The Outer Limits, Season 2, on DVD
What a great blast from the past!
We werent sent season one of this groundbreaking science fiction television
show, unfortunately, but were pleased as punch with what MGM Home Video
has done for season two.
The season was only 17 episodes long, but theres some great stuff here.
Our personal favorites are Demon with a Glass Hand, a nifty time
travel/end of the world-type thing written by Harlan Ellison, and I Robot,
which not only gives us a young Leonard Nimoy in a supporting role but which
is a story that was kind of remade in Star Trek
The Next Generations terrific episode The Measure of a Man.
But there isnt really a stinker here; even the weakest episodes are still
entertaining and enjoyable for SF fans.
Okay, the production values are relatively cheesy, as are the special effects,
but what else would you expect from early 1960s television? Besides, anyone
whos enjoyed such programs as Dr. Who and
even SCTV can attest that cheesy effects dont affect good writing and
acting - and theres both on display in this three disc set.
In fact, some of todays movie/TV content makers could take a lesson here:
it isnt the nifty CG effects that make a story, its the story!
The Outer Limits was a contemporary to the original Twilight Zone series, though
while TZ dabbled in science fiction it was OLs raison detre. Usually,
the shows featured a monster of the week, though not always. In
the abovementioned episodes there are no monsters; there are aliens in Demon,
but the despicable creatures in Robot were humans prejudiced against
the robot in the story.
Anyway, other good episodes include another Ellison offering Soldier
and the two parter The Inheritors (with a young Robert Duvall).
And Wolf 359 is not only a nifty yarn but is a location in space-time
that would be used effectively by Star Trek The Next Generation decades later
in the fabulous ograms such as Stargate SG-1, Andromeda, Enterprise, and
the like - oh yeah, and the new Outer Limits - its worth your while to
check out what the generations before you gobbled up excitedly some forty years
ago.
Its great stuff!
The three disc set uses both sides of all three discs and the video quality
is very good overall. Oh sure, its still black and white full frame, but
thats what was shot so thats what we should get - and the images
are for the most part sharp and clean and feature good contrast.
Audio, not surprisingly, is a weaker link, but what can you do?
There are no extras, which is a darn shame, but you do get pretty good capsule
descriptions of all 17 episodes inside the package.
Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think