The Outer Limits (TV Series) Second Chance (1964) User Reviews

The Outer Limits - Second Chance

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 5 January 2014]

A bird-type alien race from a planet called Imperia need human colonists to "have a fresh, new start" on an asteroid (with Earth-like atmospheric living conditions) so a *collision of planets* might be averted, but the select group abducted (Don Gordon, Janet De Gore, Yale Summers, Arnold Merritt, Mimsy Farmer, John McLiam, and Angela Clarke) seem hesitant (to put it mildly) to be taken from home and whisked away on board what they thought was an amusement park ride (an alien ship where Gordon speaks in a microphone to the patrons as they look into a monitor and view the stars, planets, galaxies, and the universe) against their wishes. If Imperia is knocked out of their orbit by the asteroid, in 82 years Earth will be destroyed in a "domino effect" of planetary collisions. This is an episode where we see the human condition come unglued with people turning mad and violent due to being lifted from their home planet and taken elsewhere. Emotions run high, tempers flare, blame and pointed fingers aim, and even an accidental death after an addressing of wrongs leads to a body exiting from the ship all result from the abduction. McLiam is a hot-head, volatile husband of timid weakling Clarke, while Yale is the high school football star who threw the big game, as Mimsy Farmer (notable to giallo fans), his girlfriend, simply cannot accept life away from her home planet (as typical of Mimsy's acting style, she's in constant over-the-top hysterics and clinched teeth bitchery). Arnold, the tragic character who was Yale's high school buddy (or so it seemed), admits to his disappointment and will no longer assist him or be there for him; this confrontational outing of Yale leads to Arnold backing off into the spaceship door, sucked into space. Basically, the episode is a culmination of boiling-pot realizations, accusations, inner turmoil/conflict, and eventually physical altercation. When McLiam comes at Gordon with a knife because it is assumed that to rid themselves of the Imperia's "only hope" (a scientist who left the scholarly institution behind for something in the future he was looking for) would mean they would be taken back to Earth, it all becomes too clear that this strategy by the alien to abduct them was wrong. Lots of melodrama, and the Imperian alien (Simon Oakland, television and movie vet notable to Kolchak fans as the reporter's long-suffering boss) witnesses this in a clinical, anatomical way…he has studied the human race, read their thoughts, understood what was lacking in certain subjects' lives, feeling that because of their situations at the present, these people were the right choices to go on the trip to the asteroid. Most of the episode takes place on board the amusement ride spaceship, with the cast mostly yelling or arguing back and forth with each other. Gordon and De Gore's courtship and warm relations is a pleasant alternative to all the bickering and angst that is common when the cast is assembled as a whole. I thought the bird makeup was kind of cool on Oakland...you would never know Oakland was the actor underneath all of it.

Space Ride

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 13 March 2016]

Don Gordon stars as Dr. Dave Crowell, an unemployed scientist who finds himself working in a carnival at the rocket ship ride, a mock-up space ship. Janet De Gore plays Mara Mathews, who is the stewardess on the ride, and becomes interested in Crowell. Simon Oakland plays Empyrian, a birdlike man who comes from the planet Empyria that has secretly modified the space ride into a real rocket ship, taking them, as well as a few other selected passengers, on a trip to colonize an Earth-like asteroid called Tythra in order to save both races from an imminent disaster affecting both planets, but will everyone abducted want to go? Philosophical episode has a shaky premise but good acting and dialogue.

Explain Those Motivations Again

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 January 2015]

Several people, all with some history, are tricked into getting on a flying saucer which is supposedly an amusement park attraction. Normally, the visitors get a simulated trip through the galaxy. Now, an alien has taken over and we are not immediately made aware of his intentions. It turns out that he has selected this group of people. First, a middle aged couple that is dominated by the abusive husband. A young football star and his friend (who ends up dying early on) and his girlfriend who has been pinned by his fraternity. There are also the two people who run the attraction, a brilliant scientist who has lost his way and a beautiful blonde woman who acts as a flight attendant on the ersatz saucer. The alien has been messing around with the controls and has managed to turn what was an artificial device into a real flying saucer. But why? What follows is a talky thing as the alien scolds the people as they are catapulted into space, heading for the home planet. Their weaknesses are used against them as they feel desperation. The scientist and the flight attendant develop a romance, but they are far from truthful. This episode is interesting as we await an explanation as to why this is being done. What makes this one a challenge for me is why these people were picked? We find out the ultimate purpose for the voyage, but, again, why these people?

