The Architects of Fear

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“The Architects of Fear”
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 3
Written by Meyer Dolinsky
Directed by Byron Haskin
Guest stars Robert Culp
Leonard Stone
Martin Wolfson
Geraldine Brooks
Photographed by Conrad Hall
Production no. 5
Original airdate September 30, 1963
Episode chronology
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"The Hundred Days of the Dragon" "The Man with the Power"
List of The Outer Limits episodes

"The Architects of Fear" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 30 September 1963, during the first season.

Contents

[edit] Introduction

Certain that the Cold War will lead to mankind's destruction, a cabal of scientists decide that they must act to save the world.

[edit] Opening narration

Is this the day? Is this the beginning of the end? There is no time to wonder. No time to ask why is it happening, why is it finally happening. There is time only for fear, for the piercing pain of panic. Do we pray? Or do we merely run now and pray later? Will there be a later? Or is this the day?

[edit] Plot

Although no specific era is indicated within the story, the plot revolves around a Cold War setting in which a nuclear holocaust appears to be imminent. In an attempt to stave off a confrontation between military superpowers through uniting the world against a common enemy, a group of scientists decide to physically transform one of their own members into an alien being and stage a fake invasion of Earth. This transformation is achieved by genetic alteration of scientist Allen Leighton, using genetic material from a rather small and non-threatening alien lifeform which the scientists have in their possession. Complications arise when the physical alteration also affects Leighton's mind, and is compounded by his strong attachment to his expectant wife.

[edit] Closing narration

Scarecrows and magic and other fatal fears do not bring people closer together. There is no magic substitute for soft caring and hard work, for self-respect and mutual love. If we can learn this from the mistake these frightened men made, then their mistake will not have been merely grotesque, it would at least have been a lesson. A lesson, at last, to be learned.

[edit] Legacy

  • This episode is similar to the ending of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' comic book mini-series, Watchmen. According to Moore, while he was around issue 10, he came across a guide to cult television that featured this episode and was surprised by its similarity to his already planned ending. A belated nod to "The Architects of Fear" is made near the end of Watchmen. [1]
  • Theodore Sturgeon's story "Unite and Conquer," published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1948, turns on a similar gag, humans uniting against a fake alien threat.
  • The "bear" in this episode, the monstrously-altered Leighton, was judged by some local stations to be so frightening that the creature's eyes were obscured on some prints at the time of broadcast.
  • The Showtime series Outer Limits revisited this episode with Afterlife, using a more alien approach to the main character, played this time by Clancy Brown. The ending in this case saw the aliens coming to retrieve their new 'brother'.

[edit] Film Adaptation

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links