Earth is no more, destroyed by nuclear war; but itinerant handyman Bert Foster, wandering the canals of Mars, is possessed by a restlessness for a home which no longer exists. Perhaps the isolated outpost on Venus retains something which could satisfy this hunger; or has the madness which shattered a world merely settled in a new location?
An alien life form has taken on human appearance in order to hitch a ride back to Earth with the crew of a spacecraft.
A young man with exceptionally advanced mental powers gets protection from his parents while strangers with sinister plans of their own want to exploit his gifts.
In a Britain of the future, it will be possible to visit the past using a machine called the "Chronoscope". Only for some reason, an elderly historian is being denied the right to use the device.
In a future where men will be allowed to commit crimes if they agree to serve (and are able to survive) a punitive prison sentence in advance, two newly-released convicts return to Earth with permission to commit murder.
Henry is a man who likes to talk to the new plants he is cultivating in his garden. He regards them as his friends. But what he doesn't yet know is that they have an unusual appetite...for flesh.
The avid curiosity of a young boy born with a super-developed photographic memory poses a grave threat to an already dangerous space mission.
David and Sarah are citizens of the 22nd century. They take a "holiday in time" back to the days before World War II, and find that they prefer this simpler era in the planet's history. They decide to stay in this time period. But others are sent to bring them back to their own time...forcibly, if necessary.
Andover is a reclusive robotics expert who is happy just the way he is and doesn't want to get married. So, to stop his aunt from nagging him constantly, he builds an android "wife" for himself.
A scientist finds a bum lying unconscious on his doorstep, clutching in his hand a human finger-bone and suffering from severe radiation poisoning.
Thirteen people live in "The Station", and twelve of them have been specially conditioned by the thirteenth to ensure that they have no memories of their previous life on Earth. Except one now starts to ask questions.
In an age of mass consumption, a man yearns for the simpler life. Only problem is that he can't afford it.
In the far future, the material needs of humankind are tended by the omnipresent Machine, which makes their environment, in vast tunnels beneath the earth, comfortable and safe. But safe from what? And what if the Machine Stops? A young boy, Kuno, finds his questions can't be answered until he has lifted the veil of security and trespassed upon the surface.
Why take the Great Circle route to Australia when you can tunnel through the very molecules of the solid earth itself in a TAU-mode shuttle? When a routine TAU-shuttle becomes entombed in solid rock miles under the earth, the only means of rescue may be the wildly experimental LAMBDA-mode shuttle; and even its creator has no idea how it will behave, or whether its pilot can keep his sanity during the rescue mission.
In the huge, labyrinthine nuclear bunker meant to shield the survivors in government from the aftermath of atomic war, Level 7 is the deepest and the safest from radiation. But in spite of its hermetic isolation, the nerve center of government is ultimately not safe from the consequences of the holocaust which rages miles overhead.
Déja vu: as Guy Birkett goes through the day he has a nagging feeling that he's been here before, experienced this already; except the details are always different. Is it conceivable that he is merely a simulacrum, the ultimate in consumer market surveying? He finds there is a reality behind the reality he knows; but for a pawn to question the reality of the chessboard is a perilous undertaking.
A human-looking robot housekeeper is the latest gadget to acquire in the ceaseless battle to keep up with the Joneses. But housewife Claire Belmont starts to question the wisdom of her husband's purchase when TN3 (Tony) arrives. Can a man-like robot do everything a man can do: but willingly, obediently, tirelessly? Is a robot less than a man, or more?
The positronic brain of robot RB-34(Herbie) has an unforeseen 'extra': he can read human thoughts. So his take on the First Law of Robotics ("A robot may not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm") is unorthodox: he tells human beings only what he believes will not hurt their feelings. Can renowned robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin 'fix' RB-34? Or are there areas of her own psyche where she would rather not hear the truth?
If, by an accident of science, it became possible for the personality to pass at the moment of death into the mind of someone still alive, then the big new problem would be into whom. To foist the wits of a rogue onto an unwilling recipient would be unjust indeed. Any government who could thus cheat death might indeed win a popular vote, but only so long as all was voluntary - mutually contracted. James Hale is a man of such a society. He has insured against death of his personality by arranging mutual "Contact" contracts with his relatives. He is already host to his late father with whose memories and prejudices he has now learned to live. He himself is a responsible parent of twins whose Contact he will arrange when they are of age. He is also a warm-hearted man who, when he meets one Patrick Wilson, agrees to "take him on until he can can get fixed up with a friend". When, the morning after, it transpires that Patrick is in fact utterly friendless, James begins to get worried. He has, after all, a responsibility to his other Contacts - as they are quick to emphasise. He must go to the officials and "expunge" this incompatible Contact immediately. But Patrick is too quick for him...
