Starring
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: MGM / UA
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I was raised on the Twilight Zone. Even as a kid I enjoyed the half-hour bursts of irony and general insanity, even if many of the episodes were gimmicky. But that show is so well-known and gets so much credit it’s amazing. Just try going on a plane and yelling “There’s something on the wing!” and see how many people get it.

As I grew up, my one and only exposure to the Outer Limits involved seeing an old VHS (remember those buggers?) at the video store, and my brother saying “Oh, that’s just a bad Twilight Zone ripoff” or some such. So I never really had any interest in seeing this dang series, and boy what a mistake that was.

First of all, these were hour-long episodes. And this was back in the 60s, where an hour-long episode meant more than fifty minutes, rather than today’s 40 or so minutes. Stupid commercials. They had so much goddamn time in those days that the opening titles are more than a minute long. Think about it. Nowadays they just flash a logo with a short musical cue. But these guys? MORE THAN A MINUTE. In the wise words of my generation, that’s old school, yo.

Another amazing thing this is a 40+ year old TV show but for the most part, it looks and sounds great. Sure, there are a few scenes scattered here and there that show some age, but believe me, I’ve seen 20 year old big-budget movies that have looked much worse than this.

Anyway, on to the show itself. Is it just a bad Twilight Zone ripoff? Hell no. The Outer Limits plays as much more of a thoughtful science fiction show, with each week presenting a different story. If anything, it reminds me more of the ideas behind classic sci-fi radio shows. Some of the stories are straight sci-fi, with some leaning more toward horror or just downright disturbing, such as the episode “Architects of Fear”, where a man voluntarily undergoes a process to mutate and rebuild his body to appear as an alien.

What most amazes me, though, is that some of the special effects still hold up today. Sure, some are awful, but check out the total radness of the crazy negative-looking alien in the pilot episode “The Galaxy Being”. And the acting is amazing, too.

Well, I don’t know what else to say about this show, other than you should watch it if you’re at all into science fiction.

Features:

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 B&W

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: The guy’s brief mental breakdown in “Architects of Fear”. It was expected, but so well acted that it blew me away.
Rating: NR
Running Time: 821 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: