User Reviews

In this episode of The Outer Limits, Kent Smith of Cat People stars as an alien from the planet Eros coming back to Earth to return five special children with gifts of certain interest by the Space Agency in Washington DC. Smith's alien is the father of arrested and certain to die Lee Kinsolving (shunned by Spider County residents because he's peculiar, a "dreamer", and reads minds), charged with the murder of a man in a barn. Kinsolving is in love with farmgirl, Bennye Gatteys, and isn't so keen to leave her behind and return with his father (the five children are half human/half alien; the alien men from Eros came to Earth to mate with human females, successfully marrying and producing children to be taken once grown into adulthood) to Eros. So the law is after Kinsolving, with Smith trying to convince him Eros is his only option because Earth will condemn him because of his being different, fleeing into the backwoods of Spider County where a ship will await them. But Kinsolving demands Gatteys be allowed to come with, and Smith reluctantly agrees. John Milford is from the Space Agency with a particular interest in finding Kinsolving, soon believing that perhaps going with Smith is the only way towards salvation. I didn't think this was too bad actually, but Smith's rubber alien mask (of the bug eyes and pointy ears variety) and monster hand gloves are of the B movie variety made fun of by Mystery Science Theater 3000. The story might seem to consist of police chasing after Kinsolving in the woods of some rural territory, but the fascinating character interactions (I found the work of Kinsolving and Smith, both sparingly using limited dialogue but communicating enough to understand where both stand, was fascinating to see develop) and question of whether Kinsolving will decide to leave or stay, I think, counteracts the negatives that might be used against the episode. Smith was especially enigmatic, careful in what he might say as to dissuade his son not following him to Eros. Kinsolving remains himself an enigma, unsure of what the right decision regarding his fate should be…that aspect of the story, I felt, is what keeps the episode interesting. Some interesting photographic decisions, particularly when Smith uses his powers to determine the outcome of a situation he so chooses...the blurring or hazing of the lens is often how the photography dictates Smith is using his mind control to benefit his mission. As it pertains to the series' best, perhaps The Children of Spider County might seem average, but on its own merits, I didn't look at the episode as anything that doesn't leave a bit of an impression. With only two seasons, The Outer Limits had a great deal of classic episodes, and some like this one will perhaps wind up sleepers that might surprise.

Although episodes 17 - 20 of the landmark '60s TV series "The Outer Limits" had comprised one of the most impressive runs of that fondly remembered show's 1 1/2 seasons, the five episodes to follow would not be nearly so. Those earlier eps had included three ("Don't Open Till Doomsday," "The Invisibles" and "The Bellero Shield") that are among this viewer's personal Top 10 to this day, plus one ep, "ZZZZZ," that is almost universally admired by all "OL" fans, largely by dint of Joanna Frank's truly remarkable performance. But starting with episode 21, "The Children of Spider County," the show entered a period of solid but merely middling affairs, and indeed, it would not be until episode 26, "The Guests," that the series offered up what is for me a truly stellar hour of TV. As for the episode in question, "The Children of Spider County," which was first broadcast on 2/17/64, it is a decidedly lesser affair that yet has numerous redeeming qualities, as will be seen.

In this episode, the U.S. Space Security department is concerned over the fact that four prominent men of learning have recently vanished. All had been born in the titular Spider County, of different vanished fathers; all had been born in the same month and, strangely enough, had sported the same middle name: Eros. (Was it a coincidence that this ep was first aired just three days after Valentine's Day?) Making a leap of logic that is almost too much to credit, U.S.S.S. member Bartlett (John Milford) presumes that the four have been kidnapped by aliens FROM the planet Eros, and goes to Spider County to follow a fifth man, Ethan (Lee Kinsolving), who fits the same pattern. As it turns out, Bartlett had been absolutely correct in his surmise, and he soon learns that an alien from Eros, Aabel (Kent Smith), has indeed come to Earth to bring all the sons of Eros home. But this turns out to be somewhat problematic, now that Ethan has acquired a new galpal, Anna (Bennye Gatteys), who he does not want to leave behind....

