Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

I agree. Gerd Oswald and Conrad Hall really pulled the stops on that one. From the wispy, dreamlike setting at the lake, the extreme zoom shot on Barbara Rush as she notices the car trunk opening to the odd shadowy appearance on Tone Hobart's face as he's entranced by the twirling table object, it's definitely one of the most mesmerizing dramas I've ever seen.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Charles,

Yes, that sound is very chilling. It actually scared some of our children when I put it on a few years ago; it's one of those episodes that I don't show them in its entirety. That 'roar' is also used in other episodes of The Outer Limits (e.g., Don't Open Till Doomsday; there may be others).

Michael,

By the sounds of the post above, I think it was you who first brought this aspect of that episode to my attention. Either that, or you are ... The Duplicate Man.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

In anticipation of receiving the 3-CD set, I'm revisiting OL on the MGM set, this time viewing them in production order. Last night I watched "The Borderland", (ep. 2) paying particular attention to Frontiere's music. It didn't appear as though there was much in the way of original composition and perhaps the track listing as shown on the LLL Records site bears this out with the inclusion of but one track ("The Big Finish"--track 18) which is 4:30 in length.

LA LA LAND RECORDS, OUTER LIMITS

I take this to be the scene where Ian Frazier is interdimensionally lost and describing his findings to the other technicians. The cue that plays as we see Frazier in slo-mo mulitple exposures is exceptional, by the way, one of my favorites.

Was all the other music appearing in "The Borderland" tracked from other episodes? I thought the music in the scene where the mystic (Gladys Cooper) informs Mr. Sawyer that he "craves power" to be particularly chilling and effective and hope that it appears somewhere else on the set if not embedded in "The Big Finish".

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Man, I'm glad I revisited this thread! Ordered both the OUTER LIMITS 3-CD set and A NAME FOR EVIL: THE UNKNOWN (to get the "Forms of Things Unknown" score). I've long lamented the lack of further OL music releases, so this is just awesome.

I wonder, though, why "The Galaxy Being" wasn't included....?

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

actually it wasn't used in "Doomsday", but it showed up in season 2's "Invisble Enemy" for the sand shark roar. The gurgling sound of the "Doomsday" box alien was re-used for the Chromoite in "the Mice".
Let's have a round of applause for Robert Johnson, who voiced many of the OL aliens (especially the cackling laughter of the "Senator" in "Fun And Games" and the nasty rocks in "Corpus Earthling").

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

THE UNKNOWN has a lot of cues which turned up in THE INVADERS, especially the main title theme (which BECAME the theme for INVADERS)
La La Land has stated they got everything that MGM and Dominic Frontiere had left in their archives,recordings-wise, so "Galaxy Being" must be lost or destroyed.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Since MGM is re-releasing the complete series in the fall (as previously released as an exclusive to Borders), I sure wish they would use this opportunity to re-master the set in high-definition as The Twilight Zone has done. I still haven't rewatched much of my original MGM box sets because I was so disappointed in the presentation by comparison to other releases of that era. Surely this set deserves an upgrade. And hopefully a Blu-ray release.

If anyone has any information on MGM's plans for an upgrade on TOL, please let us know. Thanks.

P.S. I'm well into the second CD and the audio quality of the Charleston music from "Don't Open Til Doomsday" is excellent. "Nightmare" immediately evokes that very creepy quality which completely elevated an episode that they obviously had run out of any money to dress up otherwise (the surface of the planet is the soundstage floor). And it features that innovative first use of the Onafets device. Figure out what that is backwards.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Hollywoodaholic,

I'm jealous of you having this set (or rather, of me not yet having it).

Seriously, is any of the music included for Nightmare in this new set already on the Crescendo release? Or is it entirely new material, released here for the first time? I have the music which opens the episode as Vic Perrin is describing the planet Ebon. Great atmosphere, for certain.

Speaking of the set on Nightmare, I read in the Companion that the Ebonite was scary to one child who visited the set until he saw that the Ebonite was dressed in ... sneakers. I loved the simplicity (and darkness) of that set. It reminds me somewhat of the TOS episode The Empath in its use of shading, dimly lit lights, and the sparse quality of the surroundings.

