The Thormanoids are trying to take over earth, and what makes it
difficult to get hold of Thormanoid agents already on earth is that they
look exactly like humans and have a gadget called the polarizer
that allows them to walk through walls. This is of course a dead giveaway
too, since everybody carrying a polarizer must therefore be a Thormanoid.
Thormanoids are also used to temperatures about 60 to 80 degrees warmer
than on earth, so they wear thermal underwear - which is the second dead
giveaway. Commander Buzz Correy (Ed Kemmer) finds out that Captain
Sackett (Keith Larsen) is actually a Thormanoid, so he hands him over to
Loren (Lee Van Cleef), the brainograph operator, to have his mind probed
... but Loren is actually a Thormanoid as well, so he helps Sackett
overcome the commander's sidekick Happy (Lyn Osborn), which Sackett takes
as hostage while trying to reach their teleportation device. However,
Correy has grown wise to Loren being a Thormanoid, forces the whereabouts
of Sackett and Happy out of him, and ultimately overcomes Sackett and
Loren, who has managed to escape the Commander, using their polarizer
against them. Somehow charming space opera from the 1950's that
is still very much in style with similar serials from the 1930's. However,
this episode on the other hand lacks any sense of wonder of the
chapterplays of old and features little more than a few fistfights. If you
are a fan of sci-fi-nostalgia though (and I am to a point as well), you
probably won't mnd too much and enjoy this all the same.
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