A massive power through the control of brain waves due to a special "link gate" is located in the frontal lobe of Donald Pleasence through a surgical procedure. It's a procedure that was orchestrated by scientists as a means to send astronauts to asteroids and meteorites for mineral deposits so that the Earth could be spared any more on mankind's search for natural resources for fuel and coal. Pleasence is a professor who hates teaching at his university and desperately prefers to work on the research team, but a contract(and a Dean who insists on him sticking by its terms)and a nagging, disrespectful wife stand in his way. Pleasence, now equipped with electromagnetic power which can destroy, could be a danger to anyone who angers him or fails to cooperate with his wishes. To have "cosmic energy" and control it to the point where you can actually move an asteroid and bend metal, if the wrong person has this ability it could prove harmful. When you have a wife who is so demanding, complains and bitches and gripes incessantly, it's only a matter of time before she pushes Pleasence one step too far.
In the case of Pleasence, we get an understanding that perhaps the projection of evil thoughts towards destructive ends could be from his subconscious without him even realizing it..he harbours ill will towards those who provoke hostility and rage even in the most quiet, meek sort of man who keeps to himself and rarely registers a pulse much less show an ugly, nasty side(if anything his character is reserved, aloof, resolute). Pleasence's Harold is always being called a "nobody" or "a little man". But with the power he now has, these phrases which usually diminish Harold now fuel the cosmic electromagnetic force which endanger anyone who belittles or denigrates him. Harold, after subconsciously killing the Dean and nearly killing wife Vera, feels he must try to stop the scientists because of the terrifying prospects which could come from anyone else having the power. The "monsters of the mind" is the central theme of this particular episode of THE OUTER LIMITS with a particularly chilling performance from Pleasence(it's his eyes and this haunted look he has which rather unnerved me as if he were destined to one day snap, his subconscious stepping in to do the dirty deeds he might secretly desire) who presents his character as a mild-mannered, even-keeled person who just wants to contribute to the importance of something, this project opening a door for him. It, however, instead creates a chaos which proves to be his undoing. He wants to control it, but can not. This kind of reminded me of FORBIDDEN PLANET, the father on the world who has tapped into the "power of the id" and is unable to control it, his subconscious mind running rampant without his knowledge, essentially creating a monster which kills anyone who angers(or threatens) it's creator. We all have thoughts and feelings which live dormant in our minds, some of us able to hold our tongue or keep our temperament in check, but what if we were to garner a power which exploits them--we are unable to imprison what we feel about others, and the power itself surfaces them into a force so volatile, bodies are evaporated. This episode has a rather bad special effect where Pleasence lifts a giant boulder with his mind and we can see the strings carrying it across the room. We actually see a cloud of electromagnetic waves form, a manifestation which travels towards victims eviscerating them or, in some extreme cases, damaging entire rooms, crumbling them. Vera herself, in one instance, elicits a tornadic episode when she doesn't accept what Harold tells her about his brain surgery and power, the living room becoming an example of her husband's "cosmic activity." With Priscilla Morrill as Pleasence's shrill wife and John Marley(FACES; DEATHDREAM) as a psychiatrist who works with the scientists, sparking the idea in Harold's mind that his subconscious could kill.
In the case of Pleasence, we get an understanding that perhaps the projection of evil thoughts towards destructive ends could be from his subconscious without him even realizing it..he harbours ill will towards those who provoke hostility and rage even in the most quiet, meek sort of man who keeps to himself and rarely registers a pulse much less show an ugly, nasty side(if anything his character is reserved, aloof, resolute). Pleasence's Harold is always being called a "nobody" or "a little man". But with the power he now has, these phrases which usually diminish Harold now fuel the cosmic electromagnetic force which endanger anyone who belittles or denigrates him. Harold, after subconsciously killing the Dean and nearly killing wife Vera, feels he must try to stop the scientists because of the terrifying prospects which could come from anyone else having the power. The "monsters of the mind" is the central theme of this particular episode of THE OUTER LIMITS with a particularly chilling performance from Pleasence(it's his eyes and this haunted look he has which rather unnerved me as if he were destined to one day snap, his subconscious stepping in to do the dirty deeds he might secretly desire) who presents his character as a mild-mannered, even-keeled person who just wants to contribute to the importance of something, this project opening a door for him. It, however, instead creates a chaos which proves to be his undoing. He wants to control it, but can not. This kind of reminded me of FORBIDDEN PLANET, the father on the world who has tapped into the "power of the id" and is unable to control it, his subconscious mind running rampant without his knowledge, essentially creating a monster which kills anyone who angers(or threatens) it's creator. We all have thoughts and feelings which live dormant in our minds, some of us able to hold our tongue or keep our temperament in check, but what if we were to garner a power which exploits them--we are unable to imprison what we feel about others, and the power itself surfaces them into a force so volatile, bodies are evaporated. This episode has a rather bad special effect where Pleasence lifts a giant boulder with his mind and we can see the strings carrying it across the room. We actually see a cloud of electromagnetic waves form, a manifestation which travels towards victims eviscerating them or, in some extreme cases, damaging entire rooms, crumbling them. Vera herself, in one instance, elicits a tornadic episode when she doesn't accept what Harold tells her about his brain surgery and power, the living room becoming an example of her husband's "cosmic activity." With Priscilla Morrill as Pleasence's shrill wife and John Marley(FACES; DEATHDREAM) as a psychiatrist who works with the scientists, sparking the idea in Harold's mind that his subconscious could kill.
