Customer Reviews

The Outer Limits Original Series Complete Box Set

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is my second review in as many that has given a zero to the poor packaging and contents and higher marks to the show itself.Let's take a look at the show first and then we'll take a look at the rest.
This is one of the top Sci-Fi shows ever to appear on television.Created by Leslie Stevens and Joe Stefano the show made its' premiere in Sept. of 1963 and WHAT a premiere it was."The Galaxy Being" certainly scared the living begeesus out of me and I will never forget that.The whole look and feel was totally different and it definitely was not The Twilight Zone but a deep and darker version of it.Nothing that intense had been seen on TV before and nothing would equal it's impact for many years.The show was directly helmed by the team of Stefano and Stevens with Dominic Frontieres' great scoring in the background through all of season one.When Season two arrived all three had departed and were replaced by others.The format underwent minor changes but it basically stayed true to its' roots.The entire story is detailed wonderfully in the "Outer Limits Companion" by David Schow and Jeff Frentzen.
Some prefer one season over the other but there is much to recommend both.Season one has its' "Galaxy Being","The Zanti Misfits","Second Chance" ,"Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "A Feasibility Study".Season Two "The Inheritors-Parts 1&2","Keeper of the Purple Twilight" and one of the entire series top eps "The Demon with the Glass Hand".The series is filled with many well known actors like Cliff Robertson,Ted Knight,Robert Culp,Ed Asner,Eddie Albert,Robert Duvall and so many more.There is also a huge Star Trek connection as William Shatner,Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan would all make appearances,along with many of the future shows supporting actors.The ep "Production and Decay..." contains at least five future Trek actors at once,including Leonard Nimoy!
The show never had a big budget and many of the shows today look dated as a result but in quite a few like "Demon...",the props are totally minimal and it is the great script,direction and acting that more than compensate for any shortcomings in the special effects department.That the show could do so much with so little at times,is a testament to the skill of everyone involved.
It is so unfortunate it only lasted two short seasons as the show should have gone many more.As one ep in the first season states:"Maybe young people are the only ones who listen and understand-you can't reach a closed mind".And so it was,as the almighty ratings beast dictated to the head network honchos just how they ought to proceed with shows;promising or not.The biggest shows' fans were the younger gen of the time who did write in frequently praising the show but it was the adults in the end who controlled the decision making of what to watch and they weren't generally impressed with the show;at least not enough for ABC to continue with it.To top this,in the second season it was put up against the ever popular(among the entire family) Jackie Gleason Show;and Gleason wasn't going anywhere.The show may have been cancelled but it has continued in syndication ever since staying in the collective memories of those who first saw it and gaining new fans along the way.
Now let's look at the presentation.The one thing positive about this new set is the price.The original release about eight years ago broke the series into two release sets and both at the same price(at least $10 higher than this set per season!).Everything else goes down hill from here.MGM has decided in their "wisdom" to re-release this set again in the double sided disc format.BAD choice,period.As I stated in my other recent review Universal and MGM(among others) have a fondness for this type of release;it is cheap and yields the greastest profit.DVDs are notoriously scuff and scratch prone and that alone should preclude any such release of this type if these companies actually cared about the product and consumers.
The second thing about this "new" set is...that it isn't.I do not see any difference in the transfer of this product onto DVD from the original release sets."A Feasibility Study" was particlularly grainy in the first release and it remains so in this one and all other eps with any excesses in this area are also the same.So the question presents itself:"Why?".Why would MGM not remaster these eps like they should be,after all this time?
I can certainly recommend the series itself as a groundbreaking one of its' day,as many of the eps still hold up very well,despite the budgetary restrictions.But it gets a zero as far as release presentation goes.It certainly is cheaper than the original release sets but it is just a simple re-packaging of the material on hand.Shame on MGM.

When my father first watched this, he would have been about eight or nine years old. Growing up myself, Outer Limits has been one of my classical favorites. What's even more amazing, is that after forty five years, this show is still considered great. Now my father is in his fifties and I'm in my twenties, and quite amazingly we still enjoy this show even after all this time. It's even more amazing that you can watch this movie nearly anywhere, from your laptop computer, to your dvd player at home. If anything, the very fact that you can watch this anywhere would have been science fiction at the time when Outer Limits first appeared. Outer Limits was very close to Twilight Zone, with the exception that it was an hour long (although Twilight Zone had a few hour long episodes), and most of the episodes were based on alien concepts, robots, or dimensional concepts. Like Twilight Zones, you see many famous actors/actresses appearing on the show. One comes to mind would be Leonard Nimoy in "I, Robot" which was a great episode.

I highly recommend this collection. You will enjoy it a lot. It is in the original black and white, and each episode is about fifty minutes long and you get forty nine episodes in total, the entire collection. There is one problem though, and that is the dvds are given in double sided dvds. Which is fine and all, but after so many usage, you get a lot of finger prints on one side or the other.

A single release of this 60's SciFi series was a welcome addition to my DVD video collection.

A recent visit to the local best buy clocked the series at nearly $100 for the three individual volumes. BB had this new single set priced at a savings of 50%.

I was impressed with crisp clean EZ to use menus. The B/W video and Mono audio quality was excellent.

I did miss bonus extras, and the lack of closed captions for those of us with less than perfect hearing was also sorely missed.

Others have mention problems with the double sided discs. My toshiba DVD player had NO such troubles. Either disc quality has improved, or maybe these other people just need to upgrade their hardware.

