The Outer Limits Companion [Paperback]

David J. Schow (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Gnp Crescendo Records; Revised edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966516907
• ISBN-13: 978-0966516906
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,333,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expericing the awe and mystery again, December 7, 2002

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Outer Limits Companion (Paperback)

David Schow's terrific overview of this classic television series is stuffed with illustrations many of them never published before. His critical assessment of the various episodes is always well informed (although there are a couple that I do disagree with very strongly). The most important thing is that this groundbreaking gothic science fiction/horror series is finally being appreciated.

The Outer Limits was always a poor cousin to The Twilight Zone; critics preferred Rod Serling's O'Henry like twists and turns in the plot. Twilight Zone was a terrific series but it couldn't touch the one hour (or two hour)format. Likewise, the bulk of the audience preferred Serling's morality plays. What's fascinating is to compare and contrast the two--it's like comparing Steve Spielberg to Terry Gilliam; both are technically adept and brilliant filmakers but Gilliam's films have a dark vision missing, for the most part, from Spielberg's films. Spielberg always feels the need to lighten up even his darkest toned films. Gilliam has no such compunction.

Time has been kinder to The Outer Limits than The Twilight Zone. The series had no peer as a 1 hour gothic science fiction/fantasy/horror program. What made the series so appealing and great was the contrast in styles between Leslie Stevens' science fiction plot driven tales and Joseph Stefano's dark character driven morality plays. Their collaboration on the series brought out the best of both writers/producers.

Stevens created the series and let writer/producer Stefano do the day to day production of the show for the first season. The bulk of the most powerful episodes are from the first season. Stefano, like Rod Serling, had a hand in a large number of these scripts often writing originals, providing stories or rewriting other writers to make the episode fit the format, improve the drama or characters (or make it affordable to shoot).

Schow interviewed all the major participants in the series and has a wealth of memos, original scripts and background information on the show. I'd also recommend the boxset DVD of The Outer Limits. It contains all the first season episodes on 4 two sided double layer discs. There aren't any extras to speak of (which is too bad given that Stefano, Martin Landau, Martin Sheen and many of the actors are still alive).

The second season was more difficult for the show; Stefano left in a disagreement over pared down budgets and the demands to modify the series. There were still a number of outstanding episodes. One of the best episodes was Harlan Ellison's Demon with a Glass Hand. Robert Culp gives a startling, powerful performance in this episode. Ellison also contributed Solider (which was radically rewritten by others. It reflects the poor quality control at the time. Still, Solider has a number of interesting ideas and strong performances (chiefly Michael Ansara).

The best episodes -- The Galaxy Being, The Man Who Was Never Born, It Crawled Out of the Woodwork, OBIT, Feasability Study,Nightmare, The Chameleon, Demon with a Glass Hand, The Inheritors, The Form of Things Unknown, The Sixth Finger and The Man with the Power all rival the best written shows from the 60's and 70's. The new verison of the series, while it has many admirable moments, is closer to The Twilight Zone in spirit and lacks the sharp, engaging writing/direction of the original series.

The direction of The Outer Limits if often overlooked. Gerd Oswald, James Goldstone, Leslie Stevens and others strived to make the series look like short movies. Conrad Hall's and Kenneth Peach's distinctive cinematography created a vaguely European feel to many of these classics.

Schow's book is worth it and would make a great three-fer gift with the first disc of the original soundtrack and the boxset.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How the Outer Limits changed my life...well, sort of, April 26, 2003

By 

Michael Ziegler (Philadelphia, Pa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outer Limits Companion (Paperback)

Back in the era of Black and White television, a dark and scary show was broadcast that controlled our television sets and placed fear in our minds about the unknown and the possibility that alien life forms could be lurking around the corner. The Outer Limits worked on those fears and produced new phobias! An ordinary vacumn cleaner picks up a dust ball in the corner and produces an indestructable and violent electrical monster that can make you disappear! A saucer ride in an amusement park is producing mysterious sounds at 3AM in the morning and a lonely security guard checks it out only to find out that the spaceship is REAL and there is an alien on-board! Our poor guard is zapped into eternity! Micro waves combined with radio station power contact a creature from the Andromeda galaxy, who is drawn in by a power surge to haunt our neighborhood. I saw these episodes one by one and as a result....stayed clear of vacumn cleaners, especially industrial type shop vacs being operated by maids and always left balls of dust in corners alone, I never went on a single ride in an amusement park...it may be a source for alien abduction ... I stayed away from Radio stations with large towers. I also stayed away from old victorian houses in the country, because one episode featured an alien who was upstairs and the house was a trap for the alien to infest your mind and hold you prisoner, possibly forever! As each episode was broadcast, it was one more ordinary thing to stay away from! Thank God it did not last too many seasons or I might have been housebound forever! Anyway, this is a great book about the series and covers every angle about the writers, music and work that went into the show about special effects and scripts. One of the most innovative and challenging shows ever to broadcast, this book is the final word on the subject. Well recommended, but don't go near any amusement parks!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hey, It's Huge!!, January 12, 2005

By 

Dan Rexx "danrexx" (Nowhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Outer Limits Companion (Paperback)

I have the 1986 original version of this book and I always thought that there was no need for this new reprint, also for its steep price.
One day after being one more time enthusiast of this Great Series I ordered it and I couldn't believe when I finally saw it, I was amazed! ^_^
It's got almost the same text of the original but it is totally filled with new pictures with incredible crystal clear quality, excellent paper, new interviews and brand new chapter. Every episode has 3/4 big-sized (and rare) pictures at least while
the old one had 1 only and sometimes 2. The old one was quite
small and this one is Giant-Sized! Love was surely put again in this new revision. It is like having a totally new and book!
The old one was an excellent treatment of the Series but they improved on it dramatically and thankfully didn't include the New 1995 Series!!!
It's totally worth its price and a must for any fan of the series even if already owning the original companion.
Buy it while you can and before it goes out of print again!