Movie Type: Psychological Sci-Fi, Anthology Series
Main Cast: Kevin Conway
Release Year: 1995
Country: US
Run Time: 60 minutes
Plot
Thirty years after the cancellation of the landmark science fiction-fantasy anthology The Outer Limits, the property was revived in a full-color, state-of-the-art version by cable's Showtime network. Debuting March 26, 1995, the new Outer Limits emulated the old by utilizing a narrator known only as The Control Voice ("There is nothing wrong with your television set...do not attempt to adjust the picture...we are controlling transmission") Because original narrator Vic Perrin had passed away in 1989, it fell to Kevin Conway to provide the offscreen openings and closings of each hour-long episode.
Surprisingly (given the remarkable advances in the art of special effects since 1965), the revived Outer Limits downplayed effects in favor of human interrelations and suspense. This was partly due to the fact that the new series, filmed in Canada, was produced on an extremely limited budget. For the most part, however, the decision to avoid special effects unless they were dramatically justified was because the producers felt that space aliens and other monstrosities had become rather commonplace by 1995, and they hoped to set their series apart from what had become the norm. In most cases, two separate versions of each episode were filmed. The rawer, less censorially restricted version was seen first-run on Showtime, while the less explicit version was prepared for commercial TV syndication. (This practice was followed on such other dual-market series as The Hitchhiker and Sex and the City.) Generally, the new Outer Limits avoided remakes of the classic episodes from the original version. There were, however, three noteworthy exceptions: season one's "I Robot," with Leonard Nimoy repeating the role he'd first essayed 31 years earlier; season three's "Feasability Study," originally filmed in 1964; and season five's "The Inheritors," a one-hour abridgement of a 1964 two-parter. Showtime had so much faith in the new Outer Limits that the network commissioned two seasons worth of episodes (44 in all) before the series even made its first appearance. This show of confidence paid off; Outer Limits proved to be one of the cable network's most popular series, lasting six seasons and 132 episodes. After departing Showtime in 2000, the series was renewed for a final 22 episodes by another cable outlet, the Sci Fi Channel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Pen Densham - Executive Producer, Sam Egan - Executive Producer, John Watson - Executive Producer, Mark Stern - Executive Producer, Grant Rosenberg - Executive Producer, Jonathan Glassner - Executive Producer, Steve Aspis - Executive Producer, Richard B. Lewis - Executive Producer, Matthew Hastings - Executive Producer, James Nadler - Executive Producer
Episodes
The Outer Limits: Descent The Outer Limits: The New Breed The Outer Limits: The Joining The Outer Limits: Double Helix The Outer Limits: The Gun The Outer Limits: The Inheritors The Outer Limits: A Feasability Study The Outer Limits: A New Life The Outer Limits: A Special Edition The Outer Limits: A Stitch in Time The Outer Limits: Abaddon The Outer Limits: Abduction The Outer Limits: Afterlife The Outer Limits: Alienshop The Outer Limits: Behold, Eck! The Outer Limits: Better Luck Next Time The Outer Limits: Beyond the Veil The Outer Limits: Birthright The Outer Limits: Bits of Love The Outer Limits: Black Box The Outer Limits: Blank Slate The Outer Limits: Blood Brothers The Outer Limits: Bodies of Evidence The Outer Limits: Breaking Point The Outer Limits: Caught in the Act The Outer Limits: Children of Spider County The Outer Limits: Cold Hands, Warm Heart The Outer Limits: Controlled Experiment The Outer Limits: Corner of the Eye The Outer Limits: Corpus Earthling The Outer Limits: Counterweight The Outer Limits: Criminal Nature The Outer Limits: Cry of Silence The Outer Limits: Dark Child The Outer Limits: Dark Matters The Outer Limits: Dark Rain The Outer Limits: Dead Air The Outer Limits: Dead Man's Switch The Outer Limits: Decompression The Outer Limits: Demon with a Glass Hand The Outer Limits: Don't Open Till Doomsday The Outer Limits: Donor The Outer Limits: Down To Earth The Outer Limits: Essence of Life The Outer Limits: Expanding Human The Outer Limits: Falling Star The Outer Limits: Family Values The Outer Limits: Fathers & Sons The Outer Limits: Fear Itself The Outer Limits: Feasibility Study The Outer Limits: Final Appeal The Outer Limits: Final Exam The Outer Limits: First Anniversary The Outer Limits: Flower Child The Outer Limits: Free Spirit The Outer Limits: From Within The Outer Limits: Fun & Games The Outer Limits: Gettysburg The Outer Limits: Glitch The Outer Limits: Glyphic The Outer Limits: Haven The Outer Limits: Heart's