Product Details

• Actors: Vic Perrin, Bob Johnson, Ben Wright, Robert Culp, Robert Duvall
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: September 26, 1995
• Run Time: 51 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301968719
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #308,538 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally entertaining, mind-expanding scifi spectacle, May 15, 2001

By 

brian akers (Atlanta formerly) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outer Limits: Galaxy Being [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Galaxy Being" is the superb, seminal episode of the original Outer Limits, and it still packs quite a unique wallop today--indeed all the more so by contrast with the dismal state of contemporary scifi cinema. This is a towering, all-time great portrayal of the human encounter with the alien, who is at once intelligent, wise, noble, confused and stressed-out. His final, stern lecture to the foolish, frightened earthlings who in their ignorance would destroy him, puts this film into the same class as "Day the Earth Stood Still", one of OL's most important thematic forerunners. But then, in a brilliant stroke, there is a strong and daring infusion of emergent parallels between the rational and the non-rational, between recent discoveries of science and ancient, intuitive, mystical teachings--way ahead of its time in 1963. Another profound theme, embodied in both the alien and the Cliff Robertson character, is the courage of the individual who would seek to investigate the unknown, against the pressures of brain-washed society to conform, and all the efforts of authorities to keep humanity subservient and under control. Should these loner, visionary scientist types who break the rules in their quest for knowledge be careful what they're fooling around with? Of course; and yet, its often by mistakes that we learn the most and advance furthest as a species. The special effects are stylish and riveting, especially the design and imaging of the alien itself, which has few comparisons. The human/alien relationship is mirrored as well by the maritally troubled husband/wife couple, who have their own differences to overcome. The lame gender stereotypes of today's pathetic, post-Cameron/Hurd scifi offerings (i.e., the men as wimps or swaggering macho idiots and foils for the obligatorily smarter, stronger, wiser but good looking female lead) are nowhere to be seen, so you might not like this if you require that kind of shallow, formulaic content. The focus here, setting the tone for the whole series, is on the timeless and recurring themes of human existence, the quest for meaning, the finding of the self in the other, transcendence versus domination, the triumph of the human spirit and hope. Outer Limits is the Shakespeare of TV/cinematic scifi, and will admirably withstand the test of time. By the way, there is one unintentionally diverting moment here to watch for which I've got to mention, because I've never seen it commented upon elsewhere. It involves quite a double handful that Cliff Robertson gets hold of in the last act. How did that get by ABC's watchful eye?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Being" There, May 19, 2002

By 

Ned "java_ned" (Eldersburg, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Outer Limits: Galaxy Being [VHS] (VHS Tape)

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and 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.

In the first episode, Cliff Robertson plays Allan Maxwell, the owner of a radio station, who ignores his wife and friends while he explores the heavens with his microwaves and his 3D TV scanner. After making contact with an alien from another galaxy, his wife forces him to go to a party held on his behalf. He asks the alien to keep the transmission open till he gets back. While Maxwell is gone more power is added to the radio station and the alien is "transmitted" to earth.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please Stand By, May 31, 1999

By 

Thomas Rucki (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Outer Limits: Galaxy Being [VHS] (VHS Tape)

An inventor, and a manager of a radio station, creates a 3-D monitor device in order to communicate with alien beings from outer space. He receives a signal from the galaxy of Andromeda. This is the pilot episode and a classic one. The key episode that gives you the premise and the series approach. Cliff Robertson is the perfect example of a cursed and lonely tinkerer ("But the secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves to nobodies. Who care ?") lost in his radio experimentations and in search of an absolute. The best scene remains the intense dialogues between Cliff Robertson and the Andromedan Being about the fundamental questions : Life, Death, War and God ("Infinity is God. God, Infinity, all the same."). Pre-"Counterweight" Jacqueline Scott plays skeptical and pragmatic Carol Mawxell who threats her husband ("Carol, it's more than interesting, it's important !"). Pre-"Production and decay of strange particles" Allyson Ames (Leslie Stevens' wife) is very gorgeous. The alien's optical effects is strange and magnificient at once and it is the best "bear" of the entire series. There are two beautiful scenes with the negative effects : 1.The Being enters a shop, with suspended instruments, and examines items (binoculars, musical box, bust). 2.The Being cauterized the injury of Allan Maxwell's wife with a blast of radiation. You have a "The day the Earth stood still" reference with the army, the jeeps and the alien's warning ("There is much you have to learn.").----"The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light-the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other."

-End of transmission-