The Outer Limits was an incredible science fiction series. A lot of people compare it unfavorably to The Twilight Zone (and I mean the original Twilight Zone from the same era as this show, not the movie or remake series that are quite honestly very inferior to the original). But this show is in my opinion as good (or at least almost as good, so much so that it's practically equally) to Rod Serling's classic. Definitely check this show out, it's on DVD now. And the remake of The Outer Limits is also fantastic (not as good as the original but much better than say the remake of Twilight Zone). Check them both out if you like dark TV sci-fi.

Yes I watched this sometimes but I was 13 and I was overdue to see it again and appreciate it more now than I am nearly 70. Suddenly, ME TV has brought it back. I happened to see an episode with Martin Landau and I was utterly dumbfounded by its excellence. I was shocked to see the beautiful and young Shirley Knight as well (the mother in As Good As It Gets). The episode was about a time conundrum and it was gripping and heartbreaking.The Outer Limits was at the time considered a gimmick, a Twilight Zone imitator, but I see clearly now 50 years later: it was not. Unlike the cynical, tongue in cheek typical Twilight Zone, this is dark and brooding and frightening. It is not a little half hour playlet; it is a one hour long drama, relentlessly upsetting, disturbing and uplifting all at the same time. I have set it to record all episodes now. They are just showing two per week on Saturdays.I was dismayed to look it up just now and find it was cancelled in the middle of the second season because it didn't draw in viewers after it was moved to another day.Great actors, great scripts, a noble TV show, totally underrated!

This was a serious and thoughtful series much like "The Twilight Zone"(which aired at the same time) but one which isn't as well remembered or aired, which is a shame, but modern audiences may consider this show talky and slow, as it certainly is different than such anthology series today, which are all about shock value and quick editing.This series wanted to make its audience think about the potential folly of human nature('The Architects Of Fear') or possible first contact with aliens gone awry('The Mice') and so on. Some episodes were whimsical ('Behold, Eck!) but would still create much imaginative speculative fiction about a two dimensional creature. Of course, you would still have episodes about a sand shark on mars('The Invisible Enemy') to provide the kids with typical monster thrills.Interesting series that is on DVD, with a memorable disembodied voice introducing the premise and pretending to take control away from the viewer for an hour, which may be the only way you can see it, since unlike "The Twilight Zone", this doesn't get any marathons!

Over a 16-month run from 1963 to 1965,"The Outer Limits" spun the nation's A-bomb fears and love of a good(or very bad or diabolical evil)rubber monster into a secure spot on the holy science fiction trinity, right up there with "One Step Beyond","The Twilight Zone","Thriller","Voyage to the Bottom Of The Sea",and furthermore "Star Trek". Originally this classic science-fiction,part terror trilogy that blended humanist moralizing and cold war paranoia with Golden Age dramaturgy,space age allure and penny arcade Expressionism. The series,"The Outer Limits" ran for 49 episodes(all in classic black and white)and was originally on ABC-TV from September 16,1963 until the last episode of the series' run on January 16,1965 were produced for Daystar Productions in association with United Artists Television. The show's long cultural tenacles,beginning with one of the most quoted openings in television history("There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We will control the transmission.") The first season had some of the best episodes: The episode(The face-sucking squid creature in "Alien?") from season one of "The Outer Limits" titled "Corpus Earthling." The smoke monster of "Lost?" The rolling black cloud of "It Crawled Out Of The Woodwork" surelu shares some DNA. And long before Stephen King wrote about devilish topiary in "The Shining",the killer tumbleweeds(yes,tumbleweeds)of the second season episode "Cry of Silence" made rural life hell for a pre-"Green Acres" Eddie Albert.Guided through its first year by an eccentric producer named Leslie Stevens-who would direct pre-"Star Trek" William Shatner in "Incubus"(from the second season of the 1964-65 series),a horror flick spoken entirely in Esperanto-"Limits" found its dark heart with Joesph Stefano,who had written the "Psycho" screenplay and was the literary brain behind many of the episodes,and a young cimematopgrapher named Conrad Hall,who was schooled in German Expressionism and film noir(not only was Conrad Hall the cimematopgrapher for the television shows "Stoney Burke",which was also produced by Leslie Stevens and for "The Rat Patrol",but also whose career would go on to encompass "In Cold Blood","Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid",and "American Beauty"). The Stevens era resulted in top-notch episodes like the Shakespearean "The Bellero Shield",in which a fierce Sally Kellerman upstages a "Close Encounters"-style alien with her spin on Lady Macbeth and "Nightmare," in which human prisoners of war endure mental and physical torture on a distant planet. If nothing else,the twist ending to "Nightmare" proves that extraordinary rendition is nothing new. Capping the first season is "The Forms of Things Unknown," a wonderful episode that may have been derided by some critics,but by far it is one of the best episodes out of the entire series. In a lift from the mid-1950's film "Les Diaboliques",two women(Barbara Rush and,from "Psycho" Vera Miles)conspire to poison a sadistic blackmailing gigolo who proves too mean to stay dead. Deriative? Mannered? Too fond of itself? Shocking? In terms yes,but "Forms" is also great fun. After the first season,the Stevens group was out,and the second season provided some tedious creature features,with one outstanding exception: "The Demon With a Glass Hand",which was written by Harlan Ellison(and an inspiration for the "Terminator" films),is one of the best not to mention other great episodes as well like "The Mutant","The Futuristic Soldier","The Sixth Finger",and "Fun and Games",not to mention "The Brain That Wouldn't Die"(featuring David McCallum before his status as Illya Kuryakim on The Man From UNCLE). "The Outer Limits" had some astounding special effects,impressive alien and monster costumes(which featured some of the scariest monsters on TV,and the plots inventive with the suspense level brilliant enough to leave the viewer on edge with expecting the unexpected. Among the guest stars starring in some of the episodes were Robert Culp, Cliff Robertson, Michael Ansara, Martin Landau, Lloyd Nolan, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner.