History Trivia / TheOuterLimits1963

** Director Byron Haskin hated "Behold, Eck!", which he worked on only because he was contractually obligated to do so. As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".

* BillingDisplacement: When the series was released on VHS, the tape packages sometimes gave top billing to well-known actors who played supporting characters (such as Creator/EdwardAsner in "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", Creator/JamesDoohan in "Expanding Human" and ''Series/HappyDays''' Marion Ross in "The Special One").

* BillingDisplacement: When the series was released on VHS, the tape packages sometimes gave top billing to well-known actors who played supporting characters (such as Creator/EdwardAsner in "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and ''Series/HappyDays''' Marion Ross in "The Special One").

* PropRecycling: Happens often. Even some of the alien costumes were reused, both in ''The Outer Limits'' itself and other shows (such as ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''). Some especially interesting examples:

** The 1998 version of ''The Outer Limits Companion'' includes an appendix which provides detailed plot synopses of TOS scripts and premises that were never filmed. It also has details on rewritten and {{Deleted Scene}}s from the finished episodes, such as "The Man Who Was Never Born" originally ending on a ''much'' more upbeat, if still bittersweet, note, but this was changed due to time constraints.

** Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]).

* VindicatedByCable: The first season was fairly popular in its day, but season 2's hit or miss quality (along with a fatal timeslot change) caused it to take a nosedive and be cancelled. Fortunately, the show managed to gain a decades-long life and recognition in syndicated reruns.

** "The Forms Of Things Unknown" was written by Joseph Stefano with one eye on making it his directorial debut, but it ended up being helmed by Gerd Oswald (Stefano's only directorial effort came after he left the series, with the unsold pilot ''The Ghost Of Sierra De Cobre'').

** Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

* CreatorBacklash: David J. Schow's ''The Outer Limits Companion'' makes it clear that several contributors weren't universally pleased with how episodes turned out, most notably director Byron Haskin with "Behold, Eck!". (As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".) Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

** Qarlo Clobregnny's helmet from "Soldier" became part of Creator/RobinWilliams' costume in ''Series/MorkAndMindy''.

* PropRecycling: Happens often. Even some of the alien costumes were reused, both in ''The Outer Limits'' itself and other shows (such as ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'').
Some especially interesting examples:

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: Although some of the [[Series/TheOuterLimits1995 revival]] episodes (like "A Feasibility Study" and "The Inheritors") are remakes of TOS episodes, "The Human Factor" is ''not'' one of them. it has the same title as a TOS episode, but a completely unrelated story.

-->"The first season, I thought, was garbage, the usual monster bullshit. They were doing 'the bear on the beach', in which you open with a bear on a beach, then you ask how the bear got on the beach. It was a lot of funny rubber masks, and basically silly ideas. Until Brady came in, there were no science fiction writers working for the show."

-->"The Mutant was probably the worst show we did. Just terrible. I didn't care for the cast on it, either."

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Like most other [[GenreAnthology genre anthologies]], this series features a host of recognizable actors, often before they became famous. Among many others: Eddie Albert, Creator/MichaelAnsara, Creator/EdwardAsner, Robert Culp, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/JamesDoohan, Robert Duvall, Creator/DavidMcCallum, Creator/LeonardNimoy, Carroll O'Connor, Creator/DonaldPleasence, Cliff Robertson, Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/MartinSheen, Grace Lee Whitney, etc.
** Five actors from the original series ([[Series/TheBigValley Peter]] [[Film/ShockCorridor Breck]], [=McCallum=], Nimoy, Robertson and Barbara Rush) went on to appear in ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995''.
** Creator/AdamWest and Ted Knight both appear in "The Invisible Enemy". Sadly, they have no scenes together.

** Like most other [[GenreAnthology genre anthologies]], this series features a host of recognizable actors, often before they became famous. Among many others: Eddie Albert, Creator/MichaelAnsara, Creator/EdwardAsner, Robert Culp, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/JamesDoohan, Robert Duvall, Creator/LeonardNimoy, Carroll O'Connor, Creator/DonaldPleasence, Cliff Robertson, Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/MartinSheen, Grace Lee Whitney, etc.

-->"The Mutant was probably the worst show we did, just terrible. I didn't care much for the cast on it, either."

* CreatorBacklash: David J. Schow's ''The Outer Limits Companion'' makes it clear that several contributors weren't universally pleased with how episodes turned out, most notably director Byron Haskin with "Behold, Eck!". (As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".) The show's producers singled out "The Mutant" as the worst episode of the first season. Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

* DuelingShows: With ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'', though both were in production only during ''Twilight Zone's'' final season. In the end, ''Twilight Zone'' lasted for five years while ''The Outer Limits'' ended after two. On the other hand, the 1990s revival of ''The Outer Limits'' lasted nearly twice as long as both revivals of ''The Twilight Zone'' combined.

