The Outer Limits

Let me take you back. Let me pull you there. A male human child of 6 cycles. It is 1963. Dad was cool and suggested we watch this new 'weirdo' show. We did that sort of thing together - bonding, don't you know? From the very first second the show was unlike anything I had ever seen before. The set up? We just lost control of our TV sets and 'they' were going to show us something - 'awe and mystery'. I'm all for that. 'The Twilight Zone' had already done this...yet this was something different. The visuals combined with the truly subversively semi-subliminal (I hope) sound effects - very compelling. It pulled you right in, teased and hypnotized. Then, that gut wrenching music slowly wanders in and disorients. Hurry up, commercial! Get over already! (Commercials were somewhat shorter back then as I recall)

I believe the first episode, which I haven't seen in years, segued right from the sine-wave intro. I also recall the intro as being a bit longer with the first few episodes. I could be wrong. These were on TV and - you know - TV takes liberties. Later episodes started right in on the action...a prologue to tease you for what's to come. Then - a crescendo note of surprise, awe and mystery - the 'sine-wave- intro. I want to watch this! This same technique was later adopted by such peers as 'The X-files'.

Folks! The original Outer Limits intro was fun! It was almost art...the first season anyway. I do like the 'new' Outer Limits on occasion - but that intro of theirs? Ugh, I can't wait til it's over and the show starts. The intro of the original series came as a part of the package.

Then we have those stories. A child of 6 expects monsters to be monsters. Many of these monsters - each horrific in a surprisingly memorable way - turned out to be well-meaning or benign. That will certainly screw with the perceptive 6 year old mind. So, the monster under my bed might not be a monster at all? Wow!

Yes, those stories were assisted by the most symbiotic music I had heard at the time. Those dirges piped in at just the right moment, working the mood into a niche, and making the plot point. You know, we, the audience, were being seduced by the notes to 'listen up! You might learn something'. The second season unfortunately lost these tunes and were replaced by this wavering 1950-ish B-movie ilk. I shouldn't bash it. It wasn't bad - it just wasn't the Frontiere-groove anymore, man.

I could adorn each episode with praises. Even a bad one was better for me than anything else on TV then. If they were on today I would still watch a bad episode. They still made you consider your place in the Universe. Sometimes they even scared the crap out of you. But the good episodes were gems! Those creatures were fantastic. At the time our local station edited 'Architects Of Fear' so we never got to see the creature since it was deemed too scary. The story still held together even without the extra boost a fearsome face would provide. Many years later I finally saw what the creature looked like. I can see why the stations did what they did for that innocent era. I probably would have screamed myself to sleep. 'Zanti Misfits' had me doing that anyway. The 'Bellero Shield' had me upset for years. I think I actually understood the ending at 6 years old.

So, I am not going to keep listing episodes. I like them all and will be owning them in my library.

Bottomline, folks! If you haven't seen any of these - DO! Unfortunately short-lived, these early episodes are a one-of-a-kind example of good TV. Rare and perhaps extinct. A series that didn't underestimate its audience and nearly always challenged them. Giving this an 8 because of the poor second season - though the first season is frequently easily a 9 or above.

I was among the lucky ones who saw this series when first it aired; was lucky enough to find myself going to bed afterward feeling... uneasy... It was somewhat unnerving at the time to see the familiar test pattern flutter and roll and to hear a voice solemnly intone, "There is nothing wrong with your television set..." That feeling must be akin to the gut-wrenching dread people felt when The Mercury Theater broadcast WAR OF THE WORLDS in 1938. Orson Welles, his distinctive voice calmly modulated, told a tale of terror that panicked the nation. Vic Perrin, who did The Control Voice at the start of each episode, spoke calmly and lucidly as he told us not to adjust our television sets: "There is nothing wrong..." In many respects, he was right: we were now in the hands of perhaps the most talented group of innovators in television history. Had Val Lewton (who pioneered "thinking man's horror" with movies like CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, ISLE OF THE DEAD and -my favorite- THE BODY SNATCHER, during the 1940's) turned his talents to science fiction, he might well have produced something along the lines of THE OUTER LIMITS. I won't bother to list the responsible parties by name here in these comments (that's what the IMDb is for), but for the brilliant creator, Leslie Stevens, writer-producer Joseph Stefano (who had adapted Robert Bloch's novel PSYCHO for mastermind Alfred Hitchcock), cinematographer Conrad Hall, and composer Dominic Frontiere (whose music has haunted more than one sleepless night).

From the opening moments of THE GALAXY BEING, it was clear that this was not going to be just another run-of-the-mill show. It was creepy, but in a dramatic, thoughtful way that most TV never is. (Now, of course, we have THE X FILES- but there was a very, very long time when viewers looking for something of genuine worth on television were left wanting.) The fact that the series was being shot in black and white (which always puts the viewer at one remove), with LOTS of shadows and an overall Gothic sensibility underscored (pun intended) by the theme music, marked this as a series of no small consequence; in fact, I've stated before, in print, that THE OUTER LIMITS is the greatest anthology series ever aired. The first season provided some, er, stellar episodes. Among my personal favorites are: THE GALAXY BEING, THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR, THE SIXTH FINGER, THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER BORN, CORPUS EARTHLING, NIGHTMARE, THE ZANTI MISFITS, THE MICE, THE INVISIBLES, THE BALLERO SHIELD, THE CHILDREN OF SPIDER COUNTY, THE MUTANT, THE GUESTS, FUN AND GAMES, THE SPECIAL ONE, A FEASIBILTY STUDY, THE CHAMELEON, and THE FORMS OF THINGS UNKNOWN. Not a bad percentage for the first season alone...

