The Invaders 2.04

Valley of the Shadow

Joe Manners, an alien, kills Doctor Sam Larousse after he and his wife, Doctor Maria McKinley, stop to help Manners who was driving recklessly and crashed his car just outside of Carterville, WY. David Vincent comes to town believing that Manners might be an alien. He tries to get Sheriff Gordon Clements to see if Manners has a heartbeat. Clements thinks Vincent is a crackpot but Will Hale, the publisher of the Carterville's newspaper, offers to help David Vincent.

US Air Force Captain Taft comes to town. He was summoned by Vincent but the Captain Taft who arrives is not the ones that Vincent called. The real Captain Taft was killed by two aliens, one of whom took his place. Vincent convinces Dr. McKinley to come and check out Vincent's claim. Manners escapes from the police station. He is shot by the police in the town square and disintegrates in front of a large group of townspeople. 

Alien Captain Taft calls his boss who, disguised as US Air Force Major McEvoy, comes to Carterville with a plan to keep everyone silent about what happened in the town square. The plan is to kill everyone in town and wipe it off the face of the Earth with a flood. David tries desperately to convince first Alien Captain Taft and then Alien Major McEvoy that there has to be a better solution to the problem.

Thoughts

This episode had some major plot holes.

What led Vincent to think that Manners was an alien?

There is a newspaper that hits the streets of Carterville minutes after Manners disintegrates reporting on what just happened. There is no attempt to explain how that is possible. Maybe if half a day had passed between the two events I could believe it but that's not how it happened in the episode.

Why did the aliens change their mind and resort to mass hypnosis? They were firmly against using mass hypnosis but then they did it anyway.

Who was that in the jail cell at the end of the episode that took Manners place? 

What happened to the dam? There was an earthquake, which must have been caused by the aliens. The dam was damaged by the earthquake. Even if the damage wasn't quite as bad as I was led to believe it was, I have to believe that the damaged dam would still be a danger to Carterville. 

This episode was laughably bad.

Notes

Nan Martin played the part of Dr. Maria McKinley. This is the only episode of this show in which she appeared. She appeared in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 1.10 Haven.

Harry Townes played the part of Will Hale. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. I've also seen him in episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) and Star Trek (1966) but most recently I saw him in an episode of Kraft Suspense Theatre, 1.10 The Hunt. 

Ron Hayes played the part of Sheriff Gordon Clements. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He also appeared in episodes of Kraft Suspense Theatre and The Outer Limits (1963).

Joe Maross played the part of the alien who replaced Captain Taft. I've also seen him in an episode of The Twilight Zone, 1.14 Third from the Sun.

Ted Knight played the part of the alien who claims to be Major McEvoy. This is his first of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. He had an uncredited role in one episode of The Twilight Zone (1959), 1.07 The Lonely.  He also appeared in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Outer Limits (1963), and Kraft Suspense Theatre. He is best known for playing Ted Baxter on Mary Tyler Moore. I recall watching him on Too Close for Comfort in the 1980s.

James Sikking played the part of the original Captain Taft. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. He was in two episodes of The Outer Limits (1963), the first of which was 1.08 The Human Factor. I've also seen him in The Six Million Dollar Man: The Solid Gold Kidnapping (1973). 

The teleplay for this episode was written by Robert Sabaroff. The story was written by Sabaroff and Howard Merrill. This is the first of two episodes of this show that Sabaroff had a hand in writing. He also worked on one episode of Star Trek (1966) and two of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the second of which was 1.24 Conspiracy. This is the only episode of this show that Merrill had a hand in writing.

This is the third of three episodes of this show that was directed by Jesse Hibbs. The first one was 2.02 The Saucer.