Growing Up with Space Aliens

[EddMarkStarr]

Can we talk here?

Against all odds I've made it to the age of 65. If you guys could have known me as a child, you may have had the same doubts as my parents.
I was a TV kid in the worst way. My every hour was spent in front of the television, mom and dad wondering where they went wrong.

Science fiction was my favorite genre, take my friend in the photo above.

Taken in 1963 at the studio of Project Unlimited, this is the Thetan from an episode of The Outer Limits called, "The Architects of Fear".
This guy scared the hell outta me when I saw this at age 6, but that fear changed to a new understanding.

It took time but I grew to learn that science fiction is not about space aliens, spaceships or laser pistols. At its core, Sci-Fi is all about us.
Most every episode of the original Outer Limits was a story about human frailties, our wants & desires, and the way we treat each other.
I used to be embarrassed to admit I grew up thanks to space aliens, but I now realize that I grew up during a time of great writers and brilliant actors.

This clip is from the episode, "A Feasibility Study", from 1964.
The inhabitants of the planet Luminos have contracted a disease that slowly turn their bodies into stone.
To do the work necessary for survival, the Luminoids have teleported an entire neighborhood from Earth and plan to use humans as slaves.

How lucky am I to have grown up with this example of the power of the spoken word.
Celebrate my 65th birthday by listening to the Luminoid elder explain their situation.
The beauty, the terror, the power of dialog delivered with artistry. The best villains . . . talk you to death!

 

[gsdx]

Television was strictly rationed when I was a kid, and when we were allowed to watch it, we were not allowed to watch all the 'fun' shows.

 

[Peloso]

The aliens in "Invasion of the Saucer Men" scared the hell out of me when I was five.

Good science fiction is hard to come by these days.

 

[Ludlow]

Can we talk here?

Against all odds I've made it to the age of 65. If you guys could have known me as a child, you may have had the same doubts as my parents.
I was a TV kid in the worst way. My every hour was spent in front of the television, mom and dad wondering where they went wrong.

Science fiction was my favorite genre, take my friend in the photo above.

Taken in 1963 at the studio of Project Unlimited, this is the Thetan from an episode of The Outer Limits called, "The Architects of Fear".
This guy scared the hell outta me when I saw this at age 6, but that fear changed to a new understanding.

It took time but I grew to learn that science fiction is not about space aliens, spaceships or laser pistols. At its core, Sci-Fi is all about us.
Most every episode of the original Outer Limits was a story about human frailties, our wants & desires, and the way we treat each other.
I used to be embarrassed to admit I grew up thanks to space aliens, but I now realize that I grew up during a time of great writers and brilliant actors.

This clip is from the episode, "A Feasibility Study", from 1964.
The inhabitants of the planet Luminos have contracted a disease that slowly turn their bodies into stone.
To do the work necessary for survival, the Luminoids have teleported an entire neighborhood from Earth and plan to use humans as slaves.

How lucky am I to have grown up with this example of the power of the spoken word.
Celebrate my 65th birthday by listening to the Luminoid elder explain their situation.
The beauty, the terror, the power of dialog delivered with artistry. The best villains . . . talk you to death!

Have you watched Archive 81? If you haven't already seen it, I recommend it highly. I've a feeling you'd enjoy it.

 

[Yngbldhwk]

Can we talk here?

Against all odds I've made it to the age of 65. If you guys could have known me as a child, you may have had the same doubts as my parents.
I was a TV kid in the worst way. My every hour was spent in front of the television, mom and dad wondering where they went wrong.

Science fiction was my favorite genre, take my friend in the photo above.

Taken in 1963 at the studio of Project Unlimited, this is the Thetan from an episode of The Outer Limits called, "The Architects of Fear".
This guy scared the hell outta me when I saw this at age 6, but that fear changed to a new understanding.

It took time but I grew to learn that science fiction is not about space aliens, spaceships or laser pistols. At its core, Sci-Fi is all about us.
Most every episode of the original Outer Limits was a story about human frailties, our wants & desires, and the way we treat each other.
I used to be embarrassed to admit I grew up thanks to space aliens, but I now realize that I grew up during a time of great writers and brilliant actors.