A True Classic

[StuOz · 5 July 2014]

An amusement park spaceship is actually a real spaceship with real aliens!

What a great storyline! The first half of the hour is better than the second half but the whole thing rocks. At the top of my head I can't think of another sci-fi TV show or movie that has taken on this storyline. But everything got stolen from The Outer Limits so I am guessing the story has been done again somewhere?

Don Gordon did so much for 1960s TV sci-fi, his two roles in The Outer Limits, his one role in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and one role in QM's The Invaders are great. The guy may not be remembered by all but he has a place in TV history with me.

An truly unusual episode for a show built on them

[garrard · 6/10 · 29 June 2009]

Character actor Simon Oakland, highly unrecognizable under layers of makeup, plays an alien that takes a group of unsuspecting amusement park guests on a trip to outer space. The "crew" of the ride (Don Gordon and Janet De Gore) have no idea that the alien has made the craft suitable for flight and they, too, become captives of the alien's machinations.

John McLiam and Angela Clarke portray a bickering couple while Yale Summers, later to be featured on "Daktari" is on hand as the resident "jock" forced to show his mettle in the life-threatening kidnapping.

There are many plot holes in the episode, especially the fact that the alien is able to turn the ride into a functional rocket, but the performances by Oakland and McLiam make for an entertaining episode of the classic show.

One of the scenes in this episode made me cry as a kid

[mackaroni · 9/10 · 23 October 2009]

I remember this Outer Limits episode because I first saw it when I was only 7 years old. There was this one scene where the creature who I believe was called an Empyrian had already taken over the space ride at this amusement park and blasted the rocket into outer space with an entire group of people aboard. One of the women on the spacecraft who I think worked at the amusement park tries to show everyone that the creature is not real but only in a costume. As she rips off part of the costume, it exposes what looks like the bloody interior of someone's chest. I suddenly began to cry as that scene scared the hell out of me. This is indicative of many of the Outer Limits episodes I watched as a kid. They had this frightening sort of atmosphere that usually had me watching with one hand over my eyes since you never really knew what was about to happen next. This episode was no exception as the thought of turning an amusement park ride into the real thing and people trapped aboard trying to get out an emergency chute only to realize that they are floating into space is enough to scare anyone. I don't think I ever visited an amusement park after watching this episode and if I did, I certainly stayed clear of anything resembling a space ride. It was hard to recognize the great character actor Simon Oakland under all the facial make-up as the Empyrian space creature and Don Gordon, a popular actor from the 60's played the amusement park's spaceship captain who soon realized that he was commandeering a real spacecraft headed into space after being put under some sort of spell by the alien creature. The acting was very good in this episode as everyone acted terrified after learning of their fates but the overall morality of the creature trying to give everyone on the spacecraft a "second chance" in their lives as each was going through some sort of crisis before taking this ride once again showed the thought-provoking and interesting scripts found in many of these Outer Limits episodes and showed that the creature once again who everyone feared at the beginning of the episode was really trying to do something to help these people after all. Another well-done and strong episode of this terrific series!

Blast Off

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

"Second Chance" was first aired on television March 2, 1964.

Anyway - As the story goes - Believing that they're going on a mere carnival ride, a crew of discontented dreamers unknowingly boards a space ship bound to save the future of the human race.

This one got me hooked.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 29 June 2012]

When I was a kid, this was the very first episode of "The Outer Limits" that I saw. I enjoyed it so much, I am sure this is why I couldn't wait to see more. Now it's not among the very, very best of the series but it is very good and offers a very unusual opportunity to see Simon Oakland in a way you'd never expect. Oakland made a bazillion TV appearances in the 1950s and 60s. He almost invariably played an angry, blustery man. While some might dislike this because he was so type cast, I love seeing him and his grouchy ways. Here, however, he plays an alien--and not one of the nasty, grouchy variety!!