Desire The Outer Limits: Hearts and Mind The Outer Limits: Human Operators The Outer Limits: Human Trials The Outer Limits: I Hear You Calling The Outer Limits: I, Robot The Outer Limits: I, Robot The Outer Limits: Identity Crisis The Outer Limits: If Walls Could Talk The Outer Limits: In Another Life The Outer Limits: In Our Own Image The Outer Limits: In the Blood The Outer Limits: In the Zone The Outer Limits: Inconstant Moon The Outer Limits: Inner Child The Outer Limits: It Crawled Out of the Woodwork The Outer Limits: Josh The Outer Limits: Joyride The Outer Limits: Judgment Day The Outer Limits: Keeper of Purple Twilight The Outer Limits: Last Supper The Outer Limits: Lion's Den The Outer Limits: Lithia The Outer Limits: Living Hell The Outer Limits: Manifest Destiny The Outer Limits: Mary 25 The Outer Limits: Mind Over Matter The Outer Limits: Mindreacher The Outer Limits: Mona Lisa The Outer Limits: Monster The Outer Limits: Moonstone The Outer Limits: Music of the Spheres The Outer Limits: New Lease The Outer Limits: Nightmare The Outer Limits: Nightmare The Outer Limits: O.B.I.T. The Outer Limits: One Hundred Days of the Dragon The Outer Limits: Out of Body The Outer Limits: Paradise The Outer Limits: Patient Zero The Outer Limits: Phobos Rising The Outer Limits: Promised Land The Outer Limits: Quality of Mercy The Outer Limits: Re-Generation The Outer Limits: Relativity Theory The Outer Limits: Replica The Outer Limits: Resurrection The Outer Limits: Revival The Outer Limits: Ripper The Outer Limits: Rite of Passage The Outer Limits: Rule of Law The Outer Limits: Sarcophagus The Outer Limits: Season 01 The Outer Limits: Season 02 The Outer Limits: Season 03 The Outer Limits: Season 04 The Outer Limits: Season 05 The Outer Limits: Season 06 The Outer Limits: Season 07 The Outer Limits: Second Chance The Outer Limits: Second Soul The Outer Limits: Second Thoughts The Outer Limits: Seeds of Destruction The Outer Limits: Simon Says The Outer Limits: Skin Deep The Outer Limits: Small Friends The Outer Limits: Soldier The Outer Limits: Something About Harry The Outer Limits: Specimen: Unknown The Outer Limits: Star Crossed The Outer Limits: Stasis The Outer Limits: Straight and Narrow The Outer Limits: Stranded The Outer Limits: Stream of Consciousness The Outer Limits: Summit The Outer Limits: Tempests The Outer Limits: The Architects of Fear The Outer Limits: The Awakening The Outer Limits: The Balance of Nature The Outer Limits: The Beholder The Outer Limits: The Bellero Shield The Outer Limits: The Borderland The Outer Limits: The Brain of Colonel Barham The Outer Limits: The Camp The Outer Limits: The Chameleon The Outer Limits: The Choice The Outer Limits: The Conversion The Outer Limits: The Deprogrammers The Outer Limits: The Duplicate Man The Outer Limits: The Forms of Things Unknown The Outer Limits: The Galaxy Being The Outer Limits: The Grell The Outer Limits: The Grid The Outer Limits: The Guests The Outer Limits: The Heist The Outer Limits: The Human Factor The Outer Limits: The Human Factor The Outer Limits: The Hunt The Outer Limits: The Invisible Enemy The Outer Limits: The Invisibles The Outer Limits: The Light Brigade The Outer Limits: The Man Who Was Never Born The Outer Limits: The Man with the Power The Outer Limits: The Message The Outer Limits: The Mice The Outer Limits: The Mutant The Outer Limits: The Nest The Outer Limits: The Origin of Species The Outer Limits: The Other Side The Outer Limits: The Premonition The Outer Limits: The Production and Decay of Strange Particles The Outer Limits: The Refuge The Outer Limits: The Revelations of 'Becca Paulson The Outer Limits: The Sandkings The Outer Limits: The Sentence The Outer Limits: The Shroud The Outer Limits: The Sixth Finger The Outer Limits: The Special One The Outer Limits: The Surrogate The Outer Limits: The Tipping Point The Outer Limits: The Vaccine The Outer Limits: The Vessel The Outer Limits: The Voyage Home The Outer Limits: Think Like a Dinosaur The Outer Limits: Time to Time The Outer Limits: To Tell the Truth The Outer Limits: Tourist Attraction The Outer Limits: Trial by Fire The Outer Limits: Tribunal The Outer Limits: Under the Bed The Outer Limits: Unnatural Selection The Outer Limits: Valerie 23 The Outer Limits: Vanishing Act The Outer Limits: Virtual Future The Outer Limits: Voice of Reason The Outer Limits: What Will the Neighbors Think? The Outer Limits: White Light Fever The Outer Limits: Wolf 359 The Outer Limits: Worlds Apart The Outer Limits: Worlds Within The Outer Limits: Zanti Misfits The Outer Limits: Zig Zag The Outer Limits: Zzzzz
Similar in style to The Twilight Zone with more science fiction than fantasy stories, The Outer Limits is an anthology of discrete story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end. Over the course of the series, 154 episodes were aired.