The Stefano device! Pretty good reading on my part, eh?

Thanks for the correction. I love Gerd Oswald's work.

I applaud Mr. Johnson. It's a wonderful sound, isn't it? Incidentally, that prop (the sand shark) would appear later in TOS. And that special effect in Corpus Earthling (rocks morphing into something and then crawling) was superb IMO. It's also nice to see Salome Jens without her DS9 'Founder' make-up in that episode.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

the music from NIGHTMARE on the new CD is all the tracks from the GNP release (remastered) without the sound efx (like Martin Sheen's scream and explosions)

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Thanks. I won't be buying the new set now, since it doesn't have Martin Sheen's screams.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Scott, Private Dix's mom will be pleased to know that you think so highly of her son.

Last night I watched "The Human Factor" and had forgotten how good the print quality is. Conrad Hall's phototography is definitely the best thing about the episode (though the performances of the three leads are excellent) and I love that early shot of Harry Guardino's exit from the ice station which goes from a full body shot to a close-up of just his eyes--so quintessentially OL. Great Frontiere score in this one and am really looking forward to hearing it on CD. Man, if only "The Man Who Was Never Born", "O.B.I.T." and so many others looked as good as "Human Factor" for fine grain and contrast. So, yes, echoing what Wayne wrote, I really hope a remastered Blu-Ray set comes our way soon.

And Wayne, when you get to disc 3, let me know about "The Borderland". As represented on CD, it seems very short with just the 1 track.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

My feeling is that if I want to hear the music PLUS the sfx, I might as well watch the show. It's a completely different experience to enjoy the music separate, but you still get the whole flow of the story, suspense, jolts, romantic cues, denoument, etc. As I listen commuting in the car, it's like a very unique classical music station, with suites that tell a story, such as Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" or Rimsky-Korsakov's "Night On Bald Mountain."

Yeah, there's only one cue from "The Borderland" and it's probably the one Michael referenced, but I will check it out today.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

LOL. Yeah, I was only joking, obviously!

Nicely put. One of the criteria used by some musicologists and music theorists to determine whether a piece of music will stand the test of time has to do with its ability to stand alone--that is to say, not necessarily be tied to the visual (in the case of film and television) or programmatic elements. I have found that many works (particularly those that need words to convey a message) often fall short of the mark musically. The texts may be superb, but somehow the musical elements are lacking. (Lacking is a subjective statement on my part.) It is rare to find a perfect marriage of text and music, although IMO Monteverdi knew how to do it very well!

BTW, although suites that tell a story (or contain other narrative elements) can be wonderful, I find that just listening to either of the works you mention above often rewards the listener quite amply on an aural level.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

"The Borderland" track on CD 3 (track 18) runs about 6:29 and is the big finale. I haven't watched the episode recently, but perhaps some other cues in the episode were too similar, so this was used as the definitive track. It's very "Bolero-esque" in that it's the single note that keeps building and adding instrumentation, strings to horns, to a climax (excuse my non-musician description). It's also a fitting finale for the 3-cd collection since it's is the crescendo to end all crescendos for TOL music cues. The final track after that is just a third alternate version of the end credit music. With that Borderland track, you go out with a 'bang' on this set. Ravel (and Dudley Moore) would be proud (and exhausted).

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Another advantage of the soundtrack is to be able to listen to the music at a sustained level without it dropping under the dialogue cues. I know this is an obvious facet of soundtracks, but when the cues are so memorably entwined with a scene, there's a sense of breaking them free when you hear them uninterrupted.

I just re-watched "The Man Who Was Never Born" for the first time in many years and had the pleasure of being joined for the viewing by my 11 year-old son, who has not watched TOL since I screened "The Mice" with him at age 7 and it gave him nightmares for a week. This time we had much better results with me pointing out the romantic theme cues as they played (in every Shirley Knight scene), which we had just listened to in the car on the cd. His eyes kind of lit up ever time he recognized a cue. It was a great dad TOL fan moment.

