The Outer Limits: Season 1, Episode Four “The Man with the Power”

Original Air Date: October 7, 1963
Writer: Jerome Ross 
Director: László Benedek

“In the course of centuries, man has devoured the earth itself. The machine age has dried up the seas of oil, industry has consumed heartlands of coal, the atomic age has plundered the rare elements –uranium, cobalt, plutonium—leaving behind worthless deposits of lead and ashes. Starvation is at hand. Only here in the void of space is there a new source of atomic power. Above us in the debris of the solar system, in the meteorites and asteroids, are the materials needed to drive the reactors. Yet in their distant silent orbits, these chunks of matter are beyond the reach of human hands, but not beyond the reach of the human mind.”

A man and his wife named Emily are violently awoken by a strange electrical phenomenon occurring in their bedroom as it attacks the unnamed man in his bed –this little prelude recurs later in the episode.  

Harold J. Finley (Donald Pleasence) is “quiet and profound,” a milquetoast professor at a second-rate college where he has been studying electromagnetic field phenomena. He is, by all accounts, a mild, unimpressive man whose wife, Vera (Priscilla Morrill), has lost all respect for him. Despite his teaching job at a small college, Finley has always wanted to work in the burgeoning space program (even as his shrewish wife’s protests). By now, he has grown privately resentful and embittered at his wife. Almost as an act of rebellion, Finley joins the space program after agreeing to an experimental medical procedure which grants him strange superhuman powers that will be helpful to the space program.

The frontal lobe procedure/experimental surgery has left Finley with a strange shape on his forehead and the result is that it allows him to congeal a strange electrical storm that attacks people. Finley claims to have opened a “link gate” which allows him to harness radio waves and use a discreet beam directed wherever he wishes. Using only his mind, Finley is now able to lift huge objects, including ones weighing over half a ton.   

Finley’s power over his abilities continues to grow, but gradually he loses control. He somewhat “accidentally” kills the Dean at his college (in a replay of the scene at the outset of the episode). His own wife becomes fearful of her husband, confessing that she wants a child but never wanted to bring a new life into the world with Finley because she had lost all respect for him. In the end, he decides “if I have such power, then I don’t want to live” and he turns his electrical storm upon himself.

“Deep behind the kindest, gentlest soul may lurk violent thoughts, deadly wishes. Someday men may learn to cope with the monsters of the mind. Then, and only then, when the human mind is truly in control of itself, can we truly begin to utilize the great and hidden powers of the universe.”

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My Thoughts on “The Man with the Power”

“The Man with the Power” is another tale about the corruption of power, and the power of corruption. The subconscious urges of the human mind are far more complex than we can understand and characters like Finley are reminders of the sometimes dangerous benevolence of modern science –his super-human powers are all but guaranteed to result in unintended consequences. Generally speaking, I found this to be another stellar episode of The Outer Limits, though it seems my opinion of this episode is much higher than many other fans.

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The Outer Limits Trivia:

• I believe the special effect for Finley’s electrical storm cloud was created by filming an underwater ink cloud.  
• Donald Pleasence (1919-1995), who played Harold J. Finley in this episode, famously played the nemesis of James Bond, Ernest Stavro Blofeld, in You Only Live Twice (1967). In his long career, he also appeared in films like The Great Escape (1963), THX 1138 (1971), and Halloween (1978). He also quite memorably played Professor Ellis Fowler in the classic sentimental Christmas episode of The Twilight Zone “The Changing of the Guard.”
• Priscilla Morrill (1927-1994), who played Vera Finley in this episode, also had a regular role as Edie Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.   
• Edward Platt (1916-1974) played the dean in this episode who is killed by Finley’s powers. Platt appeared in numerous television shows, including as a doctor in The Twilight Zone episode “A Hundred Yards Over the Rim,” as well as other shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and others. He also appeared in two more Outer Limits episodes. He committed suicide at his home in 1974 after years of struggling with depression.   
• Frank Maxwell (1916-1974), who played a doctor in this episode, also appeared in The Twilight Zone as Marty Fisher in the episode “A World of Difference,” and in episodes of Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and others.
• John Marley (1907-1984) appears in this episode, but he is perhaps best known for his appearance in The Godfather as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head of his prized thoroughbred horse in his bed. He also appears in two Twilight Zone episodes: “Kick the Can” and “The Old Man in the Cave.” Another actor who appeared in this episode, Paul Lambert (1922-1997), also had a minor cameo in The Godfather as a mobster, as well as other appearances in movies like Planet of the Apes, Spartacus, American Graffiti, All The President’s Men, Apocalypse Now, and also television shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “King Nine Will Not Return.’
• Paul Kent (1930-2011), who had a minor role in this episode, also appeared in shows like Mission: Impossible, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-O, Bonanza, as well as movies like Ruby and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  
• Fred Bier (1927-1980) plays an astronaut in this episode. He also appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “Death Ship.”
• James McCallion (1918-1991) had a minor role in this episode but he also appeared in the first Twilight Zone episode “Where Is Everybody?”Also, Diane Strom (1933-present) had a cameo in this episode as an unnamed secretary, and she previously appeared in The Twilight Zone episode “Static.”