A, "B-grade X-Files episode"? I don't think so! The fact is, if you care to observe enough you'd see that it was in fact the X-Files that actually ripped-off elements of this story on more than one occasion! OK, I just love this one. I think it does a most excellent job of delving into the deep dark lore and pathos of primordial childhood terrors of the night, and that of monster fantasies and legends and for me at least, really creates a story that successfully combines the two themes into a very engaging episode that commands a pretty distinctive niche among the many and varied offerings of the Outer Limits. For this tale boasts a fascinating premise that brilliantly plays upon the basic childhood fears of potential horrors lurking in unseen places - like under the bed for one! I can feel the inner kid in me getting creeped-out whenever I watch the awesome and eerie prologue with the talking teddy bear which sets up the theme and story perfectly. Something seemingly so small and harmless and innocent, luring the trusting child into a trap like a spider to a fly in its web. And then, the way the soft voice of the chameleon-like mysterious being suddenly turns to guttural snarls as the boy is snatched and dragged away into the murky depths of never-to-be-seen-again... It's all such utterly classic dark fable stuff! ::: I found the main characters likable and engaging enough that the plot moves at a fast pace and is fun and very easy to get into. Also the intriguing monster itself with its sinister ability to project itself as anything and be near invisible in the light was really cool. Although I must admit when it finally got to the point where the monster was fully revealed, the design of it was a little lame and disappointing. ::: I also thought it was interesting how it pointed out the similarities between the various tales of fantastic creatures that originate from from completely different parts of the world, and the way that things and uncanny events and can become so distorted and mythological over time and subsequent re-tellings that most people just automatically assume that they have never been anything but creations of the human imagination. But yet there remains still in the minds of the young an instinctive fear of the dark and of the things that may or may not lurk within it, and there is a very strong element in the human makeup that positively revels in the strange and scary. Anyway, I believe certain themes of this episode are ones which most can relate to and feel something about one way or another - which is why I personally find the story to be such an eerily effective and foreboding one, and one of the series' very best. Welcome to the night...
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