I never expected to see Archie Bunker and Detective Gerard as illegal aliens,
but here we are. Let's get to it, shall we?
We open at a pawn shop owned and operated by a Martian called Phobos One who is being
visited by a fellow Martian, Deimos, to conduct an experiment on the human race
in order to learn the nature of murder, a behavioral trait apparently exclusive to us.
Phobos then acclimates Deimos by showing him how to do drugs.
"First a puff, then a sip, and that's all you need."
"Mmm, it is, uh, quite stimulating!"
Afterwards, they get information from base that a murder is about to happen nearby, which the
pair track with their highly sophisticated alien technology far in advance of anything we could
ever understand. This takes them to a hotel lobby, where Deimos sets out his equipment:
a dangerous device capable of manipulating time. In the lead up to the actual murder,
they key in on the perp, a jealous blonde who's name they get through technological telepathy.
"I must be losing my marbles. What is my name? Carla."
That's a lie, though. We all know her real name is Janice.
After the Martians witness the murder, where Carla shoots her lover, Bert, as soon as he gets
out of the elevator because he was apparently cheating on her, Deimos is utterly baffled and
plays the event over and over again in an effort to grasp the why and how of it all. Eventually,
Deimos has had enough of being a passive observer and decides to see what will happen if he prevents
the killing altogether. What happens is that Bert and Carla immediately reconcile and
agree to get married, which is the perfectly predictable end result of attempted murder.
Though Phobos and Deimos are pleased by the happy ending, they are immediately contacted by base,
which informs them that they've just completely ruined the timeline and set
events in motion that will destroy the entire solar system and possibly even the galaxy.
They are ordered to reset the timeline the way it was, but in a fit of mischief,
they try to keep their happy ending, even at the risk of everything.
The Outer Limits has thus far been focused on horror,
but this episode is better looked at as a comedy.
The set-up is fun, and the silly rudimentary math equations and dumb technobabble only really work as gags.
"But won't that put a hole in the spacetime continuum?"
"This is the infinite permutations model."
Plus, the two leads, who I will only think of as Archie Bunker and Detective Gerard,
have great chemistry together.
"But it's against regulations. You might unwrap the entire universe."
"Nonsense! We've got to do something radical."
Using the aliens-among-us trope to comment on humanity from an outside
perspective can be really entertaining, as John Lithgow proved a few decades later--
"What's this?"
--but like an SNL skit that overstays its welcome, the humor fades into tedium,
especially after the audience is forced to watch
the same lengthy effect every single time the Martians mess with events.
This is one of those episodes that doesn't know what to do with an entire hour, and since it
lacks any cool creatures to gawk at or suspense to carry you through the commercial breaks,
it feels like a filler or bottle episode. It's cute, but it's also completely forgettable.
And that's all I have on "Controlled Experiment." Now as always, do all those YouTubey things, check
out my Patreon, and all that other good stuff, but until next time, this is The Unapologetic Geek,
telling you to never be ashamed of what you love, as long as you're not hurting anybody.
"There is an answer to this, and pure science will find it!"