Monster of the Day #17

Updated on April 29, 2010 By Ken Begg 11 Comments

“Throughout history compassionate minds have pondered this dark and disturbing question: what is society to do with those members who are a threat to society, those malcontents and misfits whose behavior undermines and destroys the foundations of civilization? Different ages have found different answers. Misfits have been burned, branded and banished. Today on this planet earth the criminal incarcerated in humane institutions or he is executed. Other planets use other methods.…”

Pin It



Related Posts

  • TongoRad

    The beauty of these Monster posts is that they give me new ideas of what to watch with my oldest son (12 yrs)- usually accompanied by the phrase “why didn’t I think of that before?”. I have just put in a request for TOL from the library website, and now can’t wait until it arrives.

  • Tongo, that is one of the nicest notes I’ve ever gotten. I only wish I could be there with you. Enjoy! (And kudos on using your local library!)

  • The Rev. D.D.

    I haven’t seen all the episodes of that show, but that’s probably my favorite episode of the ones I have. Those critters are just big ants with people-like faces and yet they’re creepy as hell.

    The punchline at the end is killer.

  • cavalier

    I saw this episode when I was little and it creeped me out. Then on a reviewing I noticed the Zanti looked like Phyllis Diller, then it became more of a comedy.

  • Marsden

    I loved this episode. Not for any of the reasons listed, I just liked seeing our soldiers actually killing something, too many of shows/movies show them as basically victims. It was a tough fight but they showed those Zanti whose boss, which is completely with odds of the “moral” but, screw it!

  • I am fully behind Obama’s new initiative to send those convicted of the Death penalty to a distant planet where they can be eliminated by less-societally-advanced alien bugs.

  • Rock Baker

    Ah! Once again I’d like to thank TNT’s Monstervision for dusting off this great series during my developmental years! ‘Zanti Misfits’ was one of the first episodes I saw and has remained one of my favorites, second only to ‘The Hundred Days of the Dragon.’
    And that’s a great photo! With all the stop motion and rubber Zanti props, this had to be one of their most expensive episodes to produce. I may have to dig it out and watch it again this weekend!

  • sandra

    The remake of TOL was never up to the standard of the old series, even though they did go for downer endings about 2/3 of the time. I think my two favorite episodes of Classic TOL were two episodes starring Robert Culp: The Architects of Fear and Demon With A Glass Hand. There were actually a fair number of dud episodes, but you tend to remember only the good ones.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Hm, I have to admit that while the Zanti are great creatures, the episode itself is mercilessly padded. The heroine’s “I’ve had a hard life” speech and the endless broadcast-translation scenes just slowed the thing to a crawl.

    Much as I loved the old Outer Limits, and much as it scared the crap out of me as a kid, it would have been much better (I think) as a half-hour show.

  • BeckoningChasm

    Also, Ken, you really need to check your numbers. Or make this one 16.5 or something. Do you have these as draft entries?

  • TongoRad

    Ken (re: your first post in this thread):
    that’s a pretty swell thing you said there as well. We’d love to have you join us for some viewin’; as of now it’s just the two of us. The more the merrier (you probably know that better than anyone, what with all of the fests you’ve attended and such).

    Our library system (in the NYC suburbs of Northern NJ) is pretty awesome, though I probably wouldn’t have discovered that fact if I didn’t have kids. It’s definitely a resource that more people should take advantage of.

    Anyway- looking forward to more monsters!