Customer Reviews

The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

With talents like Joseph Stephano and Leslie Stephens as producers, some of the best Sci-Fi Writers and a lot of talented 60's actors and even actors that went on to great fame like Robert Culp, David McCallum, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall and Martin Landau, this was one of the first quality Sci-Fi series.

Twilight Zone was out there, but at times it was not really pure Sci-Fi, often more mysterious and horror, Thriller hosted by Boris Karloff (PLEASE PUT THESE OUT on DVD) were pure horror and the long running Alfred Hitchcock Present was straight mystery, so SCI-FI fans were captivated from the opening line with that mysterious voice telling you your telly has been taken over for the next 60 minutes. The acting was top notch, the writing literate and thought provoking, and you will even see many of the episodes were later cannibalised later to make movies, such as SOLDIER with Michael Anshara, repackaged in the 80's as The Terminator. To think you get 32 original episodes on 4 double-sided discs is just amazing.

There are a few puppies in the series...In the second year of the series Stephano played a less controlling interest. He believed in thoughty mind twisting Sci-Fi, while Stevens wanted the monster of the week, so some monsters did get a little Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea-ish (Think they even shared a couple with monster doing double time!). But all in this in one super buy is a must for all those Baby Boomers that would once more would like their telly taken over.

Warning to those who have not seen the series, these are vintage, high quality Black & White episodes. I think it adds to the spookiness as they could film in lower light, creating those sinister shadows.

I've only watched four of the episodes in this collection so far, but that's enough to be able to say unequivocally that this set is worth purchasing for anyone who remembers the good old days of science fiction on TV. I was only 10 years old when Outer Limits originally aired, and yet some of the images from those programs have remained with me to this day, well into my dotage. I fervently hope a second DVD set will be released, containing episodes 33-49. That would included Harlan Ellison's "Demon with a Glass Hand," the all-time top-rated episode, as well as "Soldier," also written by Ellison, and "The Inheritors," the only two-parter from the series. Not to mention "Wolf 359," a title that should ring a bell with Star Trek fans.
I applaud the notion of eliminating the useless labels on each disk and packing 32 episodes onto 4 disks. I wish more collections would adopt this strategy.
In short, buy this set if you want to take a very pleasant trip back through time. Great TV!

When I was in the 3rd grade, I used to come to school after the weekend, Outer Limits was on Sunday night, and I would ask all of my buddies "Did you see the Outer Limits last night?", invariably someone did and we would argue the merits of the monster and so forth (very sophisitcated 3rd graders and very liberal parents!).

Since then, occasional glimpses into that stark black and white world peopled with stars and monsters and questions and answers, both disturbing and tempting all at the same time.

A few years back, I began to collect the VHS releases, then the LaserDisc set, but it was prohibitively expensive at the time. Now grubbing around on Ebay and occasionally landing a deal.

When I found out this series was going to be available on DVD, I dove in and ordered it. To settle the debate over the content here is what I know:

There are a total of 1642 minutes of running time, now with 32 episodes in the set, that means 51 minutes and 31 seconds per episode, which figures, minusing out commercial slots. There are 4 discs, double sided of course, so each side holds 8 episodes. They are all there folks. Now as to the number 32..yes there are more episodes, but these are the original 32 that were produced before plot disputes and directional differences forced a change in producers, resulting in less intersting episodes (in my opinion). Here are the contents of the DVDS:
Disc 1
The Galaxy Being,
The Hundred Days of the Dragon
The Architects of Fear
The Man with the Power
The Sixth Finger
The Man Who Was Never Born
O.B.I.T.
The Human Factor

Disc 2
Corpus Earthling
Nightmare
It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
The Borderland
Tourist Attraction
The Zanti Misfits
The Mice
Controlled Experiment

Disc 3
Don't Open Till Doomsday
ZZZZZ
The Invisibles
The Bellero Shield
The Children of Spider County
Specimen: Unknown
Second Chance
Moonstone

Disc 4
The Mutant
The Guests
Fun and Games

The Special One
A Feasibility Study
Production and Decay of Strange Particles
The Chameleon
The Forms of Things Unknown

And as a final note, I loved the long intro and felt they cheapend it by shortening the Vic Perrins dialog. My favorite Outer Limits Ep. is still "The Sixth Finger", with "100 Days of the Dragon" a close second.

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.

The first season, 32 episodes, are contained on 4 disks. Running time is listed as 1642 minutes.

