The Zanti Misfits

"The Zanti Misfits"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 14
Directed by	Leonard Horn
Written by	Joseph Stefano
Cinematography by	John M. Nickolaus
Production code	17
Original air date	December 30, 1963
Guest actors
Michael Tolan and Olive Deering

"The Zanti Misfits" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first broadcast on December 30, 1963, during the first season.

In 1997, the TV Guide ranked this episode number 98 on its "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time" list.

Introduction

An alien world demands that Earth provide a penal colony for its criminals. The criminals are grotesque, rat-sized, ant-like insectoids with almost human faces.

Opening narration

Throughout history, compassionate minds have pondered the dark and disturbing question: what is society to do with those members who are a threat to society, those malcontents and misfits whose behavior undermines and destroys the foundations of civilization? Different ages have found different answers. Misfits have been burned, branded and banished. Today, on this planet Earth, the criminal is incarcerated in humane institutions.....or he is executed. Other planets use other methods. This is the story of how the perfectionist rulers of the planet Zanti attempted to solve the problem of the Zanti misfits.

Plotline

Military forces have cordoned off a ghost town, aptly named Morgue, located in a remote section in the deserts of California while awaiting the arrival of a spacecraft from the planet Zanti. The perfectionist rulers of that planet, after making radio contact with our government, have decided that the Earth is the "perfect place" to exile their undesirables and criminals in exchange for sharing technological advances with the Earth. They threaten total destruction if their penal ship is attacked, or if their privacy is not maintained. During the negotiations, Ben Garth, a bank robber on the run, along with his reluctant, morally-deficient accomplice/girlfriend, Lisa, cross the cordon, and run down an armed sentry during the approach of the Zanti ship. After seeing the ship land, Ben climbs a small mesa to investigate the landing site. The hatch opens and Ben is murdered by a Zanti regent, who then pursues Ben's now-terrified accomplice. Believing that their privacy was violated, the remaining Zanti prisoners - who are actually grotesque-looking, overgrown insectoids akin to ants - commandeer the penal ship and land it atop the roof of the military command post. When the Zanti prisoners attack Earth's nervous soldiers, a brutal firefight ensues, and all of the aliens are massacred. The soldiers and airmen anxiously await the expected reprisals, but, instead, they receive a message of thanks from the Zanti leader who explains that they were incapable of executing members of their own species so they sent them into the hands of a race who possessed no qualms about killing — the human race, referring to us as "practiced executioners".

Closing narration

Throughout history, various societies have tried various methods of exterminating those members who have proven their inability or unwillingness to live sanely amongst their fellow men. The Zantis tried merely one more method; neither better, nor worse than all of the others, neither more human, nor less human than all others, perhaps merely- non-human.

Special Effects

Jim Danforth provided the stop-motion effects of the Zantis for this episode.

During the Zantis' initial attack after landing on the roof of the command post, the creatures are seen descending an exterior wall; however, with the technology of the time, the stop-motion effect was not able to be used during this scene. Here, the Zantis are mere models being lowered on wires, their movements erratic, with their legs not moving.

Continuity

While the military operation was spearheaded by the US Air Force, the government correspondent (Tolan) is seen driving into the desert to meet with the Zantis in a US Army jeep.

Contemporary usage

"Zantis" and "Zanti Misfits" have been used to describe certain patterns of extremely high-frequency stock trading.

Cast

• Michael Tolan – as Steve Grave
• Olive Deering – as Lisa
• Robert F. Simon – as General Hart
• Bruce Dern – as Ben Garth
• Claude Woolman – as Major Roger Hill
• Lex Johnson – as a communications technician(uncredited)
• Joe E. Tata – as a radar operator (uncredited)
• George Sims – as a computer technician (uncredited)
• Mike Mikler – as Air Police sergeant (uncredited)
• Bill Hart – as Corporal Delano (uncredited)
• Vic Perrin – as the voice of Zanti prisoner (uncredited)
• Robert Johnson – as the voices of radio newscaster / Zanti Regent / Zanti commander (uncredited)
• John Elizalde – as voice of the Zanti (uncredited)

External links

• "The Zanti Misfits" at IMDb
• "The Zanti Misfits" at TV.com