The Outer Limits is turning 50.... (1 Viewer)

[jperez]

One of the best episodes of all time, whatever series. In effect, it condenses in less than an hour enough plot to nowdays sustain a five year series, and does it flawlessly, without seeming crammed. What I always remember is that Ellison has said that it was only like the first chapter of a long novel and that he was going to complete it later... which, I think, he never has.

 

[Blimpoy06]

I was wondering what I missed. I saw photos of the book release party and it looked like it was a nice event and the images that appear in the book were on display. It seemed more like a book celebrating the legacy and impact the series had.

I purchased this about a year ago. Nice book with lots of detailed photos. The book you have, the companion, goes into more detail about the episodes. Worth tracking down if you like the show. Not worth hundreds of dollars.

 

[Flashgear]

Here is a very interesting on set photo from Outer Limits season one's 'Moonstone' (Mar. 9, 1964)...Director Robert Florey (in the Gamma Ray Proof Hawaiian Shirt, of course) conferring with actor Tim O'Connor in the foreground...on the KTTV sound stage reconstruction of the lunar sets first seen on Men into Space...a production assistant in the background manhandling a 'prop' (what the hell is he doing to it? ha, ha, this might make the 'Grippian Tyrants' even angrier)...with actors Alex Nicol (?) and Hari Rhodes (?)...I love seeing behind the scenes photos of the crew goofing off...

Here is a beautiful painting by illustrator Chesley Bonestell, who painted the famous lunarscape backdrops seen on these sets...a 1950's scientifically informed conjecture of what the first Moonbase could look like...He produced a series of well known paintings to accompany articles in Look Magazine by the German Rocket Scientist Werner Von Braun...at the time in charge of the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal Rocketry Program at Huntsville, Alabama...and later, the chief designer of the Mighty Saturn 5 Apollo Moon Rocket...

 

[Flashgear]

Another behind the scenes shot from the filming of 'Moonstone'...September, 1963...

And an earlier run through, as the guys seem to have forgotten their space helmets...

Great shot of Tim O'Connor with the 'Moonstone'...from this angle, clearly showing it to be a Beverly Hills streetlight globe...with which the FX guys from Projects Unlimited worked considerable magic...it is a visually impressive episode...

 

[Flashgear]

A impressive behind the scenes production still from season one's great episode, 'The Bellero Shield' (Feb. 10, 1964)...an unrecognizable John Hoyt as the Alien...note the microphone and shadow of the sound technician...

 

[Flashgear]

An Outer Limits ABC network promo photo of a gallery of first season 'bears of the week'...unfortunately, the "Thetan" from 'Architects of Fear' was late for this photo op...

Outer Limits producer, co-creator and writer Joseph Stefano (scriptwriter of Hitchcock's Psycho) with the Icthyosaurus Mercurius in June, 1963...during production of season one's 'Tourist Attraction' (aired Dec. 23, 1963)...this episode proved to be the most expensive episode produced for the series...necessitating the shooting of a low budget "bottle" episode, generally deemed to be the still entertaining 'Controlled Experiment' later in June, with the great (and expensive) episode 'Architects of Fear' produced in between...

 

[Flashgear]

Another Outer Limits family photo...this time the gallery of 'bears' are threatening unidentified human female...

Arguably, the greatest of the creatures...the "Thetan" from 'Architects of Fear' emerges from Project Unlimited's shop...

 

[Flashgear]

This is fascinating...ABC's Continuity Acceptance Department (network censors, equivalent to standards and practices) shooting script review containing re-write directives for Outer Limits season two's premiere episode, 'Soldier' (Sept. 19, 1964)...concerning keeping radiation burns, screams, smoking, toilets and girlie magazines to a minimum...and deeming a script reference to a political assassination as "untimely"...with the remark, "We got elections coming soon, Y' know"...and another plot point, a 'a joy girl, a camp follower', as "good, but unacceptable"...and suggesting another deletion in order to avoid an FBI clearance...scriptwriter Harlan Ellison must have loved this stuff, ha, ha...the document itself is addressed to Daystar series producer and co-creator Leslie Stevens, second season executive producer Ben Brady and second season story editor Seeleg Lester...

 

[Flashgear]

Milton Bradley Jigsaw Puzzle curiously combining Chilly Charlie from 'The Human Factor' and an Ebonite from 'Nightmare'...I wasn't even in the age range for this, being 7 at the time these shows first aired...but I could have used this to work on my childhood phobias induced by the show itself, ha, ha...

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

I had The Outer Limits game which basically had the same cover minus the Ebonite.

 

[JohnHopper]

Any news concerning the upcoming release of The Outer Limits from Kino Lorber?
Thanks.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Any news concerning the upcoming release of The Outer Limits from Kino Lorber?
Thanks.

From the Kino thread:

Coming 2018:
The Aviator (1985) (BD) | The Big Country | Blame it on Rio (BD) | Cadillac Man | Cemetery Club | Covered Wagon | Farmer's Daughter | A Fistful of Dollars | For a Few Dollars More | Highway Dragnet | It's the Old Army Game | Legend of Hillbilly John | Lion in Winter (BD) | Manhandled | The Master (Complete Series) | The Maze (3-D) | Miracles | Old Ironsides | Outer Limits (Seasons 1) | Outer Limits (Seasons 2) | Reincarnation of Peter Proud | Running Wild | Sinbad of the Seven Seas | The Soldier | Special Delivery | Spiral Staircase | Stagestruck | Stingaree | Taking of Beverly Hills | Thomas Crown Affair (1968) | Wilby Conspiracy | Woman in the Window | A Woman's Devotion |

Appears to be 2018. Further updates will probably come in December??? in the Kino thread.