During the course of this somewhat unfocused episode, we learn that Aabel is desirous of having the half human sons of Eros return to their home planet to supply that world with the desirable quality of being able to dream, and this episode is suitably oneiric in feel itself. Sadly, it just doesn't seem to hang together. Perhaps things might have made a bit more sense if we could have heard something from those other four half-brothers at the end, and been able to divine their reasons for staying behind. Another problem for this viewer was the makeup effects on the Aabel creature itself; a most unimpressive and unconvincing effort by Project Unlimited here. If the alien's insectlike head had featured moveable eyeballs, they would have seemed more realistic, instead of looking like the wooden ping-pong balls that they do. Still, as I say, the ep DOES feature any number of +++ aspects. Director Leonard Horn (who had previously helmed such classic "OL" episodes as "The Man Who Was Never Born" and "The Zanti Misfits") utilizes shock cuts, overhead and low-angle shots, and extreme close-ups here to good effect, while DOP Kenneth Peach does solid work with the mist-shrouded day and night sequences. (Most of this ep does seem to have been shot outdoors.) The effects showing Aabel's transformation from alien to human guise are nicely handled, as is the zapper ray that he uses to eliminate his foes. Perhaps best of all, though, is the work turned in by Kent Smith, who, in the 1940s, had starred in three classic "psychotronic" outings: "Cat People," "The Curse of the Cat People" and (one of my all-time faves) "The Spiral Staircase." He lends a great dignity and gravitas to the role, and indeed, his speech concerning his home planet might be the hour's single greatest moment: "...In our world on the planet Eros, it was the absence and abhorrence of dreaming that made men no good. They worked like insect slaves, they fought evil wars, they gathered lush riches and splendid pains, but they took no time out for dreaming, and dreaming became a lost art. And as always happened, they began to die off, and for all their riches, they began to die...." Screenwriter Anthony Lawrence, who had also penned that "Man Who Was Never Born" ep, is to be thanked for a truly well-written few minutes here. If only the rest of the ep were up to that poetic and emotional level! Unfortunately, almost half of the episode seems dedicated to a long foot chase through the woods, as Ethan and Anna try to elude the authorities. I suppose the bottom line is that "The Children of Spider County," while still more entertaining and challenging than just about anything else on the small screen in 1964, must pale in comparison to other great episodes of "The Outer Limits"'s first season, many of which, it must be granted, were extremely tough acts to follow....

The set up for this story was quite interesting. Four scientists, all born in the same county within two months of each other, and whose fathers have disappeared, and all with the middle name of 'Eros', suddenly vanish and are feared kidnapped. Meanwhile, there remains a fifth young man bearing the same traits who has remained behind in Spider County and finds himself arrested and facing a murder charge. An alien visitor from the Planet Eros in the Krell Galaxy arrives on Earth and sets his sights on rescuing Ethan Wechsler (Lee Kinsolving) from a possible death sentence. The alien claims he's Ethan's father, and proceeds to relate the story of his planet, and how the males of his species died off because they had the inability to dream of great things. From there, it becomes something of a mind game between Aabel (Kent Smith) and his son in which the alien attempts to convince Ethan to return to Eros. Complicating matters is Ethan's love of girlfriend Anna Bishop (Bennye Gatteys), and his reluctance to leave an existence he knows and understands, even if it means a possible death sentence. Ultimately, Ethan chooses to remain behind while his alien father discards his plans to 'uncreate' his own son. The mystifying part of the story is that once things settle back to normal, there's no apparent interest in the authorities to take Ethan back into custody. That didn't make sense, because even if Ethan was innocent of a murder charge, one would still expect him to face a trial to clear his name. The series dropped the ball on the conclusion of the story the way it stands.

Bad! This episode is a mess! They start story lines that make no sense to begin with. A lot of running around in the forest trying to escape from the police and the hound dogs too! Kent Smith must have been trying to figure out what this mess is all about. Then throw in a scary space alien with glowing eyes that allows him to disintegrate people. And every time he appears there's a strange seaweed type effect. Just odd. It could have been an interesting concept but there is just so much going on with needless scenes and one dimensional characters, I was looking at my watch to see how much more I needed to endure!

"The Children Of Spider County" was first aired on television February 17, 1964.

Anyway - As the story goes - A powerful alien from the planet Eros returns to Earth to rescue and claim his son who has been charged with murder.

Somewhere in the ballpark of "Village of the Damned" sans the invasion plans and with no children but adults instead. The fact that the aliens have no plans to invade or to populate Earth is the only original aspect to the story. The rest is fairly generic. The cockamamie explanation the monster gives for the aliens inseminating the five women is fairly silly hence unconvincing: some mumbo-jumbo about these aliens from Eros (you read that correctly) losing their goodness and soul (or something or other) hence being unable to produce any more male children - which is why they tested their sperm in a different climate. Vague nonsense of an explanation, implying that morality influences the sperm count. If only that were so!

What a dumb name for a planet. Eros is also the name used for Ed Wood's infamously cretinous aliens in "Plan 9".

Some daft lines too, such as: "Killers? We are not killers, we don't have the power to kill, only the power to destroy. We don't kill, we uncreate".

Or: "Our sense of hearing allows us to hear a homing device. We can hear the sigh of a star."

Or: "What chance would anyone have with a soul in YOUR world?!"

Too many silly idealistic speeches too, such as this one at the end - which actually brings the other four men out of hypnosis. So why were they hypnotized and the 5th one wasn't? And why do they never say a word?

Read my reviews of the entire series on my "The Outer Limits (1963-1965) - All Episodes Rated & Reviewed" list.

