The Bellero Shield

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"The Bellero Shield"
The Outer Limits episode
"In all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak."
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 20
Written by	Joseph Stefano (teleplay & story) Lou Morheim (story) Based on a story by Arthur Leo Zagat
Directed by	John Brahm
Photographed by	Conrad Hall
Production no.	23
Original airdate	February 10, 1964
Guest stars
Martin Landau Sally Kellerman Chita Rivera
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "The Invisibles" "The Children of Spider County"
List of The Outer Limits episodes

"The Bellero Shield" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 10 February 1964, during the first season.

Opening narration

"There is a passion in the human heart that is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition-by which sin the angels fell."

Plot

A scientist (Landau) builds a powerful laser weapon. One night a benevolent alien from a light world on the top of our galaxy rides the laser down to earth. The scientist's wife (Kellerman) tries to shoot him with a laser gun but he raises a powerful shield. The scientist and the alien share knowledge with one another. When the scientist leaves the wife shoots the alien in order to get his shield technology. During a demonstration she raises the shield but is unable to take it down, thus trapping her. The alien, believed dead, comes to her rescue and lowers the shield before dying. The woman, left insane with guilt at killing an alien that only thought to help her, believes herself to still be trapped within the shield as the episode ends.

Closing narration

When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell.

Trivia

• There are several similarities in the story's theme, plot, and structure to Shakespeare's Macbeth, and many critics agree it was the series' take on that play.^[1]
• It has been suggested by Martin Kottmeyer that the appearance of the alien in this episode was responsible for the description of the alien beings reported by Betty and Barney Hill in their alleged alien abduction. The episode was broadcast around two weeks before the hypnosis session where Barney first described the alien beings from the encounter.^[2]

Cast

• Martin Landau – as Richard Bellero
• Sally Kellerman – as Judith Bellero
• Chita Rivera – as Mrs. Dame
• John Hoyt – as Bifrost Alien
• Neil Hamilton – as Richard Bellero, Sr.

References

External links

• "The Bellero Shield" at TV.com
• Detailed episode guide by 'Monsieur Vincent'