Sunday, September 6, 2026

Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits - 'The Light Brigade'

 A rare Sequel in this otherwise self-contained Series.

We return to the World of Humans vs. Aliens in this Episode.

In deep space, a human warship is traveling towards the alien home planet when it comes under attack!
There are only a few survivors, specifically Will Wheaton, Robert Parrick and another guy in the Engine Room.

They keep the ship going, as they plan to drop a big-ass bomb on the alien home world!
The group is joined by Graham Greene, who also survived.  

They work towards the front to keep the ship going and arm the bomb.
They lose the wounded guy along the way.
They are dealing with radiation sickness (from the damaged generators), but they must keep going.

Intrigue builds as well, as they talk about the aliens using spies.
Patrick notes that he was freed from a Prison Camp.
As it turns out, Patrick is an alien spy!  He was replaced after the events of Quality of Mercy.
He is trying to arm the bomb, but Wheaton tries to escape with the key.

He manages to kill 'Patrick' and releases the bomb.

Someone cuts open the shaft and Will realizes that he's dropping the bomb on Earth (as Patrick turned the ship around while the others were unconscious).

Whoops.  The End.
An upgraded version of a classic Bottle Episode of the Series.

This one builds upon that concept and raises the stakes.
It's about as bad as of an Ending- at least as far as Earth is concerned.

This one is done with zero aliens (save for a tease of a reveal near the end) in this one.
In their place, we get some nice, CGI shots of the ship and other digital effects.

They aren't mind-blowing, but they are good for their time and not distractingly bad.

The Ending is a point of contention, as some people love the bleak nature of it.
It is clever- no question.
Should Wheaton have figured out that something was off when he dropped the bomb after trying to stop Patrick from dropping it?  Probably.

I think the point is that the blind pursuit of heroism is a bad thing and that's what he does.
No matter how you feel, don't fight about it.

Next time, we get to the final Episode in the Top 10.  A man seeks a cure and it goes horribly wrong.  See you then.

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