[This file is from the Sf-Lovers Archives at Rutgers University. It is provided as part of a free service in connection with distribution of Sf-Lovers Digest. This file is currently maintained by the moderator of the Digest. It may be freely copied or redistributed in whole or in part as long as this notice remains intact. If you would like to know more about Sf-Lovers Digest, send mail to SF-LOVERS-REQUEST@RUTGERS.EDU.] THE OUTER LIMITS EPISODE GUIDE!!! Following, ready for printing, I hereby present the (soon to be) world famous OUTER LIMITS episode guide. This all-inclusive guide, in chronological order, is drawn from numerous sources, relying particularly on an obscure issue of Star Log and my own memories on the subject. Each episode includes original air date on ABC and (my own) rating ranging from one star to four stars. ============================ THE OUTER LIMITS ============================ -- Compiled by Lauren -- ============================ - Modified by Saul Jaffe (Moderator, SF-Lovers) for addition of credits and corrections. The Galaxy Being (9/16/63) Writer: Leslie Stevens Director: Leslie Stevens Guest Cast: Cliff Robertson, William O. Dougals, Jacqueline Scott, Lee Phillips, Mavis Nela A radio station technician invents a 3-D TV system that contacts an energy being in Andromeda. Unfortunately, a power fluctuation caused by an idiot employee sucks the being to Earth, where havoc ensues. The pilot episode. ** The One Hundred Days of the Dragon (9/23/63) Writer: Albert Balter Director: Byron Haskin Guest Cast: Sidney Blackmer, Phil Pine, Richard Loo, James Hong, James Yagi Red Chinese agents use a special drug that allow the "molding" of skin like clay to impersonate high U.S. officials, including the President. ** The Architects of Fear (9/30/63) Writer: Meyer Dolinsky Director: Byron Haskin Guest Cast: Robert Culp, Geraldine Brooks A scientific organization creates a fake alien being from one of their own members in an attempt to scare the world into peace. *** The Man with the Power (10/7/63) Writer: Jerome Ross Director: Laslo Benedek Guest Cast: Donald Pleasance, Priscilla Morrill, Edward C. Platt A mild-mannered professor invents a brain "link-gate" that gives his subconscious the power to destroy those who oppress and persecute him, all without his conscious knowledge. *** The Sixth Finger (10/14/63) Writer: Ellis St. Joseph Director: James Goldstone Guest Cast: David McCallum, Edward Mulhare, Jill Haworth, Constance Cavendish, Robert Doyle A man acts as an subject in an experiment in accelerated evolution. An antisocial personality to begin with, he finds himself with enormous mental powers that are vented in several violent episodes, until he is returned to normal by a girl who loved him. **** The Man Who was Never Born (10/28/63) Writer: Anthony Lawrence Director: Leonard Horn Guest Cast: Martin Landau, Shirley Knight, Bob Constantine, Karl Held A horribly mutated man from the future returns to the "present" to try kill the man who created the biological disaster that led to the desolate future Earth. An EXCELLENT show. **** O.B.I.T. (11/4/63) Writer: Meyer Dolinsky Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Peter Breck, Jeff Corey, Harry Townes, Jeanne Gilbert A government agency has a secret computer-based device that allows "snooping" on any individual via his brain wave emissions. A complex series of events leads to the information that the machine is actually part of an alien plot to undermine and eventually overthrow the Earth. The goverment agency is the DoD by the way. No computer networks were mentioned (whew!) *** The Human Factor (11/11/63) Writer: David Duncan Director: Abe Biberman Guest Cast: Gary Merrill, Harry Guardino, Sally Kellerman A paranoid army officer with delusions of persecution accidently switches minds with the doctor who was trying to help him. He then attempts to misuse some nuclear device in an attempt to rid himself of these feelings (i.e. by blowing himself and the rest of the Arctic expedition to smithereens.) While the plot is weak, the character development and overall drama rates this one: *** Corpus Earthling (11/18/63) Writer: Orin Borstein Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Robert Culp, Salome Jens, Barry Atwater, David Garner, Ken Renard Robert Culp