Search - The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1 on DVD

Utter bliss! Baby Boomers line up....

Deborah MacGillivray | US & UK | 03/23/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With talents like Joseph Stephano and Leslie Stephens as producers, some of the best Sci-Fi Writers and a lot of talented 60's actors and even actors that went on to great fame like Robert Culp, David McCallum, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall and Martin Landau, this was one of the first quality Sci-Fi series.Twilight Zone was out there, but at times it was not really pure Sci-Fi, often more mysterious and horror, Thriller hosted by Boris Karloff (PLEASE PUT THESE OUT on DVD) were pure horror and the long running Alfred Hitchcock Present was straight mystery, so SCI-FI fans were captivated from the opening line with that mysterious voice telling you your telly has been taken over for the next 60 minutes. The acting was top notch, the writing literate and thought provoking, and you will even see many of the episodes were later cannibalised later to make movies, such as SOLDIER with Michael Anshara, repackaged in the 80's as The Terminator. To think you get 32 original episodes on 4 double-sided discs is just amazing. There are a few puppies in the series...In the second year of the series Stephano played a less controlling interest. He believed in thoughty mind twisting Sci-Fi, while Stevens wanted the monster of the week, so some monsters did get a little Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea-ish (Think they even shared a couple with monster doing double time!). But all in this in one super buy is a must for all those Baby Boomers that would once more would like their telly taken over. Warning to those who have not seen the series, these are vintage, high quality Black & White episodes. I think it adds to the spookiness as they could film in lower light, creating those sinister shadows."

There is nothing wrong with your television set.

Ned | Eldersburg, Maryland United States | 07/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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.The first season, 32 episodes, are contained on 4 disks. Running time is listed as 1642 minutes.Disc 1
------
1) The Galaxy Being: In the first episode, Cliff Robertson plays Allan Maxwell, the owner of a radio station, who ignores his wife and friends while he explores the heavens with his microwaves and his 3D TV scanner.2) The Hundred Days of the Dragon: A Far East government plots to overthrow the U.S. by replacing key figures with duplicates. The deed is aided with a special drug that allows the skin to become like putty and can be reshaped into any form.3) The Architects of Fear: Robert Culp undergoes surgery to turn him into an alien creature so that the world can unite against a "common" enemy.4) The Man with the Power: A would be scientist allows an experimental-chip to be surgical place within his brain, which gives him special power. Once he discovers he can't control his power, he finally destroys himself with that power.5) The Sixth Finger: A coalminer allows himself to be transformed into a superhuman that man won't reach for another million years.6) The Man Who Was Never Born: Martin Landau is Andro, who is sent back in time to kill the mother of man who made a mess of the future.7) O.B.I.T.: OBIT is an electronic device that allows the user to spy on anyone no matter where they are.8) The Human Factor: A psychiatrist has a device that will allow him to read the minds of others. In a freak accident his mind is switch with one of his patients.Disc 2
------
9) Corpus Earthling: Aliens that are really rocks want to control the human mind.10) Nightmare: Soldiers believe they are on another planet millions of miles from Earth. They are being tested for real battle.1) It Crawled Out of the Woodwork: A cleaning woman accidentally creates an energy cloud monster with her vacuum cleaner.12) The Borderland: A research team opens a window into another dimension. The team receives funding from a wealthy man who is looking for his son in the other dimension.13) Tourist Attraction: A giant "lungfish" is captured and other of it kind come to free the captured one. The lungfish look like giant frogs.14) The Zanti Misfits: Prisoners from the planet Zanti are sent to Earth as a criminal colony. The creatures are ant-like and have human faces.15) The Mice: A prisoner exchanges his "life in prison" sentence to be a guinea pig for a scientific experiment which is an exchange of inhabitants between earth and a planet named Chromo.16) Controlled Experiment: A couple of Martians investigate a murder on Earth. One has been here a while and is familiar with Earth culture (e.g., smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, kissing, etc.).Disc 3
------
17) Don't Open Till Doomsday: An alien wants to blow up the universe.18) ZZZZZ: A queen bee is transformed into a human in order to mate and produce offspring's.19) The Invisibles: Alien parasites are using humans as hosts.20) The Bellero Shield: An alien is transported to earth and Sally Kellerman kills it in order to steal its technology.21) The Children of Spider County: An alien comes back to earth to pick up his children22) Specimen: Unknown: Astronauts, returning to earth, discover they are bringing deadly spores back with them. Once on Earth the spores grow rapidly and it is the simple thing that kills them.23) Second Chance: At an amusement park a selected group of people get on a space ride and it turns out to be the real thing.24) Moonstone: The folks stationed on the moon find tiny fugitive aliens trying to find shelter from their oppressors.Disc 4
------
25) The Mutant: Reese Fowler is caught in a rain of radioactive isotopes that turns him into a big-eyed mutant. His condition drives him insane and he torments his crewmen.26) The Guests: A young man goes to a nearby house to get help for an old man he finds on the side of the road. He soon discovers the house is nothing more than an alien looking for answers about humans.27) Fun and Games: A man and woman are transported to another planet to fight a couple of aliens (male and female). If they win the earth is saved otherwise the earth will be destroyed.28) The Special One: Mr. Zeno recruits a gifted student into a government-sponsored program for "gifted" children. It is soon discover that Mr. Zeno is not a government educator, but part of an invasion force preparing the Earth for conquest.29) A Feasibility Study: The feasibility study is undertaken by Luminoids, who have stolen a neighborhood block and brought it back to Luminos to see whether earthlings are suitable as slaves.30) Production and Decay of Strange Particles: In a nuclear research laboratory the creation of a new isotope is made and it takes on a life of it's own.31) The Chameleon: The government turns Robert Duvall into an alien, just like the ones that landed, and then chase him to the alien spaceship. The government needs to determine if the alien have nuclear weapons.32) The Forms of Things Unknown: Two women murder their blackmailer but when they take refuge in an old house, they meet a scientist that brings the dead back to life."