The very surrealistic ending of Knight fading into the stars alone in the capsule seat left him a little stressed. He's not quite old enough to appreciate the art of a tragedy. He asked what happened to her. I said, she probably landed on auto-pilot in the future Earth and everything was okay. Later, I ran to my David Schow edition, which I also hadn't looked at in years, and, sure enough there was a happy ending shot for the episode which never aired. She wakes up on a grassy field and a futuristic hover-car goes by with a smiling man and she asks him where she is, and it's London in 2148 A.D. At that point, as a viewer, I suppose you could have interpreted the story as; she lived in the future and just woke up from a dream of the story, or; ... she did land safely in a future saved by her leaving with Andro. My son was very happy to hear this ending.

Two other things I noticed while watching this episode again were; the image wasn't as bad as I remember when I first got the set and was disappointed. Maybe some episodes are better than others. Or maybe my Panasonic Blu-ray is doing a remarkable job of upconversion.

I also noticed that the hazy, dream-like quality of the photography (which I always assumed to be vaseline on the lens, but the Schow book says was draped silk) is very consistent with ANY time Martin Laundau appears in non-deformed form. I used to think it was just in the medium and close up scenes where he had momentarily hypnotized someone to see his 'normal' appearance. But it's also in the master shots as they rush through the woods. The leaves looking down from above all have that blurred image frame around the center. And whenever he appears as Andro, the image suddenly becomes sharp all around.

To me, the thing that distinguishes great classic television DVDs from just the fun of shows we have nostalgia for - to see again, if only once - is that repeated viewings keep on giving back something else in the best ones. The quality on all levels is sustained and timeless. The story, the acting, the music, the photography. The Outer Limits has that. And, if can hold the interest of an 11 year-old boy in 2008 who normally HATES black & white, let alone anything remotely talky, well, like I may have mentioned before ... it's still working its magic.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Thanks, Wayne. As I did watch "The Borderland" last week, I can tell you that it does feature a very spare score which seems to work well for what is a very scientific and clinically styled episode. When the drawn out finale does arrive, the music sets the stage and is really brought to the fore as little music is heard in prior acts. Mainly what I noticed are the short musical "stings", which obviously would be difficult to put onto a listenable track. As mentioned above the one lengthy cue I detected can be heard in an early scene where Mrs. Palmer (psychic) and Mr. Sawyer attempt to discredit one another.

P.S. - I enjoyed reading about your recent experiences with your son on "Man Who Was Never Born". My own son is 7 and I hope to see if he can appreciate OL half as much as his Dad can by the time he's around 10 or 11. IMO, Martin Landau as the normal Professor Andro was never photographed better in his career than he was in this episode. The close up shot of him as he's "handing" Mrs. McClusky rent money is very memorable in how it captures his lupine features. My favorite scene in the episode occurs when Andro converses with Betram Cabot Sr. on the house front porch.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Hollywoodaholic,

That was one of the most impressive posts I've ever read on The Outer Limits. I particularly can relate to the 'son' moments, as well as the vaseline on the lens. I've noticed this about the show for years (in different episodes; the effect is also used in TOS on occasion, esp. when women are shown close-up). The Children of Spider County--one of my absolute favs--has this effect in places as well. I never thought of it as being 'draped silk,' although I do own the Schow book. Your final paragraph was inspiring! There are good reasons, some of which you stated in that paragraph, why this show is in my top three all-time

And this is the primary reason (in this case, repeated listenings) why I continue to listen to and analyze certain works of music repeatedly over the years. Well said.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

To me, this is one of OL's most memorable and powerful cues, used at the climax of many first-season episodes. My knowledge of music theory is minimal (I'm just a self-taught amateur rock guitarist), but OL's "Big Finish" track sounds like perhaps not just a single note so much as a perfect fifth (or maybe even parallel fifths, which are fifths stacked on top of fifths -- I think), ascending chromatically (slowly going up just note/one single half-step [or one guitar fret, or one piano key] at a time). So simple, yet so effective -- both dramatic and evocative at once.

And as much as I love Frontiere's rich scores, I too would also love to have a CD of Lubin's eerily haunting cues from OL's second season. Never seen any ONE STEP BEYOND episodes, but I might have to pick up one of those public-domain box sets, just to hear more Lubin underscores. (I do have the OSB CD, but surely there are more creepy cues used in that series than the couple on the CD?)