again -- this time as a man who, by virtue of a metal plate in his skull, overhears two alien "rocks" plotting the overthrow of the Earth by invading peoples' minds. Eventually, his own wife is invaded, and the whole episode is a beautiful creeping terror. **** Nightmare (12/2/63) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: John Erman Guest Cast: Ed Nelson, Martin Sheen, James Shigeta, David Frankham During an interplanetary war with the planet Ebon, some Earth POW's are subjected to a series of tortures. The whole thing turns out to be instigated by EARTH officials to test the men's stamina! Very well done, but not too complimentary toward certain political elements. **** It Crawled out of the Woodwork (12/9/63) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Edward, Asnwer, Scott Marlowe, Michael Forest, Barbara Luna, Joan Camden One of my personal favorites. An creature of pure energy is created in a vacuum cleaner by an ususpecting cleaning lady. It absorbs all energy (and most matter) in its path. The rather insane head of a large research organization (aren't they all?) finds a way to capture it, and prevents his key employees from spilling the beans by letting it "kill" them and then keeping them alive with remote controlled heart pacemakers. The energy creature is a stop-action cloud type effect that is really NEAT! **** The Borderland (12/16/63) Writer: Leslie Stevens Director: Leslie Stevens Guest Cast: Nina Foch, Mark Richman, Phillip Abbott Another of my favorites. A research team is probing the fourth dimension by creating an energy field which uses HUGE amounts of electricity (they set up inside a power plant). Various interpersonal forces come to play to complicate the already complex and delicate experiments in the unknown. *** Tourist Attraction (12/23/63) Writer: Dean Riesner Director: Laslo Benedek Guest Cast: Ralph Meeker, Henry Silva, Janet Blair, Henry Douglas A lizard-like creature is captured and frozen by an expedition in South America. It defrosts and does predictably horrid things. This was a real loser. * The Zanti Misfits (12/30/63) Writer: Joseph Stefan Director: Leonard Horn Guest Cast: Bruce Dern, Michael Tolan, Robert F. Simon, Lex Johnson The aliens of the planet Zanti have forced the Earth to accept their criminals and misfits, since they doen't want to imprison them themselves. Earth has set up a special desert reservation for this purpose, which is unknowingly invaded by a pair of criminals escaping from a bank robbery. ** The Mice (1/6/64) Writers: Bill Ballinger and Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Henry Silva, Diana Sands A convict agrees to participate in an exchange program with an alien world -- via matter transmitter/receivers. The horrible alien shows up first, and it turns out his/her/its motives are less than honorable. *** Controlled Experiment (1/13/64) Writer: Leslie Stevens Director: Leslie Stevens Guest Cast: Carroll O'Conner, Barry Morse, Grace Lee Whitney, Robert Kelljan Yet another of my favorites, though it was almost all done in the editing room. A pair of Martians (they look like humans) are investigating the quaint Earth custom of murder. They take a typical murder scene, and twist it forward, backward, and inside out by means of a portable local time machine. This is actually a rare piece, an Outer Limits comedy. And it IS funny. **** Don't Open Till Doomsday (1/20/64) Writer: Joseph Stefan Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Melinda Plowman, Buck Taylor, Russell Collins, David Frankham This is a gothic fantasy in modern terms. Very complex, involving an alien being who keeps humans imprisoned with him in a little box while he attempts to find his fellow travelers so they can destroy our universe and return to their dimensional system. He captures a bridegroom on his wedding night, and holds him since he will not cooperate. His aging bride, over time, attempts to coax others into the trap, in an attempt to free her (non-aging) husband from the box. **** ZZZZZ (1/27/64) Writer: Meyer Dolinsky Director: John Brahm Guest Cast: Phillip Abbott, Joanna Frank, Marsha Hunt, Booth Coleman A hive of bees, who have been intellectually advanced due to experiments with an entomologist, mutate one of their own into a human female. Their goal is to have