Episode Spotlight: "The Sixth Finger" (10/14/1963)

“The Sixth Finger”

Season 1, Episode 5

Originally aired 10/14/1963

The films of Universal Studios' classic horror cycle feature numerous intense and driven scientists, probing the outer rim of known science and often unleashing new and destructive horrors upon the world. The Outer Limits introduced us to many such men, groping and stumbling their way through the hidden tapestry that seethes beneath everyday reality, discovering (or creating) atomic-age horrors of their own. Fifty years ago tonight, one of them peered into mankind's distant future only to find that there are monsters waiting for us there too: ourselves.

Professor Mathers has set up shop in a secluded Welsh mining town (sure sounds like a Universal horror flick) to experiment with artificially speeding up natural evolution. He finds a subject in Gwyllm Griffiths, a sullen and restless miner who believes himself destined for something beyond his meager surroundings (shades of Harold J. Finney!). Mathers exposes him to "selected wavelengths" designed to stimulate his superior genes and "thereby accelerating the inborn mechanism of evolution to a fantastically high speed," and immediately advances him 10,000 years further along man's evolutionary line.

What appears to be a resounding success quickly turns into something dark and unpredictable. Having set the biological rush in motion, Mathers is shocked to witness Gwyllm's evolution continue without further stimulation. His mental powers increase exponentially: he can read minds and, upon being discovered by Mathers' maid Ms. Ives, he telekinetically murders her by stopping her heart.

He then sets out to "utterly destroy" the town to settle his long-seated hatred for it but quickly evolves beyond the need for petty revenge. He enlists the aid of Cathy, the local girl who loves him, to use Mathers' equipment to advance him even further, past the physical realm into a state of pure thought. Unable to bear losing him for good, she pushes the lever the opposite way (yes, it all comes down to a lever; shades of Bride of Frankenstein!) and brings him back to his old primitive self.

RANDOMONIUM

“The Sixth Finger” is the only season one episode directed by James Goldstone; he’ll be back in a big way in season two, however, with the wonderful two-part “The Inheritors.” This is the only episode written by Ellis St. Joseph; of more interest to us is the fact that series producer Joseph Stefano contributed additional script material, so this is the first episode aired that he had a hand in writing.

John Nickolaus, DOP on the series premiere “The Galaxy Being,” is back this week; he’ll work on a total of nine episodes this season (Conrad Hall, meanwhile, will do fifteen; Kenneth Peach will do eight). There’s certainly nothing wrong with his work here, but it’s a bit flat when compared to the lush, shadow-drenched visuals Conrad Hall churns out. Maybe ‘flat’ is too harsh… not as rich, maybe?

 I have other, more specific issues with the cinematography: what the hell is up with the extreme close-ups? I’m totally cool with them if they’re there to provide a claustrophobic feel, or to impart some other dramatic sentiment, but the close-ups in “The Sixth Finger” feel arbitrary and pointless. And, in the case of Prof. Mathers, kinda creepy.


Second, the staccato-cutting back-and-forth of Gwyllm shifting between evolutionary stages in the chamber during the climax looks ridiculous. I mean, like, hilariously goofy. Like drama-killing. It looks like those animated GIFs you see all over the internet. Hey, that gives me an idea....

And again, Nickolaus just doesn't slather his visuals in shadows the way Conrad Hall does. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying his work is necessarily bad.... it's just not as moody, not as atmospheric, and not as beautiful. An exception is Mrs. Ives' funeral scene, which looks like it came straight out of Ingmar Bergman's 1962 film Winter Light (which is being aired on TCM tonight, so maybe I'm not the first person to make the connection).

"The Sixth Finger" is one of the series' best-remembered and most-beloved episodes, thanks in no small part to the elaborate makeup used for Gwyllm's last evolutionary stage. It may be the single most iconic "bear" the series has to offer (to my knowledge, it's the only TOL character ever to have spawned a Halloween mask; more on this below), and I have the utmost respect for it. Well, except for the droopy nose (the evolutionary point of which mystifies me).

What I have a hard time accepting or respecting is the design for Gwyllm's first evolutionary leap forward. High forehead, patchy unkempt hair and Jesus, look at those caterpillars (Martin Scorsese called, he wants his eyebrows back).  Does the man of the future sweat more, necessitating more eye protection?  This hardly looks like a step forward. He looks like a macrocephalic clown in search of his makeup.

Happily his next evolutionary stage (one million years ahead) is much more aesthetically pleasing: less hair, smoother head... it just looks cleaner, sleeker. I think I prefer this stage to the final, much more elaborate makeup. Watch him smugly observe that he's now the opposite of the relatively-primitive Professor Mathers. It's a chilling moment and, if we didn't already foresee problems, we sure as hell do now.

Check out time stamp 44:41, in which a fly buzzes around (and lands on) Gwyllm's head. I'd never noticed it before now, and upon spotting it I immediately squealed "Help meeeeeee!" before collapsing in a fit of hysterics. Man, I crack myself up.


