| "Controlled Experiment" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Outer Limits episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 16 |
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| Directed by | Leslie Stevens | ||
| Written by | Leslie Stevens | ||
| Cinematography by | John M. Nickolaus | ||
| Production code | 6 | ||
| Original air date | January 13, 1964 | ||
| Guest stars | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of The Outer Limits episodes | |||
"Controlled Experiment" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 13 January 1964, during the first season.
Contents |
A love triangle appears to end in murder, but a strange pair of men appear to have the ability to replay time itself.
| “ | Who hasn't seen the dark corners of great cities, whose small and shabby creatures wander without purpose in the secret corners of the night? Without purpose? There are those whose purpose reaches far beyond our wildest dreams. | ” |
Deimos and Phobos One are two Martians — their names also happen to be those of Mars' moons — the latter being a researcher who wants to understand the concept of "Murder" (they are played by actors Barry Morse and Carroll O'Connor as a Holmes-and-Watson team). Phobos One contacts Deimos, working as a pawnbroker in a a large American city, and the duo inconspicuously investigate a shooting that results from a love triangle. Using a machine that can manipulate the flow of time in a manner much the same as one might do with recorded video, they review this same event over and over again. They rewind time in order to watch the incident unfold at various speeds, forward and backward. Finally, they slow the passage of time down to such an extent that the participants seem to be standing still, the bullet suspended in flight, so that they can examine all of the nuances that, at "normal" speed, passed by too quickly for adequate, scientific observation. Phobos One, however, is unable to remain a passive observer and finally gives in to the temptation to tamper with the scenario and alter the outcome.
| “ | Who knows? Perhaps the alteration of one small event may someday bring about the end of the world. But that someday is a long way off, and until then there is a good life to be lived in the here and now. | ” |
The episode makes considerable use of repeated footage. As the alien observers view events several times over the same footage is played forward and backward. This meant that less original footage than usual needed to be shot for the episode, thus reducing its budget.
Actor Barry Morse who stars in this episode states in his autobiography[1] that this was a possible pilot for a forthcoming science-fiction comedy series which after being rejected was broadcast as an Outer Limits episode. It is the only comedy episode in the entire series.