Mauro Espinosa S.

-00107099
2016/02/03
The Zanti Misfits
1. Who are the Zantis, and what do they want? What did the
Zantis REALLY want, and what does that say about human
society?
Zantis are an extraterrestrial ant-like race with big eyes that
want to establish a prison for their misfits on Earth. So, they have
talked to USA army to arrange its landing on our planet. They
were planned to land on Morgue, California, a deserted town
where nobody can bother them. However, what the army didnt
know is that the government of the Zanti race wanted the
humans to kill their misfits soon after they land. Zantis think that
humans are a violent society and at the first sight of trouble,
humans dont hesitate to murder. It is possible that Zantis were
watching humans a long time ago and they realized about world
wars and military encounters. That motivated the Zantis to
launch their ship full of misfits to the Earth, in order to dispose of
them.
2. How do Ben and Lisa complicate the situation?
Ben and Lisa break through the perimeter around the landing site
by car. They were escaping from someone or somewhere at the
style of Bonny and Clyde. After that, they stopped near the
landing site. There, Ben decides to get out. Then, he sees the
Zantis space ship. Maybe, he thought that it was something of
value and climb the mountain range to approach it. At the same
time, the Zantis inside the ship communicate with the army
saying that humans have betray them because the army
promised that there wont be nobody at their landing site.
Furious, a Zanti exits the ship and bites Ben until he dies. Then,
Lisa searches for him, but she only finds a dead body with the
Zanti, which follows her too. So at the end, all the established
plan was ruined by these two lovers.
3. Describe the special effects. This episode creeped out a
lot of people back in the day. Is it still creepy, or are the
effect so old that its not scary anymore?
The special effects are not bad, but maybe they could improve
the effects of camera in order to make the Zantis scarier. About
the design of the Zantis, I think that their face is still really
creepy and the way they move too. Just think of a 1 ft long ant
pursuing you with those big penetrating eyes, that is scary.
Nonetheless, now on the 21st century is harder to be really

petrified to death of something on TV or cinema than in the 60s,

when this episode was made. Something that really disappointed
me is the battle between the army and the Zantis. I expected
more creativity at the time the Zantis attacked the humans. That
could be improved to make people be scared too.
4. Why does the episode include the names Grave, Morgue
and Max Hart?
The two words are related to death. Steven Grave is the name of
the professor expert in space matters. He killed the first Zanti
and also helped to kill the misfits when they attacked the military
base. Morgue was the name of the ghost town where all the plot
develops. Perhaps, something bad happened to the people that
used to live there; and in some way, predict that someone was
going to be killed there, in this case, the Zanti misfits. Finally,
Max Hart was the general in charge who wanted the Zantis to
return to space and not to kill them. That name could be a
reference to maximum heart i.e. that the general was the most
human person in the plot, who wanted to prevent the encounter
between humans and Zantis.
5. If you could do a remake of this episode today, what
changes would you make.
If I have that opportunity, I wouldnt change the main plot
because it is a really good idea to manipulate the humans
knowing they are violent and also the involvement of Ben and
Lisa. However, I undoubtedly improve the visual effects. Firstly,
making the Zantis bigger and their spaceship too. Also, Id make
some shots of the interior of the ship, showing it as a terrifying
place. Also, at the time the battle between the Zantis and the
army Id improve the Zantis skills. Not only able to pursuit and
bite people, but also Id make them able to throw acid from their
mouth, to have telepathic powers or something like that. It could
be a matter of making the Zantis capable of performing various
abilities in combat, so the audiences could be not only scared,
but also amazed of the creativity involved in making this
episode.