The Invaders 1.15

Moonshot

Two astronauts are killed while off duty in Florida on a fishing boat. David Vincent hears about it and shows up to investigate. He is held up by the space program's security chief, Gavin Lewis. Vincent gets to Charlie Coogan, the one eyewitness to the death of the astronauts, but one of the Invaders gets to the witness before him and erases his memories.

Gavin tells David about his past, how he was an astronaut and supposed to be on the rocket that will soon be lifting off. Something weird happened. Gavin doesn't remember a thing about what happened but it affected his blood pressure and now he is no longer an astronaut.

Angela Smith, wife of Hardy Smith, of one of the other astronauts, is concerned about her husband. He's been acting strangely. She tells Gavin Lewis but he thinks she's just nervous about the upcoming mission. Lewis is also worried because he has been having an affair with Mrs. Smith.

Vincent convinces Lewis that Hardy Smith is an alien. Lewis tries to get Smith pulled from the mission, without success. Vincent goes to see Mrs. Smith in the hopes that she can provide some evidence that will help them.

David convinces Angela that if she doesn't do something more astronauts will die. Angela calls while the astronauts are making their finals preparations before boarding the rocket. She talks to he husband briefly but hears enough to tell her that it isn't really her husband. She calls mission control and convinces them that they have to abort the mission. They try to but Hardy Smith jumps in the rocket and takes off by himself. A few minutes after liftoff the rocket explodes.

Thoughts

There are some plot holes in this episode. How did David Vincent know where to find Charlie Coogan? Why did the space program (it is never referred to as NASA) make Gavin Lewis head of security after he was removed from the team of astronauts? Why did mission control flip flip so quickly from refusing to accept Lewis's story to accepting it after one phone call from Angela Smith?

I enjoyed this episode. The actors playing all of the guest roles were great. That makes a huge difference. It was not a great episode but it was one of the better ones I have seen, even if I did roll my eyes a few times.

Notes

Peter Graves played the part of Gavin Lewis. This is his only appearance on the show. The most recent thing I saw him in was Stalag 17 (1953) but I associate him most with Mission Impossible. He was on Mission Impossible from 1967 to 1973 and also the revival from 1988 to 1990. He also made guest appearances on many shows including one on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. 

JoAnne Linville played the part of Angela Smith. This is the first of two appearances she made on the show. She plays a different character in he second appearance which was part of the second season. She played the part of a Romulan commander in an episode from the third season of Star Trek in 1968. She also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1961 and an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1958.

Kent Smith played the part of Stan Arthur, the head of mission control. This is the only episode from the first season in which he appeared. He appeared in 12 of the last 13 episode of second season, playing a different character than he did in this episode. He also made guest appearances on many other shows including Wonder Woman, The Wild Wild West, The Outer Limits, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. One of his first screen credits was in Cat People (1942).

Anthony Eisley played the part of Tony LaCava, one of the other astronauts. This is the first of three appearances he made on the show. The other two appearances were in the second season and he played a different character in those episodes.