Film memory driving me to destraction

[TheEndIsNigh]

Hi folks,

Does anyone recognise this film. It's something I've been searching the film catalogs for years (on and off). Every time I see an old Halliwell film guide I flip through to see if it's hiding in the depths.

The film was shown on TV way back in the days when B&W was the only choice and 625 lines was the new HD.

The hero is a robot (i think) that has been sent back from the future with the DNA coding of every human on the planet stored in his 'removable' fingers. He appears to be an android apart from those fingers.

Mirrors are involved in the time travel. He is pursued by baddies (aliens - humanoid) from the future who really have a downer on the idea the human race can escape in this way and wish the hero nothing but harm.

I seem to recall the time portal was available/left open because the encoding of the DNA was not complete before the man was sent back in time (200 years rings a bell) so he has to hang around near the 'mirror' to collect the rest of his fingers as they are sent back.

Hope you can help.

TEIN

[J Riff]

Yea... yeah...yeh.. No... this is, You mispeled distruction.. so if this is B n' W must be 50s or 60ish British?.. and adapted from something? or full-length. Distant bells because of the mirrored time travel. Adam Link, Outer Limitsy. You'd think that someone would remember those migrating fingers... and come in here and end th' torment.

[TheEndIsNigh]

Oops.

distraction

Anyway, no it was a film as far as I can recall well before outer limits. It may even predate the wide availability our first commercial channel in the UK. ITV as it was known. I'm thinking late fifties very early sixties. Plus if it was a film (pretty sure it was) it would have been made a few years before that. I suppose it could have been a TV version of something but from what I recall it was film length

[JunkMonkey]

Demon with a Glass Hand ?

[J Riff]

Geee... looks right... and it's the award-winning Ellison script - Terminator lawsuit and all! If you saw it that long ago, and it was so good, it could easily seem as if it was much longer. Or... ?

[Ursa major]

From that Wiki article:

This episode was first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 on Friday 28th March 1980. Although the first series had been screened in the UK in 1964 by Granada TV, and a few other ITV regions, it wasn't until the BBC transmitted all 49 episodes, in two seasons between 28th March 1980 and 17th July 1981, that the 2nd series episodes were first seen in the UK. The BBC chose 'Demon With A Glass Hand' as the first episode to be broadcast, none of the episodes were screened in series order, with 2nd series episodes mixed in with first series episodes. This was also its last UK terrestial TV broadcast.

My bolding.

To be fair, 405-line transmission continued until 1985 in the UK (though BBC2 had been solely on 625-line since it first started, in 1964). And apart from the transmission date, the programme seems to fit TEIN's description like ... er ... a glove.

[TheEndIsNigh]

Well I'm convinced that's the one. I do remember watching The Outer Limits but obviously the old grey matter has started to degenerate because I was certain it was a film.

Thanks J Riff for that. It's a shame I will not be able to watch it again as I doubt it still exists.

Still at least I can stop looking and it explains why I never found it in film books.

Thanks again

[J Riff]

Ohh.... not exist? Must be out there.
Just shows ta go ya... those shows were really good. The show was moved from prime time, to our great disappointment, because it was scaring too many kids.
Just found it - 365 mb .avi so let me know if you have trouble locating it yrself!

[TheEndIsNigh]

OK, back on the PC access again. I've been using my IPOD for a bit. It's a real pain - squinty vision, hitting the wrong icon, posting before you've checked things over and incredibly slow. But on the positive side you can use it under the bed covers. It's like when you get your first torch and read your first book in bed.

A bit less noisy too.

Anyway!

Yes I found it. haven't downloaded it yet because I found I'd wondered into a site (on the IPOD) that might be involved in illegal file sharing so I stopped so I could check it out on a machine where you can read the whole screen at once.

Ursa: Sorry not to have acknowledged your contribution; IPOD again I'm afraid.

J. Riff: On the case - will let you know. It never occurred to me that the original Outer Limits programs would be on the web. They were from the time when programs were regularly erased - Like the early Dr. Who episodes. I suppose that's the difference between the US and the UK.

