The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits is a classic science fiction anthology series from the 60's that, from the moment the control voice states: "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission." you knew this was not going to be like Peyton Place.

Created and produced during a time when people still regarded the universe with a sense of awe and mystery, shows like this explored fantastic possibilities and unknown horrors instead of sticking to predictable storylines. The Outer Limits is more The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) than it is The War of the Worlds (1953), often human morals and actions are under the spotlight rather than the standard science fiction fare of the period.

Although there are a few exceptions, The Outer Limits consistently presents interesting storylines combined with solid acting performances and this is what makes this series outstanding. The series is also not without its weaknesses due to budget constraints and early special effects but if you can see past this you're in for a treat.

Director: Leslie Stevens
Writing Credits: Leslie Stevens
Cast: Cliff Robertson, Jacqueline Scott, Lee Phillips, Bert Metcalfe, Allyson Ames, Bill Catching, James Frawley, Allan Pinson, Roy Sickner & Charles MacQuarry

Radio station owner Alan Maxwell (Cliff Robertson) embarks on his own pet project of experimentation into microwaves and signals from outer space, displaying the results on a three-dimensional TV scanner. He has become obsessed with this at the cost of losing listeners to his radio station by stealing the transmitters power output and the possibility that the station could lose its sponsors. His equipment picks up something interesting and then, out of the static an image appears, some sort of extraterrestrial being who states that he is from the Andromeda galaxy. The alien being warns not to increase the power as it is breaking the rules of the galaxy. Alan has attend a testimonial diner in his honour otherwise he may lose his marriage, but before he goes he warns the disc jockey who will be on air during the time he is away not to turn up the power to the transmitter. The errant DJ thinks he knows better and does not heed Alan's instructions and turns the transmitter up high.

Director: Byron Haskin
Writing Credits: Allan Balter & Robert Mintz
Cast: Sidney Blackmer, Phillip Pine, Mark Roberts, Nancy Rennick, Joan Camden, Aki Aleong, James Yagi, Clarence Lung, Henry Scott, James Hong, Bert Remsen & Richard Loo

Scientists have developed a serum that makes the skin and muscles malleable for a period of two minutes enabling the transformation of facial features. Dictator Li Chin-Sung has ambitions of world supremacy and has been searching for a way to infiltrate the U.S. government. With this in mind, a secret agent has been instructed to imitate and be exceptionally knowledgeable about William Selby who is a candidate for president of the United States and is certain to win the forthcoming election.

By using the serum and a mould of the President's facial features the agent has everything he needs to mimic the President perfectly and gain access to his power. The dictator then aims to install impostors into key positions within the government and throughout the country as well.

Director: Byron Haskin
Writing Credits: Meyer Dolinsky
Cast: Robert Culp, Geraldine Brooks, Leonard Stone, Martin Wolfson & Douglas Henderson

To bring about world peace humanity needs a common enemy and a common fear. A group of scientists have devised a cunning plan to turn a human being into a monster, or rather an extraterrestrial from the planet Theta. They have all agreed that one of them will be chosen by a draw and then altered into the beast. Allen Leighton (Robert Culp) is the unlucky chap who is picked for this most life changing of missions. The idea is that this 'Scarecrow' the Advanced Biological Studies Group has created will then land a spaceship close to the UN and proceed to where The General Assembly is in session. Then this 'Scarecrow' is to make the whole world believe that there are many more of his kind that will eventually follow and in so doing unite the world. What the scientists had not factored into this 'logical' plan is the human consequences on the willing subject, Allen Leighton and his wife.

Director: Laslo Benedek
Writing Credits: Jerome Ross
Cast: Donald Pleasence, Priscilla Morrill, Fred Beir, John Marley, Frank Maxwell & Edward C. Platt

There are vast amounts of power resources out in space that are out of our reach, for the time being anyway. We do not have the means reach those resources, but they are out there waiting. Harold J. Finley (Donald Pleasence) may have found a way to tap into this wealth of opportunity. Harold has developed a link-gate that he has implanted in his brain and by having this device he can control the fields of energy that surround us. Simply put, he is The Man with the Power, but having this power at his disposal could have disastrous consequences for those around him and ultimately himself.

