tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post7484704042136077059..comments2024-03-01T15:55:16.858-08:00Comments on My Life in the Glow of The Outer Limits: Episode Spotlight: "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" (12/09/1963)Craig Beamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01039251711343080950noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-89453004072680999772021-08-25T23:08:00.187-07:002021-08-25T23:08:00.187-07:00Have you ever sucked a big ugly Dust...Have you ever sucked a big ugly Dust Bunny up your Vacuum Cleaner?Star Birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-33723112634029247792020-11-28T09:55:02.922-08:002020-11-28T09:55:02.922-08:00It has occurred to me over the years, that generat...It has occurred to me over the years, that generations of daily angst and existential fears, could have been undone, save for the laziness and/or stupidity, of one anonymous cleaning woman. She's using, what I assume is a state-of-the-art vacuum, but it's clear that this blob is just too big to be ingested. So, she just pokes and prods it, in the hope of breaking it up into more manageable bites. Why doesn't she simply move her dumb ass a few feet, and pick the thing up and drop in a trash receptacle, to then be placed in a bag for disposal? Granted, I wouldn't want to touch it either (I don't recall if she was wearing gloves). Surely though, she could have found something, a piece of paper toweling, some clamp type implement laying around, or simply a portion of one of her own trash bags to avoid direct contact.<br /><br />Presto, this horror makes its way to a landfill, forever removed from our consciousness (save possibly being disturbed by a future earthquake, which shouldn't have the same catalytic results). Further proof, I suppose, of the single actor theory, of the generator of historical events, even epochal ones.Mitchell Melkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14925358174427237288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-86316863101561870052020-05-24T01:13:24.784-07:002020-05-24T01:13:24.784-07:00When this episode was rerun in England on 27th Jun...When this episode was rerun in England on 27th June 1980, a sarcastic critic suggested that the title alone should have won an award for its originator. Its a well made episode to be sure, but no classic. Best wishes, it crawled out of the Zokko. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-69173556233455887412019-01-07T20:24:19.361-08:002019-01-07T20:24:19.361-08:00Well it sure was no Dust Bunny but the titl...Well it sure was no Dust Bunny but the title sounds like a story you would read to kids during sleep over or camping tripStar Birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-52243945614824255492018-06-23T07:12:14.891-07:002018-06-23T07:12:14.891-07:00(Not to be confused with the Night Gallery episode...(Not to be confused with the Night Gallery episode “Something in the Woodwork”...) <br /><br />It was a dark and stormy night... And so begins a tale that has all the trappings of a classic horror film. As such, it gets off to a good start, with all the appropriate elements---mad scientist, killer creature on the loose, a hoard of undead zombies (though in this case they’re not looking for brains, but rely on energy to survive and so can be controlled by ungainly pacemakers).<br /><br />The story easily held my attention, though the ending was quite anti-climactic and the story overall has a number of plot holes. Most importantly---how did a lump of lint transform into a (seemingly sentient) killer energy being? This vital piece of information isn’t explained at all. I guess a clog in your vacuum hose can easily create monsters, so everyone better be careful when doing a bit of housecleaning, lest you wind up unexpectedly dead.<br /><br />As for the final climactic sequence, well…. It would have been easy enough to push the dying doctor aside and push the “door close” button before the monster ever escaped. And then once it was on the loose, why didn’t it suck the life out of the two people in the room before leaving the lab? Or does it simply scare people to death, instead of draining their life force? How self-aware is it? It seemed to target that guard at the beginning simply because he tried to warn people away from the lab… though why would it care one way or another who was employed at the facility?<br /><br />This energy being seems to require a constant influx of energy to survive (no surprise), so if they wanted to defeat it, well---why not just shut it in its room and then turn off the generator? It can’t seem to travel through locked steel doors---if left on its own for a bit, wouldn’t it just burn through its energy reserves and fizzle out?<br /><br />The control voice at the end let us know that, oh wait, this story was in fact an allegory about the danger of splitting the atom. No putting that genie back in the bottle---once we created the atom bomb, we can’t get rid of it, all we can do is contain it and guard it. Honestly, this interpretation of events probably never would have occurred to me, if I hadn’t been told what to think by Mr Control Voice. So, thank you, master….. heh….