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Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture. We Are Controlling Transmission
An alien with six-fingered hands conducts a scientific experiment as an unidentified female actor looks on in a still from the science fiction television show, 'The Outer Limits,' c. 1964. (Photo by United Artists/Courtesy of Getty Images) Getty Images The sixties were one of the most creative decades for the arts. Mostly known for innovative rock n' roll, now called classic rock, the time period also broke ground in the areas of pop culture, dress, movies and literature. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series on sixties television, we highlighted the goofy comedy shows of the period, and the innovative spy series (links below). But it wasn't just comedy and espionage. The sixties Cold War space race and UFO craze inspired many science fiction and occult-type shows. Following are three of the scariest. (1) "The Outer Limits': If this baby boomer were to pick a sci-fi show that truly scared him as a youth, it would be this. Not only were many of the episode premises scientifically plausible, but the acting and direction were superb. William Shatner, Robert Culp, Robert Duvall, Cliff Robertson and David McCallum all cut their teeth with appearances on "The Outer Limits." A spooky tone was set up immediately as each show began. A disembodied voice came on, saying: "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical…' It was as if the show literally had taken over your television! Themes dealt with dangerous aliens ("Corpus Earthling"), unhinged nuclear power ("It Crawled Out Of The Woodwork," 'Production And Decay Of Strange Particles"), monsters ("Don't Open Till Doomsday," "The Zanti Misfits"), alien government infiltration ('The Invisibles") and grotesque body distortion ("The Mutants"), to name a few. American actor John Anderson (1922 - 1992) as the Ebonite Interrogator in a promotional still for 'Nightmare', an episode in the US TV science fiction series 'The Outer Limits', 1963. (Photo by Silver) Getty Images One episode, 'The Architects Of Fear," was even censored in prime time by the network because the "Thetan" alien was deemed too frightening for youngsters. As such, the screen faded to black whenever the alien was present. Eerie, well-placed music produced by Dominic Frontiere only heightened the terror in each episode. In the end, though, there was usually some resolution or positive lesson for mankind. The achilles heel of the series was what now seems like hokey special effects. Back then, though, the gadgets were considered state-of-the-art. "The Outer Limits" ran on ABC from 1963-1965, and was revived in the mid-1990s. As with most revivals, the retread had nowhere near the punch of the original. Actor Burgess Meredith (1907 - 1997) as Henry Bemis, in a scenes from "Time Enough at Last", episode 8 from the first season of the CBS series 'The Twilight Zone', August 1959. (Photo by CBS) Getty Images (2) 'The Twilight Zone': Some think of 'The Twilight Zone' as a half-hour version of 'The Outer Limits.' In some ways, it is. Like 'The Outer Limits,' many famous actors got their starts in it, including Burgess Meredith, Elizabeth Montgomery, Robert Redford, Jack Klugman, Peter Falk and Lee Marvin. Both series were plenty scary. And there was a spooky beginning and ending narration as in 'The Outer Limits,' but in 'The Twilight Zone' it was handled by genius creator Rod Serling. As for the differences, 'The Twilight Zone' dealt more with the occult and supernatural, and its endings had more of a surprise or twist, a la short story writer Saki (H.H. Munro). 'The Twilight Zone' originally aired on CBS from 1959-1964. Like 'The Outer Limits,' later episodes were produced but again, never had the punch of the original. UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: THE INVADERS - (pilot) - Season One - 1/10/67, Roy Thinnes starred as David Vincent, who discovered that the Earth was being invaded by beings from another planet. These beings took human form, and were virtually undetectable from human beings., (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images (3) 'The Invaders': This series featured an architect, David Vincent (played by actor Roy Thinnes), who has discovered an attempted covert alien invasion by life forms whose planet is dying and need a place to relocate. Why not Earth? The beings resemble humans in many respects, and are hard to identify. Vincent notices that one way to tell is that their fourth finger is elongated. They also lack a pulse, don't show emotion and can't bleed. In each episode, Vincent travels to another place where the aliens are multiplying, and desperately tries to alert government authorities, having mixed luck. In some ways, the plot resembles today's UFO believers trying to convince the public and authorities that extraterrestrials have visited Earth. 'The Invaders' ran on ABC for two seasons, in 1967 and 1968. It is not as well known as some other sci-fi series, but certainly was as scary. Many folks will be surprised that 'Star Trek' isn't included here. It along with 'Lost In Space,' 'My Favorite Martian,' 'The Jetsons'and 'Fireball XL-5' will be featured in a separate space-themed piece. Forbes The Secret Agent Men (And Women) Of '60s Television By Jim Clash Forbes Talking Horse, Genie, Witch—The Goofy Genius Of '60s TV By Jim Clash
Edmonton Journal
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Adventures in Streaming: Outer Limits is your next favourite binge
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Outer Limits, starring Lloyd, left, Beau and Dylan Bridges, is old-school sci-fi. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. If one measures the success of a TV series by its spinoffs, Star Trek (Paramount+), must stand alone, with an astonishing 13 different television iterations — that's not even counting the dozen or so movies. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Surely, though, the original series –Trekkers call it TOS for short — was the fountainhead that inspired all those offshoots. Has it aged well since its 1966-69 run? Well, developments in everything from visual effects to fight choreography have rendered the show somewhat quaint, at least through the jaded eyes of contemporary media consumers with the ability to pinpoint slipshod digital alterations while standing 20 paces from a 4K flatscreen. The original Star Trek, starring William Shatner, front, took some cues from The Outer Limits, which debuted three years earlier. But in these divisive times, it remains a series that made one hopeful about the future in its depiction of earthlings from different backgrounds and ethnicities who put aside their differences to co-operate on a noble, non-colonizing interstellar mission: 'To boldly go where no man has gone before.' Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again And yet the show's reputation as the alpha and omega of television science fiction is as persistently tight as a Vulcan Nerve Pinch. Star Trek's mission was, in a way, forecast in a series that developed years before Captain Kirk was but a glimmer in the eye of a CBS network programmer. The Outer Limits (1963-65, new on Tubi), is delightful old-school science fiction that anticipated TOS, even if its format went with a different story and cast every week. If Star Trek looked forward, Outer Limits was very much formed by its immediate past, the geopolitical aftershocks of the Second World War, with the threat of nuclear annihilation at the forefront. Also, it was shot in newsreel black and white, which gives it more gravitas than Star Trek's '60s sickly-psychedelic colour palette. Even with its primitive effects, it could induce nightmares. The episode The Zanti Misfits is about powerful aliens who negotiate a deal with earth to harbour a Botany Bay-like ship filled with prisoners. Once revealed, the creatures are merely large bugs with human faces, animated with stop motion. And yet, these crawlies still have the power to creep you out. Go for the bugs. Stay for the hair-raising sado-masochistic sparks between earthly criminal Bruce Dern and his girlfriend (Olive Deering), a runaway wife, who unwittingly facilitate the misfits' escape. (The series' main writer Joseph Stefano wrote the screenplay for Psycho, and presumably knew a little something about, psychosexual subtext.) The most celebrated episode, Demon with a Glass Hand, was written by sci-fi gadfly Harlan Ellison, and stars Robert Culp as a man with no memory, dropped into Los Angeles, vaguely aware of a mission to foil an aggressive alien race that will defeat earthlings hundreds of years in the future. (In 2009, TV Guide ranked the episode as #73 on an all-time list of great TV episodes.) This advertisement has not loaded yet. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Infamously, Ellison sued the makers of James Cameron's 1984 film The Terminator because it lifted the premise of a man from the future time-travelling to the past on an assignment to save mankind from a menace yet to come. The film company Hemdale settled with Ellison to the chagrin of Cameron, who quite justifiably felt no one author owned the concept of time travel. (Look at it now and the episode more closely resembles Blade Runner (1982), given that it features a proto-replicant engaged in a violent battle to the death in the iron-wrought confines of the Bradbury Building, a real-life location utilized in both properties.) Perhaps the most significant feature of the show is that Star Trek actors — including Leonard Nimoy and James 'Scotty' Doohan — keep showing up. William Shatner seems to be doing a trial run as Captain Kirk playing a cocky astronaut who finds himself transformed when he encounters an alien on Venus in the episode Cold Hands, Warm Heart. Taken on its own, The Outer Limits was so much more than a warm-up act. Binge accordingly.
Calgary Herald
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Adventures in Streaming: Outer Limits is your next favourite binge
Article content If one measures the success of a TV series by its spinoffs, Star Trek (Paramount+), must stand alone, with an astonishing 13 different television iterations — that's not even counting the dozen or so movies. Article content Surely, though, the original series –Trekkers call it TOS for short — was the fountainhead that inspired all those offshoots. Article content Has it aged well since its 1966-69 run? Well, developments in everything from visual effects to fight choreography have rendered the show somewhat quaint, at least through the jaded eyes of contemporary media consumers with the ability to pinpoint slipshod digital alterations while standing 20 paces from a 4K flatscreen. Article content Article content Article content But in these divisive times, it remains a series that made one hopeful about the future in its depiction of earthlings from different backgrounds and ethnicities who put aside their differences to co-operate on a noble, non-colonizing interstellar mission: 'To boldly go where no man has gone before.' Article content Article content And yet the show's reputation as the alpha and omega of television science fiction is as persistently tight as a Vulcan Nerve Pinch. Article content Star Trek's mission was, in a way, forecast in a series that developed years before Captain Kirk was but a glimmer in the eye of a CBS network programmer. Article content The Outer Limits (1963-65, new on Tubi), is delightful old-school science fiction that anticipated TOS, even if its format went with a different story and cast every week. If Star Trek looked forward, Outer Limits was very much formed by its immediate past, the geopolitical aftershocks of the Second World War, with the threat of nuclear annihilation at the forefront. Also, it was shot in newsreel black and white, which gives it more gravitas than Star Trek's '60s sickly-psychedelic colour palette. Article content Article content Even with its primitive effects, it could induce nightmares. The episode The Zanti Misfits is about powerful aliens who negotiate a deal with earth to harbour a Botany Bay-like ship filled with prisoners. Once revealed, the creatures are merely large bugs with human faces, animated with stop motion. And yet, these crawlies still have the power to creep you out. Article content Go for the bugs. Stay for the hair-raising sado-masochistic sparks between earthly criminal Bruce Dern and his girlfriend (Olive Deering), a runaway wife, who unwittingly facilitate the misfits' escape. (The series' main writer Joseph Stefano wrote the screenplay for Psycho, and presumably knew a little something about, psychosexual subtext.) Article content The most celebrated episode, Demon with a Glass Hand, was written by sci-fi gadfly Harlan Ellison, and stars Robert Culp as a man with no memory, dropped into Los Angeles, vaguely aware of a mission to foil an aggressive alien race that will defeat earthlings hundreds of years in the future. (In 2009, TV Guide ranked the episode as #73 on an all-time list of great TV episodes.)
