tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post4732820189975164014..comments2024-03-01T15:55:16.858-08:00Comments on My Life in the Glow of The Outer Limits: Episode Spotlight: "Don't Open Till Doomsday" (1/20/1964)Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-57224992243187405112022-04-24T07:30:15.066-07:002022-04-24T07:30:15.066-07:00Two piddling points struck me as I read this. Firs...Two piddling points struck me as I read this. First, a couple more genre credits can be listed for John Hoyt. First, in X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes and a bit more noticeably, a few years later, in The Time Travelers.<br /><br />The other thing is of my own contrivance. In being reminded of the Box Demon's plan, as it's written here, it puts me in mind of the Undine's rationale for purging our galaxy (in ST Voyager's Scorpion), because it was a threat to their genetic integrity (if I have Kes' dialogue correctly). It just seems as if the two species might be kindred spirits, in a way, though the Undine are a damned sight better looking!!!Mitchell Melkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14925358174427237288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-51004535411462813012020-09-06T15:01:06.492-07:002020-09-06T15:01:06.492-07:00Maybe so, however perhaps it was not doing what wa...Maybe so, however perhaps it was not doing what was expected, and the quirky logic of Turdo's agenda left to viewer’s senses that gives this episode appeal. Plus Turdo's eternal smirk and the ~ 30Hz tone of his transporter ray, viscerally hits you when listening with good HT hardware.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12007548640789388359noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-81320083759073902362020-06-01T00:13:32.894-07:002020-06-01T00:13:32.894-07:00The episode starts promisingly but when we see Kin...The episode starts promisingly but when we see King Turd in all its glory it never recovers. It would have been better if the box was transporting people to another planet. Best wishes, ZokkoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-41931131412975079042019-07-03T01:59:42.578-07:002019-07-03T01:59:42.578-07:00Just bought the DVD for Part 2 of Season 1 & w...Just bought the DVD for Part 2 of Season 1 & watched that episode. Man, so many plot holes! I’m surprised at how seriously you guys are taking this. At 1st, it seems as though someone has to look directly into the eye of the box in order to be sucked into it. But when the bride’s father comes in, the alien starts shooting “gotcha!” beams left & right to suck him into the box! How can the alien wait around for 35 years & be so patient? He thinks his alien buddies are still around & haven’t left by now? <br /><br />Who delivered the alien in the first place & why? The bride’s unhappy father? If “Joan Crawford” (that’s who she looked like to me) knows what the alien is doing, how can she be so “la de da” about not finding a way to free her man or make a deal with the alien? Why hasn’t her hubby negotiated something after 35 years in that box? <br /><br />What’s the message, the young couple deserves to live but “Joan Crawford,” her still-young husband & the selfish father of the young bride (he doesn’t even care that he’s found her but is more annoyed at being in the box & she later has to remind him to ask the alien to free her too) deserve to die? I agree with someone else’s comment that the writer apparently just blew everything up because he didn’t know how to end it. Gee, I hope the other episodes are better than this!Guy Aokihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13225535103349818327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-19901393907135233512019-01-15T00:09:36.954-08:002019-01-15T00:09:36.954-08:00So whats in the box lady? oh JUST som...So whats in the box lady? oh JUST some alien from some planet wanting to wipeout the it blocks his view of ge Andormenda galaxy Universe Star Birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-34311851925548186242018-10-05T09:49:23.493-07:002018-10-05T09:49:23.493-07:00You're doing the Lord's work with these po...You're doing the Lord's work with these posts. Only a true obsessive would (or could) do this, and I salute you for it. Well done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-68774517409123885062018-07-30T09:12:18.894-07:002018-07-30T09:12:18.894-07:00Miriam Hopkins character reminded me of Miss Haver...Miriam Hopkins character reminded me of Miss Haversham in Great Expectations. She was also demented and was consumed by fire. Stefano inspired by Dickens? Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05617579898516501924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-66953819799010138332018-06-24T08:33:59.242-07:002018-06-24T08:33:59.242-07:00This is an episode that left me feeling frustrated...This is an episode that left me feeling frustrated. There are a number of great spooky elements to the story, but the overall plot makes no sense whatsoever.