Customer Reviews

Outer Limits: Obit [VHS]

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One of the best episodes in the Outer Limits series, this one has an intellectual and moral theme that is directly relevant to today. The story is set at a government research center called Cypress Hill and opens with a scene of a technician sitting in front of a circular display screen. The technician is viewing, apparently real-time, a research professor, Dr. Anderson, who is voicing complaints about his superior, which, the technician notes, is the "12th occurrence". The technician's attention is then shifted to the presence on-screen of what appears to be a "monster", and he then is strangled to death from behind.

In the next scene, a Senator Orville appears at Cypress Hill to investigate the murder and the general morale situation at the center. Inquisitive and intolerant of evasiveness, Orville sets up a board of inquiry and calls several witnesses, the first one being Clyde Wyatt, an investigator from the CID. When questioned by Orville, he notes only that the technician was strangled to death but that he is "not competent to say" regarding any morale and psychological problems at Cypress. Wyatt's evasiveness angers Orville, and he quickly dismisses Wyatt from the stand.

The next witness is a Dr. Philip Fletcher, an elderly man who has been employed for five years at Cypress as a research consultant in astrophysics. Fletcher had sent a letter to Orville, addressing the morale problems at Cypress. Apparently he had written several more letters but did not send them, having been questioned by the military police about the letters. Questioned by Orville as to how Cypress knew he was writing the letters, Fletcher responds by saying that "they know everything" and speaks of rumours and fear at Cypress. Cypress is a "ghost town" he says, and a place where "no one laughs".

After being notified that the head of Cypress, Dr Clifford Scott, was unavailable for questioning due to suffering a physical breakdown, Orville calls a Dr. Lomax. Lomax states that morale is no better or worse than any other government facility, but Orville rebuts by stating the statistics: divorce up 400%, rampant alcoholism, and three suicides. Also, reports of a "peeping Tom machine" have been related to Orville, but Lomax refuses to discuss the machine. Orville then demands all information on the machine, and gets a demonstration of it the next day.

Called OBIT for "Outer Band Individuated Teletracer", Lomax explains its operation to Orville, and illustrates its use by spying on a draftsman who is located somewhere in Washington D.C. Lomax states that "those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear from OBIT", but this is dismissed eloquently by Orville, who expresses worry and revulsion over the ability to use the machine to spy on himself when engaging in commentary on the President, his wife, or other senators.

A fourth witness, Col. Grover, is then questioned by Orville, but Grover has no knowledge of OBIT's manufacturer or who authorized its deployment. Again Orville demands all information about OBIT and its history of deployment and when threatened by Grover as to his political future, dismisses any concern with it, stating that "morality makes its own decisions".

Orville then calls Mrs. Clifford Scott, who states that the morale has been unbearable at Cypress and was left completely in the dark about the location of her husband.

Grover is later recalled, and speaks of 18 OBIT units deployed in the military as well as many more in industry and education. He describes painfully OBIT as being the most "hideous creation ever conceived", and one that saps the spirit, and indulges in using it himself, not being able to resist its temptations.

After insistence from Orville, Orville questions Dr. Scott, who describes his opposition to OBIT, and how he is always at odds with Lomax, who for some reason cannot be monitored by OBIT. The reason becomes rapidly apparent, as Lomax is transfigured to an alien being, who represents a race of beings who have deliberately placed OBIT machines on Earth to create rips and tensions in society and demoralize humanity, as preparation for their eventual invasion. He disappears suddenly from the scene.

The episode ends with the announcer explaining that all of the OBIT machines have been found and destroyed and that whether OBIT can live up to its reputation "depends on you".

The OBIT machine, with its ability to spy real time on citizens within a 500 mile radius, and even then through solid rock or steel, is certainly a technological marvel. Such a machine does not exist of course, but its abilities can be emulated. Governments can now engage in data mining and Email and business transaction monitoring, coupled with citizen spies whose sole function is to report "suspicious" behavior, can certainly have the same devastating effects as OBIT. The resulting suspicions and extreme paranoia accompanying these strategies of spying can indeed make life unbearable and demoralizing.