her mate with the entomologist and thusly create a strain that can wipe out humanity. ** The Invisibles (2/3/64) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Tony Mordente, Don Gordon, George Macready, Walter Burke This is one of the few episodes for which my memory does not serve me too well. It involves crablike alien parasites that invade the Earth and take over human hosts in an attempt to take over society. It has a strong "power corrupts" message and political overtones as well. I think this one was no better than: ** The Bellero Shield (2/10/64) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Martin Landau, Sally Kellerman, Chita Rivera, John Joyt, Neil Hamilton This is a GOOD one. A scientist accidently attracts an alien creature to Earth via his laser experiments. His scheming wife, who wants him to get recognition at any cost, kills the alien and steals its impenetrable shielding device. When she demonstrates it, she finds she cannot turn it off, that she is completely trapped. The story goes on from there, but I have no intention of giving it away. **** Children of Spider Country (2/17/64) Writer: Anthony Lawrence Director: Leonard Horn Guest Cast: Lee Kinsolving, Kent Smith I have virtually no memory left of this one except for some very vague ideas. An alien comes to Earth to recover his son and four other young men who were sired by Earth women. They were left on Earth so they would develop the "spirit" necessary to help their own planet recover from something that has ruined their spirit (and, incidently, their ability to, uh, mate.) Since I cannot remember it, I cannot give this one a rating. Specimen: Unknown (2/24/64) Writer: Stephan Lord Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Stephen McNally, Russell Johnson, Art Batanides, Richard Jaeckel Small, biscuit like thingies are found floating in space by one of our space stations. Turns out they bloom like flowers and emit gas that immediately kills. Unfortunately, some are already enroute down to Earth. The ship crashes and they spread all over the place around the crash site -- millions of them. Where does it go from there? I ain't telling. *** Second Chance (3/2/64) [A.K.A. Joy Ride] Writers: Lou Morheim, Lin Dane Director: Paul Stanley Guest Cast: Simon Oakland, Don Gordon An alien converts an amusement park space ride into a REAL spaceship, and abducts some individuals who have been specially selected via mental probing. The idea is to give them a "second chance" at life by working to avoid a massive catastrophe that will affect the alien's planet and, eventually, Earth. They don't care for this second chance (well, most of them don't.) *** Moonstone (3/9/64) Writer: William Bast Director: Robert Flory Guest Cast: Ruth Roman, Alex Nichol, Tim O'Conner A military base on the moon finds an odd white globe a little bigger than a bowling ball. It turns out to contain several alien intelligences that have incredible knowledge, and are trying to escape from an oppressive alien tyrants. ** The Mutant (3/16/64) Writers: Allan Baltar and Robert Mintz Director: Alan Crosland Guest Cast: Warren Oates A man, accidently caught outside in an isotope rainfall on a newly discovered planet, turns into a mutant who can kill simply with his touch. He hold the whole outpost in isolation via this ability to destroy, and eventually has to deal with an inspector sent out to find out why things have been kind of strange with the outpost (the only one on the planet.) ** The Guests (3/23/64) Writer: Donald S. Samford Director: Paul Stanley Guest Cast: Gloria Graham, Geoffrey Horne, Luana Anders A man stumbles upon a strange house where times stands still - and whose occupants are captive guests of a weird and unearthly creature. Fun and Games (3/30/64) Writers: Robert Specht and Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Nick Adams, Nancy Malone An early film rendition of the time-honored "fight for your planet" theme first put forth in the short story "Arena" as I recall, many years ago. Well, done, with the "operator" of the Arena a really great, gleefully cackling type character. A good episode. *** The Special One (4/6/64) Writer: Oliver Crawford Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Macdonald Carey, Marion Ross, Richard Ney, Flip Mark An alien attempts