After an attempt to bring back The Outer Limits during the early eighties, it was finally relaunched in 1995. The success of television science fiction such as Star Trek sequels, The X-Files, and anthology shows such as Tales from the Crypt convinced the rights-holders, MGM, to revive it. A deal was made with Trilogy Productions, the company behind such cinema hits as Backdraft and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the show would run on the pay-tv channel Showtime. The episodes appeared in syndication the following season (the same arrangement as MGM/Showtime series Stargate SG-1 and Poltergeist: The Legacy). It continued on Showtime until 2001, when Sci Fi quietly took over production.
It remained in production until 2002 before finally being canceled, after a total of 154 episodes—far more than the original incarnation of the show. In the revived show, the Control Voice was supplied by Kevin Conway. The new series distanced itself from the "monster of the week" mandate that had characterized the original series from its inception; while there were plenty of aliens and monsters, they dramatize a specific scientific concept and its effect on humanity. Some episodes illustrating this difference include "Dark Rain" (biochemical warfare causes worldwide sterility), "Final Exam" (discovery of practical cold fusion power), "A Stitch in Time" (a time traveler tinkers with history), as well as several episodes revolving around a human mutation known as Genetic Rejection Syndrome (humans mutating into violent creatures) as a result of a government experiment.
Production
The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Stories by Harlan Ellison, A.E. van Vogt, Eando Binder, Larry Niven, Richard Matheson, George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, and James Patrick Kelly were adapted with varying degrees of success, and some of the original series' episodes were remade as well. The revived series on Showtime contained more violent and sexual content, including occasional female nudity. The aforementioned sexual/graphically violent content was not shown in most syndication markets, including Sci Fi airings. The series contained an underlying story arc about mysterious or extraterrestrial forces, including open-ended storylines that were related to each other in the clip shows at the end of the season.
Leslie Stevens was a program consultant for the first season while Joseph Stefano was an executive consultant. Stefano also remade his episode "A Feasibility Study" and retitled it "Feasibility Study" for the third season. He later served as a senior advisor on the episode "Down to Earth" during the sixth season. Mark Mancina and John Van Tongeren composed new music different from that of Dominic Frontiere and Harry Lubin. They also scored ten episodes for the first season. The musical theme for the modern Outer Limits series is credited to Mark Mancina and John VanTongeren. However, the same music is used in the Westwood Studios' video game Dune 2000[citation needed]
In most seasons there was a clip show that intertwines the plots of several of the show's episodes (see "The Voice of Reason" for an example). At each commercial interval, the Control Voice can be heard saying "The Outer Limits...please stand by". The voice also repeats this phrase upon return from the television ads. The surreal images from the opening are mostly the work of Jerry Uelsmann.
DVD releases
Several "grab bag" DVD anthologies have been released: Sex & Science Fiction, Aliens Among Us, Death and Beyond, Fantastic Androids and Robots, Mutation and Transformation, Time Travel and Infinity.
On November 1, 2005, MGM Home Entertainment released Season One of the New Outer Limits on DVD in North America; no further MGM seasons have yet been released.
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