History Series / TheOuterLimits1963

** "Cry of Silence" is another variation. It's about a non-corporeal alien intelligence who tries to communicate with people by controlling various objects and beings, including tumbleweeds, frogs, boulders, and a human corpse.

* NoImmortalInertia: In "The Guests", people who leave the alien-controlled house instantly become their real age--which leads to RapidAging and death for anyone who stays too long.

* YearInsideHourOutside: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests". Both episodes feature human characters trapped in an alien-controlled environment where they don't age because time doesn't pass.

* YellowPeril: The Red Chinese are the villains in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".

** In "The Invisibles", protagonist Luis Spain is a spy who works for the '''G'''IA [[{{CIA}} (General Intelligence Agency)]].

* SterilityPlague: In "The Inheritors", the aliens were infected with a plague which rendered them sterile.

* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In "The Invisibles", protagonist Luis Spain is a spy who works for the '''G'''IA [[{{CIA}} (General Intelligence Agency)]].

* ColonizedSolarSystem: In "Cold Hands, Warm Heart", General Jeff Barton is working on Project Vulcan, the planned colonization of UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}.

* MultinationalTeam: The human soldiers in "Nightmare" come from UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, UsefulNotes/{{Britain}}, UsefulNotes/WestGermany, UsefulNotes/{{China}} and an unnamed nation in UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}.

* RecycledSoundtrack: 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'').

* ScienceIsBad: 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).

** The unseen aliens in "The Inheritors" gain this power over four soldiers who are wounded by bullets made from a meteor. [[spoiler:Fortunately, the aliens are benevolent, and the soldiers wind up voluntarilyhelping with their mission of mercy.]]

** Mr. Zeno from "The Special One"has a variation on this power; he controls his victims' bodies, but not their minds.
** The unseen aliens in "The Inheritors" gain this power over four soldiers who are wounded by bullets made from a meteor. [[spoiler:Fortunately, the aliens are benevolent, and the soldiers wind up helping with their mission of mercy voluntarily.]]

%%* CompellingVoice: "The Special One", "The Inheritors".

** "The Galaxy Being" is accidentally brought to earth through a TelevisionPortal.

* DecoyProtagonist: Joseph Reardon in "The Man Who Was Never Born." He's primarily focused on for the first ten minutes, then after he gets [[RetGone Ret Goned]] Andro (played by Martin Landau) serves as the true protagonist of the episode.

* WholePlotReference: "The Man Who Was Never Born" is based on ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', and "The Bellero Shield" is based on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' (which also makes it an example of TheBardOnBoard). Coincidentally, both episodes star Martin Landau.

* DramaticThunder: Used [[{{irony}} ironically]] in "Specimen: Unknown".

* DiabolusExMachina: "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. Just 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.

Although ABC commissioned ''The Outer Limits'' to cash in on the late 50s/early 60s monster boom, the network never really understood it. When ABC announced that during the series' second season in 1964, it would be [[ScrewedByTheNetwork moved to a suicidal Saturday night time slot]] against ''TheJackieGleasonShow'', Stevens, Stefano and much of their production team left in protest. The network replaced them with a new team headed by ''Franchise/PerryMason'' 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 Creator/HarlanEllison'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.

* BuildingOfAdventure: Most of "Demon with a Glass Hand" was filmed inside [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building The Bradbury Building]], a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles landmark dating from 1893. Creator/HarlanEllison tailored his script around the location, which is called The Dixon Building in the episode.

* ConspicuousGloves: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent (the man with the glass hand) wears a glove over it, only removing it to speak to it or add a finger as he finds them.

* FreeSamplePlotCoupon: In "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.

* JustAMachine: The result of the RoboticReveal at the end of [[spoiler:"Demon With a Glass Hand"]].