Customer Reviews

Outer Limits: Feasability Study [VHS]

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Joseph Stefano suggested that A Feasibility Study was the most humanistic of Outer Limit Episodes. He's probably right. In a series in which aliens were actually the more sympathetic characters in many cases, here they are decidedly malignant. The Luminoids abduct an entire neighborhood from Beverly Hills (though their ship looks as though salt should be pouring out of it), and bring the unsuspecting inhabitants to their world so that humans can serve as their slaves, and do their physical labor. The Luminoids suffer from the effects of a progressive disease that turns them into immobile stone-like lumps. The title refers to their effort to see if a small sample of humans will prove resistant to the disease and make planet-wide abduction and slavery feasible. While some of the initial human abductees accidentally get exposed to the disease and contract the disorder, it seems enough would survive to make the experiment work, UNLESS, someone spits in the test tube. That's the ultimate decision/solution that confronts the humans. They know they can't save themselves, but they can make the experiment fail by intentionally exposing themselves to the disease.
While some of the dialogue and interaction is schmaltzy, especially the overly-intellectualized discussion about bringing more children into a troubled world, there are also brilliant moments in the screenplay. The interaction between Ralph and Rhea (David Opatashu and Joyce Van Patten) is both grating and comical ("Really, Ralph!" "When you say that, it sounds like 'Mealy Mouth!'"). The whole experiment and abduction plan are exposed when a teenaged Luminoid disobeys orders and snoops around, acting just like a whiny Earth adolescent.
The final moments of the episode, where the gathered inhabitants all agree (some more reluctantly than others) to take the suicidal step of exposing themselves intentionally to the disease to spoil the experiment is one of the most moving I've ever seen on television. I first saw it in the OL's first run in 1964, when I was 5. The scene in which Sam Wannamaker says, "I'm going to take my wife's hand. Won't someone please take mine" is still moving, nearly 40 years later. Stefano's opinion about this being the most humanistic episode of the OL (though ironically the decision is reached in a church, and the first person to take the hands of the afflicted, outside of their spouses, was the priest)is exemplified by the final narration from the control voice: "It could have happened anywhere. It did happen here. It would have happened everywhere, had they been less brave. Had they been less-human". Bravo!

People on a six-block area are transported to another planet to become slaves for an alien race. Good acting, and the haze-like effect over the neighborhood creates a gloomy atmosphere that makes it feel as if they really are on another world. One of the better episodes of this series.

This is one of the more reflective of the episodes, as opposed to one featuring monsters. In fact, writer Joseph Stefano called it the most humanitarian of the series. That's not to say that there aren't monsters because there are. It's just that they are not the focus. Perhaps Stefano should have modified his position by saying he tried to make it the most humanitarian, for an episode of the Outer Limits, since no episode I've seen can be taken that seriously. The feasibility study is undertaken by Luminoids, who have stolen a neighbourhood block and brought it back to Luminos to see whether earthlings are suitable for (consensual) slave labor. The Luminoids have enclosed the block in a vaporous fog and the images of rolling dark clouds are very beautiful, especially a shot of them enveloping a church steeple. Composer Dominic Frontiere also provides some eerie discordant incidental music, in addition to his repertoire of bombast. And the introductory dialogue between Ralph and Rhea Cashman is unusually funny for this kind of show. The less said about the first scene between Sam Wanamaker and his wife Phyllis Love, the better. The tone of the episode changes when the Luminoids themselves make an appearance. The premise actually recalls the "Monsters are due on Maple Street" episode of The Twilight Zone, except here the reaction to the threat is different. I found the idea of the Luminoids needing slave laborers a bit odd. I mean, what for? They claim that their lack of mobility has made their minds evolve to levels far beyond mankind, but if this is so, one would think neighbourhood-napping and slavery to be definitely regressive behaviour. Unless the Luminoids world, outside the area they have transplanted the block onto, is a decidely more happening place than the barren wasteland we see. The human response is decided upon in the church hall, though it seems rather undemocratic, and who voted Sam Wanamaker in charge anyway? Of interest is something mentioned in the Outer Limits Official Companion by David J Schow and Jeffrey Frentzen. They claim that Stefano altered the performance of Joyce Van Patten (she plays Rhea) in the editing room because of her incompetence. Perhaps he should have taken a second look at Wanamaker and Love, since they both give very strange performances, even in the context of an Outer Limits episode. But it is amusing to see how the Luminoids change Love's wardrobe when they Love-nap her.

"The Outer Limits" was a very inconsistent show. The bad episodes were barely above the quality of a 50's b-movie, and were basically excuses to put a monster made for about [money] on the screen. The good episodes, however, could be intelligent, poingant and exciting all at the same time. "A Feasability Study" is one of the good ones, arguably the best.

