The Outer Limits

Zixinus · Post by **Zixinus** » 2008-07-07 01:54pm

I've watched the first episode of this show on TV. To a point, it was awesome. It shown a scientist gone mad because "he dared to play God".

Granted, the guy became pretty wacked but the ending narrative pissed me off endlesly. Here it is from Wikipedia:

"Increasingly, modern science pursues powers traditionally reserved for the Almighty. But those who encroach upon the province of the gods realize too late that the price for entrance... is destruction."

So, I realized this is a fundy run show. The original, black and white show's pilot ends with this:

The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light- the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other.

The question is, that should I bother to get the later episodes of the new show or try to get the old one? Or don't bother with either one at all, because its all pretentious bullshit.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-07 02:01pm

I've only ever seen a handful of episodes of the revival, but they weren't bad at all, and I don't immediately recall them having an offensive closing narration.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2008-07-07 02:03pm

The old show is quite awesome; a much more sci-fi oriented counterpart to The Twilight Zone.

The new show is awful. Just avoid it completely.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-07-07 02:47pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:The old show is quite awesome; a much more sci-fi oriented counterpart to The Twilight Zone.

The new show is awful. Just avoid it completely.

I disagree. The new one entertained me a lot in the nineties and I've been meaning to watch the earlier seasons again (avoid anything after around four or so). I should really try and catch the original, but the original Twlight Zone was more awesome from what I'd heard.

Typhonis 1 · Post by **Typhonis 1** » 2008-07-07 05:50pm

First episode was Sandkings correct? Thats for the modern Outer Limits.

The origional short story had a bored wealthy man on an alien planert buying them and making sport odf them ...the end was worse than the TV shows.

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2008-07-08 12:44am

I like both the old and new Outer Limits as a lot of good stories in both.
The new Twilight Zone is mainly supernatural rubbish with dubious morals, with some exceptions like the sequel to 'It's a Good Life'.

If one is going to judge a series by the moral at the end of one episode then consider that in the new Doctor Who one episode ends with that old clunker - "there are some things man is not meant to know" [the episode with the jewellery that enables mind reading in it].

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2008-07-08 01:03am

B5B7 wrote:If one is going to judge a series by the moral at the end of one episode then consider that in the new Doctor Who one episode ends with that old clunker - "there are some things man is not meant to know" [the episode with the jewellery that enables mind reading in it].

I don't remember any DW episode with that plot. There was a Torchwood one, but not a DW one.

Andrew_Fireborn · Post by **Andrew_Fireborn** » 2008-07-08 01:45am

I don't recall too many that ended in a "Yarhar, stoopid hyomens, God R not meaning you to go there!" monologues. Though there were a few, but that's kind of inevitable in anything written by people.

Most of the episodes really only touch on morality issues. There're a number where we kill off a species in the name of Space Manifest Destiny, and it comes back to bite us in the arse hard. A number more that come up with battlefield ethics.

But eh. I like the show a fair bit, so I'm biased.

Post by **weemadando** » 2008-07-08 02:50am

The new one had some crazy episodes.

One of the best was: "They're not changing me, they're changing me back." Which results in perhaps the greatest: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" moment in TV history.

And of course the nymphomaniac sex-energy powered alien metamorphosis episode.

The Grim Squeaker · Post by **The Grim Squeaker** » 2008-07-08 02:52am

weemadando wrote: And of course the nymphomaniac sex-energy powered alien metamorphosis episode.

That's also from Torchwood

xerex · Post by **xerex** » 2008-07-08 04:59am

weemadando wrote:The new one had some crazy episodes.

One of the best was: "They're not changing me, they're changing me back." Which results in perhaps the greatest: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" moment in TV history.

And of course the nymphomaniac sex-energy powered alien metamorphosis episode.

ooooh the episode with nicole de boer (ezri dax) 'Quality of mercy' one of the best episodes ive ever seen. Its bsg or farscape level mindfuckery

and the Alyssa Milano episode '"Caught in the Act" almost a companion to Poison ivy 2.........with better nudity !!!

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-07-08 05:35am

If you think the newer version of Outer Limits is bad, try watching Tales From The Dark Side.

It's on early mornings on Sci-Fi sometimes. It's from the early eighties I think, but it's basically "Let's make a supernatural suspense show with an episode budget of $2000".

Post by **weemadando** » 2008-07-08 06:04am

xerex wrote:
weemadando wrote:The new one had some crazy episodes.

One of the best was: "They're not changing me, they're changing me back." Which results in perhaps the greatest: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" moment in TV history.

And of course the nymphomaniac sex-energy powered alien metamorphosis episode.

ooooh the episode with nicole de boer (ezri dax) 'Quality of mercy' one of the best episodes ive ever seen. Its bsg or farscape level mindfuckery

That's the one I'm talking about. It's insane. I still lvoe how fucking nasty that twist is.

tim31 · Post by **tim31** » 2008-07-08 11:33am

The only episode from the new series I watched had Wil Wheaton and Robert Patrick having fun trying to make/sabotage a last ditch effort by earth to win an interstellar war. The title, and name of the ship, was The Light Brigade. I enjoyed it.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2008-07-08 01:50pm

tim31 wrote:The only episode from the new series I watched had Wil Wheaton and Robert Patrick having fun trying to make/sabotage a last ditch effort by earth to win an interstellar war. The title, and name of the ship, was The Light Brigade. I enjoyed it.