 

[JohnHopper]

Thanks Doug.

 

[Flashgear]

Outer Limits co-creator, producer, writer and sometimes director Joseph Stefano with David McCallam in August 1963, on the set of 'The Sixth Finger' (airdate Oct. 14, 1963)...

 

[Blimpoy06]

Outer Limits co-creator, producer, writer and sometimes director Joseph Stefano with David McCallam in August 1963, on the set of 'The Sixth Finger' (airdate Oct. 14, 1963)...

I know Leslie Stevens directed, but I wasn't aware Stefano ever did. Can you give us an example of his directing credits? I am most curious. Thanks.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I know Leslie Stevens directed, but I wasn't aware Stefano ever did. Can you give us an example of his directing credits? I am most curious. Thanks.

The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (1964)

 

[Blimpoy06]

Thanks. I was totally unaware of this work of his. Sounds interesting. I guess this was produced around the same time he was trying to develop The Unknown TV series. Would love to see it someday. I'm a sucker for anything with Diane Baker and Martin Landau too.

 

[Flashgear]

There does seem to be some confusion, perhaps intended, and allowing for Director's Guild proprieties, in whether Joseph Stefano did in fact direct some of the scenes in 'Forms of Things Unknown'...the prospective pilot for The Unknown series...he certainly wanted to direct his teleplay, and his corporate partner and good friend Leslie Stevens went to bat against ABC to allow him to direct the episode...the David Schow/ Jeffrey Frentzen book goes into some of the details about this affair in the context of Daystar's battles with ABC...the contention being that although Stevens had directed 6 episodes, Stefano would not be allowed that privilege...this led to several angry exchanges between Stevens and Network Nabobs (Nimrods? ha, ha)...ABC threatening to bury The Outer Limits in the ratings by moving it opposite The Beverly Hillbillies or Jackie Gleason Show...probably a threat they wouldn't have acted upon, but an example of the open hostility in their Network relationship...Gerd Oswald and Claude Binyon jr. are the credited directors...I believe one of the sources for Stefano at least directing a select few scenes in 'Forms...' was Vera Miles herself, in a press interview published years later and in reference to the 30th anniversary of Hitchcock's Psycho...for which, of course, Joseph Stefano had written the screenplay...

Joseph Stefano was apparently only a reluctant replacement Director on Ghost of Sierra de Cobre...Robert Stevens fell ill, or at least so goes the story...why oh why that is a lost film is a tragedy, if true...someone posted a comment on IMDB claiming their Father (a CBS employee) brought home a 16 mm copy of the unsold pilot for a home screening in '64 or '65...and that the 16 mm film was lost in a fire a decade later...another copy of the film, and in original 35 mm, must still exist in a vault somewhere...did Ghost of Sierra de Cobre really screen theatrically in Europe with an extended cut? ...it was certainly harder in the 1960s to get a Science Fiction or Horror series on the air...and a struggle to keep it there, generally perceived by Hollywood corporate types as low brow...those genres have only grown exponentially in popularity since, haven't they? The upcoming KL Blu-ray release of The Outer Limits will be stunning to behold...

 

[potnoodle]

[QUOTE="..ABC threatening to bury The Outer Limits in the ratings by moving it opposite The Beverly Hillbillies or Jackie Gleason Show...probably a threat they wouldn't have acted upon, but an example of the open hostility in their Network relationship..[/QUOTE]

In fact, not only was ABC quite serious about moving TOL to a killer time slot, they did just that for the second season. It was moved to 7:30 PM on Saturdays against Jackie Gleason and the show was history by January. Even Stevens and Stefano departing the series didn't placate the sharks at ABC as Stevens' Daystar company was still producing the show. They wanted to ruin Stevens, and they pretty much did as Daystar went bankrupt not long after TOL was cancelled.

 

[Doug Wallen]

The Bellero Shield

Martin Landau (Mission:Impossible, North by Northwest), Sally Kellerman (M*A*S*H, Star Trek- Where No Man Has Gone Before), John Hoyt (Star Trek-The Menagerie, Westerns and numerous guest appearances), Neil Hamilton (Batman), Chita Rivera (Broadway-Bye Bye Birdie, Marcus Nelson Murders)

"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition – by which sin the angels fell."

Since this is October, I thought it was time time to view some classic television frights. I started with one of my favorite "scary" episodes. I really enjoy this one. A travelling alien who is only seeking knowledge gets an "invitation" to visit the Bellero family. He picks the wrong house to visit. Family conflict abounds -the father who cannot support his weak willed son; the son who is so meek looking for validation; the wife who only wants the best for her husband and the maid who just seems vindictive. What a house to drop in to. Such a great look to the alien, such great performances from all involved. Nifty little morality tale with a truly sad ending. The alien makes a very personal sacrifice to save Mrs. Bellero with a tragic ending. The alien teaches us that the eyes are all we need. "In all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak." We just need to look.

"When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell."

Looking forward to a few more of these. I always enjoy stories that examine "us" through unconventional means. Good alien, really messed up humans. Great entertainment.