* CreatorBacklash: David J. Schow's ''The Outer Limits Companion'' makes it clear that several contributors weren't universally pleased with how episodes turned out, most notably director Byron Haskin with "Behold, Eck!". (As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".) The shows producers singled out "The Mutant" as the worst episode of the first season. Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

* CreatorBacklash: David J. Schow's ''The Outer Limits Companion'' makes it clear that several contributors weren't universally pleased with how episodes turned out, most notably director Byron Haskin with "Behold, Eck!". (As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".) The shows producers singled out "The Mutant" as the worst episode of the first season. Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Miss Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

* DuelingShows: With ''Series/TheTwilightZone'', though both were in production only during ''Twilight Zone's'' final season. In the end, ''Twilight Zone'' lasted for five years while ''The Outer Limits'' ended after two. On the other hand, the 1990s revival of ''The Outer Limits'' lasted nearly twice as long as both revivals of ''The Twilight Zone'' combined.

** Like most other [[GenreAnthology genre anthologies]], both this series [[TheOuterLimits1995 and its revival]] feature a host of recognizable actors, often before they became famous.
** Among many others: Eddie Albert, Creator/MichaelAnsara, Creator/EdwardAsner, Robert Culp, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/JamesDoohan, Robert Duvall, Creator/LeonardNimoy, Carroll O'Connor, Creator/DonaldPleasence, Cliff Robertson, Creator/WilliamShatner, Creator/MartinSheen, Grace Lee Whitney, etc.
** Creator/AdamWest and Ted Knight both appear in the TOS episode "The Invisible Enemy". Sadly, they have no scenes together.
* PropRecycling: Happens often in the original series. Even some of the alien costumes were reused, both in ''The Outer Limits'' itself and other shows (such as ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'').
* [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy Show Accuracy/Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''Outer Limits'' [[http://science-fiction.netfirms.com/ cards]], released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who couldn't use the series' actual plots due to licensing issues, concocted new stories (and [[SoBadItsGood laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the AliensAndMonsters. 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.
* SimilarlyNamedWorks: Although some of the {{revival}} episodes (like "A Feasibility Study" and "The Inheritors") are remakes of TOS episodes, "The Human Factor" is ''not'' one of them. it has the same title as a TOS episode, but a completely unrelated story.

* CreatorBacklash: David J. Schow's ''The Outer Limits Companion'' makes it clear that several contributors weren't universally pleased with how episodes turned out, most notably director Byron Haskin with "Behold, Eck!". (As Haskin said in the ''Companion'': "It was an alleged comedy that was just a ''bomb''. They laid that script in my hands; I got one sniff of it and damn near fainted".) Also affected were writers Meyer Dolinsky and Sonya Roberts with "ZZZZZ" and "Second Chance" respectively (the latter two had their scripts changed by rewrites they didn't do, with [[AlanSmithee Miss Roberts taking her name off the finished product in favour of a pseudonym]]). And then there was "The Invisible Enemy", a TroubledProduction due to difficult special effects and multiple rewrites mandated by ExecutiveMeddling. (Schow summed up the episode: "[N]othing cripples a show so much as the producer, story editor, director and writer ''all'' hating it.")

** HarlanEllison, a writer of two episodes for the second season, notably dismissed the entire first season as crap.

-->"The first season, I thought, was garbage, the usual monster bullshit. They were doing 'the bear on the beach', in which you open with a bear on a beach, then you ask how the bear got on the beach. It was a lot of funny rubber masks, and basically silly ideas. Until Brady came in, there were no science fiction writers working for the show. In the second season, nobody paid any attention to what we were doing: nothing was left for production, so they left us alone to do what we wanted, and we were able to do scripts that were considerably more complex. We were allowed to experiment, because after Daystar and Villa di Stefano and everyone else had taken their cuts, nobody had an eye on us, and the ratings were already so low that no one gave a damn. And that's how the best stuff gets on - absolutely by accident. It slips through when no one's looking."

-->"In TV they don't understand the subtleties of character. When a script runs long, or has production problems, the first things cut are the scenes that deepen characterization. Those changes tore the gut out of that show. That's why, for me, it's a less attractive or interesting show than 'Demon With a Glass Hand.' One of the things that pissed me off was Qarlo's serial number, which for some inexplicable reason was changed to serial ''letters'', which is stupid. You can't have an army with serial letters because there are fewer combinations, but they did that because they thought they were being very modern, very futuristic. And I had nothing to say about it, because by then I was off writing 'Demon.'"

* [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy Show Accuracy/Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''Outer Limits'' [[http://science-fiction.netfirms.com/ cards]] (one of which is the page pic), released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who couldn't use the series' actual plots due to licensing issues, concocted new stories (and [[SoBadItsGood laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the AliensAndMonsters. 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.

** The 1998 version of ''The Outer Limits Companion'' includes an appendix which provides detailed plot synopses of TOS scripts and premises that were never filmed. It also has details on rewritten and {{Deleted Scene}}s from the finished episodes, such as "The Man Who Was Never Born" originally ending on a ''much'' more upbeat, if still bittersweet, note, but changed due to time constraints.

** The 1998 version of ''Series/TheOuterLimits Companion'' includes an appendix which provides detailed plot synopses of TOS scripts and premises that were never filmed. It also has details on rewritten and {{Deleted Scene}}s from the finished episodes, such as "The Man Who Was Never Born" originally ending on a ''much'' more upbeat, if still bittersweet, note, but changed due to time constraints.