local hospital, and his wife Pat (Joanne Linville) -- a scientist who also works at the Centre -- is nervous about visiting him because of memories of an experience where her grandfather suffered a mental breakdown years before. Reed is convinced there are aliens not only at the Centre, but also behind "funny looking" machinery in some of the buildings at the abandoned local amusement park, as reported by his young son Johnny (Frankie Jensen). Pat's project at the Centre is an electromagnetic theoretical propulsion engine, something that Vincent says employs techniques very similar to those used by the aliens. Reports on her project that Pat submits to Washington for funding are rewritten in a negative way by the secretary of the boss of the Centre, John Slaton (Simon Scott), so they are rejected by the governmental powers-that-be. (The question here is why are the aliens doing this. Is Pat's research too "close to home"?) After Pat hears about the rejection of her papers, she is determined to take her original notes to Slaton, which Brower does his best to stop. Prior to this, Vincent is grabbed by Brower as he is about to leave for the airport, and taken back to the Centre for some "dream reprogramming." Slaton and Edgar Scoville show up in the nick of time to disconnect Vincent and vaporize Brower and Slaton's secretary with the help of a security guard.
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
Some good acting in this episode, but it is not helped by questions about how the dream machine induced psychosis in Reed.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- At the beginning of the show when Reed is in a phone booth calling Vincent, various people concerned about his welfare are tapping on the glass of the booth -- with their pinkies!
- When Vincent visits Reed in his isolation ward room, Reed freaks out because he sees Vincent's hand on a chair with the pinky extended.
- When Pat Reed is trying to go to Slaton with the notes for her project, she refuses to get in an elevator because the guy holding the door open has his pinky extended.
- A Rottweiler guard dog doesn't like one of the security men at the entrance to the plant. It rips his arm open and Vincent sees the typical alien results -- there is no blood.
- When Vincent takes a cab to the airport, you can suspect a mile away that the cab driver is gonig to be an alien!
SMOKING:
- Vincent smokes when he is talking to Pat Reed and also when he talks to Edgar Scoville.
MORE TRIVIA:
- A couple of good quotes. John Slaton: "Scientists are a strange breed, Mr. Vincent." And Brower to Pat when she wonders how he has fooled people by pretending to have a pulse: "Figure it out -- you're a scientist!"
- Roy Thinnes sports the same Julius Caesar-type haircut featured in the previous episode, except in the scenes at the amusement park where his hair is much more "windblown" (literally).
- When Vincent is escaping from aliens at the amusement park, he suddenly has a gun ... which he probably got from the guard who he knocked out a few minutes before.
20. The Organization
Original air date: January 30, 1968 -- Music: Stock
SUMMARY:
David Vincent gets the call from investigative reporter Mike Calvin (Chris Robinson) regarding a possible UFO collision where debris showered down on a cargo ship and was preserved by the crew. The two of them investigate the hold of the ship, but they are surprised by two hoodlums. Calvin escapes, but Vincent is taken to an isolated motel where he is questioned and threatened about the fact that a shipment of heroin that the mob was expecting has disappeared from the ship (along with the evidence of the UFO). The local mob boss, Peter Kalter (J.D. Cannon) shows up in his Rolls Royce and continues Vincent's grilling, and when Calvin stumbles onto the scene, Kalter threatens to execute them both. At the last minute he calls off the shooting, saying "If you were stupid enough to take our shipment, you wouldn't be stupid enough to die for it." Edgar Scoville and his security men show up, and suddenly Kalter shows Edgar "respect." Later at Edgar's place, it's decided that Calvin will plant a bogus story about some of the UFO debris being moved, and shortly after, Vincent and Kalter are seen driving down the highway in a "Harbor Freight" truck with a large box on the back. An alien motorcycle cop pulls up beside them and tosses a bomb into the truck. Kalter barely gets out of the resulting wreckage alive. Later, Kalter meets with the big boss Weller (Larry Gates, who bears a disturbing resemblance to Dick Cheney). Weller tells Kalter, "If they [the aliens] take over the world, they'll have to take it over from us." An alien named Dorcas (B.G. Atwater) meets with Weller and Kalter and says he will exchange the heroin for Vincent. Although he finds this objectionable, Kalter obeys his superiors, and meets Vincent at a club. The two of them go to the local natural history museum where Dorcas and several aliens exchange a large box containing the heroin and UFO parts for our hero. After the exchange, Vincent taunts Kalter, who suddenly turns and orders his men to shoot the aliens, all of whom are vaporized. Later that evening, Katler is knocked off because of his failure to deliver the goods.
