The aliens dose Jeff, Amanda and Coberly with a chemical...
...that repels the hungry "Mikie".
The Control Voice: The persistence of Man's curiosity led him into new worlds. Without conquering his own, he invaded the sub-world of the microscope, and the outer-world of space. It is said turnabout is fair play… but is it?
A group of plane crash survivors gradually realize they've been taken aboard a gigantic space probe, where they must avoid a monstrous, mutated microbe while trying to contact the aliens who have unwittingly captured them.
The Control Voice: A few days, a week, a month… Will the Earth be visited by a stranger from the universe? A warm, compassionate stranger, to tell us of wonders beyond imagination, of life beyond comprehension, of secrets from the treasure house of stars?
"The treasure house of tropes":
- Bat Deduction: The episode is frequently criticized for this, as the characters (especially Jeff) quickly and easily deduce various aspects of the Ontological Mystery to keep the plot moving.
- Blob Monster: The Mikie, which is such a formless, shapeless mass that it's hard to tell there's a human being inside it.
- Bottle Episode: "The Probe" was written and filmed after The Outer Limits (1963) was canceled because the producers owed ABC one more episode. Therefore, the script was tailored to be made as quickly and cheaply as possible. Most of the story takes place inside the probe, which is a minimal set decorated with props created for earlier episodes. Aside from the obligatory Monster of the Week, special effects are kept to a minimum.
- First Contact Faux Pas: The aliens just want to learn more about our planet, and they don't seem to realize they've captured some living beings until Amanda makes contact. Afterwards, they prove their benevolence by not only helping the humans escape, but heeding Amanda's warning about contamination.
- The Ghost: We never learn what the aliens who created the probe look like.
- Gory Discretion Shot: In a variation, the Mikie consumes Dexter during a commercial break.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: When the protagonists first see the Ominous Fog, this is Coberly's reaction:Coberly: Jeeee-hoshaphat!
- Mr. Exposition: Combined with Bat Deduction, as Jeff is the one who usually figures out what's going on and explains it to the other characters (and, indirectly, the audience).
- Ominous Fog: Occurs inside the probe sporadically throughout the episode.
- Ontological Mystery: As Amanda eloquently puts it, "Where are we?!"
- Spoiler Title: This episode's title, considering that the story is about a group of plane crash survivors who wind up on an alien space probe — without either the characters or the audience initially realizing it — and spend about half the episode trying to figure out where they are.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The aliens destroy their own probe so the microbe won't contaminate the Earth.
