Sucker Bait

'Out of the Unknown' visits another classic sci-fi trope: a spaceship is dispatched to investigate the unexplained deaths of an entire colony on a distant but ostensibly hospitable planet. Based on a story by Issac Asimov, the methodical tale unspools with an intelligent script and an interesting character in Mark Annuncio (nicely portrayed by Clive Endersby), a young man with eidetic retention and powerful analytical intuition but limited social skills who is immediately disliked by the ship's crew and the investigative research team. Although the budget limits the special effects to an underwhelming spaceship and a lot of Styrofoam rocks, the story sets up the mystery of the lost colony well and the resolution, although a bit dry, is plausible and satisfying. Like other episodes of 'Out of the Unknown' that I have seen, the story could have been told in half the time; never-the-less, this remains a good example early 60's British sci-fi: frugal but nicely executed.