Moonstone (The Outer Limits)

"Moonstone"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 24
Directed by Robert Florey
Written by William Bast (teleplay)
Lou Morheim and Joseph Stefano (story)
Cinematography by John M. Nickolaus
Production code 13
Original air date March 9, 1964
Guest stars
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List of The Outer Limits episodes

"Moonstone" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 9 March 1964, during the first season.

Contents

Opening narration

In Man's conquest of space, his own moon must be the first to surrender. From there he will step his way across the heavens to the edge of infinity. Each step will be as uncertain as the last, yet each will bring him closer to ultimate truth. Lunar Expedition One: Here a handful of brave scientists and technicians pave the way to the future. Their mission: to collect information that will eventually enable Man to inhabit the Moon; to use the Moon as a springboard to the stars. Once during each twenty-four hour period, a force of three, commanded by General Lee Stocker and including Lieutenant Travers and Major Clint Anderson, makes its slow, uncharted way across the lunar surface, a surface whose depths and desires are, as yet, unprobed…

Plot

Researchers in a base on the Moon find a living organism, which proves to be the repository of an alien intelligence that is fleeing tyranny in its own system. When the tyrants arrive in pursuit, however, the researchers have to decide how much they should risk in the pursuit of knowledge.

Closing narration

The steps Man takes across the heavens of his universe are as uncertain as those steps he takes across the rooms of his own life. And yet if he walks with an open mind, those steps must lead him eventually to that most perfect of all destinations, truth.

Production

The Lunar landscape exterior was constructed by Jack Poplin and his team on Soundstage #2 at KTTV and the moon backdrops were from M.G.M. The jagged mountains and rock columns were placed so as to hide the gaps in these backdrops. The moon surface itself was a four inch deep layer of sand that had been dyed different colours to give the moonscape different gradations of tone when filmed in black and white. Paintings by astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell were used as background plates for sequences of the two Moonstones moving over the lunar surface. (source - The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (1986), page 138.)

The Grippians were designed at Projects Unlimited by father and son team Marcel and Victor Delgado. The eyes of the Grippians were dressed-up ping pong balls held on sticks with added tendrils, and the models were filmed inside a water tank so that their 'hair' would drift about as they swayed and moved. (source - The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (1986), pages 138/139.) The Grippian sphere itself was one of the milky oversized Beverley Hills street lamppost globes, and cries of "Bring on the Street lamp" greeted the prop during filming. (source - The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (1986), page 135.)

William Bast's original script contained many spectacular action scenes, most of which were either simplified or not done at all for logistical and budgetary reasons. (source - The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (1986), page 137.)

Cast

External links