This clip is from the episode, "A Feasibility Study", from 1964.
The inhabitants of the planet Luminos have contracted a disease that slowly turn their bodies into stone.
To do the work necessary for survival, the Luminoids have teleported an entire neighborhood from Earth and plan to use humans as slaves.

How lucky am I to have grown up with this example of the power of the spoken word.
Celebrate my 65th birthday by listening to the Luminoid elder explain their situation.
The beauty, the terror, the power of dialog delivered with artistry. The best villains . . . talk you to death!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the episode "The Guests" and the unforgettable "Demon with a Glass Hand." The scene near the end with the actress Arlene Martel pulling away from Robert Culp and leaving the deserted office building stuck with me my entire life.

 

[cityboy-stl]

I remember Outer Limits when I was a kid. I re-watched every one of the old Outer Limits shows about a year ago. Those were really well written, well acted programs and every one contained a good moral lesson, despite the cheesy special effects. Twilight Zone was the same way. Good, well written scripts with good lessons. TV just isn't like that anymore.

 

[rareboy]

I was enthralled by the notion of space aliens from the time I was a kid until now.

Although over the years I have come to suspect they are pretty much dicks. Like humans.

 

[Peloso]

^ It's a tough call. It depends on how different the function of living things is in other galaxies.

Humans consider themselves the most dominant species on earth, which is true, but if that's due to our intelligence and self-awareness, it's more of a testament to a flaw in evolution than our supposed superiority.

The nature of life on earth is: kill, eat, fuck, die. A high degree of competition is necessary if a living thing wants to survive on this planet. And since the stakes are high and driven by instinct, that makes for a pretty savage scenario. Due to our intelligence, humans no longer have to hunt their own food or fight for land. But we still have that savage gene we've had since we first crawled out of the water, which is why we kill and harm each other with alarming frequency.

What if life elsewhere is completely and/or incomprehensibly different? If a life form is not responsible for its own sustenance or procreation (assuming they procreate at all...they could just drop out of the sky for all we know), or does not value it's mortality as strongly as we do (assuming mortality is even a concept for them), isn't there a chance that they are able to live harmoniously with no need to harm or exploit other life forms? And if this is true, what might they think of us here on earth?

Why would a less savage alien presence want anything to do with us? I assume they would be frightened of us. Or worse, disgusted. Assuming they were capable of such thoughts. Maybe they're so advanced that they are able to see through that and understand why we do the things we do to live.

Either way, they'd want nothing to do with us. Then it would be off to the next galaxy to see what's going on there.

This is why space exploration troubles me. Imagine there was a small but controllable fire in your kitchen. Rather than put it out, you run into your backyard and start building another house while your old one turns to ash. That's what the space program means to me. I'm just as curious about what lies in deep space as anyone, but then again there are enough mysteries and wonders right here on earth that I find even more fascinating.

We're so arrogant and misguided that the incredibly vast distance between life-supporting galaxies is merely a challenge for us. Perhaps it's meant to be that way. Fuck around and find out....or, we could just take care of our own, but that would take more empathy than we're apparently able to muster up.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

If you haven't already, be sure to check out the episode "The Guests" and the unforgettable "Demon with a Glass Hand." The scene near the end with the actress Arlene Martel pulling away from Robert Culp and leaving the deserted office building stuck with me my entire life.

"Demon with a Glass Hand" - maybe one of the best sci-fi episodes of the 1960's.

This is the episode that won over legions of casual viewers, the series was truly on a roll.
Personally, I had never seen nor imagined anything like this, and I was speechless as a child after it was over.

The entire human race, digitized and magnetically transcribed onto a strip of foil inserted into a hand-sized hand computer!

When I recall each element of this episode, I'm stunned at the level of creativity demonstrated by a series on a shoestring budget.
Just let me try making aliens with shoe polish makeup and have them step through a teleportation mirror - you'll be on the floor laughing.