are the two most depressing episodes ever.
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jerome_george_davis — 9 years ago(September 10, 2016 08:46 PM)
The Two Part Final Appeal, The Voice of Reason, Mona Lisa, The Human Factor, Birthright, Think Like a Dinosaur, Straight and Narrow, are just a few of the needlessly "Bad Endings".
Yes, some endings like Replica, Rule of Law, and Time to Time were positive, others like Trial by Fire, Lion's Den, and "I, Robot" had appropriately sad/negative endings, and some like The Vessel, Worlds Apart, Nest, I Hear You Calling, and Something About Harry were a mix of bittersweet with the ending both part positive and part negative but the endings predominantly were either partly or totally negative ones, especially the ones that used clips from other episodes. -
arijanian — 14 years ago(September 20, 2011 08:54 PM)
What I found most fascinating and sad was that, considering the complexity and realism and human vulnerability of "Bree"'s life story and personality (almost certainly not concocted by an alien intelligence) and the way in which Skokes' likeness and story were later used by the aliens, there almost certainly was a real Bree Tristan at some point, and she was almost certainly very much like the "Bree" we saw.
How long was she tortured and questioned, for them to peel all that detail about her past from her? What was it like, having her DNA and possibly even her flesh harvested for that Mata Hari skin-suit of theirs? Did she know how they planned to use what they took from her? Did she despair, in her final moments? Or is she still alive, somewhere, still being interrogated and harvested and used?
It chills the bones to think about it, really.
(And, on a wryly dispassionate note, I can't help tipping my hat to the alien who played "Bree". Dreadful as her motives were from the human perspective, that still took some serious courage to enter the cell of a violent specimen of an alien race and put herself completely at his mercy in hopes of teasing out the right top-secret information.
A few scenes even made me wonder if she was, in some small way, being genuinely influenced by the hormones and juices of that human flesh. She seemed agitated when they talked about losing your sense of species identity, and genuinely passionate when she discussed human emotion and physical sensation. Did she find it to her liking? Did she feel a sense of regret, however small, upon having to let it goor upon having to let John go? Was she ever attached to him at all, or was it a complete and total act?
I think I'll always wonder.) -
WalletGuy — 14 years ago(September 21, 2011 08:17 PM)
arijanian: You bring up some fascinating points. Obviously this is mostly speculation from both of us, but its interesting to think about. It's been awhile since I've seen the episode so bear with me.
I definitely agree its possible there was a real Tristan Bree at one point who was like the one in Quality of Mercy, just as there was a real Skokes.
If so, was she tortured and captured? They could have used her DNA and memories. Hard to tell as its never explained in the episode.
I never thought of the alien Bree as being brave before until you put it like that. We'll never know what the alien Bree was thinking as we never see from her perspective. However, I do think that there was some of her that was attached to him and liked being human, even if it was just a residual effect from the original Bree.
And to the people who brought up Wil Wheaton, I thought his acting was fine. I highly doubt that he was cast because of his role was Wesley Crusher on Star Trek, but I do think that it is a parody of the way that character was a brilliant wonder boy, especially early on Next Gen. -
tbonesays — 12 years ago(December 18, 2013 03:57 AM)
Nicole de Bree's last line was "They're changing me back" which means she started out as an alien. I don't know how there could be a real Bree unless they skinned her and then slipped her over a small alien.
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ydobon-1 — 12 years ago(May 27, 2013 01:15 AM)
First Robert Patrick's character Skokes is tricked into giving away a secret mission to an alien spy about an attack plot to turn the tide of a war that the Earth is losing.
I thought that part was stupid. First of all, even if she wasn't an alien, how did he know that the aliens weren't listening? Every inch of the cell could have been bugged. Second, even if she was human, how does he know that she wouldn't betray him in a desperate attempt to offer the aliens something in exchange for making her human again? Third, how did he know that she hadn't been brainwashed by the aliens?
Finally, if he just wanted to comfort her, why not lie to her about the details? He could have told her the fleet was at a different location and given a different attack date & target. The aliens would know something was coming, but without the details they wouldn't be able to mount a proper defense.
An experienced soldier like Skokes should have known never to give away top secret information while in enemy custody.
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ydobon-1 — 12 years ago(May 27, 2013 07:21 AM)
Not that it mattered. We found out in the sequel that one alien ship could destroy an entire human fleet so the ambush wasn't going to accomplish very much.
If the plan had gone the way it was supposed to, the aliens wouldn't have been expecting the attack on their home world and it probably could have succeeded.
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tempests98 — 12 years ago(February 08, 2014 05:15 PM)
First of all, even if she wasn't an alien, how did he know that the aliens weren't listening? Every inch of the cell could have been bugged
Probably because he was allowed to form an escape plan and cut his way out of his cell. -
Joxerlives — 12 years ago(September 25, 2013 01:44 PM)
Now I always took these eps to be the prequals to 'Demon with a Glass Hand' from the original series. Mankind in the future has been wiped out by an alien race but we leave behind a biological weapon to destroy them and send an android back in time with the memories of the whole human race to rebuild them once again, pursued by the aliens who have taken human form.
Plus remember the Time Travel Bureau? -
I_hatenazis — 12 years ago(December 06, 2013 01:58 PM)
The Light Brigade is what clued me in that The Outer Limits was an exceptional series. The bottom line is that they broke all the rules. They got you sucked into the desperate plight of few members of a crew making an attempt to save a doomed earth against a devastating alien race. Rather than giving you the standard heroic ending they actually threw a curve ball and broke your heart. However, if you must have the good guys always win in the last 3 seconds ending then yes, I suppose I can endorse your view.
A good Outer Limits episode ALWAYS did good character development where you wanted things to go well with the main protagonists and they mixed up happy, mixed, and sad endings and the sad endings broke your heart.
This was a great episode. It was very dramatic, I was sitting at the edge of my my seat and at the end of the show I said to myself WTF but then I looked back at some of the odd things that I saw and it made sense. Why did the senior office insist on not saving the engineer.
Oh, and on a side note, I loved how Robert Patrick's character looked at Bill Wheaton's character and said, 'I am glad that He is on our side (referring to God)'. He was clearly indicating the alien's point of view that they were in the right. -
severe_td — 11 years ago(June 11, 2014 12:44 AM)
As others have pointed out, The Outer Limits' mixture of happy, sad, and neutral endings made the series unpredictable and more exciting to watch.
"The Light Brigade" was also the only Outer Limits sequel that wasn't awful. Every other sequel (usually spawned from good original episodes) was highly disappointing.
"Final Appeal" was a terrible follow-up to the excellent "A Stitch In Time", while "Promised Land" was a boring, preachy continuation of intriguing episode "The Camp". There were other bad sequels, as well, and I'm not even talking about those really bad clip shows (though Final Appeal was one of those, too). -
Tjanssen411 — 9 years ago(June 04, 2016 12:19 AM)
those really bad clip shows
I just watched 'Voice of Reason' (the season 1 Finale) and I kind of liked it
they fed you more than a few red herrings, and subtle clues and still came through with a twist my biggest complaint is that the episodes they 'flashbacked' too were all fairly recent (ie all 5 of the immediately previous episodes were featured it left me feeling like they were coming up on a deadline and were an episode short, so they cribbed together the clip show from the most recent scripts.