Director: James Goldstone
Writing Credits: Ellis St. Joseph
Cast: David McCallum, Edward Mulhare, Jill Haworth, Constance Cavendish, Robert Doyle & Nora Marlowe

The human species is constantly evolving, but what will we evolve into? Professor Mathers (Edward Mulhare), a geneticist, who lives close to a Welsh mining village has developed a machine that can advance evolution. He is looking for an assistant, but what this really means is a guinea pig for his experiments. Gwyllim Griffiths (David McCallum) wants to be more than just a miner, he wants to go forward with his life, away from his mundane work and ordinary life. The Professor gives Gwyllim the opportunity to go forward by way of his experiments - much, much further than he ever imagined!

Director: Leonard J. Horn
Writing Credits: Anthony Lawrence
Cast: Martin Landau, Shirley Knight, John Considine, Maxine Stuart, Karl Held & Marlowe Jensen

During re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, astronaut Capt. Joseph Reardon (Karl Held) goes through a time warp to land on the earth 185 years in the future. Upon exploring the desolate and vastly changed terrain, Joseph comes across an unsightly being by the name of Andro (Martin Landau), who explains that he is in actual fact a human, malformed by a biological disaster that changed all humanity. An extra terrestrial microbe had been altered by a renowned scientist named Bertram Cabot and this altered microorganism sealed the fate of the human race. The only future would be to go back to the past.

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Meyer Dolinsky
Cast: Peter Breck, Jeff Corey, Joanne Gilbert, Harry Townes, Alan Baxter, Jason Wingreen & Konstantin Shayne

O.B.I.T. stands for Outer Band Individuated Teletracer. This highly secret and highly advanced tool is used by surveillance personnel at a defence department to keep constant observation on the scientists who work for them. One of the operatives of this device picks up a strange signal of a bizarre cyclopean being, not of this world for sure. As he uses the instrumentation to focus the screen it becomes apparent that the creature is in the room right behind him! After the death of the operator an investigation is started, and because of its importance a senator is involved. The Senator is adamant that he is going to get to the bottom of what happened on the base and who is responsible for the murder.

Director: Abner Biberman
Writing Credits: David Duncan
Cast: Harry Guardino, Gary Merrill, Joe de Santis, Sally Kellerman, Ivan Dixon, Shirley O'Hara & James B. Sikking

At a military outpost in the Artic, a group of personnel are on constant alert of enemy attack, ready to respond devastatingly. Major Roger Brothers is haunted after one of his fellow colleagues is killed by falling down a crevasse six months earlier. Major Brothers wishes to blow up the base because there is a monstrous 'thing' on the base that no-one else will do anything about. Hoping to resolve the Major's paranoia and hallucinations, psychiatrist Dr. James Hamilton uses groundbreaking equipment that he has developed to really let him connect, by way of switching thoughts and feelings. The doctor and patient are wired together and as their two minds are joined there is an earthquake that fuses the equipment, leaving both their minds swapped. Now they have a major problem...

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Louis Charbonneau & Orin Borsten
Cast: Robert Culp, Salome Jens, Barry Atwater, David Garner & Ken Renard

Whilst visiting the geology laboratory where his wife works, Dr. Paul Cameron (Robert Culp) overhears two unusual rocks chatting about an invasion. The rocks wish to invade the bodies of humans and then completely take over control of the host organism... You may be forgiven for thinking that Dr. Cameron is a total fruitcake but the reason he is able to hear these alien rocks is because he has had a metal plate implanted in his skull. As Dr. Cameron is the only one who can hear the rocks conversations, what is he to do to convince other people of the impending invasion or will he just lose his mind?

