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Soldier (The Outer Limits)

"Soldier"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 1
Directed by Gerd Oswald
Written by Harlan Ellison
Cinematography by Kenneth Peach
Production code 34
Original air date September 19, 1964
Guest appearance(s)
Episode chronology
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List of The Outer Limits episodes

Lloyd Nolan
Michael Ansara
Tim O'Connor

"Soldier" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It opened the second season of shows on September 19, 1964.

For the second season, Ben Brady took over as producer from Joseph Stefano. This is the first of two episodes written by Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction author Harlan Ellison, and is adapted from his 1957 short story "Soldier from Tomorrow."

A soldier from Earth's future is sent back in time where he is captured by the government.

Eighteen hundred years in the future, two foot soldiers clash on a battlefield. A random energy weapon strikes both, and they are hurled into a time vortex. While one soldier is trapped in the matrix of time, the other, Qarlo Clobregnny (Michael Ansara), materializes on a city street in the United States in the year 1964.

Qarlo is soon captured and interrogated by Tom Kagan (Lloyd Nolan), a philologist, and his origin is eventually discovered. Qarlo has been trained for one purpose - to kill the enemy, and that is all he knows. Progress is made in "taming" him after Kagan translates his seemingly unintelligible language - "Nims qarlo clobregnny prite arem aean teaan deao" - into colloquial English..."(My) name is Qarlo Clobregnny, private, RM EN TN DO"; his name, rank and serial letters, which is what any soldier would reveal if captured by the enemy. After a short time in captivity, Qarlo comes to live with the Kagan family, despite the reluctance expressed by Tom Kagan's government associates.

However, the time eddy holding the enemy soldier slowly weakens. Finally, he materializes fully, and tracks Qarlo to the Kagan home. In a final hand-to-hand battle, Qarlo sacrifices his life to kill the enemy and save the Kagan family.

Interiors were shot at Paramount Studios. Qarlo's "War Zone" was shot on the Paramount Sunset stage, a gigantic stage the size of three stages put together. A sky cyclorama ran all the way round it and a horizon line of mountains was placed in front of that in diminished perspective. A fog machine provided the landscape with a smokey haziness. The gun shop scene was filmed on the Paramount Backlot, on New York Street.


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