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Tanaleaf,

It's nice to see another fan of Lubin's (as well as Frontiere's). The closing theme to season two, used in different variations in some of the second season episodes, remains one of my favorite musical segments in all of television. I wish it (specifically the closing theme) were longer -- but that's a great sign, IMO -- music that leaves you wanting more.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

You're absolutely right, it's an ascending note, not a single note, as I so awkwardly tried to describe it. I was thinking of that image of hitting a single note on a piano, pausing, then hitting the next higher one. That's about my level of musicianship, anyway. But I'm a professional music appreciater! (I use that word as W uses "decider").

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Exactly. And additionally, if we actually hit not just a single note each time, but instead hit two notes simultaneously -- a two-note chord, as it were, where the additional note is a "perfect fifth" above the first note (for example, notes A and E together) -- then pause dramatically, and then move those two notes together up one piano key each and hit 'em again, bingo, we're in the musical "Borderland". :-)

I likewise suspect parallel fifths, gently rising and falling one note at a time, are also behind that softer, rather haunting theme music often played at the very beginning and very end of many first-season episodes (quite frequently under the concluding Control Voice narration).

Fun stuff to noodle around with whenever a piano (or other keyboard) presents itself.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Me, too -- it's been a favorite of mine since childhood, when I first heard it during the series' original run. It's often been described as a "reworking" of his own previous ONE STEP BEYOND theme -- and maybe it is, to some degree, but nevertheless I think the OL theme stands very well on its own merits, and indeed may even surpass its earlier OSB incarnation.

Another favorite OL Lubin theme is that incredibly creepy cue that plays in "Wolf 359" whenever the wraithlike Plag entity manifests itself, and in "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" whenever William Shatner encounters that drifting Venusian alien (who resembles a long-haired Mr Peanut gone bad), and probably in a few other episodes as well. Do you know the track I'm thinking of?

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

I recall it being used in "The Special One" and possibly in "The Man With the Power" as well. I enjoyed reading the posts on the music theory for this particular cue.


Most definitely. We've discussed Lubin's contribution to W359 several pages back in this thread, in fact.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

A Lubin CD featuring the second season main & end credits theme, the creepy "Wolf 359" cue, Ikar's theme (if I can call it that) from "Keeper Of The Purple Twilight," that soft, low, haunting motif (Trent's theme?) from "Demon With A Glass Hand," the spooky repeating riff from "Counterweight," and all the rest of his Season 2 tracks would be great (and might even all fit on just one disc).

I don't know much about recording technology or mixing practices, but even if the original recordings no longer exist or cannot be located, wouldn't it be possible to somehow extract Lubin's OL music tracks from the finished episode soundtracks for a CD release? (They managed to extract the music tracks from THE FUGITIVE Season 2 -- would such extracted tracks be playable, or are they actually just erased or filtered out, rather than extracted in any sort of intact, playable form?)

On another note (pun intended), I recall that prior to David Schow's OL book, he first contributed a series of articles on OL to a now-defunct "Twilight Zone" magazine (back in the 1980s, I believe). These articles may have been the earliest developmental stage of what later would evolve into his book on the series, but I know that in one of those magazine installments he reproduced the musical score (by which I mean the actual sheet music itself) of Lubin's second-season OL end title theme. I was surprised and disappointed to find that particular graphic not included in either incarnation of his OL book (at least, I don't think it's in there). I did keep that issue, though, and studied that score no end. (I don't read music, but I did manage to laboriously transliterate that brief score into guitar tabulature -- which was very interesting to play on electric guitar!)

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Tanaleaf,

Yes, I believe I know the track you're referring to here. The next time you hear it, and if you're near a guitar or piano, please try to catch the home key it is in. If I'm thinking of the same track you are, then it should vacillate around G minor.

That would be nice to get my hands on as well. I play the work on the piano (from ear); it would be wonderful to have the actual score (even in segments) for my library. It's the very pungent augmented 6th chord that is played harmonically on the final note of a four-note grouping (this occurs when the melodic note being played is a C-sharp--that is to say, melodically four notes, the final one of which is C-sharp: G / F-sharp / G / C-sharp) that really resonates with me quite convincingly. I've put the track at the close of this post for you to hear and enjoy.

