“The Sixth Finger” — The Price of Evolution
Update: 2025-10-27
Description
On this episode of The To The Outer Limits, we review “The Sixth Finger.”Joining me are storytellers Gabriel Hardman, Jeff Parker, and Ande Parks.
t’s the story that dared to ask what happens when humanity fast-forwards its own evolution—and the answer, as usual, isn’t pretty. Starring a young David McCallum years before The Man from U.N.C.L.E., this 1963 classic turns the lab experiment trope into a gothic tragedy, complete with telepathy, hubris, and a proto–Professor X look that must have haunted comic readers who saw it first-run. Joining me for the discussion are three of my favorite storytellers who know a thing or two about pushing human potential to the breaking poin
Together we’ll talk about the episode’s influence on pop culture and comics—from McCallum’s transformation makeup to its echoes in The X-Men, Planet of the Apes, and every “science-goes-too-far” story that followed.
t’s the story that dared to ask what happens when humanity fast-forwards its own evolution—and the answer, as usual, isn’t pretty. Starring a young David McCallum years before The Man from U.N.C.L.E., this 1963 classic turns the lab experiment trope into a gothic tragedy, complete with telepathy, hubris, and a proto–Professor X look that must have haunted comic readers who saw it first-run. Joining me for the discussion are three of my favorite storytellers who know a thing or two about pushing human potential to the breaking poin
Together we’ll talk about the episode’s influence on pop culture and comics—from McCallum’s transformation makeup to its echoes in The X-Men, Planet of the Apes, and every “science-goes-too-far” story that followed.
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