Why are aliens always trying to get on our backs? Let's get to it, shall we?
Three unassuming men have been recruited to join a shadowy organization called "The Invisibles." They
are taken to a secluded barracks where they learn the truth about the organization: that it is an
invasion force of symbiotic alien lifeforms that seek to make hosts out of the rich and powerful.
The three men in question, though, are neither rich nor powerful, so they've been chosen as
human agents to help the cause without being hosts themselves. While an annoying guard plays
Steve McQueen on the wall outside, they get innoculated against the alien symbiotes.
"We call them sim-bye-oats."
Then the leader of the Invisibles leaves the room in mid-sentence.
"But if your body has resisted the innoculation..."
Rude.
Later, when the first man, Castle, gets his innoculation tested,
he becomes an incomplete symbiote, a broken, humpbacked zombie-like wretch.
The other two, Spain and Plannetta, bond over their situation, and even though the plan is
to have them move to different cities and never see each other again, they try to become friends.
When this Igor-looking dude comes knocking to take Plannetta to his innoculation test,
Plannetta resists, but Spain pursuades Igor to let the two men get tested together.
After both men pass their tests-- which take place in a makeshift morgue for some
reason --Spain sneaks out of the barracks and meets with another man outside the perimeter,
where the surprise reveal is that Spain is,
in fact, a secret government agent sent to infiltrate The Invisibles.
Spain passes along information and formulates a plan to use a secret phone number in the future,
which he will also pass along to Plannetta. He then makes fun of his fellow agent's wardrobe.
"Hey, John, you're gonna catch cold in those wet boots."
Back in the morgue, Spain and Plannetta are taught how to implant a symbiote onto a human body,
and Spain realizes to his horror that the dead body they practice on is his fellow agent.
With no choice but to stick to the plan, Spain tells Plannetta about the phone number and is
sent on his mission to assimilate an important general, General Clarke, while disguised as his
wife's chauffeur. He then meets up with--holy crap, is that Richard Dawson?--who openly admits
to being another Invisible, there to watch over Spain and make sure he completes his mission.
While driving Mrs. Clarke into town, he fakes a breakdown and hurries to the nearest phone booth.
For the younger people in the audience, these were little structures that were just placed
here and there that were designed for people to make phone calls before cell
phones were a thing. They were also pretty handy for quick superhero wardrobe changes.
Richard Dawson then arranges a meeting between Spain and the general, in which Spain fails
to implant the alien symbiote-- "sim-bye-oat" --and discovers that General Clarke is already
an Invisible and that Spain was the real prize all along. Now that the general has confirmed
Spain's identity as a secret agent, he plans to put the symbiote in him and have a double
agent inside the agency. However, the human side of the general starts to break through, giving
Spain just enough time to make a run for it, where he then finds out why Mrs. Clarke needs a driver.
He awakens back in the house, where he's apparently been treated by Nurse Annie Wilkes,
but with Mrs. Clarke's help, he manages to escape again and meet up with Plannetta,
who reveals that his target was also Spain. He also whines a fair bit.
"When I like somebody, when they trick me, I just want to beat them up and
beat them up until they're all beat up!"
Conflicted, Plannetta leaves the symbiote on the ground and runs away,
but as the creature makes its way to Spain-- the man, not the country --Plannetta changes
his mind and tries to help by falling to his death. Spain is then rescued by other agents while
the narrator cheekily suggests that secret agents are the true invisibles among us.
I enjoy it when The Outer Limits dabbles in spy stories, even if the plots get kinda ridiculous.
This episode isn't quite as good as the one with the clayface Asian infiltrators
from the beginning of the season, but it is a good ride that has more than a few shades
of Heinlein's The Puppet Masters. It's also got friggin' Richard Dawson in it,
so that automatically makes it worth your time.
And that's all I have on "The Invisibles." 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.
"I'll keep Mrs. Clarke downstairs until 12:00 or so.
I play fine piano and I know all the sad songs."