The Man with the Power, directed by László Benedek.
We jump right into the story: a meek little professor, wanting to help the space program, has implanted a new device in his brain that allows him to control vast energies. He eventually realizes that his subconscious is using it to attack and kill others who irritate or frustrate him. By the time he discovers the truth he can no longer control the power.
I didn't remember much about this one but with a rewatch it has several interesting features:
A reminder of how far back eco-catastrophe scenarios go, with worries about exhaustion of resources and peak-everything. Set a little time in the future, the episode's narration begins:
quote
In the course of centuries, Man has devoured the Earth itself. The Machine Age has dried up the seas of oil. Industry has consumed the heartlands of coal. The Atomic Age has plundered the rare elements — uranium, cobalt, plutonium — leaving behind worthless deposits of lead and ashes. Starvation is at hand. Only here, in the void of space, is there a new source of atomic power.
Brief hints that mind and brain are not the same thing, still debated today.
The recognition that everyone yearns to be of consequence, to achieve something that matters.
A revival of the old notion of the Evil Eye, of projecting evil thoughts out into the world. For a while this has been a metaphor for envy, of poisoning the social environment with greedy regard, but with science fiction we can make the old superstition literal again.
The familiar dilemma of every modern Prometheus: that we have access to powers without the skill or wisdom to control them.
Our conflicted hero is Donald Pleasence who often got these interesting combinations of the meek and weird. Before this I remember him as the wicked Prince John in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955) TV series. This same year he would do The Great Escape (1963) for John Sturges, then Cul-De-Sac (1966) for Roman Polanski, Fantastic Voyage (1966) for Richard Fleischer and on and on. He became a regular for John Carpenter.
Notes:
Many familiar faces, including Edward Platt (North by Northwest (1959), Get Smart) and John Marley (Cat Ballou (1965), The Godfather (1972)).
The plot of external manifestation of subconscious desires had been used in Forbidden Planet (1956).
The "boiling cloud with lightning" effect is really pretty good, like something from another dimension.
The "transformation of the human" becomes a continuing theme in the series.
Another episode photographed by Conrad Hall.
No Blu-ray commentary track for this one.