The Outer Limits

[CorvusErebus]

So, I've been doing a lot of coding lately, both for other people, and the WCC (That front page isn't going to prettify itself) and thus have had a lot of time confined to a chair, with Two monitors in front of me. Sometimes you can only listen to so much music before you get tired of it (Shh! Don't tell Trevor!) So a a couple days ago I started browsing through Hulu.com looking for some entertainment.

They have just about every episode of The Outer Limits! (Not the old Black and White one mind you. They only have 46 or so from that one.) Man I forgot how awesome that show was! The writing could be really good at times. So far my favorite is Episode 5 "The Second Soul". it really touches on some cool ideas that you didn't see much in traditional alien flicks.

Does any one else remember this show? Shows like The outer Limits, the twilight zone. . . Those self contained weekly movies. It seems like they've died out. A shame too because they're some of my favorite TV shows. I remember one that was primarily Horror themed, from the 80s. I can't remember the name for the life of me though! The title sequence had a picture of a grassy field, that underwent a Negative Colour effect. They rerun it every October. I can't remember it's name for the life of me though!

I think comic creators can learn a lot from them too. There's a certain art to condensing a story down to 45 minutes, and some of the best pacing techniques I learned, I translated to comics from some of these shows. They also taught me how to make an old idea fresh and new, to take a common concept, and give it an unusual angle (ESPECIALLY the Outer Limits).

Any one else have any fond memories of these Weekly Sci-Fi/Horror Variety shows? Did they effect you creatively at all (Maybe in ways you never realized)?

[Rob]

I liked some of The Outer Limits shows but their attempts to tack on a moral lesson at the end of each episode felt really forced and tacky. Also the writing was often a little ham handed. But there were a few episodes I really liked. The one where Alissa Milano gets possessed by an alien and has to bang her way to freedom comes to mind.

Now that's fanservice.  :o

[KidGalactus]

Dude I love Outer Limits!

Color Outer Limits is usually superior to black n white, not always and towards the later seasons Outer Limits got pretty weak in general.

Twilight Zone however is the more substantial show and is basically always better in black n white.