Okay, so Gwyllm has already demonstrated some pretty impressive telekinetic ability (opening doors, stopping hearts, throwing people around, etc), so why does he need Cathy to operate the lever to propel him even higher up the evolutionary chain? Couldn't he, you know, DO IT HIMSELF? Having her of all people help him is a reckless and moronic risk, since she's already begged him not to evolve further (he even shows her exactly how to revert him back to earlier stages!). And Christ, he's supposed to be telepathic; that big brain of his should've known what she'd do. But hey, the episode's almost over and we need a happy ending, so screw everything.

And finally, what's wrong with Gwyllm when he exits the chamber at the end? He seems okay at first: he walks over to Cathy, touches her face, examines her teardrop on his finger... and then drops to the floor, mute and glassy-eyed. Is his brain fried? Or is he just really tired from all that evolving (and devolving)?  The original script called for him to revert all the way back to protoplasmic goo, which would've made for an infinitely better ending.

Wait, this isn't hand sanitizer...!

I'd like to think he's so stunned by Jill Haworth's breathtaking beauty that he needs a moment to collect himself. I'd probably react the same way.

Sigh.

In this type of story, the lab is typically destroyed in some spectacular fashion. That surprisingly doesn't happen here, which means that Mathers can just start over again with a different subject (hopefully one without those pesky delusions of grandeur). So if the lesson here is that man isn't yet ready to evolve... well, I see no indication that Mathers has learned it.


HOUSEKEEPING

Last week I reported that the "electronic buzzing, augmented with a reverby “magic wand” sound" would be standard accompaniment for the episode-specific titles for the rest of the season (instead of actual musical underscore). Well, surprise of surprises, this week's episode has ACTUAL MUSICAL UNDERSCORE playing under the episode titles, so I was clearly wrong there. I've checked every single episode, and this is absolutely, positively the LAST one. Starting next week, the series' structure and window dressing is set in stone.*

The length of the opening title sequence is shorter starting this week: gone are the Control Voice’s lines about controlling the volume and making the image roll or flutter. Here’s a decidedly low-resolution video capture for your reference:

The opening sequence will be downsized even further down the road. You'll see when we get there.

AURAL PLEASURE

Like last week, no original music was composed for this episode; however, attentive ears will pick up the "Coffee and Cigarettes" cue from "Controlled Experiment," used here as an ersatz theme for Cathy (we hear it almost every time she's onscreen). Later, we get "Monster Appears" from "The Human Factor" and "The Big Finish" from "The Borderland" (again). Because the episodes were shot and scored out of order, cues were often heard on the series for the first time out of context, a kind of a musical sneak preview. There are also some action-oriented cues in "The Sixth Finger" that I don't recognize, so I'm guessing they came from Stoney Burke. I'd really love to get my hands on some cue sheets so I could be sure (I have cue sheets for every episode of The Twilight Zone, which has been invaluable in tracing the use and reuse of music for that show in my other blog. 

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

David McCallum is quite good as Gwyllm Griffiths in the first of two TOL starring roles (he'll be back at the end of the season in “The Forms of Things Unknown”). Interestingly, he appeared in a remake of "A Feasibility Study" in 1997 on Showtime's Outer Limits revival series (which mostly sucked, unfortunately, though there are a few gems hidden in there). Genre fans undoubtedly remember him from his stint on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-68), but he's known to millions in the present day as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on the CBS stalwart NCIS (2003-present; if only The Outer Limits had had that kind of run).

Edward Mulhare is sufficiently stuffy (and a bit dickish, truth be told) as Professor Mathers. He appeared in a 1966 episode of The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Mata Hari Affair"), which I'm gonna count as a connection to David McCallum (despite the fact that McCallum never actually appeared on his show's S.P.I.N.O.F.F.).

Robert Doyle plays Wilt Morgan, Gwyllm's soot-covered coal-minin' coworker (say that fast three times). He worked for Daystar Productions previously in the "Cat's Eyes" episode of Stoney Burke, and he'll show up on TOL again in season two's "Expanding Human." And hey, he appeared on both The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Minus-X Affair") and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. ("The Phi Beta Killer Affair"), so there's a double C.O.N.N.E.C.T.I.O.N. for ya.

Janos Prohaska (the full-sized Thetan in "The Architects of Fear") returns to The Outer Limits as Darwin the Monkey (you didn't think that was a real monkey, did you?). He'll return in the series finale "The Probe" as Mikie the Microbe a year from January.

Jill Haworth is delicate and radiant as Cathy Evans in her only TOL appearance, which is a damn shame because she is undeniably a TOL Babe. I'd buy bread from her anytime.

Sigh (again).

HOME VIDEO RELEASES

Yes, I know there's some geometric distortion going on here. Google Images beggars can't be choosers.

“The Sixth Finger” has been released on VHS twice here in the US; first in the late 80’s as part of the 48-volume series collection, then again in the late 90’s with revised artwork.

