Customer Reviews

Outer Limits: Borderland [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the few episodes written and directed by series executive producer Leslie Stevens. Like his Production and Decay of Strange Particles, this also centres on a lone scientist on a quest, this time to cross-over into the fourth dimension otherwise known as the Borderland. However Stevens gets so bogged down in the clunky mechanics of the experiment that when we get to the possibility of the cross-over it is a huge disappointment. Theatrics pile up with a swamp of character agendas, some pretty poor special effects - the images of the Borderland in particular (a wasteland which doesn't support a plot point of a man believing his son is there), and composer Dominic Frontiere's infamous crescendo. When the scientist played by arch Mark Richman continually calls out "Eva! Eva!!"to his wife (Nina Foch) it is unintentionally funny because it prefigures Evita. The standard of performance is pretty low, with a special nod to the ghastly Alfred Ryder who plays his villian as if he has had a stroke. This episode was the first filmed in the first series after the pilot The Galaxy Being, but it's broadcast was delayed for 6 months, and you'll know why. The only reason to rate it higher than a dud like Tourist Attraction, is that I found the opening image of the swirl of magnetised particles hypnotic and unexplained in the Official Companion, Richman's scientist having 2 right hands after his first attempt at cross-over (though the mutation is conveniently and amusingly concealed later on), and the fact that it features no "bear" ie monster that the ABC networkers demanded.

At his weakest, series executive producer Leslie Stevens' scripts were talky and unconvincing. This is one of those scripts. However, even in those talky and unconvincing scripts, the visual effects were usually pretty striking. And here, they're pretty striking.

What sinks this episode is technical-sounding doubletalk, and a lot of it. Stevens' speculations about the nature of the afterlife, and the science of metaphysics, are genuinely interesting. If he could have stuck more to the point, he would have been more effective.

Still, the sets are impressive (the series blew a lot of its budget early on, ironically on its lesser shows), the visual effects are truly eye-catching, and the finale is actually quite dramatically satisfying and even moving.

"The mind of man has always longed to know what lies beyond the world we live in. Explorers have ventured into the depths and heights. Of these explorers, some are scientists, some are mystics. Each is driven by a different purpose. The one thing they share in common is a wish to cross the borderlands that lie beyond the Outer Limits..." By accident, a group of scientists discovered a doorway to a parrallel universe. A budget-buster episode with first-class special effects, impressive lab sets and smart cinematography (watch the low angle shot of the scientists and the close-ups of Mark Richman) which is an intended pilot for a new sci-fi series. The actors are great and dignified in their fanatic scientists parts and make this episode very exciting to watch. Here is some real stylish technological SCIENCE-fiction and my favourite Leslie Stevens episode among "The galaxy being", "Controlled experiment" and "Production and decay of strange particles". "There are worlds beyond the worlds within which the explorer must explore. But there is one power which seems to transcend space and time, life and death. It is a deeply human power which holds us safe and together when all otherforces combine to tear us apart. We call it the power of love."

A machine that opens into another world, this episode, which is the twelfth in the Outer Limit series, talks about man trying to make contact in another dimension.

Dwight Hartley (played by Barry Jones) is a rich man who is trying to contact his dead son. After wasting his money on mystics (who turn out to be frauds) such as Mrs. Palmer (played by Gladys Cooper), he is introduced to Ian Fraser (played by Mark Richman), a scientist who has invented a device that can pass through the borderland from our world into the fourth dimension (which could be anything, including the afterlife). Ian shows proof of his device by showing his left hand, which has turned into another right hand, the result of the accidental experiment. The device turns the positive matter into negative, reverses the magnetic fields, and turns everything backwards. However, because of the low energy, they are unable to conduct the experiment on other devices. Hartley grants Ian and his research team full energy power if Ian will contact Hartley's dead son while Ian is in the fourth dimension. But there are a lot of complications in between, including Mrs. Palmer and her assistant wanting revenge on Hartley and the research team's experiments.

This episode was very similar to previous episodes such as `The Galaxy Being', since they both talk about new inventions created by man to make contact with another world. This episode had so much potential to become one of the best in the series (like `The Galaxy Being'), I feel like the writers overdid this one. It just seemed like they were adding too much twists into this story, such as mystic getting back at the rich man, rich man hiring scientist to contact dead son, rich man's assistant wanting power and wealth for himself, scientists using power to open borderland etc. The ending of this episode is also a let down as Eva magically rescues her husband while the experiment is still in progress, and he is in one piece! While you feel like the story is interesting, in the end you just feel like something was missing here.

To quote Vic Perrin (The Control Voice): "There are worlds beyond and worlds within which the explorer must explore. But there is one power which seems to transcend space and time, life and death. It is a deeply human power which holds and saves us together, when all the other forces are combined to tear us apart. We call it the `power of love'."

The Borderland is a nice little Outer Limits story. "The Borderland" is the 4th dimension that our scientist hero of the episode is trying to explore. He needs money to finance his project, so he shows his results to a man with dosh. Our millionairre friend agrees to finance the project on one condition, he believes that his departed son is "somewhere out there" and wants the team of scientists to attempt to make contact with him in another dimension. As always, the best laid plans go awry and a different outcome then hoped for transpires.

I thought this episode had many good features, including: nice dialogue, solid acting, great sets, and a good pace. It was always pushing forward until the end.

In short, "The Borderland" is about man pressing to quickly forward in science and when this happens, the outcome may be quite different then what was originally perceived.

thank you for your time, David

A research team who successfully open a window into another dimension seeks more funding from a wealthy stockholder.Believing it to be the doorway to the afterlife, the stockholder agrees to fund their experiment provided they search for his dead son.This episode starts out interesting with Mark Richmans character revealing his two "right" hands to the stockholder. But once you throw in a "Dr.Smith" to try and sabatouge everything you get a well used plot. Good effects for its time, but not a very original storyline.