Cold Hands, Warm Heart is the second episode of the second season of the original The Outer Limits series. It first aired on 26 September 1964.
Opening narration[]
"The most brilliant planet in our solar system is Venus, named for the Greek Love-Goddess. It is closer to Earth than any other planet — twenty-eight million miles away. Until sometime in the last half of the twentieth century it is still a planet shrouded in mystery, enveloped in a heavy blanket of clouds and steam. Because its surface temperature was believed to be several times that of Earth's, it was not thought possible for Man to reach Venus and come back... until one day, somebody did it."
Plot[]
After completing the first manned mission to orbit Venus as part of Project Vulcan, astronaut Jefferson Barton returns to Earth with recurring nightmares and an increasing inability to stay warm. Barton's condition continues to worsen and is accompanied by a peculiar webbing of his fingers. Only after his nightmares become more vivid does he recall an unrevealed alien encounter in the Venusian atmosphere. Barton's doctors suspect the astronaut had been genetically affected by his mission, and they then struggle to treat and cure him before his mutations completely take over.
Closing narration[]
"The eternal, never-ceasing search for knowledge often leads to dark and dangerous places. Sometimes it demands risks not only of those who are searching, but of others who love them. These, in their own special way, know that knowledge is never wasted, nor is love."
Cast[]
- William Shatner - Brig. Gen. Jeff Barton
- Geraldine Brooks - Ann Barton
- Malachi Throne - Mike
- Lloyd Gough - Matt Claiborne
- Dean Harens - Medical Technician
- James Sikking - Botany
- Lawrence Montaigne - Construction
- Henry Scott - as Electronics
- Julian N. Burton - Reporter #1
- Peter Madsen - Reporter #2
- Lou Elias - Guard
- Hugh Jensen - Chief
- Tim Huntley - Chairman
- Patrick Riley - Attendant #1
- Ray Kellogg - Attendant #2
- Vic Perrin - Newsman
Crew[]
- Cinematographer - Kenneth Peach