Journey to the Unknown
| Journey to the Unknown | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Out of the Unknown |
| Genre | Science Fiction |
| Presented by |
Patrick McGoohan Sebastian Cabot Joan Crawford |
| Theme music composer | Harry Robinson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 17 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Hammer Film Productions Ltd. |
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC (United States) |
| Original release | 1968 – 1969 |
Journey To The Unknown is a British TV anthology series made in 1968 by Hammer Film Productions Ltd. It has a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural theme. It featured both British and American actors. American actors included George Maharis, Vera Miles, Barbara Bel Geddes, Patty Duke, Carol Lynley, Joseph Cotten, Stefanie Powers and Brandon deWilde, along with familiar British actors such as Dennis Waterman, Jane Asher, Roddy McDowall, Nanette Newman, Ann Bell and Tom Adams. Seventeen episodes were made.
Eight episodes were twinned to make four feature-length films with added linking material. The New People and Paper Dolls became Journey into Darkness (1968), hosted by Patrick McGoohan, Poor Butterfly and The Indian Spirit Guide became Journey to Midnight (1968), hosted by Sebastian Cabot, Matakitas Is Coming and The Last Visitor became Journey to the Unknown (1969), hosted by Joan Crawford and Do Me a Favour, Kill Me and The Killing Bottle became Journey to Murder (1971), also hosted by Crawford.
Directors of the episodes included Roy Ward Baker, Robert Stevens and Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
The series had a memorable and famous whistled theme tune by Hammer's Harry Robinson and a title sequence involving a deserted and apparently haunted Battersea fairground.
Episodes
- The New People - A young American couple (Robert Reed and Jennifer Hilary) move to England, where they find their neighbors are a bit too friendly and helpful.
- Somewhere in a Crowd - A television news anchor (David Hedison) witnesses several tragic accidents, and notices that the same five people are present on each occasion. Based on the short story The Crowd by Ray Bradbury.
- Matakitas Is Coming - A researcher (Vera Miles) is transported back in time, and apparently trapped with a librarian (Gay Hamilton) inside a deserted library with a mad serial killer, Andros Matakitas (Leon Lissek).
- Jane Brown's Body - A woman (Stefanie Powers) attempts suicide, but is rescued; she has amnesia, and has to recall everything gradually.
- Do Me a Favour, Kill Me - A down-on-his luck actor (Joseph Cotten) asks a friend to kill him so his family can have the insurance money. The murder will happen randomly, with the actor not knowing when or where, and his friend will not respond to any attempt to contact him. Now the actor decides he doesn't want to die, but how can he call it off?
- Poor Butterfly - Invited to a costume party at a wealthy mansion, our hero (Chad Everett) finds that everything looks as it did in the 1920s. Then he meets a girl who keeps saying she needs to leave....
- The Madison Equation - A detective investigates the electrocution of a computer technician and discovers it's no accident. Barbara Bel Geddes and Allan Cuthbertson play the scientists who developed the computer.
- The Girl Of My Dreams - A waitress (Zena Walker) can foretell the future and knows when people are going to die. An unscrupulous man (Michael Callan) finds out about it and exploits her.
- The Last Visitor - On vacation at a resort, a young woman (Patty Duke) is plagued by a mysterious visitor who tears up her clothes.
- Eve - A shy sales clerk (Dennis Waterman) falls in love with a mannequin (Carol Lynley) in his department store.
- The Indian Spirit Guide - A widow (Julie Harris) hopes to get in touch with her dead husband, but knows most people claiming to be spiritualist mediums are fakes; she hires a detective to help her weed out the phonies. He sets up some scenarios to appear that he's identifying fakes so that she'll keep paying him.
- The Killing Bottle - In order to get his hands on the family inheritance, a man must have his brother declared insane. The brother hates anyone who does harm to living creatures, so they show him a butterfly killing bottle, hoping he will go mad and assault the owner (Roddy McDowall). Based on a story by L.P. Hartley, author of The Go-Between.
- Stranger in the Family - A boy can control people, sometimes leading to their death. Both a scientist and the agent of a struggling actress (Janice Rule) would like to get their hands on him. A remake of an earlier episode of Out of the Unknown.
- The Beckoning Fair One - A young man (Robert Lansing) recovering from a nervous breakdown moves into a haunted house. The ghost is a beautiful girl, and he falls in love with her, overlooking his living fiancee (Gabrielle Drake).
- One on an Island - Shipwrecked on a desert island, a man (Brandon deWilde) is soon joined by two companions, but jealousy overwhelms him.
- Paper Dolls - Based on the award-winning novel by L.P. Davies. A set of quadruplets (played by Roderick and Barnaby Shaw) are telepathically connected. They feel one another's pain and share skills and talents. Michael Tolan and Nanette Newman play teachers who investigate.
- Miss Belle - An embittered spinster (Barbara Jefford) has turned against all men and is raising her niece Roberta as a proper young lady—in spite of the fact that Roberta is actually Robert, a boy. A drifter (George Maharis) starts to work for Miss Belle...