The Outer Limits (1963) 1.18

ZZZZZ

starring Philip Abbott, Marsha Hunt, Joanna Frank

written by Meyer Dolinsky

directed by John Brahm

Regina (Joanna Frank), a queen bee, takes on human form. She tries to seduce an entomologist, Doctor Ben Fields (Philip Abbott), but Francesca Fields (Marsha Hunt), Ben's wife gets in the way. Regina tries to be patient but after Francesca overhears her talking to the colony of bees in Ben's lab she turns on Francesca and releases a swarm of bees on her. Regina seems to think that her problems are solved but Ben feels otherwise.

Thoughts

I was not very taken by this episode. It was weird without being interesting. I didn't find the plot or the characters to be terribly compelling. Marsha Hunt turned in a decent performance but the performances by the other two leads weren't at that level. Maybe if the cast had been uniformly great or it had been a lot more campy then I might have enjoyed it more. There just wasn't enough to it.

Notes

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Philip Abbott appeared. He also appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Twilight Zone (1959), Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Incredible Hulk. He was the voice of Nick Fury in three different 1990s Marvel cartoons: Iron Man, Spider-Man the Animated Series, and X-Men. 

This is the only episode of this show in which Marsha Hunt appeared. She was also in one episode each of The Twilight Zone (1959), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), and Star Trek: The Next Generation. She was in two movies that I saw at the 2025 edition of Noir City DC, Raw Deal (1948) and Mary Ryan, Detective (1949).

This is the only episode of this show in which Joanna Frank appeared.

This is the third of three episodes of this show that Meyer Dolinsky wrote. The first two were 1.03 The Architects of Fear and 1.07 O.B.I.T. He wrote two episodes of The Invaders,  the first of which was 1.06 Vikor. He wrote one episode of Star Trek (1966).

This is the first of two episodes of this show that John Brahm directed. The most recent thing that I have watched that he directed was an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), 1.13 The Four of Us Are Dying.

06/04/26 - 22:10