We must make sure we have senators who think like Orville, and refuse to allow this kind of privacy-robbing technology to be employed unless in very extreme life-threatening circumstances. "OBIT-like" projects like TIAA and its children must not be allowed to progress and must be kept in check. Thankfully there are many in government who are taking steps to insure that these kinds of projects do not get implemented. Eternal vigilance among citizens, government officials, and the military must be unrelenting in insuring that these kinds of projects never be put in place. Such an attitude should be part of our consciousness and automatized in our belief structures and in our machines, for this is the proper morality in the information age: a morality which makes its own decisions.

...but someone is watching. And they're not human. If you thought the NSA was bad...

One of OL's few truly evil E.T. entries, a murder mystery performed as a courtroom drama. The script is highly literate, but the suspense is half-shot from the beginning by showing too much. It's still worth it for the opening murder scene and the dramatic finale alone, though the interesting analysis of intrusive government spying on its own citizenry along the way is quite good, too (and, for the time, eye-opening, as well).

Typically great OL cinematography, one of the creepier and more memorable monsters, and good performances all around, especially by Jeff Corey.

An army security man is strangled under mysterious circumstances at Cypress Hills, a top secret military installation where a sinister new snooping system (the Outer Band Individuated Teletracer) is being tested. This audio-video spying device can tune in to the individualized biorhythms of everyone on the base, except for the murderer, it seems. The frightening implications of this new device for depriving personnel of even the slightest shred of privacy and dignity are unravelled in the course of a congressional investigation conducted by young, charismatic Senator Orville. His persona is tough as nails, but smooth-edged with dashes of wisdom and self-deprecating wit, a la JFK. This portrayal comes across as an intriguing reflection of the Camelot era, and we know from the moment we meet him that he is going to get to the bottom of things. Likewise, we are shown from the opening scene that the murder was committed by a Thing Not of This World, a monstrous, gangly, one-eyed creature of obviously alien origin. Our attention is also directed early on to one Byron Lomax, a sinister character who is in charge after the rightful director of the base is sent away to a mental institution, in Kremlinesque fashion we find out. These plot threads are woven together in a tense, moody script with expert direction and stylish noir photography, giving this episode the unmistakable first-season OL signature. The shattering and dehumanizing effect of invading privacy, feeding upon dark, all-too-human impulses, is the moral center of this story: we must rise above our lower impulses and temptations, or be dragged down by them. In the latter case, we become easy prey for an invading alien race that easily sets us up, and can take over without a single shot ever having to be fired. This is OL at its characteristic, intelligent best, with solid story and thought-provoking themes convincingly elaborated (e.g., we are our own worst enemies, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, etc.); plus loving homages (intentional or otherwise) to schlock 1950's scifi cinema, most notably Wyott Ordung's hilariously inept "Robot Monster". But it bridges the lowbrow appeal of such juvenile material with the prescience of George Orwell's writings. The kind of sheer range on display here is breathtaking, and puts to shame what passes today as scifi cinema, with its monotonous emphasis on artless techno special effects and characters targeted to audience hang-ups and attitude.

"In this room, twenty-fours a day, seven days a week, security personnel at the Defense Department's Cypress Hills Research Center keep constant watch on its scientists through OBIT, a mysterious electronic device whose very existence was carefully kept from the public at large. And so it would have remained, but for the facts you are about to witness." This is a spine-chilling Orwell-like tale of conspiracy about who's reading thoughts of who ? Jeff Corey plays a cool lyrical alien invader aka "Big Brother is watching you". Peter Breck's performance is tough and terse and Harry Townes delivers the best dialogue : "As long as I'm insane, I'm safe." Best Meyer Dolinsky's script, tight cinematography all the way (watch the final scene lighting and shot angle) with montage effects (watch the extreme close-ups of Byron Lomax), great circular props (spectacles and computer screen) and odd haunting mechanical sound effects from the O.B.I.T. device, for this claustrophobic court room episode. "Agents of the Justice Department are rounding up the machines now. But these machines, these inventions of another planet, have been cunningly conceived to play on our most mortal weakness. In the last analysis, dear friends, wheter OBIT lives up to its name or not will depend on you."----"We now return control of your television set to you, until next week, at the same time when the control voice will take you to... THE OUTER LIMITS"

Would you believe that "O.B.I.T." anticipates, 30-odd years ahead, the very contemporary paranoļa of privacy invasion via... watchamacallits, whether they're ordinary personal computers... or Outer Band Individuated Teletracers, as is the case in this slick B&W Outer Limits episode?! This might now look as the real horror behind this alien-in-disguise story. Cool, snapping courtroom lines are superbly delivered, notably by Peter Breck and Jeff Corey, and beside stock shots of a plane trip, not a second seems wasted, either visually or dramatically... or sonically. Indeed, the sound effects of the terrifying, obnoxious personnel and personal spying computer (albeit with graphite knobs instead of a mouse!) are truly unsettling and perfectly edited in. If we would be living in a fun epoch, this would have been the first episode of the new Outer Limits to be remade. Too daring a subject?