<br /><br />I thought the cast was uniformly good, though the narrative pulls a couple of switches on the viewer. First we think that Stuart is going to be the main character, then we switch over to his brother Jory, and then switch yet again to the detective. Barbara Luna was lovely in the thankless “I-just-met-you-but-now-I’m-happy-to-be-your faithful-girlfriend-and-will-do-anything-you-want” role. I have to seriously question her character’s judgement, not only because of hooking up with a total stranger who calls her out of the blue, but because just about every word that falls out of Jory’s mouth shows that he has severe emotional issues that aren’t exactly ideal if one is looking for a stable boyfriend.<br /><br />Though, that brings up another point… This is another episode that shows us a lot about a character’s (Jory’s) background and personality, without the information really having anything to do with the plot. I kind of like the way the show does this, throwing out a lot of asides without them having to mean anything or be relevant. Seems like real life.<br /><br />The episode, as befitting a horror story, was quite atmospheric, artistically shot and lit. And I thought optical effects depicting the energy monster were very well done; I liked what they were able to do on a limited budget; excellent!<br /><br />So, overall---I enjoyed the story and got a great deal of enjoyment from the episode, but some vagaries of plot keeps this from being a top-tier episode.<br />octobercountryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10730345596655835129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-58533857531427067312018-06-13T23:10:27.694-07:002018-06-13T23:10:27.694-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.octobercountryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10730345596655835129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-19471371309068233762017-12-30T04:03:49.574-08:002017-12-30T04:03:49.574-08:00Can anyone explain why none of the "zombified...Can anyone explain why none of the "zombified" Norco employees - when they, e.g., leave the plant to go back to their motel room and have a confrontation with their "baby" brother - don't simply go straight to the police and show them their pacemakers? Or just keep on driving until they reach the East Coast? Or does the Energy Being have an unlimited geographical range? Could it theoretically track down Stu to even the middle of Time Square, kill him, and then be lured back into the "Pit?" As noted above, the guard at the gate doesn't have a pacemaker - so how does having a pacemaker implanted in you by Dr. Block make you (more) subject to his control? Why couldn't at least the guard - say, during his annual vacation - just *stay* in his hotel room in Waikiki and never return to Norco? For that matter: Why is it even necessary for Dr. Block to obtain this sort of leverage against his personnel? I'm sure that plenty of bright minds would be more than willing to explore the Energy Being without being coerced. Another question: Was pacemaker technology in the 1960s still so new and unfamiliar that screenwriters could equate "installing a pacemaker" with "reanimating someone who has died of fright?"Alexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-16015993251022792092017-02-16T08:07:17.284-08:002017-02-16T08:07:17.284-08:00This is one of the better episodes, that holds up ...This is one of the better episodes, that holds up for repeated viewing. Really well thought out, well rounded characters. It all works for me. The brothers, Ed Asner, the woman scientist, all great. Don't recall this episode from when I was a kid watching in 1963/1964, but I love it now--Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06899760253608859423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-64871805313596726782016-11-22T11:21:42.471-08:002016-11-22T11:21:42.471-08:00An interesting moment occurs in this episode when ...An interesting moment occurs in this episode when Edward Asner ventures into the corridor leading to "The Pit". Dr. Linden locks the door behind him, and, not seeming overly alarmed, he heads down the hallway toward "The Pit". He peers through the viewing plate and sees the energy creature, pulsating and strobing. Asner gets a stupefied look on his face and, as he gazes transfixed, it appears that he's suddenly missing one of his top front teeth! Look closely and you'll see this. Maybe it's just the way the seen was illuminated, or maybe they actually blacked out one of his top front teeth, but whatever happened it definitely adds to the weirdness of the scene.