Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17637
Location: North Carolina
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 5:20 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
_____________________________________
You have to hand it to good old Science Fiction Theatre, they never shied away from stories that present bizarre concepts, and they never dumbed down the story for the audience.
 _
This one is basically a crime drama, with an elaborate introduction by Truman Bradley which demonstrates precisely how the police use science to solve crimes, such as the ballistics test they conduct to determine if a specific gun has been used in a murder.
 _
The crime in this case is a bizarre one. A young man goes into a drugstore, strangles a woman in a phone booth . . . . and then orders lunch at the counter. When the police arrive, he claims he knows nothing about the murdered woman lying in the phone booth nearby.
Shortly thereafter, detective Victor Jory and psychologist Michael Fox meet to discuss the strange murder.
 _
They bring in the murderer and hook him up to brainwave monitors to delve into the mystery of why he killed the poor woman and then did not realize he'd done it.
 _
They discover that he was in a movie theater just before he killed the woman, and there was a scene in the movie that showed a man strangling a woman in a phone booth. They talk to the murderer's wife and discover that he's always had a gentle nature. Victor and Michael go to see the movie to view the scene, and they notice the distinct flickering of the movie projector.
 _
Michael Fox comes ups with a theory. The flickering of the projector induced hypnosis, and the movie gave the murderer a post-hypnotic suggestion to kill the woman. They do tests on the young man to determine if his brainwaves are influenced by the flickering light.
The EEG results are positive, but Victor Jory isn't fully convinced.
 _
Michael designs an experiment to prove his theory. Victor watches a flickering light while Michael gives him a series of post hypnotic suggestions, after which Victor gets a very convincing demonstration of how effective hypnosis can be.
 _
Needless to say, Victor gets a crash course in the effectiveness of post hypnotic suggestion, and the two men agree to testify at the young man's trial.
 _
This is a wonderful episode that explores an avenue of science not often addressed in science fiction movies and TV series because it's not "sexy" enough. Enjoy this episode at the link below, courtesy of Youtube and All Sci-Fi. 
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