The show begins at an amusement park. An alien (Oakland) walks pretending to work for a spaceship ride--offering complimentary tickets to select patrons. No one seems to question his weird look and they all think it's just part of the schtick for the ride. However, when the passengers board the craft, they soon learn that it's not a ride...it's real. And, they are bound for another world where they will live out their lives.

Had this episode JUST been about an alien abduction, it would have been far less memorable. However, WHY he does this and HOW the people react make this well worth your time--as it explores some of the darker or sadder aspects of human nature. Well acted by Oakland and Don Gordon (an underrated actor who later starred in the very best episode of the series)--this one is a winner.

"An escape from reality is usually costly. This one is free!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 25 May 2022]

This was quite the unique concept for a sci-fi program like "The Outer Limits", or for that matter, any anthology show of the era. The idea that an amusement park attraction could be sabotaged by an alien and turned into an actual spaceship was one clever and original idea. On top of that, the alien Empyrian (Simon Oakland) virtually kidnaps a handful of disaffected Earthlings in order to populate the asteroid Tythra when his home planet of Empyria will collide with and destroy Earth in eighty two years!! That's what I call thinking ahead! There's enough ambiguity in the dialog between the Empyrian and carnival ride operator Dave Crowell (Don Gordon) to suggest that Crowell was in on the plan from the start, as his own intellect persuaded him that Earth and humanity's condition wasn't worth saving. To varying degrees, the abducted passengers either remained helpless or in the case of Arjay Beasley (John McLiam), felt compelled to take matters into his own hands to force a reversal of the spaceship's journey into outer space. This was actually a pretty good episode exploring man's frailty and self-doubt in the face of an impending catastrophe, even if it wasn't imminent. Eventually, the Empyrian, who appeared to be a forerunner of Star Trek's Klingons, decided that his effort wasn't worth the trouble with the illogical humans, and decided to reverse course, apparently to rethink his cosmic plans.

"Nightmares end when you stop dreaming"

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 10 May 2021]

Outer Limits is full of episodes that are so well done they get viewers eager to watch all the ones that the series has to offer, and Second Chance is definitely one of them. The story is centered around a bird-like alien that lands on earth in an amusement park in order to recruit humans for a special mission in space. Because the ship is lying dormant in an amusement park full of wacky contraptions and bizarre rides, nobody thinks the ship is actually alien in origin, and it is in fact being used by someone (Don Gordon) as an attraction to tell amusement park goers about the wonders of outer space and the galaxy. Later in the episode, the alien makes its presence known to the humans at the park, but he lies and says his outlandish appearance is merely a costume, which dupes the humans into going on his deceptively functional ufo. The people the alien recruits for the mission are the ones that have nothing going for them. The ones no one would miss. In his words, "the ones that have the least to leave behind." As the ship finally takes off and the people inside realize what's happening and how doomed they are, the alien makes his motives clear. He has abducted them in order to help his planet, very far away from earth, avoid a cosmic catastrophe. He explains that a large meteor is going to collide with his homeworld and possibly set off a chain reaction which can send his planet careening into the earth as well. All of this will happen in exactly 82 years. Thanks to human nature of constantly wanting to argue about things though, the alien is unable to get the people to cooperate and they all start to long for being back on earth. Don Gordon's character, Doctor Crowell, is the only one willing to assist the alien because he possesses a high enough intellect and is able to understand the impending disaster, but the rest of them start to feel as if Crowell has to die if they want to go back home. Without his intelligence, the alien cannot accomplish his goal. A fight ensues, but common sense prevails and Crowell tells the alien that people on earth are smart enough to realize the danger posed by the asteroid in the future. With this, the alien reverses the ship's course in order to return the humans to their planet. It's a good episode that tells about how even when the fate of the whole earth is at stake, people will simply not get along. The shots of the oddly shaped ufo flying through space are nice to watch, and I think this is the only episode that has an opening narration but no closing one.