to recruit Earth children as an advance guard toward the eventual overthrow of Earth. Well done. *** A Feasibility Study (4/13/64) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: Byron Haskin Guest Cast: Sam Wanamaker, Joyce Van Patten, Phyllis Love Six square blocks from a U.S. city residential neighborhood are teleported to another planet by a horribly mutated race that wants to see if Earth people will make good slaves. The race itself is no longer capable of complex physical movements due to this mutation, and needs such beasts of burden. However, Earth people can catch their "disease", and they eventually infect themselves, thusly becoming the same as the aliens, to make the feasibility study a failure. An excellent show. **** Production and Decay of Strange Particles (4/20/64) Writer: Leslie Stevens Director: Leslie Stevens Guest Cast: George Macready, Leonard Nimoy, Signe Hasso, Allyson Ames, John Duke, Joseph Ruskin At an atomic installation, a scientist creates a new isotope that turns out to be alive. All sorts of horrible things happen, none of which are very impressive. * The Chameleon (4/27/64) Writers: Robert Towne, Lou Morheim and Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Robert Duvall, Howard Caine, Henry Brandon, Douglas Henderson, William O'Connell A human is altered to appear the same as some aliens who have landed on Earth, and whose intentions are unknown (but assumed to be hostile). The alteration is genetic, based on some fingernail scraping of one of the aliens. The human ends up liking the aliens a lot more than humans, and leaves with them. *** The Forms of Things Unknown (5/4/64) Writer: Joseph Stefano Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Vera Miles, Barbara Rush, Scott Marlowe, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, David McCallum This one is a biggie. Two women murder an evil Rasputin type man while out on an picnic. Taking refuge in a gothic mansion in a storm, they meet McCallum who (without their knowledge) is using a "time-tilting" device to bring him back to life. This one is a brooding gothic SF drama, and is SUPERB. It was shot with two endings, one reserved towards the possibility of using it as a pilot for a new show to be called "The Unknown". This episode was probably among the finest hours of film ever produced for television at any time. Excellent. ***** (yes, !!5!! stars). Soldier (9/19/64) Writer: Harlan Ellison Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Lloyd Nolan, Michael Ansara, Tim O'Conner, Catherine McLeod, Jill Hill A man, born and bred to be nothing but a soldier, is accidently transported from the future to the present during a battle. Nolan, a police psychologist, attempts to introduce the man to our society, and learns much of the horrors of the future. In the meantime, THE ENEMY is close behind -- he too has been transported to the present... *** Cold Hands, Warm Heart (9/26/64) Writers: Dan Ulman and Milton Krims Director: Charles Haas Guest Cast: William Shatner, Geraldine Brooks, Lloyd Gough, Malachi Throne An astronaut, recently returned from an orbital flight of Venus, finds his body temperature dropping uncontrollably. ** Behold Eck (10/3/64) Writer: John Mantley Director: Byron Haskins Guest Cast: Peter Lind Hayes, Joan Freeman, Parley Baer, Jack Wilson A two dimensional alien, visiting this space-time, discovers he can't find his way back without ripping the continuum to shreds, and if he doesn't go back the continuum the will get ripped open anyway. He eyesight is the problem, so he seeks the aid of an optometrist who has invented some special glasses made of quartz from a meteorite! A strange episode. ** Expanding Human (10/10/64) Writer: Francis Cockrell Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Skip Homeier, Keith Andes, James Doohan, Vaughn Taylor Basically a Jekyll and Hyde story. A research scientist invents a drug that gives him superhuman powers and intellect, but also warps his judgement in antisocial ways. A thinly veiled editorial against the "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out" days of the 60's. (Sigh, how well I remember those days...) * Demon With a Glass Hand (10/17/64) Writer: Harlan Ellison Director: Byron Haskin Guest Cast: Robert Culp, Arline Martel, Steve Harris, Abraham