I shall now be looking for the 'Zanti Misfits'. that was perhaps one of the most terrifying television experience I ever had as a young impressionable lad. Luckily I when I saw it I was with my elder brother so (must have been about 11 or 12) I had someone to see the funny side with. It's weird, but this is the of a time when 'The Blob' was X rated; grown men would be visibly shaken from watching it.

Warning to readers, if you are 'upset' by creepy crawlies, do not look for the Zanti Misfits episode. I suspect it's ability to scare will be just as powerful now.


I think the worst experience I ever had as a lad was "The Quatermass" serials. I never got to see them which made it worse. The BBC announced that it was unsuitable for children (I think the watershed didn't exist - In fact I seem to remember the BBC didn't broadcast programs late enough to get to the watershed in those days (memory fading could be wrong). Anyway thanks to the BBC I was forced to go into the kitchen with my mother so I wouldn't be frightened. Unfortunately I could still hear everything so, even though my mother tried to distract me with card games etc. I was subjected to all the screams and terrifying sound effects but couldn't relate them to the pictures. Gave me the heebie jeebies I can tell you. Still never seen the original series because again I think they have been erased. I wasn't impressed at all with the recent remake.

I suppose I'm gong to have to check them on the web too.

Thanks for the help.

TEiN

[J Riff]

The watershed?
The Quatermass stuff got me good- 20 million miles to Earth, I still wake up twitching, seeing that giant glowing ant-creature looming overhead.
Monty Python tapes were very nearly erased. BBC- Be Brutally Cheap

Zanti Misfits - more Ant-horror!

[TheEndIsNigh]

The watershed is established in the UK as a time when 'children' should be in bed.

After nine o' clock on most channels. It's a fine line the program schedulers tend not to cross. Before the watershed it's Watch with Mother, Tales of the Riverbank and the like; programs both adults and children can enjoy.

After nine it's "SAW III", "I was a Swedish Masseur" and cultural films like "Trainspotting".

After eleven pm it can get really serious with "Tom and Jerry" cartoons or if we are lucky "Snow White"

Oh and yes, that's the one.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by TheEndIsNigh

...if we are lucky "Snow White"

Oh and yes, that's the one.

No, No, No, its when Disney killed Bambi's mother!

I also didn't realise very old Outer Limits episodes survived. Are there copyright issues with showing them on TV, because I'd really like to see more of them? It would make better TV than repeats of Sell Your Attic in a Car Boot Sale or Police Videos of Cars Crashing, or Celebrity Arguments across the Dinner Table.

[J Riff]

Looks like Demon w/ Glass Hand is on YouTube... but, it's blocked by MGM in 'my country'! Then I tried again and it played fine. Weird! Maybe this will work over there, who nose?
YouTube - Demon With A Glass Hand pt1

[JunkMonkey]

Originally Posted by Dave

No, No, No, its when Disney killed Bambi's mother!

I also didn't realise very old Outer Limits episodes survived. Are there copyright issues with showing them on TV, because I'd really like to see more of them? It would make better TV than repeats of Sell Your Attic in a Car Boot Sale or Police Videos of Cars Crashing, or Celebrity Arguments across the Dinner Table.

Agreed. They are all available on DVD. I have both original series 1 & 2 in box sets and great fun they are too.

[JunkMonkey]

Originally Posted by TheEndIsNigh

J. Riff: On the case - will let you know. It never occurred to me that the original Outer Limits programs would be on the web. They were from the time when programs were regularly erased - Like the early Dr. Who episodes. I suppose that's the difference between the US and the UK.

I think I'm right in saying most American TV was done on film rather than video. I certainly have a fairly recent (1989) American book on editing that deals with the day to day procedures involved in working, in film, on an episodic TV editing room.
The other big difference is that there were a lot more outlets for American TV. It made sense to hold onto shows because you could sell them again and again both domestically and abroad. It was (is?) called 'syndication'. British TV on the other hand had fewer outlets. When I was a kid there were only 2 channels and they didn't broadcast all day. At the time it made little sense to clutter up shelves with recyclable videotape.