<br /><br />It begins well enough, with the prologue, and when we return to the present day the Miss Havisham-esque setting piqued my interest. (Though, man, time wasn’t kind to the jilted bride, was it. She would logically have been about 55, but looks terribly well-worn for a woman in her fifties.)<br /><br />But when you examine the specifics of the plot, not a bit of it holds together. So, Dr Spazman (seriously, THAT is his name?!) sends an alien in a box to the son of his hated former employer, as a means of revenge for being mocked and fired. But---how did the alien get in the box? Surely that box wasn’t the alien ship? Did Spazman communicate with the alien beforehand, and know the alien’s true purpose? WHY did the aliens want to destroy first the planet, and then the universe? Seeing as that would destroy them as well, were they just self-destructive jerks? Why did the other aliens give the alien in the box such a key role in the destructive process, when that alien admits that he’s a moron who can’t find his way around and gets lost easily?<br /><br />When Harvey Jr. was first captured at the very beginning, why didn’t the alien in the box spin a sympathetic yarn---for instance, say that he was captured by a crazy scientist, and all he wants to do is go home, if the groom will help him? It would appear that the alien simply blurted out his plan to destroy the universe---so naturally Harvey said no dice, I’m not helping you.<br /><br />Apparently Mary spoke to the alien in the box right after her husband disappeared, and knew what the story was. So---her husband said he wouldn’t love her any more if she helped the alien---so what did she think would happen if she sent someone else in there to do the dirty work? Her husband still wouldn’t love her---plus the universe would blow up, for goodness sake. Also, why did it take her 35 years to find someone else to look in the box, in the hope that they would help the alien? Seems like she could have gotten someone to look inside at any given time during all those years; wouldn’t have been that hard to trick someone with an excuse.<br /><br />So, yeah, this episode has some of the trappings of a really fun horror story, but the complete and utter stupidity of the plot irritates me no end.<br /><br />Fun to see Miriam Hopkins again, who camps it up a bit here. She was active during the golden age of Hollywood but is pretty much forgotten today. I primarily only remember her as Bette Davis’ hated rival at Warners.<br /><br />The initial reveal of the alien was disappointing, and overall I wasn’t too impressed with the monster, though there were some individual shots of it that looked very cool.<br />octobercountryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10730345596655835129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-83389555668529653102017-02-23T15:35:02.490-08:002017-02-23T15:35:02.490-08:00Funny, but the episodes I seem to like least, you ...Funny, but the episodes I seem to like least, you guys seem to like most. This one just doesn't do it for me. I find it tedious. Not sure why. This was done a year or 2 after "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane". Miriam Hopkins tries SO hard to cop the Baby Jane look and feel. That bugs me. The whole look of the Box Demon doesn't work for me either. None of this episode works for me, except for the music and cinematography. Next-Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06899760253608859423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-16761221683943046722016-05-28T14:14:32.644-07:002016-05-28T14:14:32.644-07:00Wow... I have been searching for this for a good 1...Wow... I have been searching for this for a good 15 years or more, having decided to try and track down the mystery horror that years ago did indeed fuck with my young mind and which spawned the second-most horrifying nightmare I've had in my adult life. So... a form of thanks to you, for ending my search, and bringing that horror to me a-fresh!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13490494375829200975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-5192397449933447322014-10-18T17:42:23.165-07:002014-10-18T17:42:23.165-07:00Correction. It was our local THIS TV station, not...Correction. It was our local THIS TV station, not the MeTV. My goof.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-68116188821914443262014-10-13T14:00:02.042-07:002014-10-13T14:00:02.042-07:00The other really great line, from all the episodes...The other really great line, from all the episodes, belongs to Jeff Corey (as Byron Lomax, in "O.B.I.T."): "The machines are EVERYWHERE!"<br /><br />Lurker111<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-77713815277160018382014-10-13T10:54:14.488-07:002014-10-13T10:54:14.488-07:00MeTV just showed this episode at 1 a.m. this morni...MeTV just showed this episode at 1 a.m. this morning. I'd forgotten just how well Miriam Hopkins played her role. I suspect she truly got into it and got a kick out of playing Mrs. Kry. A truly superb and underappreciated performance.