Television Review—
"Controlled Experiment" (1963): The Outer Limits
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Passionate one moment, dead the next?
This makes no sense to the inspector.
"The only scientific law that applies
to kissing and shooting is the principle of uncertainty," muses Diemos.
As special effects go, the
Miniaturized Temporal Condenser can be a bit over the top with its
screeching, bright lights, and acting that's a bit over the top. But if
your criticism can be quelled, I would argue that the impact
fundamentally shows the effort and seriousness involved in manipulating
time under any circumstances. So it's not Rod Taylor in The Time
Machine or Doc Brown in his DeLorean.
It doesn't have to be.
The bigger risk in a plot like this
is getting to the final act through such sound and fury -- only to fail
the "now what?" test. We studied murder, motive, and means, but
something's gotta pay us off for having invested the time in this.
This is where The Outer Limits shines
throughout its "Controlled Experiment." Twice. I won't spoil the ending,
but I will leave you with one of the two questions that sets it up.
What is you could make it so the
murder never happened?
