Today's story goes like this... In the future, the Earth is attacked by the planet Ebon. A group of soldiers travel by a rocket to Ebon to fight the Ebonites, but, their rocket is shot down and they are taken as POWs. They then learn that the Ebonites are capable of controlling the human senses and the soldiers are interrogated to get details of the next attack from Earth. One by one, the Earthlings are interrogated by the Ebonites, which increases the mistrust among themselves.
The episode stars James Shigeta, Ed Nelson, Martin Sheen, Bill Gunn, David Frankham, Bernard Kates, Ben Wright, Whit Bissell and John Anderson as the Ebonite Interrogator.
After a long journey to Ebon, the troop ship is shot down and the six crew members are brought in front of the Ebonite Interrogator and are asked for their names only...
Private Dix, a young momma's boy, has his voice taken away, and now, cannot speak...
Colonel Stone requests to be the first one interrogated, but, is told to cool his jets, he'll be called when the Ebonite decides to talk with him...
Private Dix, still unable to speak, is interrogated first.
During the interrogation, Dr. Whorf comes in and tells Dix that he needs to cooperate with the Ebonites because there is no chance of Earth winning the war. The Ebonite Interrogator then tells Dix that he can speak to someone he loves, like, his mom...
Back at the camp, Dix can now talk again, causing some suspicion. Now, it's Lt. Krug's turn to talk to the Ebonite, it's revealed that he turned his father in for a crime he committed. When he talks with his mom, she accuses him of being a bad son and denounces him...
Krug has a heart attack and is hooked up to an alien machine that then removes his heart!
Things get strange when the Commanding General and his aid are talking behind the scenes with the alien interrogator. They then discuss who they think will be the one of the troopers who will be a traitor!.. What the Hell?!
Major Jong has his arm scanned by the same instrument that made Dix unable to speak, and now, his arm has become useless.
The men are given some food similar to that on Earth, so, time to chow down! Looks like some wood blocks I played with when I was just a little guy.
Then, Dix can't stand any longer, he darts out of the camp and runs until he finally dies from a heart attack!
Colonel Stone is in anguish when he finds out from the Interrogator that they are not at war and confronts the General. It was only a test to see how the soldiers would react if there was actually an interplanetary war! The Ebonite wants to stop he test because two people have already died, they even tried to save Krug with their special organ repairing machine.
There is one more death before the General finally pulls the plug on the project... So, we'll be back Wednesday with even more precious Dungeon Cargo!!
One of my favorite episodes! All star cast and wickedly cool alien!
ReplyDeleteIt's such a clever idea that the scary alien leader feels more guilty about the whole thing than the two generals, the prisoners' own people!
ReplyDelete"Nightmare"was one of the 4 episodes remade for "The New Outer Limits."
ReplyDeleteThe remake was penned by Tracy Torme,co~creator of "Sliders."
The remake is every bit as terrific an episode as the original and well worth seeing.