Henry Slesar is probably my favorite CBSRMT writer, and he certainly deserves the title of "most consistent." He had more background in this type of material than any other of the show's major scripters, having penned many episodes of ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and countless mystery/suspense short stories; as a result, a Slesar episode is more or less guaranteed to be at least competent, as this one is...At least until the last few minutes.

It's too bad that this otherwise fascinating, thought-provoking plot is thrown away at the climax by the revelation that it's all a completely ludicrous alien plot. Really, can anyone possibly imagine, in their wildest dreams, aliens from another world coming up with this? "Gee, let's make this guy believe that he's watching movies of himself, let's bring him in week after week, and then as he remembers his old life he'll forget all about that deadly Space Heat! Man, what a ¤¤¤¤¤in' way to save our planet!"

The only other ending this catastrophically stupid I can think of offhand is that of the movie SIGNS, in which aliens who are instantly destroyed by water decide to land on Earth, which is...9/10ths water.

That said, 9/10ths of "The Movie Makers" is a gripping episode. The idea can't help but generate the listener's own speculations: If we could watch movies our earlier lives, what moments would we choose to see? Would the moments be as we remember them? Would it prove to be exhilarating to see our lives play out on a movie screen, or horrifying? (Or a little of both?)

What's more, are we so sure we would want to see any such images at all? Or would we come to realize that the past is best left where it is already--safely and privately tucked away in our memories?