Although the plot is well described in other reviews, a synopsis really could not do this episode justice. Although the characters do a fair amount of talking their interactions give depth to their personalities and weight to their feelings. This allows the viewer to be drawn in and genuinely feel for their plight. Unlike most OL aliens the Luminoids are decidedly villians, their arrogance and cynicism being made very clear. Yet even they evoke a measure of sympathy, as viewers can imagine the horror the Luminoids must live with, knowing that once they become adults they will become immobile, forever. The conclusion is heartwrenching, but also inspiring. I have found few stories, regardless of their medium, which evoked such a perfect balance.

It is episodes like this one that have established the original Outer Limits as one of the best treatments of the sci-fi genre that television undertook. Even after almost 40 years its ability to stimulate the mind while simulateously touching the heart has yet to be duplicated.

One of OL's all-time best. It even has better-than-usual sets and effects, having been filmed early in the season before the budget dried up.

The humanoid inhabitants of the technologically superior planet Luminos abduct an entire neighborhood of humans from Earth, transplanting them for study to test their viability as slaves. The first half of the episode is spent with the characters gradually coming to realize they're "not in Kansas, anymore." By the time they find out what's going on, they're beyond help - but not beyond hope.

The only drawbacks to this episode are its sheer talkiness (mostly unavoidable, since a lot of exposition has to be dispensed with in a short period), diminished suspense by the revelation from the outset of the abduction (and its purpose), and the curious lack of any children in the stolen neighborhood.

Aside from that, it's richly atmospheric and often downright frightening. The milieu throughout is eerie as hell, shadowy figures moving in and out of a pervasive fog, odd goings-on, strange sights and sounds...the feeling of actually being on another planet is exceedingly well-done. The performances are uniformly excellent. And the finale is the most moving of the entire series.

The new OL remade this one, which is not as good as the original.

"A Feasibility Study" is a finely-wrought masterpiece, one of many from the cellars of classic OL. This episode illustrates the sadder-but-wiser, paradoxically uplifting tragedy type of sci-fi drama that typified some of the best installments of the series. On the one hand, the ending is downbeat. Yet the focus is firmly upon the human capacity for virtue, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the ability to overcome against all odds--even a powerful, implacable alien intelligence that views earthly life with a cold and uncaring eye. Also, in the grand OL tradition, this is an excellent scare show that delivers the goods. The Luminoids are stuff of which nightmares are made, intensified by the pathology that ultimately paralyzes them and gives rise to their designs on our species. Story credibility is heightened by the fact that the earthlings are not the only ones suffering. The humans' altruistic solution to the alien menace saves our species from a fate we don't even dream of as we lay sleeping peacefully, and is all the more poignant because the sacrifice of the heroic few will never be sung. And what overcomes the aliens' malign intentions also patches up the troubled marriage of the husband/wife protagonists, a stirring and characteristically OL element that beautifully showcases the economy, humanity, and essential brilliance of the scenario. This is typical of the kind of mature, thoughtful, and highly entertaining storytelling routinely served up each week by the greatest science fiction show ever to emerge from the land of television (--Stephen King, if I recall correctly). PS. Weighing in on a debate among reviewers below, can we get it right? The alien ship resembles a bronzed badminton birdie ! "Really, Ralph!"

Don't let my jokey title fool you--I thought " A Feasibility Study" is an interesting entry from the original OUTER LIMITS series. However, the Luminiod vehicle that abducts the six square blocks looked like a reject from Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTERSPACE. What did they use? A bronzed shuttlecock?

And three cheers for Phyllis Love! This was one of her more notable TV appearances, which included turns on THE TWILIGHT ZONE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS, PERRY MASON, GUNSMOKE and several others. With "girl-next-door" innocent prettiness, Love was perfect for the Sci-Fi genere with wide, expressive, almost-other worldly eyes.

This is one that must be seen and evaluated personally. Each viewer may find something different and perceive the storyline from different angles. Intriguing television!

As a species, humans are fiercely independent, naturally rebellious against the thought of slavery. In this episode, an alien species that has lost their freedom of movement abducts a six-block section of a city to their planet in order to perform a test. Their goal is to determine if humans are capable of serving as long-term slave labor. The people are city dwellers, so they have no full comprehension of working as manual laborers, but they are humans and object to the concept of being slaves to others. Furthermore, if the initial group proves acceptable, then the aliens plan on abducting the entire human race as slaves.
The main point here is the power of the human spirit to resist control and to fight back against oppression. Despite all of the differences between humans, we are all the same and we are all responsible for protecting the species. There is a final message and it is a powerful one, ironically the network censors at first objected to the course of action taken by the feasibility subjects. This is one of the best episodes in the "Outer Limits" series.

This episode of The Outer Limits is a very interesting idea, seemingly from Edmond Hamilton's novel City At World's End, about a whole town transported from earth to somewhere in space.