I feel as you do, but in some different ways. My thoughts:

Quote:
"Can you imagine a mind...EMPTIED by that thing?"

Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek episode "Dagger of the mind"
- When is an non-Elspeth Eric episode like an Elspeth Eric episode? For awhile I thought it was this one, but then I re-listened a few times and believe it to be creepier than most of her shows, save "Star Sapphire" and "A horror story".

- While (unlike in other episodes) I'm not convinced that a TV show inspired an RMT episode, I found the concept of what was happening to "Dr. Saville" (Norman Rose's character) much like what happened to those who got caught in the psychiatrist's chair, er, neural neutralizer in the "Star Trek" episode referenced above.

While indeed that device worked differently in that it made people vulnerable to the suggestions of whomever was operating the controls, the end result was still very much the same, IMO. I found this concept to be quite plausible, which brought me to the interesting thing to ponder;

- I thought this episode could also have been named "Alien assassination". Isn't it interesting how a race so devoted to peace had to use these means to ostensibly keep the same on Earth?

There are some interesting parallels one could draw today. (And FWIW, I'm very much a "hawk" when it comes to national security. Come to think of it, even though he had a Federation "prime directive", Captain Kirk could blast a few phasers to keep the peace if he needed to.)

- As for the music, listen to how it changes from that somber cello-and-clarinet ensemble to the weird electronic effects as Marian Seldes' character reads the letter from "Life films, Inc." (What an oxymoron.) Sounds like a "Space DJ" scratching records, er, whatever.

- As for Ms. Seldes...I wonder how this show could have been done if she'd turned angry at the men who killed her husband in the end rather than simply doing what she did?

- And in the end...did you notice how, where in some RMTs we get the plot twist/payoff in as little as three spoken words of dialogue at the end (Listen to the RMT's "Blood will tell" for a perfect example of this) but here it took almost the entire third act to explain this? Again, one wonders how this could have been handled differently, although this wasn't the worst way it could have been handled.

- BTW (to echo Chris's comments) regarding that "Space heat". Can any of you think of a worse "Mutually Assured Destruction" device than "a planet wrapped in flame"? I guess if our military turned completely suicidal it would make a good weapon, but in the meantime it reminds me of another "Star Trek" episode (and I won't go there now, boldly or not...):