A treasure of TV nostalgia.

Deborah MacGillivray | 09/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've only watched four of the episodes in this collection so far, but that's enough to be able to say unequivocally that this set is worth purchasing for anyone who remembers the good old days of science fiction on TV. I was only 10 years old when Outer Limits originally aired, and yet some of the images from those programs have remained with me to this day, well into my dotage. I fervently hope a second DVD set will be released, containing episodes 33-49. That would included Harlan Ellison's "Demon with a Glass Hand," the all-time top-rated episode, as well as "Soldier," also written by Ellison, and "The Inheritors," the only two-parter from the series. Not to mention "Wolf 359," a title that should ring a bell with Star Trek fans.
I applaud the notion of eliminating the useless labels on each disk and packing 32 episodes onto 4 disks. I wish more collections would adopt this strategy.
In short, buy this set if you want to take a very pleasant trip back through time. Great TV!"

I can't wait to own it...

D. A. Farhie | Austin, TX USA | 07/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I was in the 3rd grade, I used to come to school after the weekend, Outer Limits was on Sunday night, and I would ask all of my buddies "Did you see the Outer Limits last night?", invariably someone did and we would argue the merits of the monster and so forth (very sophisitcated 3rd graders and very liberal parents!).Since then, occasional glimpses into that stark black and white world peopled with stars and monsters and questions and answers, both disturbing and tempting all at the same time. A few years back, I began to collect the VHS releases, then the LaserDisc set, but it was prohibitively expensive at the time. Now grubbing around on Ebay and occasionally landing a deal. When I found out this series was going to be available on DVD, I dove in and ordered it. To settle the debate over the content here is what I know:There are a total of 1642 minutes of running time, now with 32 episodes in the set, that means 51 minutes and 31 seconds per episode, which figures, minusing out commercial slots. There are 4 discs, double sided of course, so each side holds 8 episodes. They are all there folks. Now as to the number 32..yes there are more episodes, but these are the original 32 that were produced before plot disputes and directional differences forced a change in producers, resulting in less intersting episodes (in my opinion). Here are the contents of the DVDS:
Disc 1
The Galaxy Being,
The Hundred Days of the Dragon
The Architects of Fear
The Man with the Power
The Sixth Finger
The Man Who Was Never Born
O.B.I.T.
The Human Factor Disc 2
Corpus Earthling
Nightmare
It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
The Borderland
Tourist Attraction
The Zanti Misfits
The Mice
Controlled Experiment

Disc 3
Don't Open Till Doomsday
ZZZZZ
The Invisibles
The Bellero Shield
The Children of Spider County
Specimen: Unknown
Second Chance
Moonstone Disc 4
The Mutant
The Guests
Fun and Games The Special One
A Feasibility Study
Production and Decay of Strange Particles
The Chameleon
The Forms of Things Unknown And as a final note, I loved the long intro and felt they cheapend it by shortening the Vic Perrins dialog. My favorite Outer Limits Ep. is still "The Sixth Finger", with "100 Days of the Dragon" a close second."