Director: John Erman
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Ed Nelson, James Shigeta, Martin Sheen, Bill Gunn, David Frankham, Sasha Harden, Whit Bissell, Willard Sage, Ben Wright, Bernard Kates & John Anderson

The Earth is at war with the planet Ebon after the Ebonites struck first. A group of six soldiers have been sent to the planet Ebon to take the fight to the alien world, but upon approaching the planet their spaceship is hit and they are all captured. The Ebonites are strange gargoyle-like creatures that, with the aid of a device can control human's five senses. With this device and other psychological methods the Ebonites endeavour to get their human captives to cooperate with them. It appears that other humans are voluntarily collaborating with the Ebonites, but what are their real motives for working with the enemy?

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Scott Marlowe, Michael Forest, Joan Camden, Kent Smith, Barbara Luna, Ed Asner, Gene Darfler, Ted de Corsia & Tom Palmer

Something underhand is going on at the Norco Energy Research Commission. Dr. Bloch and Professor Linden are killing employees by exposing them to a mysterious form of energy. Newly employed, Prof. Stuart Peters is the latest victim of this murderous conspiracy, after he is trapped in a hallway and subjected to a mass of raw energy. His brother Jory becomes worried when Stuart has not turned up after work, but he later turns up a week later seemingly alive and well! However during an argument Stuart accidentally falls into a bathtub of water which kills him instantly, due to the electronic gadget that is strapped to him. Hopefully the police will get to the bottom of the strange goings on at Norco and why employees are being murdered.

Director: Leslie Stevens
Writing Credits: Leslie Stevens
Cast: Peter Mark Richman, Barry Jones, Nina Foch, Gladys Cooper, Philip Abbott, Gene Raymond & Alfred Ryder

A team of scientists, lead by Professor Ian Fraser, discover a way to open a doorway to the fourth dimension using magnetic fields. As this research needs finance for the vast amounts of electricity needed the team approach Dwight Hartley who has the money and connections to help them with their endeavour. Mr Hartley has been trying to contact his dead son by means of a mystic called Mrs. Palmer, but Professor Ian Fraser exposes her as a fraud opening the way to Mr Hartley's favour. If the experiments go well all the professor needs to do in return is to try to contact his son in the fourth dimension.

Director: Laslo Benedek
Writing Credits: Dean Riesner
Cast: Ralph Meeker, Janet Blair, Jerry Douglas, Jay Novello, Henry Silva, Willard Sage & Noel de Sousa

Wealthy businessman John Dexter (Ralph Meeker) is conducting some underwater research when he discovers an unknown creature in the depths. He finds out that this creature has in the past been seen as a god by the people of the Republic of San Blas, where Mr Dexter is doing his research. Dexter sees a money making opportunity and manages to capture the beast, having it stored in a cold room until he can have it transported back to the States. However General Juan Mercurio (Henry Silva), the countries dictator has other ideas and so does the creature and others of its kind.

Director: Leonard J. Horn
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Michael Tolan, Robert F. Simon, Claude Woolman, Bruce Dern, Olive Deering & Bill Hart

Earth has been told to accept a penal ship from the planet Zanti, or else there will be trouble. As enough of the top brass think this is not just an idle threat they have agreed, albeit under duress to accept the Zanti Misfits. An area of land has been cordoned off for the alien craft to land and the military have been told to keep everyone well away from the landing zone, or face the total destruction of anyone who invades thier privacy. A couple of 'Bonnie and Clyde' criminals on the run then break through the cordon, killing the guard who is posted on the gate. This could mean big trouble for the criminal pair and a real headache for diplomatic relations.

Director: Alan Crosland Jr.
Writing Credits: Lou Morheim, Joseph Stefano & Bill S. Ballinger
Cast: Michael Higgins, Henry Silva, Diana Sands, Dabney Coleman, Francis De Sales, Ron Foster, Hugh Langtry & Bill Hickman

In collaboration with an alien race called the Chromoites, Dr. Thomas Kellander builds a teleportation device that will teleport an alien to our world in return for teleporting a human to theirs. Dr. Kellander visits a prison looking for a volunteer for this experiment and after eight refusals one guy, Chino Rivera, volunteers for the experiment. The reason for the prisoner's willingness to cooperate is unknown, especially as the proposals put forward seem unlikely to offer him little benefit. Maybe the convict sees this as a way of escape? The experiment begins and an alien is sent to our world but when it comes to the prisoners turn the device does not work and the aliens have broken off contact with earth. What could the Chromoites be up to?

Director: Leslie Stevens
Writing Credits: Leslie Stevens
Cast: Barry Morse, Carroll O'Connor, Grace Lee Whitney, Robert Fortier & Linda Hutchins

A Martian senior inspector by the name of Phobos (Barry Morse) arrives on the planet earth with his tongue firmly in his cheek. On his arrival Phobos enlists the help of Deimos (Carroll O'Connor) the caretaker of the earth outpost, who owns a pawn shop as a cover. The pair of extraterrestrials have been brought together to conduct a controlled experiment with the aid of some special equipment which squeezes time. The device can forward and reverses time and by this method they will hopefully be able to find out exactly why Humans murder one another, as this only happens on earth and nowhere else in the galaxy. If it proves that this thing called murder is contagious then something will have to be done about it.

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Buck Taylor, Melinda Plowman, John Hoyt, David Frankham, Russell Collins, Nellie Burt & Anthony Joachim

An old man arrives at a wedding reception to leave a gift for the happy couple, he hands it to the butler simply adding "For the Newlyweds" (without moving his lips). Harvey Kry (David Frankham), the bridegroom, escapes from the party and goes upstairs to get ready for a hasty exit with his new bride. As he is getting ready to abscond he hears a sound emanating from one of the many presents in the room. He finds the source and reads the card, which states "Don't Open Till Doomsday". Thinking this is some sort of joke he makes the big mistake of opening it. Inside there is just a plain looking box with a small hole in one end. Of course he has to look - especially as the box is making such a strange vibrating sound. He sees a weird looking one eyed creature looking back at him and screams horribly. Thirty five years later a newly married couple looking for somewhere to stay are recommended Mrs. Kry's (Miriam Hopkins) place. She shows them to the untouched and unused bridal suite, complete with presents and more perilously - the box.

Director: John Brahm
Writing Credits: Meyer Dolinsky
Cast: Phillip Abbott, Marsha Hunt, Joanna Frank & Booth Coleman

Regina (Joanna Frank) has a thing about bees, the fact of the matter is that she is one, taken human form. After her miraculous transformation Regina is found collapsed in Professor Fields' (Philip Abbott) garden, and upon regaining consciousness says that she has come for the job as his assistant. Well Regina seems to have all the right qualifications for the jobs as an assistant to a professor of entomology and gets the job straight away. The professor's wife, Francesca (Marsha Hunt) is a little startled at the swiftness of the interview especially as Regina will be living with them. The queen bee has designs on the professor and wishes to mate with the human drone! However Francesca becomes very suspicious of this newcomer and could be a problem for the queen bee's plans...

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Don Gordon, Tony Mordente, William O. Douglas, Jr., George MacReady, Walter Burke, Neil Hamilton, Dee Hartford & Richard Dawson

Three social misfits are taken to an abandoned army base to join the society of invisibles. To join this secret society they must undergo a terrifying procedure which will initiate them. What they have to do is have an alien parasite placed on their backs, and those that go through with it will be one of the special few and by joining this organisation they will also be given the power and privileges that joining this society affords them. Sometimes the procedure doesn't 'take' which has disastrous consequences for the human host. The top man of this secret society is the governor of the state and the plan is to infest key men in government and industry and then become the masters of the planet. One of the new recruits by the name of Luis D. Spain (Don Gordon) is a spy working for the Government Intelligence Agency. Hopefully he can infiltrate and the expose the society of invisibles before it is too late for mankind.

