"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical..."
A Science Fictionanthology show, created by Leslie Stevens, although producer Joseph Stefano did more to set the series' avant garde tone. Its original version, which aired on ABC between September 1963 and January 1965, was often a worthy competitor to The Twilight Zone.The Outer Limits was often somewhat dark in tone, and it was also unusually arty and thought-provoking for an early 60s TV series, complete with poetic dialogue, unusual camera angles, a lush orchestral soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere, and chiaroscuro cinematography (often provided by future Oscar winner Conrad Hall). The show featured some truly brilliant writing by the likes of Stefano, Robert Towne, Anthony Lawrence and Meyer Dolinsky. And then there was the show's main selling point—the Monsters Of The Week and other special effects, which were all the more impressive for being created on a weekly TV schedule and budget.Although ABC commissioned The Outer Limits to cash in on the late 50s/early 60s monster boom, the network never really understood it, which helps explain why it was Too Good to Last. When ABC announced that during the series' second season in 1964, it would be moved to a suicidal Saturday night time slot against The Jackie Gleason Show, Stevens, Stefano and much of their production team left in protest. The network replaced them with a new team headed by Perry Mason vet Ben Brady, who tried to save the series by making it (somewhat) less artsy and more commercial. ABC didn't help matters by reducing the series' already low production budget. Despite this, the second season produced several memorable episodes (most notably Harlan Ellison's two scripts, "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand", and the two-part "The Inheritors"), but it did no good. After a few months of predictably bad ratings, ABC canceled The Outer Limits in the middle of the season, after only 49 episodes.However, that wasn't quite the end. Despite its status as a short-lived, black and white anthology series, The Outer Limits remained popular enough to stay in constant syndication for nearly four decades. This resulted in a made-for-cable revival series helmed by producer Pen Densham, which far outlasted the original, beginning its seven-season run in 1995. A few of the new series' episodes were remakes of episodes from the original series.
Tropes:
Adam Link: The story was adapted by both versions of the show, under the title "I, Robot". Leonard Nimoy appeared in both, as different characters.
Added Alliterative Appeal: Joseph Stefano loved this trope. His scripts are full of phrases such as "this virile, violent inevitability" ("The Invisibles") and "mad mechanical magics" ("Fun and Games").
Adult Fear: "Under The Bed" has a monster that kidnaps and kills children
Aliens Speaking English: A frequent trope in both series, understandably enough. Given a variety of handwaves, some of which are more plausible than others. "The Zanti Misfits" is the only episode where the aliens don't speak English.
All There in the Script: The name of Aabel, the alien from "The Children of Spider County". His name is never shown or spoken in the episode.
Also happens with the murderous priest in the Revival episode "Fear Itself", driven mad in the end, a throwback to the punishment given to the SS commander in the Twilight Zone episode "Death's Head Revisited" by the ghosts of his victims. Laser-Guided Karma, anyone?
Another Dimension: Two TOS episodes ("Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "Behold, Eck!") feature beings from other dimensions accidentally finding their way into our world.
Battle Boomerang: Used by one of the Calco Galaxy aliens in "Fun and Games".
Becoming the Mask: "The Chameleon" features a human spy who is turned into an alien to infiltrate a crashed spaceship. He adapts well to his transformation...so well that he abandons his empty life and goes into space to live on the aliens' world.
Born on Pay Television: The revival's introduction, similar to the original's, has a "please stand by" notice added to it in syndication since the Showtime airings did not have commercials.
The Chains of Commanding: The episode "Trial By Fire" deals with the US President being sequestered in a bunker after being informed that a massive object, traveling at half the speed of light, is going to hit Earth in roughly a half hour. It's up to him to decide what to do from there, though he has plenty of noise from his advisers.
Clifford Simak: His short story "Goodnight, Mr. James" was adapted for the original series as "The Duplicate Man".
Cloning Blues: "The Duplicate Man" in TOS. The revival has "Think Like A Dinosaur" and, unusually, subverts the trope with "Replica", which also has one of the few happy endings in the new series.
Color Me Black: "Tribunal" featured an ending where a Nazi war criminal whose escaped justice for 50 years put into the uniform of his prisoners and taken back in time to his own camp. His younger self shoots him for being Jewish.
Disability Immunity: One episode of the Revival had a mentally handicapped man with fetal alcohol syndrome who was immune to an infestation of mind-controlling brain worms because his brain was so feeble they simply starved to death.
