History Series / TheOuterLimits1963

-->--Complete version of '''The Control Voice''''s OpeningNarration, used on the first four episodes. Shortened versions were used for the rest of the series.

A well-remembered ScienceFiction [[GenreAnthology anthology]] show, created by Leslie Stevens, although producer Joseph Stefano did more to set the series' avant garde tone. Its original version, which aired on Creator/{{ABC}} between September 1963 and January 1965, was often a worthy competitor to ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''.

* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:The Ebonites in "Nightmare". Their sinister appearance, including gargoyle-like faces and bat wings, believes that it's the human generals who command them to torture and interrogate their prisoners.]]

** "The Bellero Shield", sort of. [[spoiler:Just as it seems that everything will go back to normal, it turns out that Judith Bellero's conscience won't let her off the hook for murdering the Christ-like alien. Like the character [[{{Expy}} she's based on]], Lady Theatre/{{Macbeth}}, she has a guilt-induced delusion, believing that she's still trapped inside the alien's defensive shield.]] [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in that the character involved doesn't ''deserve'' a happy ending, but none of the cast are unscathed.

* MandatoryTwistEnding: A DefiedTrope. Unlike its competitors ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' and ''Series/AlfredHitchcockPresents'', ''The Outer Limits'' didn't use {{twist ending}}s on a regular basis. However, there are exceptions that head into TheEndingChangesEverything territory when we discover what the aliens were ''really'' up to all along ("Nightmare", "The Zanti Misfits", "The Mice"). "Demon with a Glass Hand" is another example.

* BatDeduction: "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S2E17TheProbe The Probe]]" is frequently criticized for this, as the characters quickly and easily figure out various aspects of the OntologicalMystery to keep the plot moving. L

** Harry Lubin's second season theme had already been used twice. It was adapted from a piece he'd originally composed for ''The Loretta Young Show'', then used as the theme for another ABC anthology, ''Series/OneStepBeyond''. Later, some of Lubin's music for the series wound up in the BMovie thriller ''Nurse Sherri''.

* BatDeduction: "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S2E17TheProbe The Probe]]" is frequently criticized for this, as the characters quickly and easily figure out various aspects of the OntologicalMystery to keep the plot moving.

* CloningBlues: A major plot point in "The Duplicate Man". Space anthropologist Henderson James has himself "duplicated" so the clone can hunt an alien monster that James let escape. While the clone accumulates the real James' memories, James' wife discovers that she prefers the clone because her husband has become a cynical {{Jerkass}} and the innocent clone reminds her of his younger self.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The perpetually barefoot Mrs. Dame in "The Bellero Shield". The episode has several lengthy closeups of her bare feet.
** FeetFirstIntroduction: How we first see her.
*** Some of the aliens went barefoot as well ("[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E3TheArchitectsOfFear The Architects of Fear]]", "O.B.I.T.", "The Children of Spider County", "Fun and Games", "The Chameleon").

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: 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 PointOfDivergence: In "Forms", the "[[TimeMachine Time Tilter]]" actually works, while in ''The Unknown'' it doesn't.

* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:The Ebonites in "Nightmare". Their sinister appearance, including gargoyle-like faces and bat wings, belies that it's the human generals who command them to torture and interrogate their prisoners.]]

** Some of Dominic Frontiere's music came from ''Stoney Burke'', an earlier Leslie Stevens series. Later, some of his ''Outer Limits'' scores were used in ''Series/TheFugitive'' (especially the fourth season), ''Series/TheRatPatrol'', ''Series/TheInvaders1967'' (including the theme music, which was originally composed for ''The Unknown''), and Leslie Stevens' UsefulNotes/{{Esperanto|TheUniversalLanguage}} film ''Incubus''.

* HumanMomNonhumanDad: The title characters in "The Children of Spider County".

* StarCrossedLovers: Andro and Noelle in "The Man Who Was Never Born". [[spoiler:Their time tampering saves the world, but Andro's existence is erased in the process.]]

* AliensAndMonsters: The original series was specifically designed to [[MonsterOfTheWeek have one "bear" every week]], the producers' code term for aliens or monsters. One of the most popular episodes, Creator/HarlanEllison's "Demon With a Glass Hand", stuck the word "demon" in the title mostly to satisfy the network execs, who wanted a monster in every episode. There's certainly nothing demonic-looking about Creator/RobertCulp, and the bad guys are HumanAliens.

* GenderFlip: In "I, Robot", Dr. Charles Link's closest living relative is his niece Nina. In the 1939 short story [[Literature/AdamLink "The Trial of Adam Link, Robot"]] by Eando Binder on which it is based, his closest relative is his nephew Tom.

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: In "I, Robot", the exchanges between Thurman Cutler (Adam Link's attorney) and Judson Ellis (a cynical reporter covering the robot's murder trial) fall into this.

** Some of Dominic Frontiere's music came from ''Stoney Burke'', an earlier Leslie Stevens series. Later, some of his ''Outer Limits'' scores were used in ''Series/TheFugitive'' (especially the fourth season), ''Series/TheRatPatrol'', ''Series/TheInvadersTVSeries'' (including the theme music, which was originally composed for ''The Unknown''), and Leslie Stevens' UsefulNotes/{{Esperanto|TheUniversalLanguage}} film ''Incubus''.

** Some of Dominic Frontiere's music came from ''Stoney Burke'', an earlier Leslie Stevens series. Later, some of his ''Outer Limits'' scores were used in ''Series/TheFugitive'' (especially the fourth season), ''Series/TheRatPatrol'', and ''Series/TheInvaders'' (including the theme music, which was originally composed for ''The Unknown'').

* EverybodyOwnsAFord: Most of the cars seen in the series are Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns. However, in "The Duplicate Man" Henderson James' [[CoolCar futuristic convertible is a heavily customized Buick Riviera.

* EverybodyOwnsAFord: Most of the cars seen in the series are Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns. However, in "The Duplicate Man" Henderson James' futuristic convertible is a heavily customized Buick Riviera.

* FirstContact: Another of the series' central tropes.

** "The Forms of Things Unknown" is another episode with no monster, but a science fiction element (namely, a Time Tilter device).

* BlobMonster: The box monster from "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E17DontOpenTillDoomsday Don't Open Till Doomsday]]" and the alien brain from "The Guests" are straight examples. The Chromoite from "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S1E15TheMice The Mice]]", which combines a faceless, globular upper body with humanoid limbs (and was [[PropRecycling the basis]] of the creature from "The Guests"), is [[PlayingWithATrope a partial example]].

* JacobMarleyWarning: The Limbo Being gives one of these to the main characters of "The Premonition"--mostly because they threaten to ''[[ValuesDissonance set him on fire forever]]'' if he doesn't tell them how to escape from their TimeStandsStill situation, as he was unable to do.

* ReluctantMonster: The titular alien in "Behold, Eck!" Also the episode's WorkingTitle.

* AliensAndMonsters: The original series was specifically designed to [[MonsterOfTheWeek have one "bear" every week]], the producers' code term for aliens or monsters. One of the most popular episodes, Creator/HarlanEllison's "Demon With a Glass Hand", stuck the word "demon" in the title mostly to satisfy the network execs, who wanted a monster in every episode. There's certainly nothing demonic-looking about Robert Culp, and the bad guys are HumanAliens.

* DramatisPersonae: "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1963S2E14KeeperOfThePurpleTwilight Counterweight]]" does this at the end of the episode.