The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)


The Outer Limits is a Canadian-American television series that originally aired on Showtime, Syfy and in syndication between 1995 and 2002. The series is a revival of the original The Outer Limits series that aired from 1963–65.
The Outer Limits is an anthology of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end. The revival series maintained an anthology format, but occasionally featured recurring story arcs that were then tied together during season-finale clip shows. Over the course of the series, 154 episodes were aired. Its stories are described as more science fiction-based and less dark fantasy than those of The Twilight Zone.

History

After an attempt to bring back The Outer Limits during the early 1980s, it was finally relaunched in 1995. The success of television speculative fiction such as ', The X-Files, and anthology shows such as Tales from the Crypt convinced rights holder Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to revive The Outer Limits. A deal was made with Trilogy Productions, the company behind such cinema hits as Backdraft and '. The show would run on the pay-TV channel Showtime.
The episodes appeared in syndication the following season. It continued on Showtime until 2001, when Sci-Fi quietly took over production for the seventh and final season. As a result, that season, unlike the previous ones, was completely free of any swearing or nudity. It was canceled in 2002, 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. Examples of this include "Dark Rain", "Final Exam", "A Stitch in Time", as well as two episodes revolving around a human mutation known as Genetic Rejection Syndrome as a result of an outlawed eugenics attempt to create superior children.

Production

The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. 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.
Leslie Stevens was a program consultant for the first four seasons, while Joseph Stefano served as an executive consultant and later senior advisor throughout the whole series. Stefano also remade his episode "A Feasibility Study", retitling it "Feasibility Study" for the third season. John Van Tongeren and Mark Mancina composed new music different from that of Dominic Frontiere and Harry Lubin. John Van Tongeren scored ten episodes for the first season and continued through season 6. The musical theme for the modern Outer Limits series is credited to John Van Tongeren and Mark Mancina.
In most seasons there was a clip show that intertwines the plots of several of the show's episodes. At each commercial interval, the Control Voice can be heard saying "The Outer Limits...please stand by". The voice repeats this phrase upon return from the television ads. The surreal images from the opening are mostly the work of Jerry Uelsmann.
A number of episodes from seasons 1–6 feature nudity and other adult content. Though originally broadcast uncensored, those episodes have been edited for commercial syndication.

Episodes

Tie-in books

Between 1997 and 1999, a series of books based on the show but aimed towards younger readers was published by Tor Books, penned by genre fiction author John Peel. The first, The Zanti Misfits, was a loose adaptation of the eponymous 1963 series episode, while others were based on episodes from the new series.
  1. The Zanti Misfits
  2. The Choice
  3. The Time Shifter
  4. The Lost
  5. The Invaders
  6. The Innocent
  7. The Vanished
  8. The Nightmare
  9. Beware the Metal Children
  10. Alien Invasion from Hollyweird
  11. The Payback
  12. The Change

    Home media

Between 2002–2006, six themed DVD anthologies of The Outer Limits, with six episodes each, were released by MGM in the US: Aliens Among Us, Death & Beyond, Fantastic Androids & Robots, Mutation & Transformation, Sex & Science Fiction and Time Travel & Infinity. These DVDs all contain the original uncut episodes, as originally aired, and were collected in a box set, The Outer Limits: The New Series. The Aliens and Sex titles were also released by MGM in the UK and Benelux.
Season 1 was released uncut and with extra features on DVD in the US, UK and Germany. Because sales of the set did not meet expectations no further seasons were released.
In 2010, Canada's Alliance Home Entertainment released all seven seasons on DVD. Season 1 mirrored the content of the earlier MGM set, while season 2 was also uncensored, with the exception of one episode, "Paradise". Seasons 3–6 all contain numerous censored episodes and are of noticeably poorer visual quality than the first two. Season 7 contains the original unedited episodes, as unlike the previous seasons, it was produced with no nudity or swearing.
In 2013, TGG Direct released the seventh season in the US, again unedited but of marginally inferior visual quality than the Alliance season 7 DVDs. The 5-disc set is titled The Outer Limits: The Complete Final Season, and in 2014 it was split and re-released as 3-disc Volume One and 2-disc Volume Two sets.
DVD nameEp#Release date
The Complete First Season22May 4, 2010
The Complete Second Season22May 4, 2010
The Complete Third Season18June 1, 2010
The Complete Fourth Season26July 6, 2010
The Complete Fifth Season22August 3, 2010
The Complete Sixth Season22September 7, 2010
The Complete Seventh Season 22October 5, 2010

DVD nameEp#Release date
The Final Season22December 3, 2013

until June 2020 All seven seasons of the series were available uncut on Hulu and selectively edited on Amazon Video and seasons 1-6 are uncut on "The Roku channel" on Roku devices.

Reception

The Outer Limits revival currently has a rating of 7.8/10 on IMDB.

Possible movie

In 2014, it was reported that a feature film directed by Scott Derrickson based on the series was to be underway. However, no additional information has been released and as of April 2019, A revival is in the works at a premium cable network.