The second season provided its share of memorable moments, beginning with Harlan Ellison's adaptation of his short story, SOLDIER. (The audio track from this episode would make a great "audio book;" it's THAT well written.) There was also EXPANDING HUMAN, DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND (an award-winning episode and another potential "audio book," again written by Harlan Ellison), CRY OF SILENCE, I,ROBOT, THE INHERITORS, KEEPER OF THE PURPLE TWILIGHT and THE DUPLICATE MAN. Argue the merits of each and every episode I've listed here, but rest assured of one thing: you won't be BORED.

This was a serious and thoughtful series much like "The Twilight Zone"(which aired at the same time) but one which isn't as well remembered or aired, which is a shame, but modern audiences may consider this show talky and slow, as it certainly is different than such anthology series today, which are all about shock value and quick editing.

This series wanted to make its audience think about the potential folly of human nature('The Architects Of Fear') or possible first contact with aliens gone awry('The Mice') and so on. Some episodes were whimsical ('Behold, Eck!) but would still create much imaginative speculative fiction about a two dimensional creature. Of course, you would still have episodes about a sand shark on mars('The Invisible Enemy') to provide the kids with typical monster thrills.

Interesting series that is on DVD, with a memorable disembodied voice introducing the premise and pretending to take control away from the viewer for an hour, which may be the only way you can see it, since unlike "The Twilight Zone", this doesn't get any marathons!

I was nine years old when this classic series debuted. The episodes that scared me the most and the reasons why were: "Nightmare" (the sadistic powers of the Ebonite control rod), "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" (a swirling cloud-monster frightening people to death), "The Guests" (being dragged upstairs for interrogation by a gelatinous brain), "Don't Open Till Doomsday" (being seized and drawn into a box inhabited by a one-eyed alien blob), "A Feasibility Study" (having your neighborhood kidnapped and taken to an alien world while you sleep), and "The Production and Decay of Strange Particles" (radiation suits taken over by energy beings whose face masks glow with lightning bolts). Episodes I really enjoy now are "Demon With A Glass Hand" (great location in the darkened, dilapidated office building, total suspense), "Architects of Fear" (Robert Culp's superb portrayal of a man being transformed into an alien and losing his sanity), "O.B.I.T" (an early commentary about the dangers of electronic spying and loss of privacy), "ZZZZZ" (insects turn the tables on humankind and send one of their own to our world), "The Bellero Shield" (Sally Kellerman's excellent portrayal of a "murderous wife"), "The Invisible Enemy" (sea serpent-like beasts dragging their victims underneath the sand) and "The Mice" (who could forget the grinding claws and constant stalking behavior of this grotesque monster alien?). I do favor the first season more than the second season, because the episodes and story plots are harsher and darker with very chilling music.

In general, series creator Joe Stefano's suspicion of government and scientific research institutions and their motives is truly admirable. Also, he does not always make the aliens the bad guys, as shown in "Nightmare" when the Ebonite wants to put a stop to Earth-government sanctioned torture of POW's. "Outer Limits" on DVD brings an even richer, louder and penetrating quality to this outstanding series. Also, "The Outer Limits: The Official Companion" is a great book for information about the show's production and episodes.

I don't care what anyone says, this is THE series that changed television and ushered in Sci-Fi and human frailty with excellent, excellent scripts.

Okay, I'll admit, I was three, four and five years old respectively when this series had its first run. And again I will write the words parents don't want to hear or read about: "I remember". Not all, but most. Many of them I caught on re-runs in syndication when I was in my 20's and said, "Oh yeah, this is the one."

But let me tell you about the ones I remember. I remember -- "The Architects of Fear", "The Sixth Finger", "Keeper of the Purple Twilight", "The Zanti Misfits", "Fun and Games", "Demon With a Glass Hand", "The Man Who was Never Born", "It Came from the Woodwork", "Children of Spider County", "I, Robot", "The Invisibles" and the wonderful, wonderful two parter, "The Inheritors".

Those would be the "classics", but there are so many more. What do I remember about those? The Monsters and/or special effects. I didn't quite grasp how well written these were until much, much later. Make no mistake, they are very well written and thought provoking, alot of lessons to be learned/things to ponder even in 2003.

A few notes from me though -- when ABC executive Ben Brady took over, (I guess around 1965?) some of the stories went more "soap opera" than the ones before it. They were still excellent stories but now with Ben Brady leading the helm, you knew his breakthrough night time series "Peyton Place" was rolling around in his mind. Again, this is something I noticed, way later upon syndication views.

I've always had a secret wish, and that was to take a few of these classic Outer Limits series and develop a feature film out of each them. Some are so well written and hit right to the center of your brain to make you take a moment and wonder, seriously, about your world around you and those who are in charge of it.

I am in love with this series. It is classic television, classic Sci-Fi, classic story writing and even though these folks had a nickel and a dime for a special effects budget, they did very, very, well for its time.

Along with the writers, the creators of this 60's series, The Outer Limits, I also have to add that the music was to die for. It added so much to each installment. That and the main Cinematographer, the late, great, Conrad Hall. Wanta see the beginning of excellent work in cinnematography on a less than shoestring budget? Watch these. A must for all film students. You'll be so overwhelmed and wonder how could they do this for the money they had in the 60's no less.

A must for everyone's library. I own every single one of the issues on VHS and started collecting on DVD. A genius of a series. A wonderful collaboration of Producers, Directors, Writers, Network, Actors, Actresses everyone to make a series that will be immortal. This series is beyond excellent.