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-32482988984261035422016-11-17T15:17:06.525-08:002016-11-17T15:17:06.525-08:00(continued from my previous post) Sometime later,... (continued from my previous post) Sometime later, after Stu's accidental, mysterious death, Gaby starts probing into Jory's motives. She asks him what the name of the friend was, who supposedly went to school with Gaby's "brother". Jory replies, "I don't know. I made it up". Next, she asks Jory if he really saw all her television shows. Jory replies, "Yeah, I think so". Gaby then wants to know how Jory got her phone number. "In the phone book", Jory replies. And finally, Gaby wants to know just exactly what made Jory call her in the first place. "Your legs, your very fine legs", Jory distractedly confesses. If nothing else, this Gaby woman appreciates honesty. That she has nice legs is later confirmed by the guard at the main Norco gate, who tells Jory, with a sly smile, "She's got nice legs. Girls with nice legs should be seen on a public dance floor". Quickly realizing this comment was out of order, the guard apologizes to Jory with "I didn't mean anything improper". Still later, Jory reveals yet another fatal character flaw to Gaby: "I can't make decisions, Gaby". Probably not the best thing to tell a woman you've just started a relationship with, no? But Gaby tenderly replies, "They're hard to make". She then tries to help Jory with the decision making process, and Jory snaps at her, "Don't help me"! She lovingly replies, "I'm sorry". Now, does anyone reading this know any women like Gaby Christian? If so, please let me know. I, also, am insecure, neurotic, can't make decisions, and am basically a terrified little boy with a big broken heart. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Cory. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-27534687729978290942016-11-17T14:09:20.984-08:002016-11-17T14:09:20.984-08:00I had long considered this to be a so-so episode, ...I had long considered this to be a so-so episode, but it's improved over time, mainly because of the performance of Scott Marlowe as "younger brother" Jory Peters. At 31 Marlowe was eleven years older than the character's stated age of twenty, but the fact that Michael Forest stands about a foot taller than Marlowe helps convince us that Jory is "much" younger than big brother Stu. This brotherly relationship works quite well, and is somehow believable. To say that Jory is a complex character is an understatement. He's insecure, neurotic, doesn't like being on his own, and dropped out of college to make the trip across the country with Stu. Most people, I think, would call that "insecure", even for a guy of twenty. He's also not too bright, as we discover when he reveals to the coroner that he doesn't know what a cardiac pacemaker is. Uh, I don't know about anybody else, but I knew what a cardiac pacemaker was when I was twenty, in fact I probably knew what it was when I was twelve. That someone who doesn't know what a pacemaker is would drop out of college is not altogether surprising, but a more troubling question would be, how did this person get into college in the first place? But maybe I'm being too hard on Jory. He does have at least one positive quality, in that his "humour is fairly mature. Scary notes written on the back of a book of matches wouldn't be his style" Stu advises Doctor Bloch when Bloch tries to pin the matchbook caper on Jory. I guess if it least your sense of humour has grown up, that's worth something. Despite Jory's many weaknesses, such as being "a terrified little boy with a big broken heart", he seems to have no problems picking up girls. Immediately upon arriving in LA he telephones Gaby Christian, a television actress whom he's heard of but has never met, and without telling her his name, and without her asking him his name, she accepts. Jory tells her a phony story that he's the friend of a friend who "went to school with your brother". It's not made clear whether Gaby even has a brother, but apparently she does because she accepts the story. She does mention that he sounds "young" over the telephone, which is odd because, to me, he sounds quite mature and confident, even cocky. Jory replies that he's not as young as he sounds, and that he "thinks old". Exactly what "old" means here is not clear. Gaby asks Jory if he would be willing to marry her, to which Jory replies, "if you're the right girl we'll marry in haste". After this amazing conversation ends, Jory tells Stu that he's "worried" about Gaby because she agreed to have dinner with a man she had never met, and didn't bother to ask his name. I would think that all you ladies who are reading this would likewise be worried about Gaby. Their dinner date apparently went well, because Gaby drops by the next day wanting another date with Jory. Jory then, perhaps unadviseably, begins to pour his neuroses all over Gaby, something which Gaby seems used to getting from the men she dates. He reveals that he's neurotic, and stays with big brother Stu as much as he can. I'm not sure if this is the kind of stuff you should tell a woman after the first date, but Gaby seems amazingly understanding and sympathetic. Three things we learn about Gaby are that 1) She's understanding about men and their insecurities 2) She's not