Demon with a Glass Hand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Outer Limits episode | |
|---|---|
| “Demon with a Glass Hand” | |
 |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 5 |
| Guest star(s) | Robert Culp |
| Writer(s) | Harlan Ellison |
| Director | Byron Haskin |
| Cinematographer | Kenneth Peach |
| Production no. | 41 |
| Original airdate | October 17, 1964 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| “Expanding Human” | “Cry of Silence” |
"Demon with a Glass Hand" is a widely referenced episode of The Outer Limits television series, the second to be based on a script by Harlan Ellison. Ellison wrote the script specifically with actor Robert Culp in mind for the role. It originally aired 17 October 1964, and was the fifth episode of the second season.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
An amnesiac man with a glass hand attempts to discover who he is, and why he is being pursued.
[edit] Opening narration
- "Through all the legends of ancient peoples — Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian, Semitic — runs the saga of the Eternal Man, the one who never dies, called by various names in various times, but historically known as Gilgamesh, the one who has never tasted death... the hero who strides through the centuries..."
[edit] Synopsis
Trent is a man with no memory of his life beyond the past ten days. His right hand, covered by a transparent material, is an advanced speaking computer. Three fingers are missing; the computer tells him they must be reattached before it can tell Trent what is going on. In the meantime, he is being hunted by a handful of humanoid aliens called the Kyben; they have the missing appendages. The action largely takes place in a large rundown office building. In his deadly game of hide-and-seek, he enlists the help of a beautiful, frightened woman (Arlene Martel).
For reasons unexplained, Trent was sent into the past via a "time mirror". A captured Kyben tells Trent that he and they are from 1000 years in the future. In that future, Earth has been conquered by the Kyben, but all the surviving humans except Trent have mysteriously vanished. The aliens are being decimated by a "radioactive" plague that is killing all "intelligent life" on the planet, apparently unleashed by the humans in a desperate, last-ditch effort.
In a desperate attempt to find a cure for the plague and to extract whatever knowledge is stored in the hand-computer, the Kyben follow him back in time with the missing fingers. The action takes place in a rundown office building, where the time mirror is located.
Eventually, Trent defeats the remaining Kyben (by ripping off the medallion-shaped devices they wear to anchor them in the past), destroys the mirror, and recovers the three fingers. With the computer now whole, he learns the terrible truth: that he is not a man, he is a robot. The human survivors have been digitally encoded onto a gold wire stored in his abdomen. Immune to the disease, he must protect his precious cargo for 200 years after the initial Kyben invasion, by which time the plague will have dissipated. Then he will revive the human race.
The tragedy is that Trent actually thought he was a man; he and the woman had begun to have feelings for each other. When the secret is revealed, she leaves him, pity mixed with horror in her eyes, to face 1200 years of lonely vigil.
[edit] Closing narration
- "Like the Eternal Man of Babylonian legend, like Gilgamesh, one thousand plus two hundred years stretches before Trent. Without love. Without friendship. Alone: neither man nor machine, waiting. Waiting for the day he will be called to free the humans who gave him mobility. Mobility--but not life."
[edit] Awards
The teleplay by Harlan Ellison won several major awards:
- 1965 Writers Guild of America Awards - Outstanding Script for a Television Anthology
- 1972 Georges Melies Fantasy Film Award - Outstanding Cinematic Achievement in Science Fiction Television
[edit] Trivia
[edit] Copyright issues
Harlan Ellison took James Cameron to court for plagiarism with the film The Terminator. Cameron settled out of court. One of the conditions of the settlement was the addition of a notice to all future versions of The Terminator, acknowledging Ellison's work.
Aside from the influence on The Terminator, there is also quite a parallel to the Marvel Comics character Cable: both are soldiers who are displaced in time with little working memory of their origins and previous life, who must prevent a tragedy of epic proportions from befalling mankind. Both are guided by a semi-sentient artificially intelligent computer attached to the wrist.
[edit] Babylon 5
During the run of Babylon 5, series' creator J. Michael Straczynski often said that Ellison would write a sequel to this story (possibly called Demon In The Dust or Demon on the Run) to air as an episode of that series. As Ellison was a creative consultant on the series, this rumor seemed wellfounded; however, Ellison has since said that he never had any such intentions and it was just his friend Straczynski's wishful thinking/prodding.
[edit] Blade Runner
The building in which most of this episode is shot is the Bradbury Building, the same location used for the final scenes of Blade Runner.
[edit] Graphic novel
A graphic novel adaptation, illustrated by Marshall Rogers, was published by DC Comics January 1986. It was part of a series of graphic novels produced by DC Comics adapting stories by science fiction authors in the late 80's.
[edit] Music
British industrial electronic band Cabaret Voltaire made a habit of using audio samples from this episode, using parts on four tracks across three albums between 1980 and 1992, as well as the 1983 single "Yashar."
[edit] Mispronunciation during opening narration
Announcer Vic Perrin misspeaks and says "Sumerican" instead of "Sumerian" during the show's opening narration.
[edit] Cast
- Robert Culp – as Trent
- Arlene Martel – as Consuela Biro
- Abraham Sofaer – as Arch
- Bill Hart – as Durn
- Rex Holman – as Battle
- Robert Fortier – as Budge
- Wally Rose – as Kyben #1
- Fred Krone – as Kyben #2
[edit] External links
- Detailed episode guide by 'Monsieur Vincent'
- Episode at TV.com
- scifilm.org synopsis
