"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits." Thus begins one of the best openings in TV history. THE OUTER LIMITS is an anthology science fiction TV series similar to THE TWILIGHT ZONE, but generally regarded as slightly inferior.
As an anthology there is no continuity whatsoever, except for the grim moralistic narration of the disembodied "Control Voice" (Vic Perrin). Each episode survives on the strength of its story. The series is imaginative with good writing, acting, and special effects. There is often much action, as well as philosophical musing on the human spirit, or a confrontation with some unusual force. Some episodes are frightening because of the show's reputation for the over-use of ugly monsters.
The opening episode, "The Galaxy Being" is typical. Alan Maxwell (Lee Philips) is an electonics engineer at radio station KXKVI and secretary Carol (Jacqueline Scott) notices the fortune he is spending on electonic and computer equipment for his own purposes. He makes contact with an electrical alien lifeform (William O. Douglas) in a star system with 31 planets in the north west quadrant of the great spiral Andromeda. The two exchange information about their differences in an intelligent and friendly manner. Both are violating rules for contacting each other. Using microwave transmission, the galaxy being visits our dimension on Earth and therefore must disintegrate, although it will not actually die. It tells a small crowd of people, "I will leave you, in peace. End of transmission."
For the episode "Don't Open Till Doomsday", The Control Voice's opening narration: "The greatness of evil lies in its awful accuracy. Without that deadly talent for being in the right place at the right time evil must suffer defeat. For unlike its opposite good, evil is allowed no human failings, no miscalculations. Evil must be perfect or depend upon the imperfections of others." The closing narration: "Without that deadly talent for being in the right place at the right time evil must suffer defeat, and with each defeat doomsday is postponed for at least one more day."
The Control Voice: "It is said that if you move a single pebble on the beach, you set up a different pattern, and everything in the world is changed. It can also be said that love can change the future, if it is deep enough, true enough, and selfless enough. It can prevent a war, prohibit a plague, keep the whole world... whole."
THE OUTER LIMITS debuted on ABC September 16, 1963 and the last broadcast was January 16, 1965. There are 49 hour-long episodes in black and white. The first 32 episodes are the best, produced by the show's creator, Leslie Stevens and his successor Joseph Stefano. In the second season 17 episodes were produced by Ben Brady with lighter scripts, more monsters, and the "Control Voice" has mostly bland messages. The hour format allows for extensive background information, subplots, and complicated endings.
Some of the show's monsters reappear in STAR TREK. A prop head from "Fun and Games" was used to make a Talosian change into a vicious beast in the original STAR TREK pilot "The Cage". The creature in "The Probe" became the Horta in "The Devil in the Dark". And the pointed ears process for David McCallum in "The Sixth Finger" was used for Spock.
There were 10 directors, especially Gerd Oswald, and 16 writers, most notably Joseph Stefano. Music was composed by Dominic Frontiere (first season), Harry Lubin (second season) and Robert Van Eps. Lubin simply recycled his score from the TV series ONE STEP BEYOND (1959).
OUTER LIMITS (1995-2002) is a fairly good revival of the series. After a failed attempt in the early 1980's, the show ran on pay-tv channel "Showtime" from 1995 until 2001 when "Sci-Fi Channel" took over until it was cancelled in 2002. The first broadcast was March 26, 1995 and the last was January 18, 2002. There are 154 colour episodes. The "Control Voice" (Kevin Conway) remains and there are fewer monsters. Filmed in Vancouver, Canada, the series remade some of the episodes from the original, and contains more violence and sexual content. Some storylines are open-ended and in every season there is a clip show that connects plots of several episodes. There were 23 directors, especially Mario Azzopardi, and actress Catherine O'Hara directed 2 episodes. There were 32 writers, especially Sam Egan. His award-winning 100th episode, "Tribunal" is based on his father's experiences in Auschwitz where his wife and daughter were murdered by the Nazis.
