(Review) Dead Man's Switch (very minor spoilers)
Mike Horne
The Outer Limits Reviews
Dead Man's Switch
"Must keep pressing the button. Must keep pressing the button..."
An episode about a situation both as basic and as complicated as this
will always have some problems. These are overcome, however, by a
sparkling script, spot-on restrained performances and the unnerving
feeling that you're watching a stage play.
A helicopter sweeps over an arctic landscape and lands beside a
concrete building that, at first glance, looks like some kind of
research centre. A man climbs out of the helicopter and, together with a
high-ranking military officer, descends deep underground and emerges
into a self-sustaining, hermetically sealed environment.
The soldier is told the situation: there is a doomsday weapon on
Earth that will launch every chemical, biological and nuclear weapon
worldwide. The room in which they are standing is one of the control
rooms. Periodically, there will be an alert siren and within thirty
seconds, the soldier must press a red button to stop the countdown and
prevent the weapon from firing.
The weapon was created in response to an alien fleet that is
heading for Earth, which may or may not be hostile. In the event the
Earth is conquered, the weapon should be allowed to go off.
The soldier asks what would happen if he decides that he doesn't
want to just let the weapon destroy Earth, and himself. He is told that
in one year all resources supplied to the room: air; water; electricity;
will be cut off and he will die.
If he dies, he will not be able to press the button: it is a
Dead Man's Switch.
The soldier, Lieutenant Ben Conklin (James LeGros) soon becomes
accustomed to the station, having been picked for being self-sufficient
and unshakable. He meets the four other people assigned to the weapon:
Katya, a Russian (Kristin Lehman); Hong, from China (Yee Tee Tso);
Donald, a South African (Ellis Williams); and Gwen, an Australian
(Merrilyn Gann).
Over the course of the year, we learn more about the characters,
Ben and Katya develop a romantic relationship and one by one, they and
their equipment begin to fall apart at the seams.
You can tell by the time it took to explain the plot that it is
quite a complicated situation. However, once the episode explained that
much, it was easy to follow.
The good things first, and boy-oh-boy are there a lot of them.
I'll kick off with acting as usual.
James LeGros, playing Ben, gives a performance that I would
describe as 'warm'. Let me qualify that. Very rarely in The Outer Limits
are we presented with a character who is completely likeable. Normally
they are flawed in some way: the scientists in both New Lease and Double
Helix are kind-hearted but also manic obsessives; the lead character in
Last Supper was an adulterous liar at the core.
Not since From Within have we had such a sympathetic central
character, and, like that episode, it perfectly fits.
The point about Conklin is that he is easy to get along with and
is emotionally strong. LeGros manages to play this guy who most people
would be friends with, and who has a good heart as well. When he finally
has to develop a strong emotional response, both LeGros and the
character slip smoothly, but cautiously into the moment. Accurately
portrayed, and in a subtle way. As you gather from my past reviews,
subtlety in acting is one of the things I look for in an episode.
Kristin Lehman, as Katya, gives a strong performance. Typically
Russian, but at the same time there is a hint of a deeper emotional
state. Lehman manages to tap into that and bring it out to make Katya a
sympathetic character who you care about.
Donnelly Rhodes, playing General Eiger, the man in charge of it
all, doesn't really have much to do, but he is a solid presence that
holds the main story into the external background of Earth facing an
alien threat.
Tso, Gann and Williams are also all very good and they manage to
put their characters across well, considering they have to act over
television monitors. They each gave good characterisations: they were
separate, but they all had within them what they needed to survive: the
ability to be isolated and not crack under pressure.
When they do all finally crack, they manage to do it in a
thoroughly convincing manner.
That's the acting done.
Direction was provided by Jeff Woolnough, an unfamiliar name. He
did a masterful job, however, presenting a small story in a confined
space and truly pulling the audience into the grip of the episode.
What I appreciated the most was the way we only ever (apart from
the very end) saw Conklin's quarters. The set is small enough that it
must have been a real pig to swing a camera around. This does, of
course, put limitations on the story. We can never see what is happening
outside, we can never have any real interaction with anyone outside of
the circle of our six characters.
On the other hand, this does fit the episode very well. The
characters don't know what's happening, so why should we? Too often, the
audience knows what is going on and sees what the characters don't see.
It's a refreshing change.
I would like to know how this was filmed. Were the six
characters isolated from each other? Were they filmed separately and
then edited together later?
Dead Man's Switch was written by Ben Richardson, another new
name. The episode is almost entirely dialogue-based. There are very few
special effects and it is similar in the way it is written to Trial by
Fire. We don't need to see what is happening outside because the story
is character based. It is sufficient to be told, and it is better not to
know if the characters don't know.
