"Behold, Eck!" | |
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The Outer Limits episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 3 |
Directed by | Byron Haskin |
Written by |
John Mantley (teleplay) William R. Cox (story) |
Cinematography by | Kenneth Peach |
Production code | 37 |
Original air date | October 3, 1964 |
Guest appearance(s) | |
Peter Lind Hayes
Joan Freeman
Parley Baer
"Behold, Eck!" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 3 October 1964, during the second season.
A two-dimensional creature called Eck who lives in a two-dimensional world finds himself transported to our three-dimensional world and seeks to return home with the help of special glasses made by an eccentric optical engineer.
"Since the first living thing gazed upward through the darkness, Man has seldom been content merely to be born, to endure, and to die. With a curious fervor he has struggled to unlock the mysteries of creation and of the world in which he lives. Sometimes he has won. Sometimes he has lost. And sometimes, in the tumbling torrents of space and time, he has brief glimpses of a world he never even dreams..."
Dr. Robert Stone, an absent-minded optic engineer, is a brilliant researcher in a field that few appreciate. His brother, a prominent government physicist, refuses to take him seriously and has essentially shut Dr. Stone out of his life. Dr. Stone's attractive secretary, Ms. Elizabeth Dunn, is in love with him and has read all of his recondite scientific papers, but Stone is blind to her feelings and myopically perceives only the details of his science.
The story begins as policemen investigate the destruction of Dr. Stone's office, the latest in a series of attacks on optometric facilities. After they leave, Dr. Stone realizes that his own glasses are broken and decides to try a pair of prescription lenses designed for patients who suffer from double vision, lenses made from meteoric quartz. Putting on the glasses, he recoils in horror as he sees a creature that appears to be made of energy. The creature attacks him, smashing his glasses, steals a page from Stone's notebook on which are written the names of patients who have been prescribed the lenses, and quickly vanishes.
Stone ascertains that the creature must exist in only two dimensions, as when he turns sideways he becomes invisible, and is able to move through walls. Stone visits his physicist brother to talk over the idea, but his brother dismisses him as mad. Dr. Stone has his secretary order several new pairs of the meteoric eyepieces, and tries to track down the patients sought by the two-dimensional creature. One has been injured, another is found dead, and the third, a welder, managed to ward off the creature with his welding torch (later Stone is told by the creature that in the second dimension, fire is all-powerful because two-dimensional organisms, like dry leaves or paper, are easily set aflame). It is also discovered that a large building has been cut in half. Stone's brother and the police begin to investigate these occurrences. Meanwhile, in the excitement of the moment, Stone suddenly seems to notice the love-struck Ms. Dunn for the first time, remarking after putting on a different pair of glasses that something about her "looks different," as she glows with adoration towards him.