Robert Patrick is also in the one with Nicole DeBoer and it also has to do with an interstellar war so it's possible he's playing the same character but later on in the war.

The Outer Limits seemed to have some occasional internal continuity from time to time.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2008-07-08 02:03pm

Skokes, I think, and he was the same character between the two episodes.

One story I liked was and end-of-the-world type affair where a scientist discovers that the Sun had gone nova and half the Earth was already scorched, making him go on a nighttime rampage with the woman he'd been pining for. A simple story, but a neat one.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2008-07-08 02:56pm

weemadando wrote:
xerex wrote:
weemadando wrote:The new one had some crazy episodes.

One of the best was: "They're not changing me, they're changing me back." Which results in perhaps the greatest: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" moment in TV history.

And of course the nymphomaniac sex-energy powered alien metamorphosis episode.

ooooh the episode with nicole de boer (ezri dax) 'Quality of mercy' one of the best episodes ive ever seen. Its bsg or farscape level mindfuckery
That's the one I'm talking about. It's insane. I still lvoe how fucking nasty that twist is.

Seconded.

Anyone recall that one with half the world getting supposedly hit by a solar flare? And the pilot to one season taking place in real-time with the US getting POTUS to the Washington bunker and trying to decipher an alien signal? Or the one with the cancer patient who uses experimental nanomachines and becomes nigh unkillable?

Ohma · Post by **Ohma** » 2008-07-08 03:45pm

Oh man the newer Outer Limits was AWESOME! I can't for the life of me remember the names of any episodes (they've all kinda' merged into one massive crazy blob full of time traveling aliens teleporting to the post apocalyptic future and over acting). I love that one with the aliens coming to Earth and accidentally blowing up part of the moon because a chunk of their ship broke off as they exited FTL, and how it turns out they can understand and speak english perfectly well, but cant be bothered to send their replies in a way that humans will understand (turns out they live in water so everything sounded garbled)

.

And man, they sure knew how to make clip shows, anyone remember the time travel two part clip show? The one that ended with the time traveling terrorist guy detonating a fusion bomb in alternate future Luddite Washington DC?

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2008-07-09 12:22am

Drooling Iguana wrote:
B5B7 wrote:If one is going to judge a series by the moral at the end of one episode then consider that in the new Doctor Who one episode ends with that old clunker - "there are some things man is not meant to know" [the episode with the jewellery that enables mind reading in it].
I don't remember any DW episode with that plot. There was a Torchwood one, but not a DW one.

That's the one - Doctor Who, Torchwood - both got the same 9 letters in them, but the mental trauma of remembering the name Torchwood was too much, so my mind changed it to Doctor Who [well, that's my story anyway

]

Ohma - was that the one with Charlton Heston?

Ohma · Post by **Ohma** » 2008-07-09 02:14am

B5B7 wrote: Ohma - was that the one with Charlton Heston?

There was one with Charlton Heston?

Ooh ooh! What about that one with the robots that get hunted for sport, where the fact that the robots are completely lifelike androids makes the whole premise farcical. (honestly, why the shit would you make lifelike androids, which have completely human minds, and have them work in mines? that just seems...very inefficient and just asking for a violent robot uprising)

That one with the raptor aliens and the not quite magical teleporter (re: you get destroyed on one end, and one the other a copy is made) I remember as being fairly good.

xerex · Post by **xerex** » 2008-07-09 03:26pm

Ohma wrote:
B5B7 wrote: Ohma - was that the one with Charlton Heston?
There was one with Charlton Heston?

the episode itself was meh. basically a clip show in disguise with the plot being a trial where an anti technology future have to decide whether or not to continue the ban on technology.

OTOH had quite a guest cast. Heston as the Cheif Justice, Micheal Moriaty (Law and Order) as the prosecutor .

Haruko · Post by **Haruko** » 2008-07-09 05:19pm

I've watched several Outer Limits episodes, but the only one I found particularly memorable was the one about this guy who thought that the alien infiltrator was the guy who was criticizing his beliefs and thinking him mad, but it turned out that the guy who was the actual disguised alien was the one who kept agreeing with him and encouraging the others to let him speak.

Does anyone know what episode that might be?

xerex · Post by **xerex** » 2008-07-10 01:41am

Haruko wrote:I've watched several Outer Limits episodes, but the only one I found particularly memorable was the one about this guy who thought that the alien infiltrator was the guy who was criticizing his beliefs and thinking him mad, but it turned out that the guy who was the actual disguised alien was the one who kept agreeing with him and encouraging the others to let him speak.

Does anyone know what episode that might be?

was that the one where the guy was presenting a report about alien infiltration to a secret govt panel and most of the members were disbeleiving him and its turned out the most sympathetic members were aliens in disguise?

"The Voice of Reason" which costarred Don Davies (stargate) as a General on the Panel. Another clip show in disguise.

Haruko · Post by **Haruko** » 2008-07-10 01:44am

Yes, that's the one, thanks.

TheMuffinKing · Post by **TheMuffinKing** » 2008-07-10 05:43am

Kind of on topic, but do you all remember an episode where several people were hidden away in secret bunkers around the world after aliens were on their way to earth? IIRC each member acted as a deadman switch and if they didn't hit a button every hour the world's stockpile of NBC weapons would render the Earth uninhabitable.