EBONITE INTERROGATOR
© 2002 Sideshow Toy
Reviewed Format: 12" Poseable Action Figure
Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy
Retail Price: $29.99
OUTER LIMITS EBONITE INTERROGATOR
By: JEFF BONDDate: Saturday, July 06, 2002
THE OUTER LIMITS, that spooky hour-long, sci-fi anthology show from the '60s, has long existed in the shadow of its more famous predecessor, Rod Serling's THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Serling's shows depended on the old O. Henry twists at the end that threw the stories into a new perspective and shocked viewers with their mordant irony. THE OUTER LIMITS, on the other hand, took its hour-long format to tell elaborate science fiction stories, often from famous sci-fi authors like Harlan Ellison and Clifford D. Simak as well as heavyweight motion picture scribes like Josef Stefano (PSYCHO) and Robert Towne (CHINATOWN).
THE OUTER LIMITS had the advantage of a higher production budget and the imaginative contributions of makeup maestros Fred Phillips (STAR TREK) and John Chambers (PLANET OF THE APES) and special effects technicians Wah Chang, Jim Danforth and Gene Warren of Projects, Unlimited, all of whom worked feverishly every week to provide the one thing the network demanded of every OUTER LIMITS episode: a marketable outer space monster or "bear" to frighten viewers with. The series in fact created some of the most memorable and frightening monsters ever seen on television, everything from crab-like parasites to outer space beings composed of negative energy; from lumbering, reptilian Ichthyosaurs to human beings at the edge of evolutionary development. The striking designs that resulted were photographed in moody black and white compositions by director of photographer Conrad Hall, who went on to become one of the most respected DPs in the business.
Fans of the OUTER LIMITS have long been limited to a series of licensed but expensive resin model kits of the show's various monsters to collect, but now Sideshow Toy has added the show to its growing list of licenses, and the results are spectacular. One of the first in a line of OUTER LIMITS 12" collectible figures is the EBONITE INTERROGATOR, played by actor John Anderson in "Nightmare." In the episode a group of military spacemen from Earth are captured by an alien race before they can attack the alien planet, and are put through a series of psychologically terrifying interrogations only to discover that all is not what it seems. The Ebonite costume was almost theatrical in its design: a skintight black leotard with webbed, elastic "wings" stretching between forearm and thigh, capped by an outlandishly elongated black face painted with striking highlights, from which John Anderson's eyes blazed whitely. The combination of this distorted, stylized version of a human face and Hall's nocturnal lighting created a truly chilling image.
Sideshow's Ebonite figure indicates why this company has become the top of the line in licensed action figure manufacturers: they are simply without peer in terms of sculpting, costume construction and painting detail. The Ebonite face is recreated with amazing authenticity, as is the difficult-to-reproduce costume, which features subtle color variations to bring out texture in what could have easily been a simple black outfit. Articulation is superior, and even the figure's hands are custom-molded to recreate the bat-like, long-fingered Ebonite configuration. Props include the wand-like torture device and control/translator box, exact reproductions of the show's props that fit perfectly into the figure's hands.
Up until now Sideshow's Achilles Heel has been its display stands which simply lock one foot of the character into a "U"-shaped holder on a small plastic standthis allowed the characters to stand for about 10 minutes before their top-heavy nature and weak knee joints toppled them over. Sideshow's solution to this problem is a new and rather elaborate three-piece display stand that includes a metal holder that clamps together around the figure's waist when it is inserted correctly into the plastic disc and extended rod that form the base. Ideally this allows not only a stable standing figure, but also can be adjusted lower to hold figures in crouching or running poses. But the bugs haven't quite been worked out yetit's tricky and frustrating to accomplish the dual act of clamping the support around the figure's waist and inserting it into the base, and once inserted in standing mode the compressed chrome wire has a tendency to pop loose and out of the stand anyway. Practice may make perfect but a simpler support system might have been preferable.
That's a quibble at any ratethese figures are spectacular, and this year Sideshow will be producing not only more OUTER LIMITS figures (including the beloved, ant-like Zanti Misfits) but also TWILIGHT ZONE and James Bond figures that will be every bit as stunning as these. Better clear some shelf space right now.
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