The Outer Limits (1963) 1.24

Moonstone

starring Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Tim O'Connor

written by William Bast, Lou Morheim, Joseph Stefano

directed by Robert Florey

An expeditionary mission stationed on the Moon finds a large, perfectly round rock buried under some debris. They try to cut it open but their lasers can't make a dent in it. They soon find out that it is a spaceship of sorts that is inhabited by five refugees from the planet Grippia.

Major Clint Anderson (Tim O'Connor) adds a dose of reality to the romance two of his colleagues, General Lee Stocker (Alex Nicol) and Professor Diana Brice (Ruth Roman). Clint has a long standing grudge against Lee that goes back to the war in Korea. Clint tells Diana about what happened. She doesn't know what to think of it but pretty soon she doesn't have time to think about it because they are dealing with the Grippians' situation.

Lee, Diana, Clint, and the other humans stationed on the Moon, with some help from the Grippians, contact the Grippians home planet. The five Grippians hope that those who come to get them will be friendly but as it turns out they are not. The humans don't want to hand over the fiver Grippians to hostile forces but in the end they don't have much choice.

Thoughts

There is supposed to be some sort of a parallel in this episode between the incident during the Korean War (decades ago) that created a wedge between Lee and Clint, and what happened to the Grippian refugees. It seems to be intended as a sobering moment but I'm not sure that it really worked or conveyed the point that it was trying to make.

This episode lacks a lot of polish. I don't have a problem with the special effects or the sets or the way it was shot as much as I do with the story. It just doesn't measure up.

Notes

This is the only episode of this show in which Ruth Roman appeared. I've seen her in a few movies including Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951). She also appeared in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

This is the only episode of this show in which Alex Nicol appeared. He also appeared in one episode each of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and The Twilight Zone (1959).

This is the first of two episodes of this show in which Tim O'Connor appeared. I saw him most recently in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 5.21 The Perfect Mate.

Curt Conway played the part of Doctor Philip Mendi. This is the first of two episodes of this show in which he appeared. I have also seen him in Raw Deal (1948). He also appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Hari Rhodes played the part of Lieutenant Ernie Travers. This is the only of this show episode in which Rhodes appeared. He also appeared in an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

William Bast wrote the teleplay for this episode. It is the only episode of this show on which he worked. He also wrote an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Lou Morheim and Joseph Stefano wrote the story upon which the teleplay was based. This is the fourth of five episodes that Morheim had a hand in writing. This is the eighth of 12 episodes that Stefano had a hand in writing. Two other episodes that they both worked on were 1.15 The Mice and 1.20 The Bellero Shield.

This is the only episode of this show that was directed by Robert Florey. It is the last thing he directed according to IMDb. I have seen a number of other episodes of television and a few movies that he directed. Most recently I saw one of the many episodes of Four Star Playhouse that he directed, 1.19 Shadowed.