Review of "The Outer Limits: Demon With a Glass Hand," VHS version

Review of

The Outer Limits: Demon With a Glass Hand, VHS version

Five out of five stars

 One of the advantages of watching the science fiction videos before the power of inserted special effects took over is that the plot and dialog make the story, not eye-popping action. That is true of every story in “The Outer Limits Series,” including this one.

 Robert Culp plays Trent, a man sent back through time in an attempt to save humanity from the Kyben, a species from another planet that is determined to wipe out all of humanity. Several of the Kyben have also come back through a time portal in an attempt to kill him. Trent’s only advantage is a powerful computer that resides in his glass left hand.

 However, the computer is incomplete, as not all the fingers are present, which limits its processing power. While there are many Kyben, they are vulnerable to the bullets in Trent’s gun and they can be forcibly and violently sent back to the future against their will.

 Written by science fiction giant Harlan Ellison, this story is largely an installment of the legend of the hero that never dies, a protector of humanity that will take on all threats, domestic and extremely foreign in origin.

 In this tense story, lighting, shadows, facial expressions and the quality of the set are used to develop the story rather than CGI. While this form does have weaknesses, the viewer runs no risk of overload of their visual apparatus. One can consider this story as a predecessor of the “Terminator” series.