"Tourist Attraction"
 
Production Order #4 and Broadcast Order #13
Shooting Days: 11-19 June 1963
First Air Date: December 23, 1963
 
Production Credits:
Writer: Dean Riesner
Director: Laslo Benedek
Assistant Director: Robert H. Justman
Director of Photography: John Nickolaus, Jr.
Composers: Robert Van Eps and Dominic Frontiere (original score with a "Stoney Burke" cue)
Cast of Characters:
Ralph Meeker as John Dexter
Janet Blair as Lynn Arthur
Jerry Douglas as Tom Evans, marine biologist
Jay Novello as Professor Arrivelo
Henry Silva as General Juan Mercurio
Willard Sage as a Reporter
Noel de Sousa as Captain Fortunato
 
Opening Narration:
"In man's dark and troubled history, there are vestiges of strange gods. This stone statue was once such a god, a thousand years gone by, in the central mountains of Pan America. Today, new gods have emerged-the god of power, the god of money. The Republic of San Blas lies west of the Orinoco Basin and slightly north of the Equator. Its principal exports are coffee, copra, mahogany, mace, and saffron. In a hundred-odd years the reins of government have changed many times in blood and fire and death. The last of the revolutions was led by General Juan Mercurio, the most absolute and powerful ruler of them all. Only the Indians who live close to the old gods in the volcanic uplands are unimpressed. They have seen the coming of Conquistadors, with the power of their guns and flashing flags; the revolutionaries, with their zeal and willingness to die; the Americans, with the power of their money and bulldozers, with their summer houseboats in the crater lake of Aripana, with their gadgets, and machines, and devices..."
 
First Additional Narration:
"Moving through the deep, protected only by a tank of air and a hunting spear, the scientist-explorer descends beyond the San Blas shelf. But all unknown to him, the observer is himself observed. Hidden in the sinuous rills of seaweed, sightless eyes, blind for centuries, stare out of the abyss. The legendary creature of the deeps, sensing through nerve receptors in its skin, becomes aware of the alien invader, man. "
 
Plotline:
On a houseboat, American tycoon John Dexter explores the deep of the Caribbean's ocean and catches a prehistoric fish-lizard. Latin dictator Mercurio wants to keep this breakthrough to gain international credits. The monster escapes and its fellow species ravage the island of San Blas by breaking the dam which leads to the death of the military tyran and frees the mind of the cold money-maker.
 
Second Additional Narration:
"Pressed and strained by constant drilling of ultrasonic beams, the concrete face of the dam cracks and faults. Ten million tons of pressure builds toward ultimate collapse..."
 
Closing Narration:
"The forces of nature will not submit to injustice. No man has the right, nor will the checks and balances of the universe permit him, to place his fellows under the harsh yoke of repression. Nor may he again place the forces of nature under the triple yoke of vanity, greed, and ambition. In the words of Shelley: Were lies your tyrant, who would rule the world, immortal."
 
Quote:
"John Dexter only keeps the cream of the crop."
—Lynn Arthur (Janet Blair)
Comments:
Picture yourself in an unusually smart season one "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" episode due to the amount of underwater shots (the probe device, the monsters and the divers). Listen closely to writer Dean Riesner's anti-US capitalism: "... The Americans, with the power of their money and bulldozers, with their summer houseboat, (...) with their gadgets, and machines, and devices..." As an introduction, first watch Richard Brooks' "Crisis" (1950) with it to grasp the state of the South American regimes. Witness the various stock footages of the countryside and the rural population in the course of their labours and traditional parties. Megalomaniac and Batista-like General Mercurio plans to build a futuristic city (see the painting of the World's Fair) to obtain foreign money (tourists, if you like); Mercurio and Dexter are in fact the same type of ruthless ambitious men ("We're very much alike in many ways", asserts Mercurio). The sudden entrance of Mercurio and his personal armed guards in the lab reminds the Chinese army in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon". Notice the lab's set (Cf. "The Architects of Fear") and the cadavres' cold chamber (Cf. "The Invisibles") that are recycled all along the season. The monster uses sonic waves to break free (the sound pattern, once again!). Professor Arrivelo explains the title of the episode: "Well, I would not disagree with THE General. However, I must add that you think this marvelous discovery as a tourist attraction is to degrade (...) the world of science..." An episode which deals with the redemption of the main character that is saved by the love of a woman. This is the most expensive episode and is considered as the weakest one because of its bad writting (watch out the two additional narrations—one during Act I and another in Act IV—to erase the weakness of this anti-dictatorship story), silly-looking fish monsters (with a mythological overtone a la "Creature of the Black Lagoon"), boring characters (too bad, Ralph Meeker's bitter business man performance is so un-inspired and even Henry Silva is commonplace) and its pre-season 2 grey rendering texture. Another disappointed episode with a first-rate score and, this time, by Robert Van Eps (credited for Music Score by) and Dominic Frontiere; you can recognize music portions in "The Sixth Finger", "Corpus Earthling", "The Children of Spider County", "Fun and Games", "Second Chance", "The Mutant", "The Chameleon". One bit of Mexican guitar recital is from a "Stoney Burke" episode: "Point of Entry", and that is heard during Act I, in the hacienda, when John Dexter talks to the manservant about the almighty General Mercurio. Notes: On March 29, 1965, actor Henry Silva also plays an authoritarian figure as Red Chinese General Tau in an episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" entitled: "The Enemies" (supervised by OL writer Allan Balter as an associate producer). This is the first appearance of Bill Hart—a semi regular one from "Stoney Burke"—but in a monster suit: the Ichthyosaurus Mercurius. Both Assistant Director Robert H. Justman and actor Ralph Meeker used to participate in Robert Aldrich's arch-Film Noir: "Kiss Me Deadly".