Steel

Description: Season 5, Episode 2

Air Date: October 4, 1963

Plot Summary: In the future, a man is forced to take the place of his android in a boxing match.

Review: At a glance, this episode should be interesting, considering it is a human fighting a machine, but they do not play up the themes properly at all. It's tough to pinpoint what went wrong since they do touch on all the right ideas. We have the story set in the distant future of 1974 where androids appear to be commonplace. The main character, ridiculously nicknamed Steel, and a mechanic, of some sort, have set up a match between their outdated android and a newer model. Their android is holding together with glue and prayer, but the duo are desperate for money and will take what they can get. When preparing for the fight, their android's right arm breaks permanently. Unwilling to accept the failure, Steel, conveniently a former boxer himself, decides he will take on the android in place of their fighter. Obviously Steel is defeated within minutes, which says more about these shit androids than anything, but the duo are only paid half the money for not lasting more than one round. And that's really all there is to the episode; Steel just discusses how they can repair their android with half the money. The ending is totally lackluster. The episode tries to approach how human will surpasses mechanized brawn, but it does not do the material justice; they also do not emphasize the subject with the depth or attention it needed. There was, nearly, endless potential with this plot, however, the episode could not deliver. Hell, it would have been more amusing if they went with the Hollywood ending of Steel beating the android!