The romantic scene between Katya and Ben works very well and it
is the dialogue that makes the scene. It doesn't feel cliched, it
doesn't feel forced. It feels weird, but so is the situation. One thing
that struck me was how uncomfortable it made me. It was like I was
intruding on the two of them. That is perhaps the charm behind the
scene: they are two people, the dialogue and characters are real, but it
isn't the sort of thing that we, as an audience, should be allowed to
share.
Kudos for that scene, it was one of the best moments in the
episode. I just wish they had been allowed to have a bit more of it.
Thumbs *way* up for the writing, then.
Special effects. Very little, but the spaceship landing was
effective. I would guess most of the money went to building sets in this
episode. There was a nice matte painting towards the end of the show,
and I'm beginning to think that's one of the things the TOL SFX crew
does very well.
Music was minimal, yet there were for people involved in it.
Messrs. VonTongeren, Mancina, Robinson and Goldsmith were all involved.
The only time I noticed the music, though, was at the end, and even that
sounded like it was an add-on to the title music. Still, minimalism is
fine by me.
Only a few minor things in this second section that last time
spelt doom for Double Helix.
Yee Tee Tso as Hong was slightly irritating and I wonder whether
the characterisation or writing was at fault here. Hong has been chosen
especially because he won't crack under pressure and he will follow
orders. Yet he seems obsessed with fiddling around with the equipment in
his bunker. There's something wrong with Chinese screening program,
obviously.
I mentioned earlier that I felt sympathetic towards Ben and
Katya, but I wish I could say the same for the other characters. Gwen
seemed a little stilted, but that's down to the writing, and I felt that
that was the idea. Hong was slightly too frenetic in places. The General
was okay, but felt a little like Mr. X from The X Files. He comes in,
gives out information, goes away again.
The more interesting character of the remaining four was Donald.
He wasn't given nearly enough screen time in my opinion, and I would
like to have learnt more about him.
However, neither of the four produced any strong emotional
response from me. A shame, but it didn't spoil the episode which was
mostly about Ben and Katya anyway.
To sum up, then.
There was an inherent coolness to the episode which kept me on
the hook from beginning to end. There was a film in the 1980's called
War Games, starring Matthew Broderick. Although the film wasn't
outstandingly good, there was something about it that makes it one of
the must-see films of all time.
Dead Man's Switch had this as well. There's something about
isolation in a bleak wilderness that speaks to me. Whether I'm just
weird is for someone else to find out, but this isolation aspect always
has a wonderful way of focusing the episode, and focusing the audience's
attention.
The ending of the episode was very Outer Limits-ish, if you know
what I mean. Depressing in a heart-in-mouth kind of way. I just wish I
could have suppressed the giggle when I saw the MIB-aliens.
Dead Man's Switch was a brave episode. It wasn't afraid to be
claustrophobic and it didn't shirk away from holding the audience inside
the room with Conklin for the entire 43.5 minutes of the show.
It is just on the borderline of being something special, and
while it is not the 'Best Episode Of All Time', this one presses the
right buttons and edges into my personal favourites category.
Score: 9.1
Questions: Which episode was the clip-show? Is there just the one in the
third season? Did I hear right, is there going to be a fourth season?
--
Mike Horne
mi...@whispers.demon.co.uk * http://www.whispers.demon.co.uk
"They say life is a river..."
Mike Horne
In article <19971202011...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, StoOdin101
<stood...@aol.com> writes
>>Questions: Which episode was the clip-show? Is there just the one in the
>>third season? Did I hear right, is there going to be a fourth season?
>
>works better than that one. (There was no clip show in season 2, of course.)
>4th season is currently filming in Vancouver.
What was the season one clip show called?
>
>
>>The ending of the episode was very Outer Limits-ish, if you know
>>what I mean. Depressing in a heart-in-mouth kind of way.
>
>To me, Dead Man's Switch starts off with such a grim premise that it
>short-circuits its finale...no matter WHAT happened, it wasn't going to be
>_good_.
>My rating is : 3 on a 4 scale.
True, true. But, on the other hand, the aliens could have been here
completely in peace... yeah, right ;)
I know what you mean though: if you build it, it will explode...
StoOdin101
>What was the season one clip show called?
>
>
VOICE OF REASON, though I;m still not sure why.
NECRONOMICON, all-instrumental electronic music inspired by H.P.Lovecraft, now
available on c-60 cassette. E-mail StoOd...@aol.com for details.