<br /><br />Lurker111<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-59277508198884585362014-07-22T22:52:30.327-07:002014-07-22T22:52:30.327-07:00This is my favorite episode. My fascination with ...This is my favorite episode. My fascination with the 1920's captured me when I was a little kid when it first aired. Miriam Hopkins was fabulous in the part, a true actress, and her beauty came out even as grotesquely as she was made up.<br /><br />LOVED the "Tre Nouveau" bridal suite. <br /><br />If you watch the episode several times, you see repeated clips, depicting different scenes, indicating that it was a very low budget production, but I always admired what "The Outer Limits" could do with a lower than low budget, counteracted by an an extremely vivid imagination!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-77138664744292252062014-07-06T11:56:43.639-07:002014-07-06T11:56:43.639-07:00Tremendous write-up! Also, many thanks for your s...Tremendous write-up! Also, many thanks for your sections giving shout-outs to other SF roles of the actors. As probably a TOL fan only second to ST:TOS and then TZ, you are speaking my language!<br />In my pre-retirement life I was a TV programmer for KTLA in L.A. and then TNT/TCM, and my proudest accomplishments are what I was able to do with Trek, Zone & Outer Limits while I was at each respective gig. I love them all!! Lisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00345830456539347899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-27069329708979361202014-04-19T14:28:06.924-07:002014-04-19T14:28:06.924-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.i-Lens Artographyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557135512123790408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-37653226157445162432014-02-11T15:31:26.425-08:002014-02-11T15:31:26.425-08:00Miriam Hopkins has one of my favorite lines of dia...Miriam Hopkins has one of my favorite lines of dialogue in all The Outer Limits: "YOU ... stupid ... MONSTER!" Why it's my favorite, I'll never be able to put into words.Bill Huelbighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11631181823160085068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-38979931497765557432014-02-01T08:04:54.930-08:002014-02-01T08:04:54.930-08:00In the interest of building content, I am pasting ...In the interest of building content, I am pasting some thoughts I wrote on a website some six or so years ago. Much of it treads the same turf that Craig's article does, and I don't know if I poached it from anyone else back then, but what the Hell...<br /><br />This is weird. No matter how you interpret it; a sexual nightmare, an alien invasion, "Don't Open Till Doomsday" is just warped. But I like it. An alien, that looks like either a combo platter of male and female naughty bits or a pile that the neighbor's dog left in your yard, is in a small box equipped with a peephole. Now, how the alien ended up in that box is not explained. Was it captured and imprisoned in the box by Dr. Spazman? Was the box actually the alien's craft? Who knows. What we do know is the alien needs help from someone, anyone actually, so it may reunite with other aliens to destroy the universe. I'm not sure why you would make a deal with anything that had a goal of universal destruction, but that's not the point. The point is that this is a cool story. Miriam Hopkins is demented as the bride who's husband was beamed into the box by the alien some thirty years ago on their wedding day. Her goal is to get her husband out of the box by exchanging him with one of the newlyweds who are staying at her home. As the viewer, we get to enter the box late in the episode. It's interesting even though the alien just slowly scoots around babbling about blending frequencies with other aliens to bring about an end to everything. The ending of the story is a bit anticlimactic, especially when you realize it's pointless. But as you lean back scratching your head about what you just watched, it will leave you feeling strangely satisfied.whitsbrainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18171082058163775614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-63444197988071099502014-01-22T17:50:59.000-08:002014-01-22T17:50:59.000-08:00Excellent blog about, probably, the most difficult...Excellent blog about, probably, the most difficult to discuss episode. It IS a great one, despite (or because of?) its impenetrable, ultra-personal Stefano symbolism -- which may have been intentional. It reminds me of Kubrick's famous explanation that the symbols in "2001" were INTENDED to defy rational analysis, so that they would penetrate directly to the subconscious, without the filter or barrier of the intellect. Just quoting, for what it's worth. Not only do you clearly "get" whatever the message of "Doomsday" is, but obvioulsy so does Woody Welch. We might ask David J. Schow if, had Joe Stefano seen this fantastic new painting, he might have said, "Yes -- THAT'S how uncomfortable I wanted to make the viewer!" PS: I neglected to insert "heh heh" at the appropriate place, and, yes, you are despicable.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14734209804925803298noreply@blogger.com