overly cautious regarding blind dates and 3) She's got nice legs Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-55875848985069734592015-11-26T22:23:16.167-08:002015-11-26T22:23:16.167-08:00A good, effective episode, and I kinda liked the b...A good, effective episode, and I kinda liked the beginning with that large dust bunny clinging stubbornly to the baseboard, until the cleaning lady has to grab it with a hankie and stuff it in the vacuum cleaner attachment! But seriously, I think they wanted something so common, so innocuous, so safe -- a common dustball -- to increase the the impact of what happens next (vacuum cleaner expands and bursts, and the really creepy Energy Creature is released). <br /><br />As for the chamber where the beast is kept, evidently it's constantly releasing energy to the Creature, which consumes it, and thus keeps the Creature there. But when the doors are opened, that probably turns off the energy in the chamber, so the Creature moves out, seeking the energy it needs. When, at the end, they needed to bring it back, they blacked out the whole region; obviously the chamber had it's own energy generation, and the Creature sensed this, and moved back into it. <br /><br />I kinda agree with Cory, above, that Scott Marlowe's behavior at the end is oddly unconcerned. Also, he virtually disappears from the show, half-way through. He's not even in on the climatic encounter with Bloch and the Energy Creature? It was as if the scriptwriters simply forgot about him! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09248294360990934627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-78296804692641043892014-07-26T16:18:24.168-07:002014-07-26T16:18:24.168-07:00An "energy monster" that develops from a...An "energy monster" that develops from a ball of dust in the corner of a laboratory is a bit far fetched, especially one that can be tamed and willingly stays in its chamber when not needed, but this episode still holds up reasonably well today. It seems a bit odd that star Scott Marlowe never actually sees the monster, he runs into the lab at the end just in time to hear Ed Asner assure him that "it's under control, for the moment". Marlowe looks confused and then just walks out. The only real mistake in the show was giving Dr. Bloch (Kent Smith) a German accent, presumably to make him sound more "sinister". Smith's voice was more than sufficient for the role and need no such embellishment, and the result sounds contrived and cheapens the episode somewhat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-40119667744257028402014-05-01T11:36:39.344-07:002014-05-01T11:36:39.344-07:00You are spot on about the teaser. I was scared of ...You are spot on about the teaser. I was scared of vacuum cleaners for awhile after this episode.i-Lens Artographyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557135512123790408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-826563339836758922014-05-01T11:35:29.690-07:002014-05-01T11:35:29.690-07:00An decent episode and a very impressive and creati...An decent episode and a very impressive and creative "bear". It may be just energy but the effect is very striking. A couple of times it felt like it would reach out of the screen and grab me. The lighting and camera work are excellent. Michael Forrest lying on the table after having been literally scared to death was well played. I don't care much for Scott Marlowe in this one. He is much better in his Andre role in The Forms of Things Unknown. Barbara Luna is total babe! I would take her down to L.A. for more than dancing. This is a visually striking and pretty much indicative of Season 1 TOL but it had the misfortune of following Nightmare and THAT is a hard act to follow.i-Lens Artographyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557135512123790408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-2129732694294488642013-12-25T06:11:47.338-08:002013-12-25T06:11:47.338-08:00This may have the best opening teaser of any Outer...This may have the best opening teaser of any Outer Limits episode. <br /><br />"Woodwork" starts and finishes memorably, but everything in the middle just plods along. It's probably due to the fact that many of the characters are nearly zombies. Actually, Dr. Block and Detective Siroleo are no dynamos, either. The energy cloud effect along with it's containment pit, are the best things about this one. <br /><br />Overall though, this is an enjoyable episode with nightmarish sets and an effective monster.<br /><br />My Rating: 7 - Very Goodwhitsbrainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18171082058163775614noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4584587054071618235.post-68052462000919752982013-12-09T18:50:56.330-08:002013-12-09T18:50:56.330-08:00My lol moment was the security guard sitting on a ...My lol moment was the security guard sitting on a folding chair outside the gate. I hope they gave him an umbrella when it rains.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04531613345845683759noreply@blogger.com