The story vacillates between over-explanation and leaving a lot left unsaid, alternately sounding preachy or half-baked.

The Plot: Five men from Eros (the planet of love?) visit Earth and impregnate five women, leaving once they're sure the women will have sons. One Erosian returns after twenty-something years to harvest their crop of boys/young men, all physically and mentally superior to pure-breed humans. NASA becomes interested because four of the boys, all born in Spider County within a month of each other (and all two months premature), were geniuses in their varied field and suddenly disappeared without a trace on the same day. The fifth boy, Ethan, hadn't disappeared. His mother died young, leaving the boy orphaned and taken in by a farmer who had no sons to do farm chores. All five boys were considered strange and grew up as targets of jealousy by the locals. Four moved away, but Ethan was stuck, his "strange" status leading to his current arrest, basically for being a "witch-boy." As a NASA agent arrives to talk to Ethan, Aabel (Ethan's father) arrives to take him home.

Nothing at all is said about the mothers. How did they handle being mere incubation chambers for aliens, fertilized then abandoned. Were they even conscious when they became unwed mothers? Were the relationships anything other than rape? Did the boys' developing superiority spook their mothers unintentionally (as it apparently did the townies)? Did Ethan's "difference" drive his mother to suicide? The lack of information on the mothers in this Man's Universe is painful.

It's genetically unclear what the sons inherited from their fathers and what from their mothers. Whereas Aabel has ant-like features such as mandibles and huge eyes, the sons are entirely human in appearance, suggesting that human appearance traits are genetically dominant features, both inside and out. What about psychological differences, or that of special powers? Aabel considers "killing" and "destroying" to be quite distinctly different things. He does NOT kill people. That would be slow and painful and immoral. He DESTROYS them, which is quick and merciful and, goes without saying, pretty much all right. By Earthly thinking, these are not distinct, but Ethan may be playing this semantics game, too. He's arrested on a murder charge for the disappearance of Jonathan Stimson. Johnathan entered his barn, where Ethan waited within wanting Johnathan's apology for indecent thoughts he had ("remarks he made" insists Ethan) at a dance. Johnathan never came out again. (Ethan insists he's not a mind-reader, but he shares this trait with his father; the two at least share an empathic kind of communication.) Aabel can disintegrate people at a thought. It would seem Ethan has this ability too, though it's not said or shown. Ethan's insistence that he didn't kill Johnathan may be a semantic splitting of hairs against, what Twilight Zone had called, "wishing him into the cornfield." (See "Twilight Zone: It's a Good Life" for reference.)

Aabel is also very manipulative, and seems to always want things his way. Warmly it seems, he offers Ethan the apparent choice of going back to Eros or not, but then, when Ethan decides to stay with his Earth girlfriend Anna, Aabel manipulates circumstances so that it becomes a choice between living on Eros or dying on Earth. (If these are psychological predispositions that Ethan could inherit, it could be in Anna's best interest to lose this boyfriend.)

The moral of the tale is that dreams are desirable, but there are two dream definitions floating about here. In the first, dreams are visions that come in an unconscious state when one is asleep. It is through dreams that Aabel first communicates with Ethan, which for Ethan amounted to nightmares. The second means "aspirations" along with the ability to visualize goals. Aabel says Eros is dying because his race has pretty much lost the "art" of dreaming. Because of this, boy births have dropped critically - but are they talking about mind pictures while sleeping or about aspirations and creativity? It remains unclear which of these is dying out on Eros (and why either should affect the birth of males).

Going back to the "It's a Man's World" idea for a moment, Eros needs boys like Mars needs woman. In both stories, it's the men who are proactive, not the woman. Both The Children of Spider County (1964) and the film Mars Needs Women (1968) feature proactive men. Mars is running out of birth mothers, so the men head to Earth to fetch women for impregnation; Eros is running out of boys, so the men head to Earth to find women for impregnation - and among this information is a comment that the men of Eros didn't return home until they were sure the women they impregnated were carrying sons. One can only speculate in what possibly horrible, immoral or inhumane way this was guaranteed.

The only slight, positive nod this tale gives to women is that the four boys who were raised by single moms were nurtured to the point of reaching their full potential, where they set out into the world as brilliant men in their various fields. Without a mom to raise him, Ethan - with the same genius capabilities as his other mixed-race brethren - rose no higher in society's standing than that of (with no disrespect intended) a farm hand.

In the end, Aabel would seem to let Ethan win the argument; but, with Eros still at risk of dying out, that's no reason to assume he won't return with others to win the war.

With these ideas lurking just beneath the surface, The Children of Spider County can leave a viewer cold, but on the positive side, performances by Lee Kinsolving as Ethan and Kent Smith as Aabel, with a special chemistry they establish through their odd, semi-empathic verbal communication, keeps the show afloat. Boo on the hidden messages, yay on the performances.