This eerie episode from Season One reminds me a bit of the Final Destination films, in which a group of characters miraculously escape death only for fate to catch up with them a little further down the line. Here, it is three astronauts who somehow survive a perilous return from outer space in an experimental craft, only to mysteriously disappear one-by-one, their whole existence wiped from the memory of mankind.
For a change, the ending to this story is not much of a surprise—it's obvious from the moment Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes (Rod Taylor) reveals to fellow survivor Major William Gart (Jim Hutton) his suspicions about what is happening to them that both men will share the same fate—but it is this inescapable inevitability that makes the story so gripping. Watching Forbes struggling to convince his fellow astronaut of their terrible predicament is chilling stuff, but the real kicker comes when Forbes disappears, leaving Gart with the horrifying realisation that he will be next.
For a change, the ending to this story is not much of a surprise—it's obvious from the moment Lieutenant Colonel Clegg Forbes (Rod Taylor) reveals to fellow survivor Major William Gart (Jim Hutton) his suspicions about what is happening to them that both men will share the same fate—but it is this inescapable inevitability that makes the story so gripping. Watching Forbes struggling to convince his fellow astronaut of their terrible predicament is chilling stuff, but the real kicker comes when Forbes disappears, leaving Gart with the horrifying realisation that he will be next.