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
Although the premise of this show sounded kind of silly (Vincent attempting to team up with the mob), it turned out much better than I expected with an interesting angle on the boss Kalter as a "man of honor."
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- At one point the aliens make an entire railway car disappear!
SMOKING:
- Kalter is seen lighting up at least half a dozen times.
MORE TRIVIA:
- It's interesting that the "mob" in this film is ethnically neutral (i.e., not the Mafia). No doubt the producers were well aware of the stink generated by The Untouchables a few years earlier, where various groups claimed the show defamed Italians and Italian-Americans. (Quinn Martin was executive producer of early episodes of The Untouchables.)
- The Crescent Motel where Vincent is harassed by the mob thugs has an unusual phone number to call for information about its sale: 158-0100. For a place that looks abandoned, both the electricity and telephone are still working.
- When Vincent is talking to a city employee about looking at permits to find out where the aliens might be hiding out in a warehouse with high voltage, for example, he puts the emphasis on the second syllable of the word "permits."
21. The Peacemaker
Original air date: February 6, 1968 -- Music: Stock
SUMMARY:
James Daly guest stars as General Samuel Arlington Concannon, a soldier with 36 years of experience who "wants to do something about the aliens." He expresses a desire to meet with them and hold discussions "to settle this thing responsibly." Concannon says it is "insane to want war," and wants to "live peaceably with these people." This is all a smokescreen, though, since the general has bigger plans -- he wants to get the alien leaders together in one place and then drop a bomb on them. To try and convince The Invaders to co-operate, Concannon suggests to Vincent, Scoville and recurring character Colonel Archie Harmon (Lin McCarthy) the creation of a "doomsday device" which they can use to threaten them. When Edgar Scoville is asked if he can develop such a device, he calls the concept "insane." Alfred Ryder reappears as the sinister invader leader who is addressed by David Vincent as "Ryder" after Vincent is kidnapped and taken to meet him. Vincent, in a conciliatory role, treats Ryder in a relatively respectful manner, which is surprising after the way Ryder behaved in this season's episode #15, The Ransom. Scoville tells Vincent of an encounter with Concannon years before where Edgar was accused of negligence by Concannon after a missile blew up on the launch pad, killing two men. Concannon's response back then gives some clues that all is not well with the general under his wholesome "God bless America" façade. As well, Concannon is abusive towards his wife Sarah (Phyllis Thaxter), telling her not to say he is too old to do his work in front of others, and accusing her of trying to poison him when he feels ill after eating some lobster that she prepared. Leaders of the The Invaders from all over the world assemble at a farm house, thinking they will meet Concannon along with military bigshots and Edgar Scoville (the latter do show up). However, as this is happening, Concannon and Harmon are flying towards the rendezvous location in a huge aircraft to "take forceful action." Vincent convinces Concannon's wife to join the crowd, hoping this will stop the General's scheme to drop the bomb. But the General can't be swayed, so Vincent convinces The Invaders to zap the plane (killing both Concannon and Harmon).
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
An excellent show, with James Daly giving an outstanding performance as the general who appears as a nice guy espousing "apple pie" values on one hand but wants to blow up the aliens (and lots of innocent people) on the other.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- At the beginning of the show, an Invader is captured and locked up on a military base, but he is tossed a poison pill in his isolation cell by another alien in military disguise. The alien soldier is shot dead by a guard and burns up. Ashes from the soldier are analyzed and determined to be "cellulose fibers."
SMOKING:
- Vincent has a smoke outside the jail cell at the beginning of the show after the alien is (what they think is) safe inside.
MORE TRIVIA:
- Near the end, Vincent tries to get in touch with Scoville (who is arriving at the meeting place with The Invader leaders). He is told that Edgar has already left. But in a previous episode, Scoville had a phone in his car.
- There are several closeups of Ryder with film noirish lighting which make him look very creepy. As well, the lighting at the meeting between The Invaders and the earthlings is lit very effectively with a lantern on the table. Kudos to Director of Photography Andrew J. McIntyre for a great job.
