7,829
edits
The Outer Limits: Difference between revisions
added Category:Live-Action TV of the 1960s using HotCat
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (added Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages using HotCat) |
HLIAA14YOG (talk | contribs) (added Category:Live-Action TV of the 1960s using HotCat) |
||
| (5 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 3:
{{quote|''"There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical..."''|'''[[Opening Narration|The Control Voice]]'''}}
A [[Science Fiction]] [[Genre Anthology|anthology]] show, created by Leslie Stevens, although producer Joseph Stefano did more to set the series' avant garde tone. Its original version, which aired on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] between September 1963 and January 1965, was often a worthy competitor to ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.
''[[The Outer Limits]]'' was often somewhat dark in tone, and it was also unusually arty and thought-provoking for an early 60s TV series, complete with poetic dialogue, unusual camera angles, a lush orchestral soundtrack, and [[Chiaroscuro]] cinematography (often provided by future Oscar winner Conrad Hall). The show featured some truly brilliant writing by the likes of Stefano, Robert Towne, Anthony Lawrence and Meyer Dolinsky. And then there was the show's main selling point—the [[Monster of the Week|Monsters Of The Week]] and other special effects, which were all the more impressive for being created on a weekly TV schedule and budget.
Although ABC commissioned ''The Outer Limits'' to cash in on the late 50s/early 60s monster boom, the network never really understood it, which helps explain why it was [[Too Good to Last]]. When ABC announced that during the series' second season in 1964, it would be [[Screwed by the Network|moved to a suicidal Saturday night time slot]] against ''[[The Jackie Gleason Show]]'', Stevens, Stefano and much of their production team left in protest. The network replaced them with a new team headed by ''[[Perry Mason]]'' vet Ben Brady, who tried to save the series by making it (somewhat) less artsy and more commercial. ABC didn't help matters by reducing the series' already low production budget. Despite this, the second season produced several memorable episodes (most notably [[Harlan Ellison]]'s two scripts, "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand", and the two-part "The Inheritors"), but it did no good. After a few months of predictably bad ratings, ABC
However, that wasn't quite the end. Despite its status as a short-lived, black and white anthology series, ''The Outer Limits'' remained popular enough to stay in constant syndication for nearly four decades. This resulted in a made-for-cable [[revival]] series helmed by producer Pen Densham, which far outlasted the original, beginning its seven-season run in 1995. A few of the new series' episodes were [[
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Monster of the Week]]
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adam Link]]: The story was adapted by ''both'' versions of the show. [[Leonard Nimoy]] appeared in both, as different characters.{{context|reason=How is this a trope?}}
* [[Alliteration]]: Joseph Stefano loved this trope. His scripts are full of phrases such as "this virile, violent inevitability" ("The Invisibles") and "mad mechanical magics" ("Fun and Games").
* [[An Aesop]]
* [[After the End]]:
* [[Alien Invasion]]: Several episodes of both series.
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]: A frequent trope in both series, understandably enough. Given a variety of [[Hand Wave|handwaves]], some of which are more plausible than others.
* [[The American Civil War]]: The setting of most of the [[Revival]] episode "Gettysburg", complete with one of the characters plotting to assassinate [[Abraham Lincoln]].
* [[And Call Him George]]:
* [[And I Must Scream]]: The fate of the Limbo Being in "The Premonition", who gets trapped in a [[Void Between the Worlds]].
** Also happens with the murderous priest in the [[Revival]] episode "Fear Itself", driven mad in the end, a throwback to the punishment given to the SS commander in the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "Death's Head Revisited" by the ghosts of his victims. [[Laser-Guided Karma]], anyone?
* [[Another Dimension]]: Two TOS episodes ("Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "Behold, Eck!") feature beings from other dimensions accidentally finding their way into our world.
* [[Arc Welding]]: The season finales of the [[Revival]] are [[Clip Show]]s that tie together the plots of various previously unconnected stories, one involving a [[Super Soldier]] project & another with a pair of immortal [[Energy Beings]] who have been [[Chessmaster|setting up the events of several stories]], all for no other purpose than their own amusement.
* [[Back to Front]]:
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: Frequently invoked in the 90s revival.
* [[Battle Boomerang]]: Used by one of the Calco Galaxy aliens in "Fun and Games".
* [[Big Brother Is Watching]]:
* [[Big No]]: Delivered by [[Mark Hamill]] himself at the end of "Mind Over Matter".
** Robert Patrick delivers one at the end of "Quality of Mercy".
Line 35 ⟶ 36:
* [[Body Swap]]: The TOS episode "The Human Factor" features an accidental one caused by a [[Phlebotinum Breakdown]].