If you didn't get out much, you probably got your TOL video fix from Columbia House, who offered the entire series on 24 two-episode tapes via mail order. “The Sixth Finger” was paired with “The Man Who Was Never Born.” In a nice bit off intercontinental synchrony, the UK retail release (volume 3 of 8) featured the same two episodes.

The episode was included in the third LaserDisc collection in 1994. The OCD collector in me wants to seek out the four TOL LD volumes, even though I don’t have player and probably never will.  I still want ‘em... you know, just to look at and stuff.

The episode has found its way onto three different DVD releases: the season one boxed set in 2002, the volume 1 set in 2007 (which comprised the first half of season 1), and the complete series boxed set in 2008. In all three incarnations, the discs are exactly the same, those unreliable DVD-18s (double-sided and dual-layered) that are the bane of so many collectors’ existences (I had to buy the volume 3 set to replace a disc that had gone bad, and I know I'm not the only one). The UK season sets (which match the original season sets here in terms of content) are single-sided discs... and I do have two region-free players.... hmmmm....

And finally, MGM has made the series available for standard-def streaming on Hulu but NOT Hulu Plus, which means even if you’re a paying member (which I am), you can’t watch it on your TV or mobile device.

What about blu-ray, you ask? Ha. I’m not holding my breath at this point. Maybe someday we’ll get an HD remastering, but it’ll probably only be available for streaming and not in a physical-object-to-own-and-cherish format.

TRADING CARD CORNER

Gwyllm was depicted twice in Topps' classic Monsters from Outer Limits card series in 1964, which is double what they gave Andy the Andromedan, but a mere fraction of the overexposure they indulged in for Andro ("The Man Who Was Never Born") and the Ebonite Interrogator ("Nightmare"), both of whom saw a whopping six cards each.

Rittenhouse produced a single series of TOL cards in 2002 which spotlighted eight episodes (nine cards for each) the backs of which summarized the story, Control Voice narration and all, and provided main cast and crew credits. Unfortunately, they frequently chose rather unexciting images for the fronts of the cards and, to my dismay, only featured the exquisite Jill Haworth on ONE lousy card.

MERCHANDISE SPOTLIGHT

As one of the series' most recognizable characters, Gwyllm has been immortalized a number of times. First and foremost, he got the deluxe action figure treatment in 2002 from Sideshow Collectibles, and it's a pretty amazing thing to behold. Look at that detail! Sideshow did a total of eight TOL characters, and I own exactly NONE of them (they're damn spendy these days, especially the two Zanti Misfits, which are up into car payment territory). Let's just say I plan to collect them all in a few years, when my wife finishes nursing school and is making the big bucks.

In 1988 Golden Era Miniatures released a 9" model kit and, as far as I can tell, they never released any other TOL kits... which might be a bit of a blessing, since the likeness here is kinda off.

Of course there's a Dimensional Designs model too... or is there? There's one listed on their website but, like Harold J. Finley last week, the listing has no picture, no price, and no sculptor listed. It was clearly planned (it was assigned a serial number, DD/OL/GG-40), but since it appears DD's TOL series has basically dried up, it'll probably never happen. Odd that they sculpted so many of the show's aliens and monsters, but never got around to doing Gwyllm, probably the most famous of them all.

There was also a "Tiny Terrors Super Deformed" model from Mad Labs released at some point (above). Um... yeah, okay.


The following video is obviously not connected to our "Sixth Finger" in any way, but I'm including it anyway because... well, it's funny. No other agenda. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, folks.

This next item doesn't really count as "merchandise," per say, but I stumbled across this while deep fishing on the internet and decided to throw it in. In 1967, Famous Monsters of Filmland published a story on John Chambers' super-evolved Gwyllm design. It's definitely worth a read:

Full disclosure time: the above article scans were rudely pilfered from The Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks, which is a great blog devoted to.... well, you get the idea. Do check it out. While I'm at it, here's another scan I thoughtlessly snagged from them which advertises the Gwyllm mask:

Chambers' design was turned into a full-head latex mask from Distortions Unlimited back in the early 80's. It was $74.95 then, so it would be a little over $180.00 in 2013 dollars... but you'll likely pay a lot more than that, since it's rare and highly collectible now: I found one on Amazon for $400.00 (if you order now you'll probably get it in time for Halloween!). The listing says "Death Studios," so it might be a bootleg, I dunno. Not exactly my field of expertise.






THE WRAP-UP

I'm sure I'm gonna get a few bricks thrown my way for this, but "The Sixth Finger" just doesn't quite gel for me. I do appreciate its strengths, and I certainly respect its stature within the Outer Limits creatureverse, but.... well, it's not top ten for me. Maybe not even top twenty. Go ahead, flame away. I can take it.

* Set in stone? Well, "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and "The Special One" will feature actual prologues instead of the now-standard pre-episode teasers, but that's not really a structural change... or is it?