Director: John Brahm
Writing Credits: Lou Morheim & Joseph Stefano
Cast: Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, Neil Hamilton, Chita Rivera & John Hoyt

Scientist, Richard Bellero (Martin Landau) has developed a laser that he is experimenting with. Richard leaves the laser running while he is out of the room and the laser somehow hauls in an alien being from the sky. His ambitious wife Judith (Sally Kellerman) is in the laboratory at the time and in fear shoots at the alien with a laser gun. Judith explains to Richard what has just happened and cautiously they re-enter the laboratory to find the alien alive and well. The benign alien describes itself as a traveller and that it is unharmed by the weapon as it has an impenetrable shield protecting it. Judith Bellero sees the alien's shield as a means to forward her husbands career and her own desires for power, and she will do anything to obtain it.

Director: Leonard J. Horn
Writing Credits: Anthony Lawrence
Cast: Lee Kinsolving, Kent Smith, John Milford, Crahan Denton, Dabbs Greer, Bennye Gatteys & Roy Engel

Four men have gone missing on the same day. This would be nothing surprising if it wasn't for the fact that these four have many extraordinary things in common with one another. All four are geniuses in their field and they were all born in Spider County as well as many other curious 'coincidences'. The Space Agency that is investigating these disappearances has also learnt that there is also a fifth man, Ethan Wechsler (Lee Kinsolving) who could be the key to the whole mystery. The Space Agency sends a man to find out what he knows as Ethan is being held on a murder charge in Spider County. During transportation Ethan is helped to escape from the police by a shapeshifting alien - but what could its motives be?

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Stephen Lord
Cast: Stephen McNally, Richard Jaeckel, Russell Johnson, Arthur Batanides, Peter Baldwin, Dabney Coleman, Gail Kobe & John Kellogg

On a space station orbiting earth, Lt. Rupert Howard finds a type of life-form clinging to the walls of the airlock and takes them to the laboratory for examination. At first they look like a sort of mushroom, but they are not harmless mushrooms. Given the right conditions these "space barnacles" as they have been named, grow at an amazing rate and then flower. Lt. Howard finds out that these plants are not just harmless flora when he is killed by the deadly organism. This plant can kill by shooting out spores into the atmosphere, which upon breathing them in destroys the haemoglobin in the blood. Hopefully the remaining crew of the space station can find out what caused Lt. Howard's death before it is too late.

Director: Paul Stanley
Writing Credits: Lin Dane & Lou Morheim
Cast: Don Gordon, Janet de Gore, Simon Oakland, John McLiam, Angela Clark, Yale Summers, Mimsy Farmer & Arnold Merritt

Five individuals are given complimentary tickets for a space ride fairground attraction, given to them by a person dressed up as an alien. Little do they know that in actual fact this is a real alien who plans to take them on a ride into the unknown, rather than the imaginary one they are expecting. Even the two employees of the ride do not know the spaceship is real. They will all have to cope with the reality that they are on a journey in outer space. Maybe those who will be able to handle the truth will get a second chance.

Director: Robert Florey
Writing Credits: Lou Morheim, Joseph Stefano & William Bast
Cast: Ruth Roman, Alex Nicol, Tim O'Connor, Curt Conway & Hari Rhodes

Lunar Expedition One discovers a perfectly round white sphere buried in the moondust as they search for specimens. The expedition party's initial theory is that this object has something to do with the Russians but this seamless 'moonstone' is not of human creation. The team finds out that this sphere is a space vehicle containing strange life-forms who are fugitives from the planet Grippia, travelling to Earth to seek refuge when they were forced to land on the lunar surface. They say they possess the secrets of the universe and are fleeing the tyranny of those who would use this knowledge to conquer the universe.

Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Writing Credits: Jerome B. Thomas, Allan Balter & Robert Mintz
Cast: Larry Pennell, Warren Oates, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Walter Burke, Herman Rudin, Robert Sampson & Richard Derr

Dr. Evan Marshall is sent from Earth to Annex One to investigate disturbing undercurrents reported from the off-world colony. Due to the sun's harmful rays the expeditionary team located on Annex One are forced to wear protective goggles at all times. Dr Marshall learns upon landing on the planet that the colony's leader had recently died in an 'accident', and Reese Fowler has assumed control over the team who appear to be scared of him for some reason.