* [[Born in The Theater|Born on Pay Television]]: The revival's introduction, similar to the original's, has a "please stand by" notice added to it in syndication since the Showtime airings did not have commercials.
* [[Bottle Episode]]:
* [[Brain In a Jar]]:
* [[By the Eyes of the Blind]]:
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Quoted above.
* [[Clifford Simak]]: His short story "Goodnight, Mr. James" was adapted for the original series as "The Duplicate Man".
* [[Cloning Blues]]: "The Duplicate Man" in TOS. The [[Revival]] has "Think Like A Dinosaur" and, unusually, subverts the trope with "Replica", which also has one of the few [[Happy Ending|happy endings]] in the series.
* [[Color Me Black]]: "Tribunal" featured an ending where a Nazi war criminal whose escaped justice for 50 years put into the uniform of his prisoners and taken back in time to his own camp. His younger self shoots him for being Jewish.
* [[Compelling Voice]]:
* [[Cool Motive, Still A Crime]]: Hawkes in "White Light Fever" had a king-sized [[Freudian Excuse]], but became a super-king-sized [[Jerkass]].
* [[Crapsack World]]: In [[The Remake|the remake series]], at least. Many episodes are interconnected through the mysterious [[Evil, Inc.|Innobotics Corporation]] and their [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]], not to mention that every season produces a couple of sequel episodes for earlier stories for double the [[Cruel Twist Ending]]!
* [[Cruel Twist Ending]]: The [[Revival]] series did this so often, the trope used to be named Outer Limits Twist.
Line 54 ⟶ 56:
* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: A few episodes, even in the revival.
* [[Easily-Thwarted Alien Invasion]]
* [[Energy Beings]]:
* [[Episode Title Card]]: Very distinctive on the original series; the episode title, and the names of the episode's stars, come right at the viewer, accompanied by the sine wave and (after the first few episodes) the piercing electronic whine from the opening credits.
* [[Everything's Worse with Bees]]:
* [[Evil Teacher]]: Mr. Zeno in "The Special One".
* [[Evil Is Deathly Cold]]: the power trying to claim Hawkes in "White Light Fever" is cold, to the surprise of some characters.
* [[Executive Meddling]]
* [[Fable Remake]]: "The Man Who Was Never Born" is based on ''[[Beauty and The Beast]]'', and "The Bellero Shield" is based on ''[[Macbeth]]'' (which also makes it an example of [[The Bard on Board]]). Concidentally, both episodes star Martin Landau.
Line 69 ⟶ 72:
* [[Gladiator Games]]: The plot of "Fun and Games"; the Anderans kidnap beings from various planets to fight for survival, with the loser's homeworld beign destroyed.
* [[A God Am I]]: "The Sixth Finger", pictured above.
* [[Government Drug Enforcement]]:
* [[The Grotesque]]: Andro in "The Man Who Was Never Born", the fake alien in "The Architects of Fear", the Chromoite alien in "The Mice", etc.
* [[Half-Human Hybrid]]:
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Several episodes of both series.
* [[Hoist By Her Own Petard]]: The fate of scheming, murderous Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield".
Line 79 ⟶ 82:
* [[Humanity's Wake]]
* [[Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad]]: The titular characters in "The Children of Spider County".
* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]:
* [[Idiot Ball]]: Over the duration of "Sandkings", the main character (Simon) grabs onto the ball so tightly that he practically becomes a walking-talking [[Idiot Ball]] himself. To elaborate: he brings home {{spoiler|Martian insects proven to be intelligent enough to escape military security procedures. He continually expands their enclosure, maxing out his family's credit line in the process. He leaves the enclosure open-air, allowing the family dog to be [[Kick the Dog|kicked]]. After punishing the creatures for doing so, he leaves his upper body dangling inside the enclosure, getting himself bit. Then he invites his ex-boss over to feed the creatures, and his death spasms break open the enclosure.}}
* [[I'm Mr. Future Pop Culture Reference]]: In the episode "Time to Time", a time traveler uses "Luke Skywalker" as an alias when in the year 1969. He even finished a phone call with "May the Force be with you."
* [[In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves]]: Referenced in the TOS episode "Counterweight" and the revival episode "Heart's Desire".
* [[Jacob Marley Warning]]: The Limbo Being gives one of these to the main characters of "The Premonition"—mostly because they threaten to ''[[Values Dissonance|set him on fire forever]]'' if he doesn't tell them how to escape from their [[Time Stands Still]] situation, as he was unable to do.
