...this would been a great character study and more than likely a far more interesting episode.
It has a 'made for the theater' aura since the set is an obvious sound-stage with rather sparse accommodations. 6 people (5 men and one woman) as actual passengers, plus 1 stewardess and a pilot. The idea is to see how Joe-average handles the stress and confinement of a long interplanetary flight. Each passenger has a claustrophobic cubbie containing a bed and a small storage area. Each has a curtain that can be drawn for privacy. Snoring, etc, quickly becomes and issue.
No idea where the stewardess or the pilot sleep. They are mostly incidental characters anyway and are used when helpful to the plot.
There is the impression that the 'ship' is larger than what is displayed. The passengers do frequent a sort of lounge, dining, library area. It is humorous to see that they'd stocked a rather large, and weighty, library of books.
Meanwhile, when the passengers sleep, a strange illuminated alien presence in the form of a jagged serpent tongue about 6 inches long slides from bunk to bunk, enters the sleeper's heads and monitors their dreams. What's the point? This is not entirely clear yet and the sleeper's revelations are, shall we say, ultimately succinct yet mundane. Each sleeper is easily defined by these revelations but they are not necessarily that interesting. Obviously the intention here is do character studies of flawed human beings - the more interesting ones being a power hungry but frightened businessman, and an aging woman who is becoming all too aware that her clock is ticking. I have seen this episode a few times and for some reason all of the other characters are unmemorable. Having said that, this is where I began thinking how incredible Rod Serling was at writing these kinds of things and how that was missing here. Ultimately the characters here are cardboard representations with little to no depth except for the power hungry businessman who is played by Michael Constantine and this is perhaps why he stood out over the lesser roles.
While the episode churns and the days drag into months, the characters have the expected personality conflicts. As it turns out, there are little surprises pre-programmed into this experiment. Things like strange noises, shaking spaceship, power failures and such were designed into the routine to stir things up and even frighten the passengers so that perhaps one of them will push the panic button and end the experiment. They are determined to see it through - especially Constantine who has set up a lucrative business wager/venture that will pay off big if the experiment is a success --- so you know he is not afraid to threaten to kill the first person to push the panic button. But there is a more sinister side. Other little surprises occur that were NOT programmed into the mix. Who is setting those off??? It is not difficult to figure that one out.
What is difficult to accept is how a botanist who has a small sequestered garden is grieving over his dying plants but fails to notice that one very peculiar fuzzy coiling foot-long obelisk is rudely jutting up from the soil. Anyone else would question the existence of this oddity. He pays it no attention at all and whines about the audacity of his plants refusing to thrive. This is confusing in the respect that as soon as the viewer sees its threatening presence, you just know that this will be a problem waiting to happen.
Eventually the alien plant becomes animate and confronts the passengers to pass along a message a la 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. In fact, some of the stop-motion work here is good.
The passengers listen to the message and then make a decision which I won't reveal here but it isn't difficult to figure out. End of episode.
Bottomline : Kind of a dull episode that could had every opportunity to be far more interesting and logical but didn't. This is generally thought to be one of the lesser OL episodes. It is simply because, as with most of season 2, an idea with some merit is fumbled by the new production team who seem to have no clue how to deal with science fiction.
It has a 'made for the theater' aura since the set is an obvious sound-stage with rather sparse accommodations. 6 people (5 men and one woman) as actual passengers, plus 1 stewardess and a pilot. The idea is to see how Joe-average handles the stress and confinement of a long interplanetary flight. Each passenger has a claustrophobic cubbie containing a bed and a small storage area. Each has a curtain that can be drawn for privacy. Snoring, etc, quickly becomes and issue.
No idea where the stewardess or the pilot sleep. They are mostly incidental characters anyway and are used when helpful to the plot.
There is the impression that the 'ship' is larger than what is displayed. The passengers do frequent a sort of lounge, dining, library area. It is humorous to see that they'd stocked a rather large, and weighty, library of books.
Meanwhile, when the passengers sleep, a strange illuminated alien presence in the form of a jagged serpent tongue about 6 inches long slides from bunk to bunk, enters the sleeper's heads and monitors their dreams. What's the point? This is not entirely clear yet and the sleeper's revelations are, shall we say, ultimately succinct yet mundane. Each sleeper is easily defined by these revelations but they are not necessarily that interesting. Obviously the intention here is do character studies of flawed human beings - the more interesting ones being a power hungry but frightened businessman, and an aging woman who is becoming all too aware that her clock is ticking. I have seen this episode a few times and for some reason all of the other characters are unmemorable. Having said that, this is where I began thinking how incredible Rod Serling was at writing these kinds of things and how that was missing here. Ultimately the characters here are cardboard representations with little to no depth except for the power hungry businessman who is played by Michael Constantine and this is perhaps why he stood out over the lesser roles.
While the episode churns and the days drag into months, the characters have the expected personality conflicts. As it turns out, there are little surprises pre-programmed into this experiment. Things like strange noises, shaking spaceship, power failures and such were designed into the routine to stir things up and even frighten the passengers so that perhaps one of them will push the panic button and end the experiment. They are determined to see it through - especially Constantine who has set up a lucrative business wager/venture that will pay off big if the experiment is a success --- so you know he is not afraid to threaten to kill the first person to push the panic button. But there is a more sinister side. Other little surprises occur that were NOT programmed into the mix. Who is setting those off??? It is not difficult to figure that one out.
What is difficult to accept is how a botanist who has a small sequestered garden is grieving over his dying plants but fails to notice that one very peculiar fuzzy coiling foot-long obelisk is rudely jutting up from the soil. Anyone else would question the existence of this oddity. He pays it no attention at all and whines about the audacity of his plants refusing to thrive. This is confusing in the respect that as soon as the viewer sees its threatening presence, you just know that this will be a problem waiting to happen.
Eventually the alien plant becomes animate and confronts the passengers to pass along a message a la 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'. In fact, some of the stop-motion work here is good.
The passengers listen to the message and then make a decision which I won't reveal here but it isn't difficult to figure out. End of episode.
Bottomline : Kind of a dull episode that could had every opportunity to be far more interesting and logical but didn't. This is generally thought to be one of the lesser OL episodes. It is simply because, as with most of season 2, an idea with some merit is fumbled by the new production team who seem to have no clue how to deal with science fiction.