Outer Limits – Stranded (07/30/99)

Well, you can’t please everyone.  The 2 Reviews at IMDb:

  1. Definitely Worth Watching, a Low Rated Gem
  2. The Usual High School Junk

I kinda get both of them except for the first one.  Kevin is constantly shoved into the background by his parents, and into a locker by his classmates.  His father, especially, is clearly more proud of his older brother Josh.  At least his dog likes him; when he needs to shit, anyway.

Huge props for the huge prop.

While out one day, they see a fiery object streak through the atmosphere and land in the woods.  Kevin finds the object, a wrecked spacecraft [1], and climbs inside.  Kevin finds an injured man inside.  He is revealed as a monstrous ogre as when Kevin isn’t looking — he picks his nose; also morphs briefly into a hideous alien and back.

Kevin stuffs some suspiciously puke-green, flesh-colored material into the man’s wound.  The keeper here is the man tilts his head back trying not to howl in pain.  As we see into his gaping maw, it is impressive that the alien has accurately assumed the form of a human right down to the cavities in his teeth.  Or else this actor has never heard of a toothbrush.  Seriously, this guy has lead slugs in just about every tooth.

The next day, after being bullied at school as usual, Kevin goes back to see the man.  After he guides Kevin through an operation to seal his wound, he gives him a patch that gives him super strength.  Although, since it is applied to the back of the hand, I think the monkey should go unspanked tonight.

Of course, the next bully that taunts him gets a concussion.  The episode is a conundrum.  A single guy wrote the teleplay which has some interesting dialogue.  But the story, which is mostly by-the-numbers, is credited to 3 guys.  I don’t see a lot of originality or creativity here.  What was the point of three contributors?  The one guy seemed to be on the J-O-B.

It’s not bad.  It just feels familiar.  Kevin is well-cast, maybe too well-cast as the proto-typical nerd.  It is inevitable that the alien will play on Kevin’s desire of an approving father figure.

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