I do own the season two closer on Television's Greatest Hits (vol. 2) (TVT1200 TeeVee Toons); and yes, Ikar's theme is awesome. It's actually the segment in Keeper of the Purple Twilight, right near the point where Ikar (in human form) steps on all of the ants, that I love so much. It's almost a variation of the season two closing music (also in G minor) that I am so very, very fond of musically. This is the one that outlines a descending augmented triad (i.e., D / B-flat / F-sharp ... finally resolving to the tonic G). This segment was not included on the GNP Crescendo release; I don't think it will make the 3-CD set either, unfortunately, since (I believe) this is Lubin, not Frontiere.

And here is that season two closing gem once again:

http://mythemes.tv/series/themes/closing/outerli3.mp3

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

I'm not sure about the MGM masters for TOL, but video programs have a split track master - dialogue on one, music and sfx on the other, so there would be a way to extract musical tracks for a cd release. It may not be up to the quality of the original master recording tapes, but it's certainly do-able.

And on another note (pun repeated), if you're browsing through old Twilight Zone Magazine issues, check out my story in the issue with the black panther woman on the cover (forget what date - 1984?), "Edison Came To Stay." Shameless Plug Dept.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Yes, it seems to be in G minor (more or less). The lower rhythmic accompaniment is like a Gm triad, where the fifth (D) keeps going up (to D#) and then down (to Db) -- or so it sounds to my ears; meanwhile, the higher melody goes D, down to Bb, up to D, down to Bb, then UP to Bb (one octave higher than the other Bb) and down to A, then down to F#, and back down to D... and so on.


I'll rummage around in my basement later, and see if I can find that old TZ magazine which reproduced Lubin's printed score (which was only one page long). Maybe I can figure out how to post it... somehow. (But how?)


Yes -- and that dissonant C# (or Db, which to me is the same thing) is our old friend "the flatted fifth," found everywhere from "Black Sabbath" (title track by Ozzy's old band, not the Karloff flick) to James Bernard's "Dracula" theme.

Also, that raised 7th (the high F#) in Lubin's main theme is, to me, just as important (and haunting) as the flatted fifth it then starts toward.


Yep -- and there's that raised 7th again (F#), which again makes what would otherwise be a standard G minor chord so hauntingly eerie. Lubin uses it very effectively, and certainly gets a lot of mileage out of it.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Interesting. When series are mastered onto DVD for release, can (or might) the relative levels of the two tracks be meddled with, or mis-set, perhaps accidentally? I'm wondering because, for instance, when I watch "The Borderland" episode on the OL Season 1 DVD, the "Big Finish" music doesn't seem as loud as I remember it being from old broadcast reruns. Is it just me, or does that music sometimes seem a little too low, volume-wise -- at times almost buried beneath the thunderous sound effects?


I'll look for it, if I have any complete issues left (I may have just kept torn-out and/or photocopied pages of the OL articles from that magazine...).

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Many of the season two cues can be "harvested" from the DVDs by running audio outs into a CD or digital recorder. Almost every episode has sections of music without dialogue or minimal sound efx which can be assembled into a "home made" season 2 CD (I've done this) You can use any number of editing and mastering software plug-ins to make the tracks sound better and de-noise them. You can then assemble them on your PC in a program like EZ CD Creator and assign them as separate tracks or do cross fades for a more "flowing" experience. At least you can have this until an official Lubin CD happens (if ever). You can even design your own CD inserts-get creative, folks.

Re: Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased?

Oh yeah, I used to do this with the early Twilight Zone DVDs ("The Midnight Sun" and "A Passage for Trumpet" come to mind). And then Image released the Definitive Editions, with their glorious isolated scores (which I greedily ripped). I've now got a pretty impressive Twilight Zone Lost Scores folder on my iPod. :-D Next project: The Outer Limits Season 2. Thanks for the idea!

On another note, I placed my order for the OL 3-disc set on Thursday of last week, and haven't heard ANY response from LaLaLand Records... Hmmm....