The Outer Limits

[jim48]

The original Outer Limits, the black-and-white show. What was your favorite episode and why? Mine was the first, "The Galaxy Being" in which Cliff Robertson accidentally beamed an alien into his small town. That one scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a kid. Arguably the best, IMO, was Harlan Ellison's "Demon with a Glass Hand", which starred Robert Culp as a hunted android.

 

[warpfactor999]

Sorry Jim..can't help...I know i watched those with the "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR TV SCREEN" message in b&w but The Twilight Zone just leaves more of a memory to me....sorry.....here, try this... "Jim48... an online contributer to a web site known as Space.com when the website decides to contribute to him!...a phenomenom only witnessed...IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!"

 

[jim48]

Sorry Jim..can't help...I know i watched those with the "DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR TV SCREEN" message in b&w but The Twilight Zone just leaves more of a memory to me....sorry.....here, try this... "Jim48... an online contributer to a web site known as Space.com when the website decides to contribute to him!...a phenomenom only witnessed...IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!

You forgot the part about real, genuine, bonafide, rip snortin', honest-to-God uh... uh... What was it? Dag!!!

 

[starsinmyeyes44]

One of my favorites is "A Feasibility Study." An entire neighborhood is transported to a planet so that the inhabitants of the planet can determine if the human race is capable of being their slaves. The humans ultimately infect themselves with a disease, deliberately sacrificing themselves, and the aliens abandon the idea of enslaving the human race.

I guess I like this episode because the group of humans willingly give their lives for the sake of humanity...a noble act. And bittersweet...because, in the story, humanity never knows of their sacrifice.

 

[docm]

Galaxy Being was the pilot/premiere episode (very few differences between the two). I especially liked a 2nd season episode called Soldier, written by Harlan Ellison and winner of a WGA (Writers Guild Award) that year. Another of his episodes was Demon with a Glass Hand, and it too was very, very good.

Both were initially uncredited precursors to Terminatior, so much so that they were the core of Ellison's lawsuit when Terminator came out. A few bux and a credit settled the case, but Ellison is still bitter about it.

 

[HRacct]

I remember those shows, and the new ones as well. But not as much as T.Z. though. I still like the intro to the show, and think it is still as great as it was back then. Another intro I think of with this one is the Invaders series. "A man to long without sleep, pulls into a side road to rest," or at least that is what goes thru my mind, (what's left of it).

I do remember Robert Culp with the show he did, but the one I think of was about a 2 dimentional man that someone pulled into this universe, and he goes on a wreaking spree trying to find a way back home. There are special glasses I think that can reveal where he is. Or something like that. Wish I could remember more.

 

[MeteorWayne]

To me, too much cheap FX and rubber encased beings in the OL. Though the opening was VERY cool! I preferred the more cerebral TZ myself.

I do recall a few episodes I liked like one where a vacuum cleaner created an energy blob being (starring Donald Pleasence of Fantastic Voyage fame. "The Outer Limits" .... - The Man with the Power (1963) TV episode .... Harold J. Finley)

MW

 

[jim48]

I liked the rubber monsters. They had stop-motion animation aliens in one episode. I also liked the weird photography and music of the first year.

 

[vogon13]

My favorites:

Feasibility Study

The Probe

The Mice



As I recall, Feasibility Study was remade in color in the late eighties.

The Probe is about an alien probe that comes to earth and samples sea water, and 3 human beings. The people were able to 'convince' the probe to let them go before it traveled to Venus. And then the probe self destructed.

The Mice concerns humans experimenting with a transporter that the inhabitants of the planet Chromo instructed them how to build. The aliens are actually trying to subjugate earth but their plans go awry.

 

[crazyeddie]

One of my favorites is "A Feasibility Study." An entire neighborhood is transported to a planet so that the inhabitants of the planet can determine if the human race is capable of being their slaves. The humans ultimately infect themselves with a disease, deliberately sacrificing themselves, and the aliens abandon the idea of enslaving the human race.

I guess I like this episode because the group of humans willingly give their lives for the sake of humanity...a noble act. And bittersweet...because, in the story, humanity never knows of their sacrifice.

That was my favorite episode, too. Inspiring and heartbreaking, all at once. Of course, many episodes of The Outer Limits could be described that way....The Inheritors, for example, the only two-part episode that starred a young Robert Duvall. Or The Man Who Was Never Born, with Martin Landau. There's never been a science-fiction show quite like it (anthological, with different stories and actors in each episode), with such consistently good writing and acting. The newer series they did back in the 1990's couldn't hold a candle to the original.

 

[FictionBecomesFact]

Isn't it GREAT how Outer Limits (original and newer version) can be viewed for FREE at (advertising-supported) YouTube nowadays?

Original: http://www.youtube.com/show?p=ZpFp6lZZQdI

New: http://www.youtube.com/show/newouterlimits

Thanks, YouTube!

 

[FictionBecomesFact]

Unfortunately, YouTube is removing the new Outer Limits episodes on June 30th, 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/show/newouterlimits

Might anyone here know where ELSE they might be available online for free, though? Perhaps at a site such as Hulu.com ?