Disc 1
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1) The Galaxy Being: 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.

2) The Hundred Days of the Dragon: A Far East government plots to overthrow the U.S. by replacing key figures with duplicates. The deed is aided with a special drug that allows the skin to become like putty and can be reshaped into any form.

3) The Architects of Fear: Robert Culp undergoes surgery to turn him into an alien creature so that the world can unite against a "common" enemy.

4) The Man with the Power: A would be scientist allows an experimental-chip to be surgical place within his brain, which gives him special power. Once he discovers he can't control his power, he finally destroys himself with that power.

5) The Sixth Finger: A coalminer allows himself to be transformed into a superhuman that man won't reach for another million years.

6) The Man Who Was Never Born: Martin Landau is Andro, who is sent back in time to kill the mother of man who made a mess of the future.

7) O.B.I.T.: OBIT is an electronic device that allows the user to spy on anyone no matter where they are.

8) The Human Factor: A psychiatrist has a device that will allow him to read the minds of others. In a freak accident his mind is switch with one of his patients.

Disc 2
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9) Corpus Earthling: Aliens that are really rocks want to control the human mind.

10) Nightmare: Soldiers believe they are on another planet millions of miles from Earth. They are being tested for real battle.

1) It Crawled Out of the Woodwork: A cleaning woman accidentally creates an energy cloud monster with her vacuum cleaner.

12) The Borderland: A research team opens a window into another dimension. The team receives funding from a wealthy man who is looking for his son in the other dimension.

13) Tourist Attraction: A giant "lungfish" is captured and other of it kind come to free the captured one. The lungfish look like giant frogs.

14) The Zanti Misfits: Prisoners from the planet Zanti are sent to Earth as a criminal colony. The creatures are ant-like and have human faces.

15) The Mice: A prisoner exchanges his "life in prison" sentence to be a guinea pig for a scientific experiment which is an exchange of inhabitants between earth and a planet named Chromo.

16) Controlled Experiment: A couple of Martians investigate a murder on Earth. One has been here a while and is familiar with Earth culture (e.g., smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, kissing, etc.).

Disc 3
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17) Don't Open Till Doomsday: An alien wants to blow up the universe.

18) ZZZZZ: A queen bee is transformed into a human in order to mate and produce offspring's.

19) The Invisibles: Alien parasites are using humans as hosts.

20) The Bellero Shield: An alien is transported to earth and Sally Kellerman kills it in order to steal its technology.

21) The Children of Spider County: An alien comes back to earth to pick up his children

22) Specimen: Unknown: Astronauts, returning to earth, discover they are bringing deadly spores back with them. Once on Earth the spores grow rapidly and it is the simple thing that kills them.

23) Second Chance: At an amusement park a selected group of people get on a space ride and it turns out to be the real thing.

24) Moonstone: The folks stationed on the moon find tiny fugitive aliens trying to find shelter from their oppressors.

Disc 4
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25) The Mutant: Reese Fowler is caught in a rain of radioactive isotopes that turns him into a big-eyed mutant. His condition drives him insane and he torments his crewmen.

26) The Guests: A young man goes to a nearby house to get help for an old man he finds on the side of the road. He soon discovers the house is nothing more than an alien looking for answers about humans.

27) Fun and Games: A man and woman are transported to another planet to fight a couple of aliens (male and female). If they win the earth is saved otherwise the earth will be destroyed.

28) The Special One: Mr. Zeno recruits a gifted student into a government-sponsored program for "gifted" children. It is soon discover that Mr. Zeno is not a government educator, but part of an invasion force preparing the Earth for conquest.

29) A Feasibility Study: The feasibility study is undertaken by Luminoids, who have stolen a neighborhood block and brought it back to Luminos to see whether earthlings are suitable as slaves.

30) Production and Decay of Strange Particles: In a nuclear research laboratory the creation of a new isotope is made and it takes on a life of it's own.

31) The Chameleon: The government turns Robert Duvall into an alien, just like the ones that landed, and then chase him to the alien spaceship. The government needs to determine if the alien have nuclear weapons.

32) The Forms of Things Unknown: Two women murder their blackmailer but when they take refuge in an old house, they meet a scientist that brings the dead back to life.

I got my set yesterday and have watched three episodes, The Sixth Finger, The Man Who Was Never Born and Corpus Earthling. So far I haven't found any problems with the discs (several people have), the picture quality is excellent and the sound is decent.

