Customer Reviews

Outer Limits: The Original Series: Season One

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The originality of this show is outstanding, it is the yardstick by which all other Sci-Fi Anthology shows have to be measured. Nearly every episode is an absolute Gem.
I can still remember as a child having to go out the room when "The Children of Spider County's","Bear" appeared. (Well I was a nervous child.)
Stefano was pressurised by "external forces" to include a monster of the week even when the story was strong enough not to need one.
One of those monsters the Zanti's have got to be THE most weird and wackiest aliens that have ever been shown on TV.
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This show had the guts to step outside the formulaic format and take risks.
(Example :~ comedy episodes like Controlled Experiment.)
Everything from the directing,the editing,the filming and the lighting are so stylishly done, you find yourself overlooking plot deficiencies.
This show is only worthy of praise.
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32 episodes,Originally broadcast:~16/9/63-4/5/64.
I have both Region 1 & 2 versions plus a few NTSC Videotapes.
On my region 2 version the 8 disc's are single sided.
I've also reviewed season 2.
THIS IS HOW TV SCI-FI SHOULD BE MADE!

Ah, remember the good old days when you had to stay up until 2am to see repeats of your favorite TV series? The advent of the VCR made insomnia unnecessary. However, aren't those copies a bit fuzzy? Finally, the ultimate version has arrived. OUTER LIMITS is one of those series that gets better with age. As children, we could not appreciate the marvelous score, lighting, moody atmosphere and intelligent scripts. We just wanted to see the monster. Watching these episodes now, the monster is not as important, and of course, technically is not as impressive.

But let's forgive this 1963-1965 anthology series its shortcomings. The low budgets and tight schedules made the creators use their imagination and bring us a world truly magical. We have a man traveling through time, another trying to scare earth into behaving by impersonating an alien, alien forces inhabiting inanimate objects, and many other stories that don't depend entirely on effects, they are simply fascinating stories.

Creator Joe Stephano admits the network wanted a monster each week, to attract a core audience of youngsters. How clever of him to inject some class into a series that lasted only 49 episodes due to network ignorance, but has been shown over 40
years due to the genius of Stephano and producer Leslie Stevens.

The younger generation may be surprised to see how sophisticated science fiction could be in the early 60's!

I loved this show when I was a kid and was very excited when it came out on DVD. I have to say though, that I found most of the episodes virtually unwatchable - which surprised me as I love watching old television shows. This series really has not aged well - unlike the Twilight Zone, which is as good now as when it originally aired. I think that the special effects that made the Outer Limits so cutting-edge for it's time have turned out to be it's major weakness. Where the Twilight Zone used relatively few special effects and relied more on irony and plot twists, the Outer Limits' special effects now look cheap and ridiculous. I enjoyed a few of the episodes, but mostly for nostalgic reasons. Unfortunately, I couldn't sit through most of them.

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.

For those who love THE OUTER LIMITS like I do, it's amazing to have the first season's episodes all in a handy 4-disc package with season two's in another. The episodes look and sound great. My only disappointment in the DVD set is that there isn't anything else on the discs except the episodes! It would have been much better if they included some sort of commentary or outtakes or photos/home movies from the cast/crew. I would have loved to see the actors applying their monster makeup and perhaps even muffing a few lines. These things must exist! But apart from that, the DVD set is as good as it gets!

While The Outer Limits is an all time classic that I was very eager to get, the thrill has been tempered somewhat by the utterly shoddy packaging that MGM has given the series. MGM has decided to do the first 32 episodes on 4 disks, making each disk double-sided. While not a problem in itself, the label for each disk is reduced to the small 6-point type around the inside hub, and you will spend much time squinting to see what disk it is, much less what side. Add to this the fact that none of the episode lists (either on the package or insert booklet) tells you which side of a disk a particular episode is on, and you're bound to have needless frustration trying to find a particular episode without a major search. MGM has produced a substandard product with this presentation.

(And why on Earth, in the SECOND set, did they split the series only two-parter up to TWO sides of a disk?)

Picture quality and sound are good, thankfully, though the opening menu is extremely irritating. I try to keep the sound off during it.

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.)

This four disc set brings you this landmark series in all its' monochromatic glory. A beautiful transfer with crisp sound makes these still unsettling episodes a pleasure to watch. That they can still be watched at all after 40 years is a tribute to the creative forces behind the series, Joseph Stefano and the late Leslie Stevens. Guided by their vision, The Outer Limits scared a generation of nascent television watchers and became an icon of the 60s. (I can still remember being sent to bed about half way through THE ZANTI MISFITS because it frightened me!)Like any anthology, the quality of the stories was variable, but episodes such as THE 100 DAYS OF THE DRAGON, THE ARCHITECTS OF FEAR (my vote for the best episode)and A FEASIBILITY STUDY more than made up for weaker offerings such as TOURIST ATTRACTION. Over the years, I've watched the Outer Limits many times, and each viewing is always a fresh new experience. To be sure the special effects are dated and on the surface, the LOOK of the series is firmly rooted in the mid 1960s, but the feel of The Outer Limits and the polemic of the series remains vibrant and relevant. Now, if only they could have thrown a few bones our way when it came to extras....

There are supposed to be 32 episodes, 4 dvds, 8 per disc.

I just read a review saying disc 3 has only 7 episodes. I read some of these posts and haven't heard anyone say there is a missing episode. Please let me know.......

(I'll just say 5 star because they make you put something in. I don't want to screw up the rating, so I'll side with a positive review)

The Outer Limits-The Original Series is better then the new outer limits series.I own the first season of the original series on dvd and I plan to get the second season on dvd when it is released.The Outer Limits-The Orginal series is one of the best shows from the 1960s.I watched every episode every week and I still enjoy them.