- When Concannon tells Scoville "Rome wasn't built in a day," Scoville replies, "Caesar was killed in a minute."
- Concannon wants to shoot woodchucks that are plaguing his yard, rather than spray them with poison as his wife suggests.
- There is a hilarious line as the military types and Scoville wait in the farmhouse with The Invader leaders. One of the military men turns to Edgar and says, "At least we know they're not Chinese!"
- In the DVD commentary, producer Alan Armer calls this one of his favorite episodes. He says that when The Invaders burn up, it was called "the immolation."
- David Vincent uses a "Maryland" license plate number TK-8004 to track down the aliens after they try to murder Harmon in his apartment.
- At the end, it sounds like Vincent is saying "Archie Hauptmann's on that plane," instead of "Harmon."
21. The Vice
Original air date: February 20, 1968 -- Music: Stock
SUMMARY:
David Vincent tries to convince U.S. Senate investigator James Baxter (Raymond St. Jacques) that Arnold Warren (Roscoe Lee Browne), under consideration for a position with the International Space Program, is an alien. Vincent says that dates in Warren's resume about his military career do not tally with the truth. Both Baxter and Warren are black, which results in some interesting dialogue. Baxter's wife Celia (Janet Baxter) tells her husband "Heading up that tracking station is a pretty important position for a Negro." Baxter replies, "Just because he's Negro, I'm not going to whitewash him." Celia also accuses her husband of "playing whitey" because he is subjecting Warren to a very thorough investigation. Warren later confronts Baxter, saying that Baxter is "not being very loyal to [his] race," to which Baxter replies, "Which race -- Negro or human?" (You can see this response coming a mile away.) Although Baxter is skeptical about Vincent's claims, there is enough of a bug in his ear for him to investigate further, noticing that the palms of Warren's hands in a photo taken after Warren was involved in a construction accident years before are not normal-looking, for example. There are references to current events of the day: Baxter tells Vincent that his wife's brother was killed during the Detroit riots and a radio is heard with a news report about troop losses in Vietnam when Vincent goes to interview Warren's "father." Following this interview, during which the father tells him virtually nothing, Vincent is pursued by Invaders posing as policemen, ending up in a black bar where the owner, Ollie, is played by Louis Gossett Jr. (The musical cue accompanying the police chase is interesting, even though the score is "stock.") When Vincent is "arrested" by the aliens, people in the bar start harassing the Invaders about reading Vincent his rights, allowing Vincent to make his getaway when shooting breaks out between Ollie and the phony cops. At the end of the show, Vincent, Baxter and Janet try to keep Warren from regenerating after a speech he makes to the local ABC TV station in Baltimore. Predictably, Warren and other aliens get zapped, and Vincent has yet more believers for his cause.
CAPSULE CRITIQUE:
This show gets top marks for topicality and making the three guest actors all black.
ALIEN ENCOUNTERS:
- White-haired Canadian actor Austin Willis seemingly plays Warren's "handler." His role is mysterious, and not really explained.
- Aliens try to run over Vincent, forcing Vincent to jump on to the trunk of a cab he was going to get into.
- When Vincent interviews Warren's "father," the radio with the newscast is also a transmitter to the alien cops nearby.
SMOKING:
- Celia smokes while she is waiting to interview Warren after his speech, trying to delay his regeneration.
MORE TRIVIA:
- There is a great fight at the beginning between Vincent and a gas station employee and another at the show's end; however, the stunt men are a bit too obvious for both of these.
- Baxter's home phone number is in a bogus default area code: 311-555-2368. The number of a phone in the bar that Vincent uses to try and phone Baxter looks very similar.
- Gossett as the bar owner has some great lines, saying that he knows there is something fishy about Vincent because of "bartender's intuition." He continues: "I've got a sign that says 'We reserve the right to refuse anybody.' You look like 'anybody' to me, so split."
- Gossett needs a dime to call the real cops (he just dials zero). As well, he says that the cops' badge numbers -- 54 and 78 -- are phony. How can he see these numbers without being close?
- Baxter shows up at the end at the TV station where Vincent and Janet are trying to thwart Warren's regeneration. His arrival seems kind of unexpected.