"The
Galaxy Being"
| Pilot
Title: "Please Stand By" Production and Broadcast Order #1 Shooting Days: 8-14 December 1962 First Air Date: September 16, 1963 |
| Production
Credits: Writer: Leslie Stevens Director: Leslie Stevens Assistant Director: Robert H. Justman Director of Photography: John Nickolaus Composer: Dominic Frontiere (original score) |
| Cast
of Characters: Cliff Robertson as Allan Maxwell Jacqueline Scott as Carol Maxwell Lee Philips as Gene "Buddy" Maxwell Allyson Ames as Loreen Burt Metcalfe as Eddie Philips Bill Catching as the National Guard Major Allen Pinson as the Policeman |
Opening
Narration:
"There
is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the
picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder,we
will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it
to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical
We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft
blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour sit quietly and
we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing
wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great
adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches
from the inner mind to... THE OUTER LIMITS."
Alternate
version: " (...) You are about
to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to
outer space... PLEASE STAND BY."
Plotline:
Allan Maxwell, inventor-manager of radio station KXKVI, creates a 3-D monitor device in order
to communicate with alien beings from outer space. He receives a signal
from the great spiral of Andromeda and a mouth-less immortal visitor made of nitrogen appears in the tube. Maxwell exchanges basic knowledge with it. While leaving to an official party, he briefs disc-jockey Eddie Philips not to pump up the power but vainly. The creature comes out of the screen and causes panic in town. The police and the army are called...
Closing
Narration:
"The
planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are
powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us.
Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light-the light
of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves,
and each other."
Control
Voice's Sign-off:
"We
now return control of your television set to you, until next week, at
the same time when the Control Voice will take you to... THE OUTER LIMITS."
Quote:
"
(...) But the secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves
to nobodies who care. (...)"
—Allan Maxwell (Cliff Robertson)
—Allan Maxwell (Cliff Robertson)
Comments:
key
episode directed by series creator Leslie Stevens, which launches the
anthology, its aesthetical orientation and dive us into the realm of the
experimental technology. The negative optical effects of the bear is magnificent
and strange at once. There are two beautiful scenes with the negative
effects: the Being enters a shop, with suspended instruments, and examines
items (binoculars, musical box, bust). The Being cauterized the injury
of Allan Maxwell's wife with a blast of radiation. Cliff Robertson plays
with style a mythical character of the lonely utopian and maverick inventor.
The best scene remains the intense dialogues between Cliff Robertson and
the Andromedan Being about the fundamental questions: Life, Death, War
and God ("Infinity is God. God, Infinity, all the same.");carbon cycle Maxwell finds his counterpart with the visitor because they both transgress the law of communication (private research/exploration). This pioneer
episode is a manifesto to individual dedication and faith ("... Call
them inspiration, call them intuition, maybe blind luck. Maybe it's God,
saying, 'Now's the time') which transcends fate and the community ("Carol,
it's more than interesting, it's important!") to reach out total
achievement. The psychology of the Allan Maxwell character paves the way
for all the show: the loneliness but that one which is only felt by the
maverick or the gifted. We can notice an unusual upside-down camera shot
(made hand-held) of Cliff Robertson while coming out of his lab and enroute
to the party. By the way, we can see Leslie Stevens' wife: Allyson Ames
who used to play in one "Stoney Burke" episode: "The King
of the Hill". She will come back in another Stevens' episode: "Production
and Decay of Strange Particles".  |
