Inheritors, the best episode

The most groundbreaking episode of a groundbreaking series The Inheritors is a treatment of multiple fascinating subjects. They vary from the question of what is human to what a sufficiently advanced technology could accomplish, were they to set their minds to it. More importantly, it looks at their possible ethics and how that might impact on how that civilization does things.

Admittedly, the method by which the four protagonists are gathered up and advanced is rather unlikely, but once you get past that its a really interesting story with few holes in either its storytelling or science. Indeed, despite having been written for TV in 1964 the physics still holds good - remarkably so in that current thinking suggests that everything shown is possible.

Well worth the investment.

The Awe and Mystery

How often the "awe and mystery" of the outer limits was overstated! But not here: Not only does the episode have that rarest of all science fiction qualities before 1970 -- characters with heart, inner conflict and depth -- but it puts into our heads such fundamental questions as "what is the mind"? "What is intent"? "Can unilateral action ever be ethical?" This may be the only episode of TOL that ever made me cry...