Giant multi-generation starship with a virtual city of people on board. The ship has been travelling for so long that the occupants have long forgotten the mission and the purpose. They have invented a cult like religion worshipping the tree the wind and the grass even although none of them have ever experienced any of those things. Eventually alarms sound one day. The ship has navigated itself to the destination and the ""leader"" is informed of the mission purpose. The occupants are reluctant to leave the ship, something that the mission inventors had predicted, so the ship was flooded with gas to force the occupants out onto their new planetary home.
When a down-at-heel, alcoholic physician discovers a medical kit, based on future technology, accidentally left in the wake of a time-travel expedition, he becomes a dispenser of miracle cures. But is his discovery enough to salvage his self-esteem and redeem his life?
On the way home from school, fifteen-year-old Diana was attacked and raped. Five years later, after extensive therapy, she married a trendy young photographer, Eric Carver. The doctor told Eric not to hurry the consummation of the marriage, but to be patient and sympathetic. It was not too hard; Eric would have done anything for his beautiful Diana. One of the things he did do for her was to buy a house. It was not a place he cared for much, and it cost a fortune to modernise. But from the moment they were first shown over it, Diana just knew she had to live there. Just like that - had to. Their first sight of the ghost came when Eric developed some photographs he had taken of his wife in the garden. In every print a man could be seen standing in the garden. At first Eric rationalised it as some unnoticed Peeping-Tom. But when Diana started to sleep-walk, and the evil-looking ghost showed up in a lot more prints, Eric called in Dr. Phillimore of the National Psychical Research Association.
Allen Meredith is a shy, withdrawn man whose genius as a research physicist has for years been exploited by enterprising tycoon, Jack Gregory. So long as there was money enough for his research, he was happy. But not so his wife Ann, the only person with whom Allen has found the courage to develop a relationship. To Ann, tycoon Gregory has come to represent the arch jackal.. One day, working on an advanced development of the electro-encephalograph, Allen stumbles on a fantastic new aspect of the machine: mind transference. It seems at first of little more than academic interest - until he explains it to Ann. To her it is obvious: use it to get some of the money out of which Gregory has cheated them over the years - say £100,000. Allen is shocked, only overcoming his reluctance when Ann points out that it is their only chance of ever having any money and, anyway, this will be the ideal test for his new discovery. Accordingly, Gregory is coerced, drugged and attached to the electro-encephalograph machine. Ann then attaches Allen to the machine, sets the dials and switches on....
To all appearances Adam Crosse is a normal, well-integrated member of society; respected provincial journalist, nice new-town home, attractive wife, jovial disposition. But in fact, behind his front of self-assurance, Crosse is sensitive, frustrated, introspective - a mass of neuroses and self-protective fantasies. Never a Romeo, is sex-life is now a failure; he is a hypochondriac and tranquilizer addict; it needs just the one final nudge to push him over the edge. That nudge comes with his chance discovery that his wife, Lydia, has a lover - and worse, that she evinces no trace of remorse over his finding out. Crushing his self-esteem, she shrugs off the affair as a necessity to be blamed on his sexual inadequacy. Casually she tells him to adjust the best way he can and now please to get out of her kitchen as she has the Saturday morning cake to bake.... The next thing Adam Crosse really knows is that he has smashed in her skull with a monkey-wrench from the garage.
Psychiatrist Frank Bowers is thrilled to be returning home after six months in hospital following a motor accident. Dr. Liam Moore was hesitant about letting him go; although physically completely recovered Frank is still somewhat disturbed mentally. However, perhaps the best therapy will be for him to spend a month or two quietly with his adored wife Penny at the cottage she bought while he was in hospital. He does not tell her he is coming; he wants his return to be a wonderful surprise. He arrives at the cottage, goes to kiss Penny. But she repulses him, says she does not know him, calls for help to a man whom she says is her husband, Dr. Frank Bowers.
The sound of a radio bleep, and a group of men spring instantly awake. They are in a remote shepherds hut; they are heavily armed. A guide, Ira, a girl with a foreign accent, arrives and leads them across mountain country to a point where they can gain secret access to a vast complex of tunnels. But why are they there? Where and what is the place? They know they are part of as Strike Force, one of a new fighting elite. Their guide tells them it is a hydro-electric plant, so presumably they are to sabotage the place. But are they? Even their leader, Captain Brinson, is unsure. They know they have received a new form of subliminal briefing, and that they will remember their orders in response to fixed signals over the radio.
John Kelly’s documentary, Return of the Unknown, takes the unusual approach of including all of the short orphaned sequences which still exist, which while it might make for a slightly disjointed viewing experience, also makes for a fascinating and compelling one.
The legendary TV director discusses his career and approach to film making
A collection of short Out of the Unknown clips from otherwise lost episodes. The original tapes and prints no longer exist for the episodes in question, but this selection is an example of the surviving material, either from use in other TV shows, saved censor clips, partial footage still existing on reused tapes or extant film inserts.
