Outer Limits (Original Series) - Why Rereleased? (2 Viewers)

[Ockeghem]

michael_ks:
Very well said. Your comments remind me of something I'd like to share. And I don't mean to take anything at all away from Dominic Frontiere, whom I've written to over the years, as I am quite a fan of his.

I am one of those rare persons (at least I think it's rare) who appreciates the closing theme for season two more than I do for season one. This is the one in G minor, with the gorgeous augmented sixth (speaking not necessarily functionally, but rather aurally--the elements of which may be spelled enharmonically, but I don't really know without score in hand) and which also includes the pungent and simultaneous melodic use of an E-flat over D dissonance. Additionally, hearing the note 'G', which is common to both the A-C#-E-G (as the seventh) and Eb-G-Bb major (as the third) triads, in relatively close proximity to one another, always perks up my ears. I have played that CD countless times--I guess I can't get enough of it.

I believe it was first used on One Step Beyond; for years I credited Frontiere with this piece, but later found out it was not penned by him, but rather, Harry Lubin.

See under Theme 2 (1964): "Wierd" in the following link.

The Outer Limits

Here is the tune I'm speaking of--I get chills when I hear it.

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

Would that I could have written such a gem!

BTW, that E-flat over D dissonance occurs (for want of a better reference point--sorry) about one third of the way through the piece, judging by the movement of the ticker on Quicktime. The E-flat 9th resolves (or is absorbed by) the note D to (I think) an octave (or a compound thereof).

 

[michael_ks]

I quite agree about Lubin's closing theme for S2. It's wonderfully ethereal and works exceedingly well as underscore also. One scene that comes to mind: the Asian scientist in "Expanding Human" explaining the myriad facets of consciousness expansion ("...I see ALL leaves falling..."). Lubin's theme is also used to chilling effect in "Wolf 359" as I recall. I'm also a big fan of his original score to "Demon With A Glass Hand".

I envy you your command of music and notes--made for very interesting reading!

 

[Ockeghem]

michael_ks:
Thanks. I pretty much live for music, and think about it night and day. But I also tend to get a bit too technical at times. If it's not appropriate, or seems at all unwieldy, let me know in a PM, and I'll behave.

BTW, now I think I am going to watch Expanding Human tonight. I believe there is another character in that one who makes his way to TOS in a few short years.

 

[RickER]

I just own the original season 1 release. To bad that they didnt repress this DVD set. I have had to many problems in the past with DVD-18s, and it sounds like its not any better with the new FOX discs. If these are even new, and not just a flat out repackage of the old discs. What a great show, and i love season 2 as much as the first!
Re: Demon with A Glass Hand. I didnt see this until AFTER 1982, and Blade Runner. How shocked was i to see the Bradbury Building in this episode! As a kid, and Trek fan, I had always known of the episode because of Harlan Ellison. I just never got to see it until it showed up on a local station in the early eighties.

 

[Ockeghem]

RickER:
What are DVD-18s? I've never heard of that term before.

 

[Ron68]

I'm enjoying season 2 more, just re-watched "Expanding Human" and enjoyed it as much as the first time. James Doohan was great in it as the Detective, he could been great in a cop show. There are a lot of really good episodes but some are dull but the music has always been exceptional. The Shatner episode was enjoyable but the "Soldier" show is by far my favourite so far. I never cared for Michael Ansara very much but he was excellent in the role.

 

[Ockeghem]

Ron68:
I just watched Expanding Human last night. I counted at least three people in that episode that went on to TOS: James Doohan, Skip Homeier (he played Melikon in Patterns of Force and Dr. Sevrin in The Way to Eden), and Keith Andes (he played Akuta in The Apple). I've always liked looking for TOL and TOS connections when I watch either of these series.

I too liked Soldier. Ansara was very good in it. I thought the special effect for the ray gun was done very well, too--loved it when the patrol man's car was disintegrated. I also like Lloyd Nolan--he's another one of those staples from my television youth. And the deciphering of Quarlo's language was a nice touch.

Another of my favorites that I neglected to mention in a previous post is The Invisibles. The sound effects used when that alien is crawling are haunting. It's one of those episodes that I won't show to our younger children, even though I was introduced to TOL when I was five.

 

[RickER]

Scott, those are the double sided, duel layer discs that the Outer Limits are on. DVD-14s are also double sided, but single layer (on one side anyway) and dont seem to be as much a problem. And, the problem with DVD-18s is that they seem to delaminate, oxidize, or whatever, making portions of the disc unwatchable. Lots of Universal TV shows were put on DVD-18s. FOX loves to use DVD-14 now. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is on DVD-14, but i dont have trouble with those.

