The Outer Limits

Introduction Each show would begin with either a cold open or a preview clip, followed by narration by someone identifying himself as the Control Voice, which was played over visuals of an oscilloscope. The earlier and longer version of the narration ran as follows. “ 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 will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits. — Opening narration – The Control Voice – 1960s ” Later episodes used one of two shortened versions of this introduction. The first few episodes began simply with the title screen followed by the narration and no cold open or preview clip. Production information The Outer Limits originally was broadcast from 1963 to 1965 on the U.S. television broadcasting network ABC; in total, 49 episodes. It was one of many series influenced by The Twilight Zone and Science Fiction Theatre, though it ultimately proved influential in its own right. In the un-aired pilot, the series was called Please Stand By, but ABC rejected that title. Series creator Leslie Stevens retitled it The Outer Limits. With a few changes, the pilot aired as the premiere episode, \"The Galaxy Being\". Writers for The Outer Limits included creator Stevens and Joseph Stefano (screenwriter of Hitchcock\'s Psycho), who was the series\' first-season producer and creative guiding force. Stefano wrote more episodes than any other writer for the show. Future Oscar winning screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) would write \"The Chameleon\", which was also the final episode filmed for the first season. Two especially notable second-season episodes \"Demon with a Glass Hand\" and \"Soldier\" were written by Harlan Ellison, with the latter episode winning a Writers\' Guild Award. The former was for several years the only episode of The Outer Limits available on laser-disc. The first season combined science-fiction and horror, while the second season was more focused on \'hard\' science-fiction stories, dropping the recurring \"scary monster\" motif of the first season. Each show in the first season was to have a monster or creature as a critical part of the story line. First-season writer and producer Joseph Stefano believed that this element was necessary to provide fear, suspense, or at least a center for plot development. This kind of story element became known as \"the bear\". This device was, however, mostly dropped in the second season when Stefano left. (Three first-season episodes without a \'bear\' are \"Forms of Things Unknown\", \"Controlled Experiment\", and \"The Borderland\" all three of which were produced as pilots for other never-realized series and then re-edited as Outer Limits episodes. Another early episode with no \'bear\' was \"The Hundred Days of the Dragon\" made before the \'bear\' convention was established. Second season episodes with a \'bear\' are \"Keeper of the Purple Twilight\", \"The Duplicate Man\", and \"The Probe\". Bears appear near the conclusion of second season episodes \"Counterweight\", \"The Invisible Enemy\", and \"Cold Hands, Warm Heart\".) The show\'s first season had distinctive music by Dominic Frontiere, who doubled as Production Executive; the second season featured music by Harry Lubin, with a variation of his Fear theme for One Step Beyond being heard over the end titles. Comparison to The Twilight Zone Like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits had an opening and closing narration in almost every episode, by the \'Control Voice\' (Vic Perrin). Both shows were unusually philosophical for science-fiction anthology series, but differed in style. The Twilight Zone stories were often like parables, employing whimsy (such as the Buster Keaton time-travel episode \"Once Upon a Time\") or irony, or extraordinary problem-solving situations (such as the episode \"The Arrival\"). The Outer Limits was usually a straight action-and- suspense show which often had the human spirit in confrontation with dark existential forces from within or without, such as in the alien abduction episode \"A Feasibility Study\" or the alien possession story \"The Invisibles\". As well, The Outer Limits was known for its moody, textured look in many episodes (especially those directed by Byron Haskin or Gerd Oswald, or photographed by Conrad Hall) whereas The Twilight Zone tended to be shot more conventionally—although there are, of course, notable exceptions to these rules of thumb on both series. However, there is some common ground between certain episodes of the two shows. As the authors of The Official Outer Limits Companion have noted, several Outer Limits episodes are often misremembered by casual fans as having been Twilight Zone episodes, notably such \"problem solving\" episodes as \"Fun and Games\" or \"The Premonition\". Cinematography The program sometimes made use of techniques (lighting, camerawork, even makeup) associated with film noir or German Expressionism (see for example, \"Corpus Earthling\"), and a number of episodes were noteworthy for their sheer eeriness. Credit for this is often given to cinematographer Conrad Hall, who would go on to win three Academy Awards (and many more nominations) for his work in film. However, it should be noted that Hall worked only on alternate episodes of the show during the first two-thirds of the first season; the show\'s other cinematographers included John M. Nickolaus and Kenneth Peach. Special effects The various monsters and creatures from the first season and most props were developed by a loose-knit group organized under the name Project Unlimited. Members of the group included Wah Chang, Gene Warren and Jim Danforth. Makeup was executed by Fred B. Phillips along with John Chambers. Characters and Models Many creatures that appeared on 1960s Outer Limits episodes have in the 1990s or 2000s been sold as models or action figures, a large variety in limited editions as model kits to be assembled and painted by the purchaser issued by Dimensional Designs, and a smaller set of out-of-the-box action figures sold in larger quantity by Sideshow Toys. The former produced a model kit of The Megazoid from \"The Duplicate Man\", and both created a figure of Gwyllm as an evolved man from \"The Sixth Finger\". Influence on Star Trek A few of the monsters reappeared in Gene Roddenberry\'s Star Trek series later in the 1960s. A prop head from \"Fun and Games\" was used in Star Trek to make a Talosian appear as a vicious creature. The moving carpet beast in \"The Probe\" later was used as the \'Horta\' in \"The Devil in the Dark\", and operated by the same actor (Janos Prohaska). The process used to make pointed ears for David McCallum in \"The Sixth Finger\" was reused in Star Trek as well. The \'ion storm\' seen in \"The Mutant\" (a projector beam shining through a container containing glitter in liquid suspension) became the transporter effect in Trek. The black mask from \"The Duplicate Man\", is used by the character Dr. Leighton in \"The Conscience of the King\". The Megazoid, from The Duplicate Man, was seen briefly near Captain Christopher Pike in the first Star Trek pilot \"The Cage\". Actors who would later appear in Star Trek included Leonard Nimoy who appeared in two episodes (\"Production and Decay of Strange Particles\" and \"I, Robot\") and William Shatner appeared (in the episode \"Cold Hands, Warm Heart\") as an astronaut working on a Project Vulcan. Other actors who subsequently appeared in Star Trek were James Doohan in a supporting role as a policeman in \"Expanding Human\", and Grace Lee Whitney in the episode \"Controlled Experiment\". Gene Roddenberry paid a lot of attention to what The Outer Limits team was doing at the time, and he was often present in their studios. He hired several Outer Limits alumni, among them Robert Justman and Wah Chang for the production of Star Trek. Lawsuit on behalf of Harlan Ellison Harlan Ellison contended that inspiration for James Cameron\'s Terminator had come in part from Ellison\'s work on The Outer Limits. Cameron conceded the influence. Ellison was awarded money and an end-credits mention in The Terminator (1984), stating the creators\' wish \"to acknowledge the works of Harlan Ellison\". Reception The series fared rather poorly in the Nielsen ratings at the time of initial broadcast (as reflected in its cancellation after only 1 and 1/2 seasons) in comparison to the more popular Twilight Zone series. However, the series was well-liked by those who did watch it. Many decades later, revered horror writer Stephen King called it \"the best program of its type ever to run on network TV.\" In a 2002 Salon.com review of the original series, Mark Holcomb wrote that The Twilight Zone and Star Trek were more popular in part because they played things more safely than The Outer Limits, choosing to \"never stray far from the rationalism that drives most American entertainment\". Holcomb writes: “ Their [referring to The Twilight Zone and Star Trek] human characters are fallible, impulsive creatures uniquely adept at screwing up, but every emotion, relationship and deeply held conviction they display remains in place at the end of virtually every episode. However comforting this may have been, it tended to refute the everyday experience of the viewing audience. The Outer Limits wouldn\'t, or couldn\'t, cater to such needs. Stevens and Stefano had something much less conciliatory in mind for their show, and thus set it squarely in a universe ruled by labyrinthine pressures and transient pleasures, where meaning and morality were in constant flux and human beings fought desperately — sometimes heroically – to keep pace. This starkly recognizable yet distinctly off-kilter milieu made The Outer Limits television\'s most unabashedly modernist work.[5] ” Production The \'bear\' in \"The Architects of Fear\", the monstrously-altered Leighton, was judged by some local stations to be so frightening that the creature\'s eyes were obscured on some prints at the time of broadcast. History After an attempt to bring back The Outer Limits during the early eighties, it was finally relaunched in 1995. The success of television science fiction such as Star Trek sequels, The X-Files, and anthology shows such as Tales from the Crypt convinced the rights-holders, MGM, to revive it. A deal was made with Trilogy Productions, the company behind such cinema hits as Backdraft and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the show would run on the pay-tv channel Showtime. The episodes appeared in syndication the following season (the same arrangement as MGM/Showtime series Stargate SG-1 and Poltergeist: The Legacy). It continued on Showtime until 2001, when Sci Fi quietly took over. production. It remained in production until 2002 before finally being canceled, 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. Some episodes illustrating this difference include \"Dark Rain\" (biochemical warfare causes worldwide sterility), \"Final Exam\" (discovery of practical cold fusion power), \"A Stitch in Time\" (a time traveler tinkers with history), as well as several episodes revolving around a human mutation known as Genetic Rejection Syndrome (humans mutating into violent creatures) as a result of a government experiment. Production The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 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 with varying degrees of success, and some of the original series\' episodes were remade as well. The revived series on Showtime contained more violent and sexual content, including occasional female nudity. The aforementioned sexual/graphically violent content was not shown in most syndication markets, including Sci Fi airings. The series contained an underlying story arc about mysterious or extraterrestrial forces, including open-ended storylines that were related to each other in the clip shows at the end of the season. Most episodes in the modern series featured actors with name recognition from their previous film and TV work. Actors in notable roles included Tom Arnold, Beau Bridges, Josh Brolin, Nicole de Boer, Jon Cryer, Kelly Rowan, Michael Dorn, Kirsten Dunst, Michelle Forbes, Melissa Gilbert, Mark Hamill, Neil Patrick Harris, Laurie Holden, Jack Klugman, Howie Mandel, James Marsden, Alyssa Milano, Pat Morita, Leonard Nimoy, Robert Patrick, David Hyde Pierce, Amanda Plummer, Ryan Reynolds, Molly Ringwald, William Sadler, Ally Sheedy, Jeremy Sisto, Brent Spiner, Jessica Steen, and Mario Van Peebles. Leslie Stevens was a program consultant for the first season while Joseph Stefano was an executive consultant. Stefano also remade his episode \"A Feasibility Study,\" retitling it \"Feasibility Study\" for the third season. He later served as a senior advisor on the episode \"Down to Earth\" during the sixth season. Mark Mancina and John Van Tongeren composed new music different from that of Dominic Frontiere and Harry Lubin. They also scored ten episodes for the first season. The musical theme for the modern Outer Limits series is credited to Mark Mancina and John VanTongeren. However, the same music is used in the Westwood Studios\' video game Dune 2000[citation needed] In most seasons there was a clip show that intertwines the plots of several of the show\'s episodes (see \"The Voice of Reason\" for an example). At each commercial interval, the Control Voice can be heard saying \"The Outer Limits...please stand by\". The voice also repeats this phrase upon return from the television ads. The surreal images from the opening are mostly the work of Jerry Uelsmann. A note from Sn0wCrash: I looked around and noticed that no one had uploaded a complete collection of the The Outer Limits, so here it is. I have included all 2 seasons of the Original Series, all seven seasons of the 1995 redux and an episode guide. Thank to Bosscat and Stormy38 for the uploads. EDIT: The original Series are dvd rips, the New Series are television rips. Enjoy and Seed!!

udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80
udp://open.demonii.com:1337
udp://tracker.coppersurfer.tk:6969
udp://exodus.desync.com:6969

pix611 (2011-08-14)

thanks, rosie, one of my favourite TV series.
thumbs up !

oooiiiooo (2011-08-22)

Finally a complete collection!
Been waiting for this long time
Hope it is good quality.
Thanks!!

rhflem12345 (2011-08-24)

Please Seed!!!
Stuck @ 43%

SuperInfinity (2011-09-13)

IS THIS GOOD QUALITY????

SuperInfinity (2011-09-15)

PLEASE, WHAT IS THE RESOLUTION???

dogman514 (2011-09-17)

i will seed this until the cows come home,Thanks ive been waiting for this for a long time.JaqueBauer is right this series set the standard for sci fi for its time the special effects are outstanding,again a million thanks

southak (2011-09-17)

Yes, can we have some technical details please - source, resolution, etc.

SuperInfinity (2011-10-01)

I have downloaded season 3 and I regret to say that this is total bs. The resolution of every single episode apart from one is either 352x240 or 320x240.
The torrents with a single season are 576x432 (at least for season 6). With that you get to see their expressions and faces. HD isn't necessary, being able to see their expressions in close-ups is.

Eddiehjjjfcfjfc (2011-10-02)

Thanks, but don't know what the point of this torrent was. The 7 seasons that were posted individually before this are MUCH higher quality rips.

WanderingStar007 (2014-04-26)

Whoa this is some download!!! Thanks Ms.Rosie.