This series rates second on my top five list of sci-fi television series, Star Trek (original), The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, The Invaders and Dark Skies (an incredible series that ran for only one season, on I believe NBC, in the nineties). I was eight years old when The Outer Limits premiered, it scared me to death then and it still does. Watch the camera shots of David McCallum as he changes into a superhuman in The Sixth Finger or the scene in Corpus Earthling when Robert Culp returns to the isolated house to find his wife (Salome Jens) supposedly sleeping.

Although some of the special effects were ...primitive by todays Industrial Light and Magic standards, the series is a classic and works without the profanity and gore that is present in the garbage that passes as entertainment in contemporary media. It's amazing what can be done with black and white film and some very talented actors, writers and directors.

This set is an incredible bargain ... Now if MGM/United Artists will just release Pee-wee's Playhouse on DVD I'll be really happy.

Often, when I was a child, I watched The Outer Limits when I was supposed to be asleep, taking care that my dad did not see me peering at it from the top of the stairs while he watched it on the Zenith vacuum tube black-and-white TV set. When that control voice told me to sit quietly, I did - I was too afraid not to. Though the monsters caused me to have a few nightmares, I was fascinated by the electronic equipment shown in the episodes of the series, and I was fascinated by television itself, which seemed miraculous to me - pictures and sound out of thin air, you know. Now, I have designed and built custom electronic hardware and systems most of my life, and I am an amateur recording engineer, inspired by all the marvelous things I saw (or thought I was seeing) all those years ago while watching The Outer Limits. If you love classic science fiction with a point, The Outer Limits original series should definitely be in your collection.
Prior to its release, I sent at least five earnest requests to MGM trying to convince them to publish the series on DVD. When I heard they were going to do so, I immediately pre-ordered it. Unfortunately, I think the folks at MGM may not understand the audience for this DVD product. I wanted the series on DVD so it would be as close to a perfect recording as possible. The disk set I purchased is not. I have seen severe problems in one episode rendering the recording useless (No, it is not scratched - Duh). Two different DVD players, one of which is new and quite expensive, were unable to play this episode properly. Another episode has continuous audio problems that sound like severe digital saturation, or clipping. My MGM VHS tape of this episode does not have this problem. I am hoping that MGM will re-think their approach to this product, so here goes. Dear MGM - I will be happy to pay four times the asking price to get all of the episodes of the series recorded carefully and properly with a significantly lower digital compression ratio. Please re-release the entire series in a special 2-episodes-per-disk edition for serious collectors. (Contact me - I'll help you do the collector's edition mastering and/or QC free of charge.) This series deserves to survive to be enjoyed by future generations.

The original 1960s version of THE OUTER LIMITS is arguably one of the best science-fiction series ever created for television. The writing was fresh, innovative, and literate, and episode plots were often inspired by the real-life scientific and social issues of the day. True, the show's limited budget sometimes resulted in cheesy special effects, but the producers and their crews worked hard to ensure that the stories were of the highest quality. Even though the series lasted only two seasons, the intelligence and overall quality of the program have helped it to remain an influential sci-fi favorite for more than 40 years.

This set of DVDs contains the entire first season of THE OUTER LIMITS, which originally aired during the 1963-1964 TV season. Many fans and critics regard this to be the best of the two seasons, but that is highly debated by fans and critics who feel the second season to be superior. Whatever the case may be, there are definitely some standout episodes in Season One. Some of those include:

"The Zanti Misfits" is a story that addresses, among other things, the issues of overcrowded prisons and capital punishment. When Earth agrees to incarcerate criminals from the planet Zanti, the Earthlings learn that they aren't quite prepared to deal with the gangsters, racketeers, and murderers from another planet. (This remains to this day one of the most popular episodes among the show's ardent fans.)

In "The Man Who Was Never Born," an 20th-century astronaut inadvertently travels through a time-warp to Earth's future, where he learns that the human race is doomed to extinction as the result of a biological experiment designed by a 20th-century scientist. When the astronaut and one of the last members of the human race decide to return to the 20th century and prevent the disaster, they learn that toying with history and destiny comes with a high price.

In "The Architects of Fear," a group of the world's great thinkers decide that the only way to unite Earth's warring nations is to give them a common non-terrestrial enemy to battle--so they cook one up in the laboratory.

