THE OUTER LIMTS: OF THE INNER MIND

David Robbins c  2014
So you’ve watched every DVD episode of your favorite shows thirty times and you’re looking for something new. Or perhaps something old, a show from yesteryear that might ring your mental chimes. But which to pick, when there are so many to choose from?
If you’re into science fiction, permit me to recommend a series noted for its intelligent scripts, superb acting, and creative filming, namely, the original THE OUTER LIMITS.

[Seasons One and Two DVD sets of the original series. A combined set is also available.]
Were I to try and define the show in one word, it would be ‘eerie’. For while the episodes were rife with science fiction elements, they were also---especially the first season---seeped in horror. The result is the eeriest TV show you will ever see.

[The episode that scared my young self the most was an exercise in raw terror called A FEASIBILITY STUDY.] 
I should mention it was in black-and-white. Some people are turned off by that. If you’re not one of them, then you’ll be amply rewarded. Most of the episodes have a cinematic quality that transcends the norm.

[The energy creature from THE GALAXY BEING. Exceptional for '60's fare.] 
So do, in many respects, the special effects. Some of the creatures are extraordinarily well done. Others, it must be admitted, pale in comparison to today’s SFX, but even there, what the producers lacked in realism, they compensated for with a brilliant use of shadow and contrast.

A word about one of those producers, a gentleman by the name of Joseph Stefano. (If his name isn't familiar, he adopted PSYCHO for the big screen.) Stefano produced the first season and wrote many of the episodes, imbuing them with their unique 'feel'. 
A lot of the best actors and actresses of the time lent their talents; Academy award winner Cliff Robertson, Academy Award winner Martin Landau, Academy Award winner (as well as Emmy and Golden Globes, too) Robert Duvall. Robert Culp, David McCallum, Sally Kellerman, Vera Miles, Adam West, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy---the list goes on and on.

[What's that? You don't recognize who this is? Hint: it's one of the actors mentioned above.]
THE OUTER LIMITS only lasted for a year and a half, but has a huge cult following. So much so, a new OUTER LIMITS was launched in 1995 and lasted a lot longer. But it’s the original that has enshrined itself in the minds and hearts of so many.
Each episode began with, ‘There is nothing wrong with your television set’, and from there proceeded to launch our imaginations on wings of ‘awe and mystery’.
One of those episodes, THE ZANTI MISFITS, was ranked as one of the top 100 best science fiction shows of all time.  Another, DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND, written by Harlan Ellison, won a Writers Guild award.
Other notable shows:THE CHAMELEON. Robert Duvall as a professional assassin whose next assignment is to kill aliens---by becoming one of them.THE INVISIBLES. Parasites from space are taking over the human race, one brain at a time.THE GALAXY BEING. A transceiver serves as a conduit into our world for an energy creature.THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER BORN. The release of a pathogen turned every human on the planet into a deformed mutant. Now one of those mutants has come back in time to try and change things.

[Can you tell which one is Robert Duvall? Don't feel bad. He fooled the aliens, too.]
It would be remiss of me not to mention one other aspect that made these shows so memorable. The music---again, notably for the first season---by Dominic Frontiere, is as fear-inspiring as the visuals. Once heard, you never forget it.

[A 3-CD collection of music from the series. There are other collections but this, so far as I know, has the most.]
If you're a completist, there was a comic book series based on the TV show, put out by Dell. And there are action figures and models of some of the creatures. (The photo at the top of the blog post is from THE KEEPER OF THE PURPLE TWILIGHT by Sideshow.)
So there you go. Let your mind be wrenched into contemplating realities you might never have conceived. Let your imagination soar from the confines of your comfy easy chair or couch into the dark and sinister realms of THE OUTER LIMITS.