In the booklet my Outer Limits blu-ray set came with, it says how this episode is a reimagining of Macbeth, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. There aren't many similarities between these two stories, and with Outer Limits being the science fiction show that it is, it's hard to imagine something more different. Maybe it's on account of the fact that this story involves a male character who is easily persuaded by his sinister wife, but I digress. The Bellero Shield is a highly original and creepy episode, and its ending lulls you into thinking everyone lives happily ever after, but this isn't the case. The episode follows the scientific ambitions of a certain Richard Bellero (Martin Landau), who has invented a laser projector that fires beams far into the sky. While Richard is proud of his invention, his father isn't and decides to transfer ownership of his son's company to someone who's not a member of the Bellero family. Richard's wife Judith (Sally Kellerman) later comes upon an alien being in the house, who was able to come down to earth by way of Richard's laser projector. Judith tries killing the alien with a gun before Richard discovers him, but the alien activates a strange forcefield which is impervious to absolutely anything. Judith knows that an otherworldly device like this which humanity can't reproduce will prove useful to Richard's scientific career, so she gets her husband to leave the house. After deceiving the alien into lowering the shield and then killing him, Judith is now in possession of the handheld device that controls its activation. The alien's corpse is thrown in the basement, unbeknownst to Richard. Later, Judith confidently shows off the shield to him, but gets stuck inside it after she realizes she doesn't know how to turn it off. Mrs. Dame (Judith's maid) goes down to the basement in a fright to try and find out how to deactivate it, and finds the alien is still alive somehow. Just before dying, he disables the shield using his blood, which is what powers the controlling device. The shield may be gone, but whatever it did to Judith's mind doesn't seem to have stopped. She is now haunted forever knowing that she willingly killed a creature that was only trying to assist her. This is a great episode. While the alien's appearance doesn't look very convincing by modern standards, the producers of the show did their best with what was at hand, and honestly, how the alien looks doesn't really matter. The main focus of the episode is on the tragedy of what ends up happening to the alien. Upon arriving at earth, he's unwanted, at least by Judith, and has to defend himself somehow. Judith is selfish and only thinks in terms of money, intending to kill the alien and steal his technology for her husband's benefit. Martin Landau is always delivering a good performance no matter what he's featured in, and the same is true for this. His character Richard may be highly intelligent when it comes to science, but he lacks common sense and is unable to see through his wife's deception. Episodes like the Bellero Shield encapsulate what this show is all about, and it remains a tragic story (both for the alien and Judith) over half a century later.
Review of The Bellero Shield
