Specimen-Unknown [VHS Tape]

Description

This episode was the highest rated Outer Limits eoisode ever, it featured a young Dabney Coleman (9 to 5 / Buffalo Bill / On Golden Pond), Russell Johnson (the Orofessor fron Gilligan’s Island), Stepen McNally ( Winchester ’73 / Johnny Belinda), Richard Jaeckal ( The Dirty Dozen / Sometimes a Great Notion / The Gunfighter / The Sands of iwo Jima). When a young scientist (Coleman) discovers strange life forms clinging to the walls of the space lab, he removes them and incubates them for examination. They quickly mature into a guge white flower and without warning sprays the young scientist with a lethal vapor. The incident triggers an investigation but with a change in personnel at the space station, the mattere is put on the back burner. By the time anyone realizes the plants are deadly, they are headed for Earth. It is interesting that this episode was aired 15 years before the movie “Alien” which is similar. Stephen King called this series “The best program of its type ever to run on network TV”. It was a ground-breaking for its time but sadly did not run long. Still entertaining with good writing, good cast selections, and well-acted, just a good sci-fi anthology series