Product Details

• Actors: Robert Culp, Arlene Martel, Abraham Sofaer, Steve Harris, Rex Holman
• Directors: Byron Haskin
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 26, 1995
• Run Time: 53 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301967194
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,473 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #3 in	Video > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Television > Outer Limits
  #38 in	Video > Classics > Classic Sci-Fi
  #64 in	Video > Classics > Classic TV

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Classic. A Must Have for your Collection, July 11, 2002

By	McGillicutty "DVD Fan" (The Sooner Nation) - See all my reviews

Simply put, the best Outer Limits episode ever made. This because of, not in spite of, the bugetary limitations imposed on the second season.

Robert Culp playes Trent, a man without memory being chased by the insidious Kyban. Outworlders who conquored the Earth 1,000 years in the future, but have gone back in time to capture Trent to find out just where the 70 Billion earthlings have dissapeared to. The secret lies within Trent's glass hand. A computer that knows all the answers IF Trent can capture the three "memory lobes" or fingers the Kyban possess. Almost all the action takes place inside the Dixon Building where Trent finds Consuela Byros, a poor clothsmaker who eventually falls in love with Trent.

This one packs real tension as Trent scurries through hallways and up staircases to find the Kyban Time Mirror. Robert Culp is superb in what may be his finest performance. His cat-like moves through the building, the budding romance between him and the hapless girl, and the incredable music are highlights. Complete with a bombshell of an ending that's brilliantly hinted at throughout the episode, but whose revalation is still a shock.

Of course, no review would be complete without little nitpicks. The Kyban are nothing more than humans with bad eyeshadow and shower caps. While Trent's glass hand is a marvelous creation, the way it raises and lowers on the screen is not well executed. And this episode continues the Outer Limits tradition of NOT GUARDING ANYBODY, NO MATTER WHAT. Allowing the hero or villan to escape. Still, these are very minor nits and certainly doesn't detract from what is the finest episode in the Outer Limits original series.

The odd thing is, if this episode had been given a proper budget, I don't think it would have pulled it off as well. A lesson for producers and directors everywhere who think more money will solve the problem.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars maybe the best of the best, December 13, 1999

By	ChefBum "chefbum" (Fremont,, CA United States) - See all my reviews

As great and original as many of the episodes of the Outer Limits were, 'The Demon With a Glass Hand' seems to stand alone.

Images that stick out in my mind: Robert Culp slinking around, sleek as a black cat. Tense, well-timed chases, and a general film-noir atmosphere that seemed to transcend the usual, sometimes cheesy, but always earnestness of your usual Outer Limits episode.

In retrospect, the Outer Limits seems to enjoy a greater reverence than its more well-funded cousin, the Twilight Zone. Actually, there were some real 'WOOF's in there, and probably only about a half dozen or so truly great episodes.

The Demon With a Glass Hand is perhaps the best of the best of these. It is truly a treat, especially for those uninitiated to the golden age of serialized science fiction on TV.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaders From Noirs, March 29, 2002

By	Bruce Rux (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews

There's no way this thing should work, but it does, and brilliantly. The story is an overkill combination of pulp sci-fi elements: invaders from another world, time travel, and robots. It's performed as '40s noir melodrama, and succeeds by audaciousness and deadpan delivery. Amazingly, its reach does not exceed its grasp.

A thousand years in the future, Trent awakens in a world devoid of all humans but himself, surrounded by alien invaders called the Kyben who appear to be dying of some plague. He escapes through a Kyben time-mirror into 1964, and the aliens pursue him as though their life depends on it - which it does. One of Trent's hands is a computer, made of glass. And the Kyben somehow know the hand contains the answer to where the seventy billion conquered future Earthmen mysteriously disappeared overnight, as well as the solution to the plague that is equally mysteriously killing them off. A handful of Kyben imprison themselves in the Bradbury Building with Trent by means of a "force bubble," where they play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

The Kyben are men with dark circles around their eyes and showercaps tight over their heads (some of whom also wear nylon masks), in simple black leotards and gloves. Their weaponry, and Trent's, is nothing more than revolvers and everyday bullets - presumably, though it is never explained, to call less attention to themselves in 1964. The effects are as simple and cheap as the costumes, yet the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. Harry Lubin's bizarre, atonal electronic score is highly effective at providing an otherworldly feel to the otherwise seemingly prosaic melodrama. The performances are serious as a heart attack, and generally underplayed for greater effect.

This one has to be seen, if for no other reason than to demonstrate the fact that great science-fiction does not require any kind of budget or incredible special effects - the script and the performances, and clever production, carry it all off.

Really a unique piece.