Imagine a machine through which people can monitor your every move twenty four hours a day, without you knowing? Being the seventh episode in the series, "O.B.I.T" is a thrilling psychological courtroom mystery drama that focuses on this issue.

The story starts off with Dr. Anderson (played by Lindsay Workman), a research professor (at a government research center called Cypress Hill), who is suddenly murdered after seeing a monster through a strange device. Enter Senator Orville (played by Peter Breck), who is trying to investigate the murder. What follows is an intense courtroom drama where Orville interviews various people such as: 1) Clyde Wyatt (played by Sammy Reese), an investigator from the CID who seems to know more than what he says; 2) Dr. Phil Fletcher (played by Konstantine Shayne), a research consultant in astrophysics who sent letters to Orville regarding the strange incidents in Cypress Hill, but was later prohibited from further doing so; 3) Dr. Byron Lomax (played by Jeff Corey) who tells Orville about O.B.I.T (short for "Outer Band Individuated Teletracer" ) and although informs him there is nothing to fear, Orville feels uneasy about the equipment; 4) Barbara Scott (played by Joana Gilbert), who spends sleepless nights because her husband has been taken away from her due to some incident regarding O.B.I.T.

This episode starts with a suspenseful murder, and ends with a shocking twist that will surprise everyone. With the advancement of the Information Age, you cannot help but think that such a device could exist, and after watching this episode, you get a very troubled feeling that if such a device was created, how the privacy of each and every individual would be invaded. Coming to the cast, Peter Breck acted great as Senator Orville, Harry Townes, Joana Gilbert and Jeff Corey.

To quote Vic Perrin (The Control Voice): "Agents of the Justice Department are rounding up the machines now. But these machines, these inventions of another planet have been cunningly conceived to play on our most mortal weakness. In the last analysis dear friends, whether O.B.I.T lives up to its name or not will depend on YOU."

I've always loved this episode. I has good dialogue, a fairly good monster, and a believable premise (except for the monster, of course). The pacing is well done, and it leads up to a fine climax.

This Outer Limits is unusual to feature a courtroom hearing as a series of talking heads, when otherwise episodes feature a lot of action. The scenario by Meyer Dolinsky centres around the titular surveillance machine, which Meyer used to parallel the House Un American Committe and Senator Joseph McCarthy witchhunts of the late 1940's and early 1950's. However the Senator who comes to the defence department site where a murder has been committed, ironically acts as arrogantly (and humourlessly) as McCarthy. The only seemingly intentional laugh in the whole episode is when a doctor is heard to make a derogatory remark about his superior - "He doesn't know the difference between a periodic table and a timetable". The obligatory series monster here is seen on the OBIT screen, which deliberately resembles the early round TV sets, and it is the sighting which accounts for the witnesses death. The monster itself is quite bizarre. The initial long shot view has it wearing a diaphonous gown, and it's mask face is half Halloween pumpkin and half unformed baby head. When the monster attacks another witness, it is unintentionally funny. Since the hearing's talking head structure relies upon testimony it becomes a series of performances, the best being Konstantin Shayne and Sam Reese, and the worst Alan Baxter. As the administrator of the base and the one associated with the OBIT, Jeff Corey wears distortive bottle-bottom black-rimmed spectacles which give him a great look but his climactic grandiose speech is undercut by it coming out of nowhere, and the maniac way it is filmed by director Gerd Oswald. The narrative also features a few plot holes - an affair has no pay off, and the monster has the unexplained ability to be in two places at once. However Oswald provides some redemptive images - a flashing cheap hotel sign, the ominous placement of Corey's overly hairy hand, and the soft-focus lighting of Joanne Gilbert as the base commander's wife, who still manages to come off as an anorexic transexual.

A new invention called O.B.I.T. spies on a scientist being murdered by a one-eyed monster...