Speaking of return appearances, we once again welcome back Burgess Meredith.

Mr. Meredith is well known to nearly everyone for either his appearances as the Penguin in the 1966 Batman series, his role in the "Rocky" films, and quite a few appearances in the original "Twilight Zone," namely being the bookworm who breaks his glasses on the post apocalyptic Earth in the immortal "Time Enough at Last."  Yet, like with Mr. Karloff in the "Past Tense" review, we will visit his TV career again, this time in a show that possibly nobody remembers.

"Lights Out" began life as a radio show hosted and written by Arch Obler.  Arch could easily be called a Rod Serling's Rod Serling with his often outlandish, ironic, and downright terrifying radio plays which could easily scare legions of ready-to-be-made fans today.  While other radio shows dealt with murder and mystery, Arch dealt with such simple topics as turning people inside out (along with sound effects) and the last moments of a couple before a train kills them both.  The man had a superior knack for scaring the hell out of people and doing it well.   But, the death blow came down for "Lights Out" when the radio show was so terrifying that it was moved to the time slot of half past midnight (!) and left there.   Eventually, when TV came along in the '50s,  "Lights Out" found a new home there for a few seasons before fading out of the public spotlight and disappearing forever.

Arch Obler had a sadder fate:  after his spectacular career in radio, he made a few movies and then seemed to either go into retirement or move to other projects.  In fact, I'm not really sure, and if anybody has any info please email me at [email protected].

Either way, the TV version of "Lights Out" was hosted by Frank Gallop, who hosted the opening and ending segments of the show.  Clad only in black and shot on a black backdrop, he appeared as only a head and hands who greeted the home audience by lighting a candle and with a customary "Helllooooooooooooooo."  Then he would go into the story proper along with organ music played by the mysterious one-name wonder known as "Arlo."

Anyway, the story begins with a bum (Meredith) in a bar babbling about Martians and how he's been trying to find them ever since he found out he can tell a Martian from an Earthling by infrared light.  This light allows him to see their telltale feature--a third eye smack dab in the middle of their forehead.   He befriends a photographer who claims to have been experimenting with infrared film and claiming the same thing.  The bum notices that a mysterious man is listening to their conversation and asks the photographer if they could meet later at the photographer's apartment.

Later, the photographer is at his apartment when he hears a knock on the door.  He opens it to find....the mysterious man, who enters and starts acting strangely, questioning the photographer's knowledge of "Martians."  Just then, the bum runs out from behind a curtain and kills the mysterious man, claiming that he is a murderous Martian.  The photographer is shocked, and even more so when he hears a cop knock at the door (he must have heard the ruckus outside, or was called, etc.).  The bum runs down to the photographer's basement to bury the body while the photographer sits the corpse of the mystery man on a chair like he's getting his picture taken.  Apparently the cop is extremely stupid, because the buys the story (even telling the corpse to say cheese!) and leaves.  The photographer sighs relief but is still unsure that the mystery man is really a Martian.  So, he grabs some infrared film from his darkroom off the basement stairs and takes the dead man's picture.  As he develops it, the bum keeps digging the grave in the basement.

Suddenly, the picture develops and the photographer finds out that there was no third eye--they killed an innocent Earth man.  The bum agrees and tells the photographer that that's fine, as the graves are ready.  "Graves?"  The Photographer exclaims.  Then the bum ascends the stairs, his third eye apparent, and reaches out to finish the job for the second time....

"Martian Eyes" succeeds in rising a chill despite its plotholes:  why did the bum kill an innocent Earth man just so he could set up the murder of the photographer?  Was it because the photographer was coming onto his little plot?  How could the photographer see the bum's third eye without the help of any infrared film at the very end?  Plus, how could the cop be so stupid?  And why didn't the photographer just push that funky bum Martian down the stairs and beat him senseless?  Burgess Meredith isn't a big man, here.  But all of this doesn't really beat the twist ending, which I admit I could see coming but didn't really take away from the ending closeup (although blurry--Lights Out episodes don't have the benefit of being saved in pristine condition, filmed well, or digital remastering) with Burgess Meredith coming for the photographer and laughing all the way.  It's good stuff.

Plus, as an added bonus, good old Frank Gallop ends the show with his trademark quip and with a little joke:  when the camera goes up to his face, he also has a third eye on his forehead.  That made me chuckle, and was truly unexpected...good work and good thinking.  It's stuff like that that makes an episode worth mentioning!  Plus, it adds levity which after an episode like this, is needed....nothing like humor and horror blended easily together.

As a sidenote, when I finished the episode, my mind went back to another Twilight Zone episode called "Will the Real Martian Stand Up?" which featured John Hoyt as Martian who invades Earth only to be foiled by a Venusian.  But there, it was the Venusian that had three eyes (one smack dab in the middle of his forehead) while the Hoyt Martian had three arms.  I wonder.....did "The Venusian Eyes" just sound silly?  Was the planet Venus considered too girly for a title, so they changed it to Martians to get that whole 'God of War' double meaning?  Still, despite this all, it's a neat little coincidence between the two episodes despite the easy answer:  in the '50s, it was easy and freaky to have an alien with a third eye.

RATING:  It's not available on video, but if it ever comes, check it out.  A bit slow at the beginning, but it's a good time spent watching and has a good ending.  Ooga Booga!