User reviews

A young man finds himself confined to a wheelchair. He can't shake his depression and a friend/coworker feels that he could combat loneliness by having access to a beautiful android, manufactured in the lab. The stresses come from his futility in finding relationships. At first he rejects her because she is a "machine." However this machine is fully functional and breathtakingly beautiful and can provide everything a red-blooded man could want. Unfortunately, one emotion that was left in the mix by her creators was jealousy. When he fellow realizes that there is someone else and pursues a relationship with a real woman (less attractive but kind and caring), Valerie begins to flex her synthetic muscles. She becomes more than angry; she becomes a real threat. There is some serious talk about what makes a sentient creature (fearing death, for example), and this gives the episode some legs. The byplay between the man and his "plaything" is pretty believable (assuming such a being could be put together) and we feel for him, but once again, one mustn't mess with the gods and creation.

There is one very good reason for watching this distaff version of "Frankenstein": our protagonist, a wheelchair-bound scientist (Sadler) has sex with a comely android creation (Shinas). Shinas is absolutely gorgeous, and fulfills an anatomically correct living doll in the closet fantasy all hetero males share. And unlike "Jeannie" and "My Living Doll," this stunner gets completely nekkid before doing the dirty deed with her master. Nothing new plot wise here, but it is definitely entertaining for an adult male audience. This OL episode, like so many others, contains female nudity (using the most stunning looking women imaginable) and soft core sex scenes -- which certainly also must have entertained young boys everywhere. Highly recommended for the sensuality, even when you know where the plot will end up.

I just saw this episode again after 25 years and i remember i was back then blown away by the story . See it again after so many years the story is still blows me away and is very well written . The actress who plays valerie does an amazing job and she is both beautiful and affectively robotic . The special effects are also very well for an tv show .

I run hot and cold with this series. The good ones are exceptional, the weaker ones are an utter waste of 46 minutes. This is one of the best.

If you are a straight male, your first watch will leave one singularly overriding impression: the physical perfection of Sophia Shinas (the titular Valerie 23.) Subsequent views (and first views for those not enslaved by their glands) will treat you to a dive into several themes: isolation, what is "life," jealousy, the ethics of AI, and a brief detour into the ethics of dating your patients. For me, as a semi-shut in, the biggest theme of all is bigotry.

Frank, played by the great Bill Sadler, is an embitterred paraplegic, handed the perfect companion, yet he can not put aside his preconceptions, and see her for herself. Then he takes up with his physical therapist (Nancy Allen). The rejection makes Valerie jealous, which makes her a LOT less perfect.

Good story, GREAT cast (I've been a hard core Bill Sadler fan since his villainous Col. Stewart in Die Hard II), and one of the highlights of the series!

Not just enjoyable because we get to see some full-frontal female nudity (that's really just a bonus, especially as Sofia Shinas is stunning anyway) but also because we get to see William Sadler (who's always a joy to watch on screen) and Robocop's Nancy Allen.

The story IS predictable - a wheelchair-bound scientist working on synthetic human skin gets the chance to 'test run' a robotic companion the company he works for is also working on, he and his physiotherapist get unethically closer, the robotic companion gets jealous - but it's well-acted and well-written, and maybe I'm just a bit biased because being a bit of a shut-in myself I like the idea of having a robotic companion like this one, even without the intimacy.

I'm very disappointed until now on Outer Limits new series, the pilot episode was a bad introducing, the Valerie 23 also is an average attempt to bring to life the fabulous original concept, perhaps l've been nostalgic or something, however the new series wasn't a match the forerunner, the plot is quite promising, the science create a new kind of Android with emotional feelings, soft skin, fed like humans that provides everything that it needs and most important, will be available every time to make sex without complaints, no headaches, unwillingness, whatever a perfect companion that the man can buy, sadly it wasn't so easy, it will be collateral effects, should be better as expected, an alternative ending with Karen Allen being an Android neither, it will be unpredictable ending, just a suggestion!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.5

The story is engaging with the expected Outer Limits twist but a rather predictable conclusion. Nevertheless, I found it very thought-provoking. The show originally aired in 1995 when Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a nascent technology and a synthetic human-like robot was a future fantasy at best. In 2024, though, AI has evolved exponentially with technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT, and we can now converse with human-like AI devices that synthesize human emotion. Putting that AI into a human-shaped form-factor robot is also feasible, but it would likely be prohibitively expensive to make a fully synthetic human robot.

The implications, however, are far more profound than a malfunctioning jealous robot. Security, privacy, psychological impacts, and ethical considerations come to mind.

I am watching this episode 25 years after it was made and am impressed how accurate this OL prediction is turning out to be. Already there are some very humanoid companions available and AI is becoming more and more indistinguishable from real people. I give it another 10 years before a close approximation to "Valerie" becomes commercially available. Although tempting, I think I will stick with my very human female companion for now.

This story, about a paraplegic man and a prototype female android that was designed to be a companion, assistant, conversationalist, and sexual partner for the lonely, is oddly haunting and affecting. "Valerie", the robot, is an extraordinarily sympathetic character; I found myself wishing that her preoccupied male cohort weren't so inclined to be dismissive of her, because she is programmed to behave in remarkably human ways (for better or worse). But, then again, without conflict between man and robot, there would be no plot. The way Artificial Intelligence and robots are progressing in the 21st Century, something like this may actually happen in 60 or 70 years. This episode is well written, well acted, and superbly cast. I was such a fan of the original 1960's Outer Limits, it's great to delve into this color "sequel series" from the mid-1990's.