 

[michael_ks]

The thing I like most about "The Invisibles" is that it has the unmistakable stamp of the OL triumvirate that made S1 so special, namely Stefano-Oswald-Hall. I believe they collaborated on 8 or so episodes, "Don't Open 'till Doomsday" and "The Forms of Things Unknown" among them. I regard the latter as a masterpiece for avant garde expression.

I've always thought of the S2 episodes as being much more conventional, in large measure, no doubt due to Perry Mason alumnus Ben Brady helming the show. Still, I admit that there are some excellent episodes, and certainly a strong case can be made for "Demon with a Glass Hand" taking the honors as the best and most cerebral episode of the series. I'm also very fond of "Soldier", "Wolf 359", "The Inheritors" (Steve Ihnat was exceptional in that one), "The Premonition" and "Cold Hands, Warm Heart". The only ones that are very difficult for me to sit through are "The Probe", "The Brain of Colonel Barham" and "Counterweight".

I had the honor of meeting Harlan Ellison, Arlene Martel ("Consuelo Biros"), William Shatner and James Doohan in the 1970s. They were all very generous with their time and I have very fond memories of talking with them.

 

[RickER]

Course i am a big Perry Mason fan myself Michael. So that doesnt hurt either. If i recall, OL had its share of "courtroom" episodes as well? I have also met Shatner, Doohan, and Ellison. But i was a kid, of about 13, when i met Ellison, and i didnt really give a crap about the writers. Damn, how young and stupid was i, because i have also met Bradbury and Asimov, and i didnt give a damn!

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I was driving down Doheny in Beverly Hills many years ago, came to a stop sign, saw a truck driver casually spit out his window and watched the loogy unfortunately land on the hood of a very sweet-looking Mustang beside it. Next thing you know, this little guy jumps out of the Mustang in full road rage and starts pounding on the door of this big truck screaming, ranting and swearing. The truck driver took off, leaving him standing and yelling there.

It was Harlan Ellison, god bless him, in classic mode.

(And, by the way, IMHO, the first season of Outer Limits with Stefano and Conrad Hall and Frontiere was pure gothic noir art, unequaled ever since. The second season under Brady ... not so much, but a few classics, including the two by Ellison).

Oh, damn, one more Ellison story. James Cameron was attached to direct a screenplay of mine early in my career for a Canadian production (I later backed out for 'artistic' reasons - don't ask - big big dummy). While working together, he showed me his first draft for The Terminator. I told him I thought it was very cool but, as a OL fanatic, wasn't this "Soldier" from the second season? He smiled and waved it off.

The rest, including Ellison's lawsuit and subsequent credit on all prints of The Terminator ... is history. But I did warn him, (and especially after witnessing the road rage incident) ... you don't mess with Harlan Ellison.

 

[RickER]

To make matters worse for Cameron, didnt he consult with Ellison before he had made Terminator? Its been a few years since i read about the whole situation.
Speaking of Ellison, and the OL, fans should check out the first season of the 80s twilight Zone. Ellison was a consultant on that show, and contributed many good scripts!
I have always had a soft spot for Ellison, but nothing can remove The Starlost from my memory, what a craptastic show that was!"http://www.youtube.com/v/UMAi6u4Ps5A&rel=1"

 

[Ockeghem]

RickER:
Nicely said! That first line above is one of those that deserves at least a footnote in someone's book. I love the phrase, 'pure gothic noir art.'

 

[Charles_Y]

Speaking of this building, I seem to remember a music video, Cher, of all people, did back in the early eighties where she pranced through a rather cleaned up Bradbury Building while singing a version of Bob Seger's "Feel Like a Number."

Anyone else out there recall this one or am I imagining it?

 

[Ron68]

I did notice the tone and style of season 1 was different but I wasn't used to that. I just seem to like the episodes in season 2 more, maybe because they are more tradition in design. Can't wait to see the other Ellison episode. I have liked him ever since I first saw him on Sci-Fi Buzz (miss that show) and found his commentaries to be very interesting.

 

[Ockeghem]

One of my fondest childhood memories was discovering that The Outer Limits was on television while I was channel surfing. Granted, channel surfing meant at that time no remote, and usually four channels (or five or six if one was fortunate enough to have UHF, which we were). Channels 38 and 56 were sometimes a real treat. I rarely got to see TOL at night, but later (in syndication) I was lucky enough to see it semi-regularly on Saturday afternoons.