A myriad of actors and actresses who would later go on to become big stars appeared in various first-season episodes. This estimable group includes Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp, Donald Pleasence, David McCallum, Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, Martin Sheen, Edward Asner, Bruce Dern, Dabney Coleman, Carroll O'Connor, Richard Dawson, Russell Johnson, Marion Ross, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Duvall, Vera Miles, and Barbara Rush. The producer during this first season was Joseph Stefano, probably better known to non-genre fans as the screenwriter who adapted Robert Bloch's novel to the big screen for Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO.

There have been alot of complaints circulating regarding the picture quality of this DVD set, and it is true that there seems to have been little, if any, work done in the digital restoration of these wonderful sci-fi teleplays. This is unfortunate, because some of the episodes do show minor amounts of scratches, spots, and other wear artifacts. However, these are DVDs, so the picture quality is still quite acceptable and does not include any of the tape-noise artifacts or signs of tape wear that consumers suffered through with the previously released VHS editions.

All in all, Season One of THE OUTER LIMITS makes a fine addition to the DVD collection of any science fiction fan.

(NOTE: The four-star rating does take the non-restored picture quality into account, as well as the fact that the DVDs do not offer any special features or extras. Otherwise, this DVD set would earn a five-star rating.)

While I can't say I've seen this DVD of The Outer Limits (obviously, since it's not released yet!) I can still take the time to write a review of the series, as I collected the entire 49 episodes (both seasons) on Beta many years ago. For anyone who mistakes this groundbreaking 60's series for the abysmal dreck presented in the new, updated version that started on Showtime and currently resides on Sci-Fi, well, do yourself a favor and check this DVD set out. While many have compared the show to the Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits was ultimately a much darker, scarier and deadly serious version of that show, and at an hour per episode, was like a series of mini-movies. The fact that the great cinematographer Conrad Hall (he of "American Beauty" fame) shot most of this series, in weird, darkened lighting and odd camera angles, using the inherent black-and-white to its greatest effect, itself raises this show to the level of motion picture-style entertainment; a show that Stephen King himself called 'the greatest show of its kind ever of television'. Like the T-Zone, the Limits also featured many of the best up-and-coming TV and movie stars of the time, including Robert Duvall, James Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Cliff Robertson, Donald Pleasance and many more. 40 years after its debut, and these episodes show more imagination than any horror or sci-fi anthology I've seen since. I mean, really! A teacher from another planet who comes to Earth in lightning bolts, to instruct the highest-achieving students how to use a weather-changing machine to help destroy the world....Shatner, as an astronaut whose encounter with an alien while in space causes him to be unable to stay warm....aliens who transport an entire neighborhood up to their planet to experiment with the possibility of colonizing Earth.....a soldier from the future who comes back in time in search of his enemy (The Terminator, anyone??) - the shows were not just brilliant science-fiction, but just plain WEIRD, and certainly far ahead of their time. Sure, some episodes come up short (like some of those hokey Twilight Zones), and anyone expecting anything more than rudimentary special effects might be disappointed, but most of the shows remain a standard of the genre to which few, if any, have since met.

This 32 - episode, 4 - disc set collects the entire first season of the seminal Leslie Stevens - Joseph Stephano science fiction series of the early Sixties. Unlike the often lyrical, soft - focus mysticism of its competitor, the Twilight Zone, the equally moralistic Outer Limits ostensibly bolstered the pivotal role rationality and the scientific method play in man's attempt to grasp, understand, and control the universe. On closer examination, however, the real theme of the series -- man's paralyzing anxiety when faced with the failure of reason and the disturbing limitations of science -- becomes painfully evident. Despite its constant stream of thoughtful committees, square - jawed scientists, orderly laboratories, and progressive hardware, the shadowy, cynical world of the Outer Limits is one even more aggressively haunted by the pettiness of human nature and the presence of the daimonic than that of Rod Serling's more popular series. Viewers should keep in mind that writer, producer, and overall key player Joseph Stephano wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's `Psycho' (1960), one of the pivotal American films of the 20th Century.

A field day for students of popular culture, the included episodes offer a time capsule bloated with influential ideas and creative talent that have subsequently enjoyed a significant impact in a wide variety of mediums.

