Voting Station

Outer Limits

Please vote to return to collections.

TV Series

The Resume

    (September 1, 1963-January 1, 1965)
    Sci-Fi Anthology
    60 Minutes
    ABC (1963-65) - 49 episodes
    Budget: $160,000 per episode
    Showtime (January 1, 1995-2001), Sci-Fi (2001-January 1, 2002) - 154 episodes
    Plot: A Sci-Fi anthology with technical jargon and monsters examining human nature
    Opening Narration:
    There is nothing wrong with your television set.
    Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
    We are controlling transmission.
    If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume.
    If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper.
    We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity.
    We will control the horizontal.
    We will control the vertical.
    For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear.
    You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to - The Outer Limits.

Why Outer Limits might be annoying:

    It has always been considered the poor man's 'Twilight Zone.'
    The writing could not measure up to Rod Serling.
    The special effects and monsters were cheesy due to a low budget ($40,000 special effects per episode).
    Each show had to have a monster, which they called the bear.
    The target audience was children.
    The 'New Outer Limits' ended each season with an original story using clips from shows of that season.

Why Outer Limits might not be annoying:

    Producer Joe Stefano said that the show never smirked, apologized or condescended to the viewer.
    Stefano compared the series as reading a bedtime story to a child.
    The show took advantage of its early '60s baby boomer interest in space travel, as real astronauts and cosmonauts began exploring space.
    As ironic plot endings was to the Twilight Zone, moralist endings were to the Outer Limits.
    In 'The Sixth Finger,' a human goes through rapid evolution. When he kills another human, he rationalized, that person is no more than a monkey to him. He evolves further to become a pacifist.
    It taught us that the monster is not always the one in the special effects make up. In 'the Bellero Shield,' a women murders an alien to steal his device that creates an invulnerability bubble shield. She activates it but can not deactivate it and thus becomes a prisoner of the bubble. The dying alien adds the missing ingredient, his blood that deactivates the bubble, freeing her as he dies.
    The lone survivor of Earth travels back in time to stop the devastating war. He does, but the results of changing the time line is he was never born.
    It influenced Star Trek, which used a number of its monsters and even the pointy ears for Mr. Spock.
    They nixed an episode called 'Cats' in which aliens invade as cats, so as not to scare their young audience.
    The New Outer Limits, which aired on Showtime, added a great attention getter, nudity.

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 12 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 19 Votes: 26.32% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 17 Votes: 29.41% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 30 Votes: 30.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 64 Votes: 39.06% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 35 Votes: 37.14% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 97 Votes: 47.42% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 181 Votes: 47.51% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 146 Votes: 43.15% Annoying