While the "monster" FXs are very dated, the stories have held up well over the years. All in all, enjoyable to watch.

4 stars.

THE OUTER LIMITS-THE COMPLETE ORIGINAL SERIES
This is, without a doubt, one of the best series ever on television. Some reviews complain that there are no closed captions, but that is a minor problem. My only serious complaint is that while all of the episodes are listed on each plastic container, some episode are NOT, in fact, available. For example, on Disc One, episodes 33-40, the information says that Side B contains four episodes, beginning with the classic, "Demon With the Glass Hand". That side has only two episodes instead of the listed four. There are other strange exclusions with no warning. There are no liner notes to explain these exclusions.
BUT, as a series, The Outer Limits had some of the best writing and (occasional) acting for its time. For truly creepy and scary atmospherics, this can't be beat. The productions are magnificent, even with the obvious budgetary restrictions faced by the creators. Some are masterpieces of "film noir". All in all, a joy to watch.

MGM has released these DVDs in two other packages, and they are defective. I've bought two complete sets of these DVDs. After you remove them from their case a few dozen times the center begins to crack. Even the ones that don't crack, fail. After about six months they start skipping and freezing. One just failed tonight. If you look at the surface of the DVD it is perfect, yet it skips and freezes. I take care of my DVDs. I don't have any problems with any other DVDs, just these MGM Original Series Outer Limits DVDs. They have failed for me on many different DVD players. I recommend not buying (since the manufacturer has already received money for millions of defective copies), but have someone make a copy for you, provided their copies haven't failed yet.

I was very happy to pick up this set of all 49 episodes for less than $32. In the bad old days of video you had to pay a lot more for a lot less and of course it took up a lot more room. This entire set is only a little thicker in it's box than the first movie of the Lord of the Rings Platinum Extended Version, "The Fellowship Of the Ring".

This is a no muss no fuss set of 6 (actually 7 I later learned - see below) double sided DVDs, each in their own slim plastic container. Picture quality is fine and it's a real treat to be finally able to see all 49 episodes of this very entertaining TV show anytime I want without watching edited shows on the Sci-Fi Channel which they've stopped showing in any event.

My DVD player has had no issues playing the DVDs. Some remastered video and maybe some commentaries and documetaries would have got a 5 star rating. No complaints really - I love this set.

I should add that the packaging on the 3rd Volume does not reflect the actual contents. Disc 1 is missing the last 2 titles which are in the last container. In that final container there are 2 DVDs rather than just Disc 2 as indicated on the outside so they should be Discs 2a and 2b. and they indicate a total of 9 episodes - in fact there are 11 episodes in that last container, 2 DVDs, 2 of which are listed on the packaging for Disc 1, Side B. So, in Vol. 3, Disc 1, Side A is correct while Side B is missing the last 2 titles indicated. Those 2 titles are on what should be called Disc 2a, Side A in the next container along with what should be the first 2 from that container. Then, that Disc 2a Side B has 2 more. Then Disc 2b, Side A has 4 episodes and the other side of that has the one final episode.

It's confusing as hell but all 49 episodes are there, just don't go by the packaging when you get to the last two containers for Volume 3.

This is the real deal. The original series and a wonderful journey into creative story telling science fiction.
As a kid I was not allowed to see this show. Too "scary" I guess. But I was able to sneek in a couple of episodes when the sitter was watching us. I never forgot what a show it was. So now I have the whole set and it is a treasure to watch. In all it's wonderful black and white tight, artistic stories and camera work. Who cares if it was low tech, frankly that made it even scarier! For hard core fans you must get the Outer Limits Companion by David J. Schow. There you will find the behind the scenes info and pictures on all the episodes and how it was born by creative gurus Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano. For any creative type you will appreciate the determination by this team to get it on the air and fight for budget and script quality. Add this to your collection of classics.I have viewed most episodes and the disc quality has improved over other OL collections of the past. You are about to participate in a great adventure!

I picked this set up at Best Buys on December 20. The picture was crisp and the sound fine until Episode 3 on Disc number 1. The picture started sticking and the audio disappeared all together. I replaced this set with a new one at a different store. All was good until episode 3 on disc 2 exhibited the same problem. I do have a relatively new DVD player with progressive scan and still had this problem. Having watched this series religiously as a child I was so excited when this box set was released and now so disappointed. In this case 3rd time is not the charm and I now have a store credit.

I loved this series as a child. As previously stated by other reviewers I also wanted to own this as some of the other reviewers. These discs are absolutely corrupted and after a very short period of time fade away and become unplayable. This is not amazons fault but the manufactur. You will be dissapointed. Buying more of the discs will not help. I recommend amazon stop selling the outer limits until they are done produced by a reputable disc maker.

When the Outer Limits began in 1963 my father was in his late 30's and I was 11.As soon as my mother heard the high pitched sine-wave at the beginning of each episode she would run and hide in the bedroom,taking my younger brother and sister with her!THIS SHOW FRIGHTENED THE HELL OUT OF ME!I was able to watch it sitting on the floor in front of the TV,while my father sat on the sofa only 4 feet from me.Throughout each episode my father and I would look at each other mouths agape shaking our heads in complete disbelief at what we were seeing on the TV screen!This is SCIENCE FICTION at it's BEST!My father and I were captured by the AWE and Mystery which reaches from the inner mind to THE OUTER LIMITS!THANK YOU CONTROL VOYAGE SINCERELY BURG F.D.Richburg,Jr.