Does Not Wear Shoes: The perpetually barefoot Mrs. Dame in the TOS episode "The Bellero Shield".
Foot Focus: The episode has several lengthy closeups of her bare feet.
Energy Beings: "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", "Counterweight".
Episode Title Card: Very distinctive on the original series; the episode title, and the names of the episode's stars, come right at the viewer, accompanied by the sine wave and (after the first few episodes) the piercing electronic whine from the opening credits.
Fake Defector: Kenny Benjamin in "The Special One". He was only pretending to cooperate with Mr. Zeno, and he saves the day by turning the alien's own weapon against him.
Fanservice: The revival had a lot of scantily clad and naked women (notably Alyssa Milano in "Caught In The Act").
Free Sample Plot Coupon: In the TOS episode ''Demon with a Glass Hand", the character Trent must find the three missing fingers of his artificial left hand to save humanity from the Kyben invasion. Fortunately Trent's incomplete left hand is a talking computer that can help him find the three fingers.
Frogs and Toads: They're possessed by a disembodied alien in "Cry of Silence".
Gladiator Games: The plot of "Fun and Games"; the Anderans kidnap beings from various planets to fight for survival, with the losers' homeworld being destroyed.
Hostile Terraforming: One episode of the new The Outer Limits had this with a new model of car that would poison the atmosphere for infiltrated aliens.
Humans Are Bastards: Both versions of the series explored humanity at its worst, though they were also kind enough to show humanity at its best, usually at the same time.
Idiot Ball: Over the duration of "Sandkings", the main character (Simon) grabs onto the ball so tightly that he practically becomes a walking-talking Idiot Ball himself. To elaborate: he brings home Martian insects proven to be intelligent enough to escape military security procedures. He continually expands their enclosure, maxing out his family's credit line in the process. He leaves the enclosure open-air, allowing the family dog to be kicked. After punishing the creatures for doing so, he leaves his upper body dangling inside the enclosure, getting himself bit. Then he invites his ex-boss over to feed the creatures, and his death spasms break open the enclosure.
I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference: In the episode "Time to Time", a time traveler uses "Luke Skywalker" as an alias when in the year 1969. He even finished a phone call with "May the Force be with you."
Jacob Marley Warning: The Limbo Being gives one of these to the main characters of "The Premonition"—mostly because they threaten to set him on fire forever if he doesn't tell them how to escape from their Time Stands Still situation, as he was unable to do.
Jerkass: The bad-tempered, self-pitying title character in "The Brain of Colonel Barham". Yes, he's terminally ill, but the episode makes it clear that he was a jerk even when he was healthy.
To be fair, both versions of the show do have the occasional episode with a happy ending.
Mechanistic Alien Culture: Many episodes of the classic sci-fi anthology featured aliens with ambiguously robotic characteristics.
Mildly Military: TOS episode "The Invisible Enemy". The officers in the second mission repeatedly disobey orders and get each other killed.
Mind Control: "The Brain of Colonel Barham" (from the episode of the same name) somehow gains this power.
Also, in "The Special One" Mr. Zeno can control the bodies of his victims, while their minds remain free. A nice power to have when you're an alien invader who sadistically delights in forcing the humans who discover your plot to commit suicide against their will...
Murder By Cremation: One episode involves a scientist working in a sealed lab with a gas meant to be used to pacify riots. As a side effect, the latest batch ends up turning the lab monkey immortal. When the scientist's assistant attempts to steal the monkey's biological culture, the scientist's Corrupt Corporate Executive brother traps him in the lab. The angry assistant slams the door with his fist, which results in a bloody fist. The culture in his blood triggers the decontamination system, which "flashes" the lab, killing the guy. The brother later tries the same with the scientist and his girlfriend, who have discovered that the culture makes you temporarily invincible, only to kill you in a few days.
Murder the Hypotenuse: In "ZZZZZ", humanoid queen bee Regina sics her hive on the wife of the entomologist she's fallen in love with.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Occurs in more than a few episodes, but "Sandkings" is the story of one man breaking things over and over. See Idiot Ball.
Outlaw Couple: Ben Garth and Lisa Lawrence in "The Zanti Misfits", although Ben fits the "outlaw" part much better than Lisa does.
Pistol Whipping: In "Demon With a Glass Hand", Trent knocks out one of the Kyben by hitting him on the head with the butt of his pistol.
