The Outer Limits (1963) 1.08

The Human Factor

starring Gary Merrill, Harry Guardino, Sally Kellerman, Ivan Dixon

directed by Abner Biberman

Colonel Campbell, commander of a US military base in Greenland nicknamed Point TABU, asks Doctor Hamilton (Gary Merrill) to examine Major Brothers (Harry Guardino) who has been acting erratic and seems to think that they are all in danger from some unknown creature in the Hekla Isthmus.

Doctor Hamilton talks to Major Brothers and learns about his fears concerning the creature. Hamilton uses a device that allows him to read Brothers’ mind to try and confirm what Brothers is telling him. An earthquake occurs while Hamilton is reading Brothers’ mind and somehow their minds change bodies.

Major Brothers takes advantage of the situation and has the man in his body locked up and sedated. Brothers (still in Hamilton’s body) then has a chat with Colonel Campbell and explains to him how he would like to proceed.

Brothers goes back to Hamilton’s office and runs into Ingrid Larkin (Sally Kellerman), Hamilton’s assistant. Brothers seems to be acting strange. She starts to suspect that something weird is going on and suspects that the two men’s minds may have changed bodies. She goes to see the man whom everyone believes to be Major Brothers and confirms this fact. He warns her about Brothers’ plan to use an atomic device to destroy the base. 

Ingrid steals the keys and helps her boss escape. Word gets out about the escape and Brothers comes looking for Hamilton. Hamilton makes it to his office. Brothers finds him there. The two men fight. One gets shot in the gut and other gets knocked out.

Thoughts

I wasn't crazy about the romantic pairing of Gary Merrill and Sally Kellerman. There is a 22-year age difference between the two actors.

Was there a real creature outside the base causing the earthquakes? The short answer is probably not. The ending seems to imply that it was a fiction created by Major Brothers' imagination after he didn't go back to search for a man under his command who fell into a crevasse.

This was an okay episode but I’m not crazy about it. I may have seen a few too many body switching movies and episodes of television for this one to impress me. In retrospect I can see how the ending is supposed to he read but in the moment it seemed to me like just the opposite happened, which really confused me for about a minute. 

Notes

This is the only episode of this show in which Gary Merrill appeared. He also appeared in five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), one of The Twilight Zone (1959), and two of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

This is the only episode of this show in which Harry Guardino appeared. He also appeared in one episode each of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), Night Gallery, Wonder Woman, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). He costarred with Gary Merrill in a short lived TV series from 1964 called The Reporter. It was cancelled after 13 episodes.

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Sally Kellerman appeared. She also appeared in one episode each of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and The Invaders. The most recent thing in which I have seen her is an episode of Star Trek (1966), 1.03 Where No Man Has Gone Before. One of her last roles was in Maron, in which she played Marc Maron's mother.

Ivan Dixon played the part of Major Giles, who is responsible for the safety of nuclear weapons at the base. This is the first of three episodes of this show in which he appeared. He was also in two episodes of The Twilights Zone. I have also seen him in Nothing But a Man (1964). He was also a director with almost as many credits in that capacity as he had as an actor. He directed, among other things, nine episodes of The Rockford Files, six of The Greatest American Hero, and 13 of Magnum, P.I.

This is the only episode of this series that Abner Biberman directed. He also directed four episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959).