ABC airs the sixth episode of Leslie Stevens’ anthology series The Outer Limits. Martin Landau (Mission: Impossible, Space: 1999) and Shirley Knight star in a script by Anthony Lawrence.
After an unusual incident rocks his spacecraft on approach to Earth after an eight-month solo mission, astronaut Joseph Reardon requests instructions for re-entry and receives no reply. Reardon manages to land his vehicle on his own, but finds himself in a vast wasteland with only a single occupant, a horribly mutated man named Andro. Andro tells Reardon that the year is now 2148 – 200 years in the astronaut’s future – and that the human race has all but been destroyed by an experiment by a biologist named Bertram Cabot, Jr. Horrified and galvanized by what he sees, Reardon is determined to return to space in an attempt to re-create the conditions that warped him into the future. He brings Andro with him, hoping that the sight of the disfigured man will convince Cabot, or those around him, to end his experiments. But when the ship travels through the time warp again, the timeline has already changed – and Reardon ceases to exist, leaving Andro to stop Cabot’s experiments on his own.
written by Anthony Lawrence
directed by Leonard Horn
music by Dominic FrontiereCast: Martin Landau (Andro), Shirley Knight (Noel), John Considine (Bertram Cabot), Maxine Stuart (Mrs. McCluskey), Karl Held (Joseph Reardon), Jack Raine (Minister)
Notes: Martin Landau later went on to star in two cult classic series, Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999, and also appeared in a later Outer Limits episode, The Bellero Shield.
LogBook entry by Earl Green