Poor Communication Kills: In his Outer Limits Companion, David J. Schow identifies this as a plot flaw in two TOS episodes, "The Mice" and "Second Chance". He notes that both episodes feature "a lone alien on a mission that is terminated because the aliens do not bother to ask for what they want."
Poorly Disguised Pilot: There were two versions of "The Forms of Things Unknown"; one was intended as a pilot for The Unknown, a straight suspense anthology that wasn't picked up. The difference: In "Forms", the "Time Tilter" actually works, while in The Unknown it doesn't.
Psychic Static: Used by a man to protect his thoughts from the title character in the TOS episode "The Mutant".
Really Was Born Yesterday: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent initially thinks he's "A full grown man, born ten days ago." He's wrong on both counts.
Recycled Soundtrack: Frontiere's scores were later used in The Fugitive (especially the fourth season) and The Invaders (including the theme music, which was originally composed for The Unknown).
The Remake: Five episodes of the original were redone as four episodes of the Revival ("Nightmare," "A Feasibility Study," "I, Robot" and "The Inheritors" parts 1 and 2 - this last, the original's only two-parter, was remade as a one-parter).
Sand is Water: "The Invisible Enemy" had a sand ocean complete with tides and several giant monsters swimming in it.
Science Is Bad: A recurrent theme and the basis for the plots of many (though not all) of its episodes.
Notably averted in the episode "Behold, Eck" where not only is the scientist character the hero, but his invention ultimately saves the day (and the alien, who just wanted to go home).
Secret Test: In "Nightmare" a group of soldiers invading the planet Ebon are captured and tortured for information by the Ebonites. They eventually learn that the situation is a set-up by their own superiors to test their ability to resist interrogation, with the cooperation of the Ebonites (who eventually protest the unethical nature of the test).
Show Accuracy/Trading Card Accuracy: The original TOS Outer Limitscards (one of which is the page pic), released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who apparently had never watched the show, concocted new stories (and laughable ones, at that) around colorized photos of the Aliens and Monsters. Later series of cards didn't have this problem; one series recycled the original pics with new text including both the TV and trading card plots.
Similarly Named Works: The revival episode "The Human Factor" is not a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.
Spoiler Title: "The Probe", 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.
Stock Footage: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots come from earlier science fiction films and series. "The Premonition" starts with footage of an actual X-15 flight; it also includes scenes of a coyote chasing a rabbit through the desert, which were taken from Mutual Of Omahas Wild Kingdom.
Stop Motion: Used to animate the aliens in "The Zanti Misfits" and "Counterweight".
Teleporters and Transporters: "The Galaxy Being", "The Mice", "Fun and Games", "The Special One", "Think Like A Dinosaur".
Time Is Dangerous: In one revival episode, the result of Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory is that an entirely new lifetime's worth of memories gets added onto the existing one, which could result in brain damage.
Also, the aforementioned And I Must Scream situation in "The Premonition".
Treacherous Spirit Chase: The main plot of "If These Walls Could Talk" concerns a house "infected" by an alien substance. Not only does the house absorb people into its structure, it's able to regurgitate Doppelgangers of those people to lure in their friends and loved ones when they come searching for answers.
Warrior Poet: Major Jong in the TOS version of "Nightmare".
What You Are in the Dark: Quite a few moments. The closing narration for "The Voyage Home" even outright states "The true measure of a hero is when a man lays down his life with the knowledge that those he saves... will never know."
Year Inside, Hour Outside: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests" from TOS and "The Sentence" from the revival.
Yellow Peril: The Red Chinese are the villains in the TOS episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
Averted and lampshaded in the Revival. In the Clip Show episode "The Human Factor" about a future Cold War between America and China, the latter complain that they are regarded as the bad guys even though the former are usually the ones to initiate hostilities. This is borne out when the American leaders start World War III.
You Look Familiar: The Revival had several episodes featuring the time-traveler Nicholas Prentice, played by Alex Diakun. Alex Diakun also played unrelated characters in unrelated stories, most confusingly the store owner in "Alien Shop", which aired after two Nicholas Prentice episodes had established character continuity.
Crystal Cass appeared in "Paradise", "Bits of Love", and "Rite of Passage". Emmanuelle Vaugier appeared in "Rite of Passage" and "The Other Side". Kristen Lehman appeared in "Falling Star", "Dead Man's Switch", "Stasis", and "Time To Time". Michael Ironside appeared in "Summit" and "Rule of Law". Each time, these are different characters in unrelated stories.
The original series did this as well, most notably with Robert Culp, who starred in three episodes.
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