Originally posted on 4/18/21
Currently watching: THE OUTER LIMITS: SEASON TWO (1964-65). This was one of the finest horror/sci-fi anthology series ever, produced by Leslie Stevens and "Psycho" screenplay author Joseph Stefano.
I remember watching these when I was a kid and more often than not being scared and/or profoundly intrigued by these mind-expanding episodes and their imaginative monsters.
Season two is said to be inferior to the first but so far I'm thoroughly enjoying it and finding that many of the episodes I remember most fondly come from this season.
So far I've watched "Soldier", "Cold Hands, Warm Heart", "Behold Eck!", "Expanding Human", "Demon With A Glass Hand", "Cry of Silence", "Invisible Enemy", and "Wolf 359", with another old favorite "I, Robot" coming up next.
Sci-fi author Harlan Ellison wrote "Demon With A Glass Hand" and "Soldier", and won a settlement from James Cameron for the ideas Cameron lifted from them for his "Terminator" films. "Soldier" also greatly influenced the Kurt Russell movie of the same name.
Stories range from standard sci-fi (beleagured astronauts on Mars face an unseen killer in "The Invisible Enemy" with Adam West) to intense ethical crises (the intelligent robot on trial for murdering its creator in "I, Robot") to the just plain weird (Eddie Albert and June Havoc as a couple trapped in an isolated farmhouse by killer tumbleweeds in the horrific "Cry of Silence").
Lots of interesting actors pop up all over the place in these episodes (many would later appear on "Star Trek"). The special effects look a bit hokey at times but the technicians were working under the limitations of a rushed TV budget and, considering this, their work remains impressive, often frightening.
At its best, the show is both intellectually stimulating and nightmarish, the noirish black-and-white photography adding to its rich atmospheric quality. Even the lesser episodes are examples of a standard of television drama and production the likes of which have rarely been achieved.
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