The never - bettered first episode, "The Galaxy Being," would have delighted the Surrealists; "The Architects of Fear" utilizes an idea that Alan Moore would adopt 25 years later for `The Watchmen' (1986); and "The Man with the Power" may have inspired Stan Lee's and Jack Kirby's creation of Magneto, a comic book villain still gaining popularity 30 years after his debut. "100 Days of the Dragon" combines 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962) with `Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956), while the series' grimmest hour, "Corpus Earthling," looked visually back on 'The Invisible Invaders' (1959) and 'Carnival of Souls' (1962) and forward to 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968). "Don't Open Until Doomsday" combines a hatbox - sized spaceship and a cyclopean alien invader with Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard' (1951). The fanciful special effects in "Moonstone" and "The Bellero Shield" occasionally recall George Melies' groundbreaking "A Trip To The Moon' (1902).

The giant ants of 'Them!' (1954) are reduced to 12 inches, given peevish clown's faces, and set upon murderous sociopath Bruce Dern in the existential camp classic "The Zanti Misfits." "ZZZZZ" reverses the human - into - insect formula of `The Fly' (1958) and `The Wasp Woman' (1959), and unlike feline Irena Dubrovna in `The Cat People' (1942), the episode's queen bee - turned - woman gleefully indulges her murderous sexuality. "The Guests" blends `the old dark house' genre with an erudite, attic - dwelling space monster that resembles a cross between an enormous clutching grouper and reproductive organs of the female sperm whale. After a forcible first encounter in the dark, the defiant young hero is asked, "Did you submit to it?"

Both "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and "Production And Decay of Strange Particles" further develop the nuclear horror of 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955), while "O.B.I.T." brilliantly predicts today's world of mass surveillance and evaporating privacy. The courageous fairytale bride of "The Man Who Had Never Been Born" recalls dauntless heroine Janet of the British folk ballad 'Tam Lin,' and "The Borderland" is hard evidence that some of the most dramatic and fully realized segments of the program were monster - free.

"The Children of Spider County" centers around an extended homosexual metaphor: five young men of mysterious paternity, "exceptional looks and intellect," and "magnificent special natures" are reminded that "different is not necessarily abnormal," even if the "witch boys" spend their nights "walking in moon - lit meadows" by themselves. Sidelong, up and down glances at the handsome protagonist by ostensibly suspicious policemen punctuate the proceedings. Additionally, power - mad housewife Sally Kellerman and sinister housekeeper Chita Rivera appear to enjoy a lesbian relationship in "The Bellero Shield."

Government complexes that hum ominously in the night, lax security, sterile desert landscapes, guilt - haunted personalities, prisoner - exchange programs, nighttime electrical storms, and shrewish wives are some of the series' reoccurring motifs. Psychological jargon abounds: a psychiatrist named 'Sigmund' features in "The Man with the Power," which was clearly influenced by 1956's 'Forbidden Planet,' while a doctor in "Corpus Earthly" asks a question that adequately speaks for the series as a whole: "Do you know anything about paranoia?" "ZZZZZ," still bizarre and unsettling by today's standards, buzzes with overheated Freudian Family Romance.

Interestingly, almost every episode offers a second, nonscientific plot element that occasionally acts as an alternative explanation for events: "The Architects of Fear" combines radical plastic surgery with sympathetic intuition, for example, and the Mexican peasants of "Corpus Earthly" suggest that demonic possession, not alien invasion, may be responsible for the chaos that occurs. "The Galaxy Being" mixes a heady discussion of pantheism with teleportation, and "The Borderland" juxtaposes physics with Victorian spiritualism.

Not all of the episodes are equal in quality: Overacting ruins "Nightmare," and "The Children of Spider County," "Second Chance," "The Mutant," and "Fun And Games" lack enough polish and plot development for fifty - minute segments. Among the distinguished cast are Nick Adams, Luana Anders, Robert Culp, Robert Duvall, Nina Foch, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Miriam Hopkins, Shirley Knight, Martin Landau, George Macready, David McCallum, Ralph Meeker, Vera Miles, Leonard Nimoy, Carrol O'Connor, Donald Pleasence, Cliff Robertson, Martin Sheen, and Kent Smith.

The irony of the first words "there is nothing wrong with your DVD player" is apparent minutes into the third episode on disc 3 where we get freeze, stutter, freeze, stutter so on and so on until the original enthusiasm for the series completely leaves you. Then your annoyance grows bigger and bigger when this happens to almost all the following episodes until you want to throw your DVD player across the room. "Now there is plenty wrong with your DVD player". These studios blow loud about piracy but don't give a damn about giving customers quality products. This is my second time around as I had the same problem with this set already and lost my money because I didn't get around to the third and fourth discs until months later. Once is bad enough, twice is..... I don't care about this series any more.