My Favorite OL Episode

[aimless-46 · 10/10 · 25 November 2020]

TCM is showing "Spencer's Mountain" tonight, in which Mimsy Farmer has a supporting role. This started up my memory churn as I recalled her appearance in my favorite episode of "Outer Limits" - "Second Chance" - which was originally broadcast in March 1964 (she was born in 1945 so do the math on the age).

A carnival space ride becomes frighteningly real when an alien secretly rigs it to fly. The ominous bird-man carefully picks his unknowing crew including the carny ride captain who's a closet intellectual, an angry middle-aged man, and a star quarterback accompanied by his adoring buddy and his steady girl. The plot involved persuading a group of people whose lives were absolutely miserable (for a variety of reasons) to undertake a mission which would save the earth from destruction sometime in the distant future. The alien was confident that the humans would grab this last chance for personal redemption, he calls it their second chance, especially after being shown that they had nothing to lose given their hopelessly miserable lives on earth. The episode had little good to say about the human race and philosophically plays even better today than it did in 1964.

Critique of Pure Camp

[praxistens848 · 5/10 · 19 September 2013]

Sure, there're hokey special effects, enough over-acting to power a small city for a month, & a plot picked out of a hat, but there's the usual questionable activity of those earthlings & some powerhouse TV regulars of the day.

& I'd wager that this is the only American A/V production in any form, mainstream or experimental, in which a character is chided for reading Kant's Critique of the Pure Reason in the original German.

OTOH, I wonder whether the plot wasn't picked up by an O.L. staffer at the 1964 NY World's Fair, as the spacecraft interior looks an awful lot like the centerpiece of one of the big exhibits my dad & I rode in that summer. & In a variation on the old plot twist, it's the earthlings that compel the alien to see the error of his ways.

Outrageously good fun.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 8 July 2023]

An Alien being named Empyrian has successfully managed to infiltrate a Space Ride at a funfair, replacing it with an actual ship. Convincing a group of people onto the craft, they get an experience they'll never forget.

I imagine this is something of a polarising episode, personally I absolutely loved it, I think it's marvellous, over the top fun. This episode would definitely have appealed to my younger self, the thought of a funfair ride being an actual space craft, that's enough to stoke the imagination.

Lots of screams, lots of gobbledegook, it is out and out sci fi. A group of unsuspecting individuals step onto a craft, and get whisked off into space, I could have been describing Doctor Who there for a minute.

Empyrian is a complex character, he's not just a ranting and raving megalomaniac, he's perhaps the most well balanced and reasonable character of the lot.

Simon Oakland's costume and makeup are spot on, they did a fine job with him. The lighting is great too, it's never overdone.

I may be wrong, but I think some of the sets and equipment used were recycled from The Bellero Shield.

This was great fun.

9/10.

The indignance of the chicken-faced kidnapper.

[fedor8 · 24 April 2021]

A very fun alien abduction premise unfortunately marred by too many speeches, the usual cheesy "profound" dialogue of the Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" type. Too many of these old TV writers weren't nearly as interested in sci-fi as they were in "inner conflict" drama drivel i.e. All that pathetic "the human condition" malarkey. This makes the characters interact unrealistically with each other i.e. Almost every conversation has to get needlessly "deep", in a really corny way.

Things get very silly when the jock attempts to start a rebellion against the group's alien kidnapper, which he does by spouting a bunch of random hooey, a senseless, random speech which he concludes by mentioning hypocrisy. Except that we the audience have no clue what he's blabbering about. The alien's actions have literally nothing to do with hypocrisy.

After the jock gets a taste of the alien's power, his teammate sets off on some weird tangent about how corrupt the jock is, about him taking bribes to lose football matches. But who gives a hoot?! You're abducted into OUTER SPACE yet you wanna mull over comparatively irrelevant, mundane piffle such as bribes... It's around this time that the episode turns into cheesy theater.

