A space probe returns to earth with a giant piece of ice inside, and
nobody knows how it got into the probe. However, while the resident
scientist, Dr Meshkoff (Michael Gorrin), examines the ice, it cools its
surroundings down quite as much that it turns most of the desert in which
it's kept into a glacier - that soon stretches 300 miles. The man
responsible for the operation, Major Dozier (Edmon Ryan), and congressman
Burns (Raymond Bailey) discuss the whole thing at length, and every now
and again, the congressman mentions that Dozier is not half the soldier
his father was ... until Dozier grabs the block of ice, throws it back
into the spaceprobe, and pilots it to outer space, even if it costs his
own life - but finally, he has proven himself to be a true hero ... A
story that might sound vaguely interesting - but it sure should not have
been made into a cheap live television show in the early 1950's, becasue
let's face it, the plot requires a few remotely elaborate special effects
to actually work, a few location shots (a desert turned into a glacier is
something you simply want to see), a reasonably large cast and
quite a few sets - but what we are treated to though are people sitting in
rooms endlessly discussing the situation, and commenting to what's
happening elsewhere. And the cast counts no more than five people
altogether, which fails to mirror the scope of the situation. I can't
but repeat, this shouldn't have been made into a live-television show in
the early 1950's, there's really not much more to say. By the
way, Paul Newman's first television role, but he's got next to nothing to
do.
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