Director: Paul Stanley
Writing Credits: Donald S. Sanford
Cast: Geoffrey Horne, Luana Anders, Gloria Grahame, Nellie Burt, Vaughn Taylor & Burt Mustin

A young drifter looks for help after discovering an old man collapsed by the side of the road. His search leads him to an old house the occupants of which are strangely unhelpful to his requests. Upon attempting to leave the house the young drifter is gripped by an unknown force that draws him upstairs into a mysterious place, face to face with a being who wishes to probe man's mind to find the 'human equation'. When he eventually returns downstairs he discovers that he is imprisoned in the house, all the windows and doors no longer exist, he is now one of 'the guests'.

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Robert Specht & Joseph Stefano
Cast: Nick Adams, Nancy Malone, Ray Kellogg, Read Morgan, Harvey Gardner & Bill Hart

Two strangers, a former boxer by the name of Mike Benson and a woman by the name of Laura Hanley are 'electroported' (a form of teleportation) from Earth to the planet Andera. They are to be partners in a type of gladiatorial combat with two other beings from another planet in the Calco galaxy for the amusement of the Anderans. The two teams will meet on a small unpleasant planet that orbits Andera and there they will fight to the death. If they refuse everyone on Earth will be destroyed within five years.

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Oliver Crawford
Cast: Richard Ney, Flip Mark, Macdonald Carey, Marion Ross, Edward C. Platt, Jason Wingreen & Burt Freed

Roy Benjamin and his wife Agnes have a very intellectually gifted teenager called Kenny. A tutor arrives at their home and introduces himself as Mr. Zeno from the government Educational Enrichment Program on which Kenny has been enrolled. He explains he is a tutor sent to help their son on a special project. When their son starts acting strangely and the tutor is spending more time with him than is expected Roy becomes suspicious as to what Mr. Zeno is really up to. After following the tutor, he sees him disintegrate and teleport from the building leading him to conclude that Mr. Zeno is in actual fact an alien.

Director: Byron Haskin
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Sam Wanamaker, Phyllis Love, David Opatoshu, Joyce Van Patten, Robert Justman, Frank Pugila & Glenn Gannon

Director: Leslie Stevens
Writing Credits: Leslie Stevens
Cast: George McReady, Signe Hasso, Robert Fortier, Allyson Ames, Rudy Solari, Joseph Ruskin, Leonard Nimoy, Paul Lukather & Willard Sage

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Robert Towne, Lou Morheim & Joseph Stefano
Cast: Robert Duvall, Howard Caine, Henry Brandon, Douglas Henderson, William O'Connell, Dean Smith & Roy Jenson

Director: Gerd Oswald
Writing Credits: Joseph Stefano
Cast: Vera Miles, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Scott Marlowe, David McCallum, Barbara Rush, Wolf Barzelle, Madeline Holmes & Gabrielle Rossillon

Trivia

The Outer Limits Official Site

• Movies

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Dark City (1998) (Similar to Ep 26)
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
Jetée, La (1962) (Similar to Ep 6)
Twelve Monkeys (1995) (Similar to Ep 6)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) (Similar to Ep 13)

• Television

The New Outer Limits (1995 - 2002)
The Twilight Zone (1959 - 1964)
The Invaders (1967 - 1968)
Out of the Unknown (1965 - 1971)
The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985 - 1992)
Science Fiction Theatre (1955-1957)
Star Trek (1966-1969)
Star Trek, Season 1, Episode 18, Arena (Similar to Ep 27)
BBC2 Playhouse - The Mind Beyond: The Man with the Power (1976)
Theatre 625 (1964 - 1968)

• Radio

Dimension X (1950 - 1951)

• Literature

The Outer Limits Companion, David J. Schow
The Midwich Cuckoos, John Wyndham (Similar to Ep 21)
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham (Similar to Ep 22)