Valley of the Shadow

Description: Season 4, Episode 3

Air Date: January 17, 1963

Plot Summary: Taking a shortcut, a man stumbles upon a mysterious town full of shady characters.

Review: While the first couple, hour-long episodes were dragging, this particular story is better fleshed out to fill the time slot. In fact, they were way ahead of their time in regards to the sci-fi aspects. So you have a reporter, named Redfield, who runs out of gas nearby a backwater town. Instead of simply passing through, Redfield's dog is dematerialized, so to speak, by a little brat. Not entirely understanding what he saw, Redfield becomes suspicious when the townspeople act peculiar and seem clueless to reality; they're also terrible liars when Redfield grills them about the shenanigans he sees. When Redfield attempts to finally leave, he crashes into an invisible barrier that is blocking his way. Unsure what to do with the curious reporter, the leaders of the town decide to reveal their secrets. It would seem that an alien scientist, or whatever he was supposed to be, invented numerous technological advancements in the area. Those advancements were entrusted to the people of the town, but the alien forbid them from sharing his inventions with the rest of humanity; well, at least until humanity was ready to handle them. Not sure I agree with you, alien-man. If humanity has reached peace, what makes you think this kind of advancement wouldn't upset that balance? Also, what is the point of inventing these things if you had no intention to use them? Finally, what makes you think these technological advancement wouldn't be just what humanity needs to reach peace? It's strange, the town is in New Mexico and the townspeople are stuck in the '50s. Was this some kind of Roswell connection? But...the common theory that aliens crashed there didn't become mainstream until the '70s or '80s. Hmm...just a coincidence?

The leaders show Redfield some of the inventions which includes the device that can dematerialize, apparently heal people, and teleport in a way. On top of that, they have a device that can create anything using its atomic formula to construct the item. Obviously they have a force field that they used to keep Redfield from escaping as well. As it would turn out, they are revealing these secrets due to the fact that they won't let Redfield ever leave. In fairness, in exchange for his freedom, Redfield gets a life of luxury and they threw in a cute girlfriend to boot. Though, was she really in love that fast?! Of course he can't take the enclosure, and, claiming that it's selfish to keep these advancements from the rest of the world, Redfield tries to escape with the technology. It is later revealed to be a ruse--a kind of virtual reality--as Redfield's true motives were being tested. Failing the test, the leaders plan to kill Redfield though they apparently have neuralyzers too and simply erase his memories. When they put Redfield back to the moment he was going to leave the town, he momentarily hesitates when he sees the girlfriend. Shrugging it off as some kind of deja vu, Redfield does leave the town none the wiser to what had occurred. Overall, this is a decent episode with a lot of cool ideas. Some of the special effects were pretty good for the time like when Redfield crashes his car; that was commendable editing. Although I may not agree with the themes, they do leave you thinking, and, it's funny, because humanity hasn't really come much further despite us being 50 years older since TZ was cancelled permanently.