Sofaer, Rex Holeman, Robert Hortier. A man from the future, with fragmented memories and a glass computer for one of his hands finds himself in the present, being hunted by aliens from the future in an old building. The hand keeps telling him that he holds the key to life or death for billions of future humans, but it cannot give him the details until he gets the three missing fingers of the hand (obviously ROMS) back from the aliens. A very good episode. **** Cry of Silence (10/24/64) Writer: Louis Charbonneau Director: Charles Haas Guest Cast: Eddie Albert, June Havoc, Arthur Hunnicut A simple but intriguing story of an alien intelligence that animates various objects on a deserted country farm in a fruitless attempt to communicate with humans. *** The Invisible Enemy (10/31/64) Writer: Jerry Sohl Director: Byron Haskin Guest Cast: Adam West, Rudy Solari, Joe Maross, Chris Alcaide The story of several expeditions to Mars and the mysterious entity that killed them. A great monster concept. *** Wolf 359 (11/7/64) Writers: Seeleg Lester and Richard Landau Director: Laslo Benedek Guest Cast: Patrick O'Neal, Sara Shane, Peter Haskell, Ben Wright A piece of an alien planet is brought back and, in miniature, and accelerated time, studied by a scientist (who keeps it in a complex gas case.) [shades of the Microcosmic God!] It turns out, however, that the case also contains an evil entity from the planet, that gradually gains in power and threatens the project, the scientist, and his wife. *** I, Robot (11/14/64) Writer: Otto Binder Director: Leon Besnon Guest Cast: Howard Da Silva, Red Morgan, Marianna Hill, Hugh Sanders, John Hoyt The famous story of a robot on trial for the murder of its creator. *** The Inheritors (11/21/64 and 11/28/64) Writers: Sam Newman, Seeleg Lester, Ed Adamson Director: James Goldstone Guest Cast: Robert Duvall, Ivan Dixon, Steve Ihnat, Dee Pollock, James Frawley, Ted DeCorsica, Donald Haran, Dabs Greer The only two-part episode in the series. The story of several Vietnam vets, who all recovered from being shot with bullets made from some odd substance, who gradually develop a group mind, start to build some incredible machine, and have a rather odd interest in some emotionally and physically handicapped children. This is all viewed from the standpoint of government agents who are trying to figure out what the hell is going on. *** Keeper of the Purple Twilight (12/5/64) Writer: Milton Krims Director: Charles Haas Guest Cast: Warren Stevens, Robert Webber, Gail Kobe, Curt Conway, Edward C. Platt An alien exchanges intellect for human emotion as an experiment, with predictable results for both parties. *** The Duplicate Man (12/9/64) Writer: Robert Dennis Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Ron Randell, Constance Towers, Mike Lane, Sean McClory A man who has brought a highly illegal alien creature to Earth, which then escapes, has a duplicate made of himself to track it down and kill it. Complex sub-plots and conflicts. *** Counterweight (12/26/64) Writer: Milton Krims Director: Paul Stanley Guest Cast: Michael Constantine, Jacqueline Graham Denton, Shary Marshall A group of people participate in an experiment to test their reactions to simulated deep space flight. Unknown to them, an alien creature is also on the "trip", who has a vested interest in their reactions. ** The Brain of Colonel Barham (1/2/65) Writer: Robert C. Dennis Director: Charles Haas Guest Cast: Grant Williams, Anthony Eisley, Elizabeth Perry A rehash of Donovan's Brain. Need I say more? * The Premonition (1/9/65) Writers: Sam Rocca and Ib Melchoir Director: Gerd Oswald Guest Cast: Dewey Martin, Mary Murphy, Emma Tyson, William Bramley A test pilot and his wife are simultaneously spared from sudden death by a freakish suspension of time -- they find themselves several seconds "advanced" in time, with the "real" time gradually catching up with them. *** The Probe (1/16/65) Writer: Seeleg Lester Director: Felix Feist Guest Cast: Mark Richman, Peggy Ann Garner, Ron Hayes, Janos Prohaska The survivors of a plane crash in the Pacific find their raft drawn aboard an enormous craft that turns out to be a giant probe from some (alien) planet. An interesting study of the problems of extraterrestrial communication, intelligence, and humanity. ***