There was one occasion when I was able to see it at night. I recall being with my father late in the evening (this was in 1963 or 1964) when he was visiting a good friend of his. They had some things to discuss, and I was left in his friend's living room, with the television tuned to ABC. I saw about a half hour of The Sixth Finger, and I was forever hooked on this awesome television show.

Speaking of that episode, I loved it when Gwyllum Griffiths (played by David McCallum), at the point where he has mutated to approximately the man of 20,000 years into the future, is heard and shown playing a few preludes and fugues of J. S. Bach. He mentions that not too much of humanity is lasting. He says (paraphrased) that so little lasts the test of time, and how even Bach's music is rather uncomplicated once the mechanical mastery of performing it has been achieved. (LOL--I suppose I might be able to say the same had I evolved to that point as well.) Griffiths' remarks remind me of something Gary Mitchell said in Where No Man Has Gone Before. It occurs right after his telekenetic(?) powers force water in a cup to be moved toward a faucet, and then the water to turn on automatically, with the cup shown floating in the air over to his hand as Kirk arrives in Sickbay. Mitchell says something about the writings of Spinoza being rather childish.

Interestingly, the first memory I can recall of TOL was seeing 'the bear'--in this case, Gwyllum Griffiths at about 1,000,000 years evolved. That made a lasting impression on me, as well as hearing the music of Bach (which I later learned was performed by Glenn Gould) in the episode. Little did I know at that time that one of my two all-time favorite composers, my favorite performer/interpreter of the keyboard music of J. S. Bach, and such a unique and impression-making television show all came together in one glorious package on that evening.

For the record, the Bach works that are heard in The Sixth Finger are listed here. The three works are from Das Wohltemperierte Klavier (Teil 1). I have listed the works here in the order that they are heard in the episode:

Prelude in C Minor (BWV 847).
Prelude in D Major (BWV 850).
Fugue in D Major (BWV 850).

 

[Ron68]

I used to watch the OL on saturday afternoons when I was a kid. The only thing I could remember about the show was the opening title sequence and the creatures from the Zanti Misfits, I also remember enjoying the show, which is why I bought it . I finally got around to watching Demon with A Glass Hand, great episode. I really liked Robert Culp's performance and really liked the twists and turns in the story. This is my third favourite episode so far. I would have been farther along in the set but I've been busier than usual lately and I'm juggling it with Swamp Thing-the Series.

 

[Ockeghem]

Ron68:
I agree with regard to Culp's performance. Have you been able to see the other episdoes of TOL that he's been in? The Architects of Fear and Corpus Earthling are both quite good. The former is downright chilling (esp. the Thetan--who doesn't appreciate Janos Prohaska's work in this show as well as in TOS?) and the latter is quite good as well (using a neat special effect when the rocks become animated), and stars not only Culp, but Salome Jens, whom many fans will know as the female changeling in DS9. The opening sequence to The Architects of Fear is among the most frightening (and in my estimation purely sci-fi) segments that I've ever seen on network television.

I too know what it's like to be busy with real-life--LOL. I just finished DS9 (last night), and have a couple of other series to get through before I start another one.

 

[Ron68]

Those were great episodes, some of season 1's best. Also loved The Bellero Shield, The Mice, Production and Decay of Strange Particles, The Chameleon, The Invisibles, Nightmare and the Zanti Misfits. Looking back, there are more episodes from that season that I enjoyed than I thought.

Last night I watched Cry of Silence. It was ok but I couldn't help but think how painful it would have been to grab and get hit in the face with those tumbleweeds. I can remember the first time I saw one and grabbed it, unaware of how many sharp "thorns" they have, It was very painful lol. I love the FX and creature designs on this show, very well done That moving rock effect was really cool. I prefer these "old school" effects over CGI, I find it more awe inspiring at how the men and women could all these effects. They had to be very creative in being able to create such great effects on such low budgets.

 

[Ockeghem]

Ron68,

The last time I saw Cry of Silence, I recall thinking about something in that episode that caught my attention, but I can't recall what it is at this moment. It may have had to do with the gradual darkening that took place just before the tumbleweeds begin to converge. I will have to watch it again to trigger what I had in mind, but I know it was something that I was quite impressed with when I saw it last.

I am very much in agreement with preferring the "old school" effects over those of CGI--it's not even close in my opinion. I also greatly appreciate the make-up (Wah Chang was incredible) and the time and effort that was put into it back in those days. It could not have been that easy. They were very, very creative. The aliens in TOL are still more frightening to me than most I have seen in shows thirty and forty years later. Part of this may be attributed to the show being in b&w, but not all of it.