The chicken-faced alien, whose birdy appearance isn't a far cry from the ultra-goofy evil aliens from the MST3K-riffed Japanese stinker "Prince of Space", isn't much better though: "Don't be afraid. You have nothing to lose except your lives." He says this without a smidgen of sarcasm or humour. Very comforting!

The teammate gets so panic-stricken and riled up about discussing bribes and football that he - get this - manages to somehow STUMBLE onto the airlock button, presses it ultra-clumsily, then falls into the vacuum of space... Slapstick? One of the most unconvincing scenes in the entire series. Then the "stewardess" annoyingly and predictably screams, for about the 11th time.

Now, WHY the hell would the alien be so stupid to go to all of this trouble to abduct a group of humans - but then lose one because they forgot to seal the airlock?

Well, the wait is over, as the overgrown chicken finally proceeds to explain the motive behind the abduction. And it's as dumb as can be: "Near our planet Imperia there is an asteroid that presents a danger to us. It has an atmosphere similar to that of Earth. If properly colonized its course can be redirected and controlled."

How the hell is colonizing an asteroid with 7 humans supposed to change its course?! Haven't they tried destroying it? This is of course what happens when a writer unfamiliar with even Basic Astronomy scribbles down a sci-fi script, presumably on a piece of toilet paper...

More proof of the writer's unfamiliarity with space follows... This is what Chicken Man says: "To us Imperians the dark aridness of the universe was once an endless, laneless thoroughfare, unrestricted and harmless." This is one of several such examples of nonsense from the alien, who seems to know less about the universe than that 8 year-old from the opening scene.

Or how about... "The asteroid will hit our planet in 82 years, not a second sooner or later." Which would be a reasonable sentence if only he stated the length of time in seconds instead of years... Such goofy pulp.

It gets dumber. It turns out that the ship's employee, its fake captain, is in fact some genius scientist... working in an amusement park for a pittance?! Way too far-fetched and ridiculous. After the alien exposes the man's identity, the scientist gives a hilarious "profound" speech which makes no sense at all, in which he attempts to explain the reasons for opting to become a wandering loser rather than a wealthy, respected scientist.

The old man protests that he isn't interested in the problems of Imperia. But the alien has an answer for that too. A stupid answer, but an answer nonetheless. He basically tells the Earthling that if Imperia gets hit by the asteroid, this collision will set off a chain reaction which will eventually threaten the Earth! I kid you not, that's what he claims. The Ed Wood School of Astrophysics.

Did I mention that the writer is clueless about astronomy? I need to re-iterate that: the writer is bloody clueless about anything remotely connected with physics and the universe. There. That should do it.

The stupid chicken-faced alien then proceeds to berate the humans for DARING to refuse the offer to save Imperion. He actually takes the high moral ground, criticizing and mocking them for wanting to return to Earth! He - the kidnapper - is morally outraged at their refusal to cooperate! It's too funny... Later on, disgusted by the brief violent rebellion, Chicken Man the Righteous Kidnapper gives a brief, accusatory speech in which he moans about why the abducted humans aren't grateful for the "SECOND CHANCE" they'd been so "generously" given - through abduction. It's facepalm after facepalm... I mean, if he wanted volunteers he should have searched for them among death row inmates, not regular folk who'd obviously much more prefer to stay on Earth than muck about on some far-flung crappy asteroid saving a planet of overgrown daft chickens.

"I believe that if this collision were to happen in a year, half the population of Earth would volunteer to go and prevent it." This bizarre claim comes from the scientist's love-interest, the Scream Queen. So it's not as if only the alien and the jock talk a lot of hooey. The nonsense gets spread around; everyone gets to say something very stupid, at least once.

Later there's the obligatory meteor shower scene. Well, at least obligatory in dumb grade-Z sci-fi stories whose writers know zero about space.

The old geezer tries to kill the scientist, and what makes this scene genuinely funny is that the two blonde Scream Queens get involved in a scuffle too.

Check out my TOL list, with reviews of all the episodes.