* [[Jekyll and Hyde]]:
* [[Jerkass]]: The bad-tempered, self-pitying titular character in "The Brain of Colonel Barham". Yes, he's terminally ill, but the episode makes it clear that he was a jerk even when he was healthy.
* [[Just a Machine]]
* [[Kill and Replace]]: A U.S. Presidential candidate by an Asian government's agent, in the 1960's episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]:
* [[Mandatory Twist Ending]]: What are these [[Happy Ending|"happy endings"]] of which you speak?
** To be fair, both versions of the show do have the occasional episode with a [[Happy Ending]].
* [[Mind Control]]: The titular "Brain of Colonel Barham" somehow gains this power.
** Also, in "The Special One" Mr. Zeno can control the bodies of his victims, while their minds remain free. A nice power to have when you're an alien invader who sadistically delights in forcing the humans who discover your plot to commit suicide against their will...
* [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read]]:
* [[Monster of the Week]]: One of the original series' central tropes; somewhat less common in the [[Revival]].
* [[Multinational Team]]: The human soldiers in both versions of "Nightmare".
Line 100 ⟶ 103:
* [[Name's the Same]]: The [[Revival]] episode "The Human Factor" is ''not'' a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Occurs in more than a few episodes, but "Sandkings" is the story of one man breaking things over and over. See [[Idiot Ball]].
* [[No Immortal Inertia]]:
* [[No Party Given]]: The Presidential candidates in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
* [[Not So Harmless]]: The [[Body Surf]]ing aliens from the [[Jack the Ripper]] story, originally portrayed as mindless parasites, turn out to be responsible for orchestrating the events of every single episode of the revived series.
* [[Obsolete Mentor]]
* [[Opening Narration]]: Partially quoted above.
* [[Orifice Invasion]]:
* [[Outlaw Couple]]: Ben Garth and Lisa Lawrence in "The Zanti Misfits", although Ben fits the trope much better than Lisa does.
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: In his ''Outer Limits Companion'', David J. Schow identifies this as a plot flaw in two TOS episodes, "The Mice" and "Second Chance". He notes that both episodes feature "a lone alien on a mission that is terminated because the aliens do not bother to ask for what they want."
* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: There were two versions of "The Forms of Things Unknown"; one was intended as a pilot for ''The Unknown'', a straight suspense anthology that wasn't picked up.
* [[Psychic Surgery]]
* [[Puppeteer Parasite]]:
* [[Really Was Born Yesterday]]: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent initially thinks he's "A full grown man, born ten days ago." {{spoiler|He's wrong on both counts.}}
* [[Reluctant Monster]]: The titular character in "Behold, Eck!" Also the episode's [[Working Title]].
Line 123 ⟶ 126:
* [[Screwed by the Network]]
* [[Secret Test]]: In "Nightmare" a group of soldiers invading the planet Ebon are captured and tortured for information by the Ebonites. They eventually learn that the situation is a set-up by their own superiors to test their ability to resist interrogation, with the cooperation of the Ebonites (who eventually protest the unethical nature of the test).
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: In "White Light Fever", {{spoiler|Hawkes believed he would end up in Hell because of what he did to survive as a child, but his description of the event made him sound like an innocent victim with a bad case of [[Survivor Guilt]]. In the end he did appear to be going to Hell, because his fear of the afterlife led him to become a selfish [[Jerkass]] willing to let a young woman die to buy himself a few more months.}}
* [[Send in the Search Team]]:
* [[Show Accuracy, Toy Accuracy|Show Accuracy Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''Outer Limits'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714165043/http://science-fiction.netfirms.com/ cards] (one of which is the page pic), released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who apparently had never watched the show, concocted new stories (and [[So Bad It's Good|laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the [[Aliens and Monsters]]. Later series of cards didn't have this problem; one series recycled the original pics with new text including both the TV and trading card plots.
* [[Spoiler Title]]: "The Probe", considering that the story is about a group of plane crash survivors who wind up on an alien space probe—without either the characters or the audience initially realizing it—and spend about half the episode trying to figure out where they are.
Line 130 ⟶ 134:
* [[Stock Footage]]: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots come from earlier science fiction films and series. "The Premonition" starts with footage of an actual X-15 flight; it also includes scenes of a coyote chasing a rabbit through the desert, which were taken from ''[[Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom]]''.
* [[Stop Motion]]: Used to animate the aliens in "The Zanti Misfits" and "Counterweight".
* [[Teleporters and Transporters]]:
* [[Television Portal]]:
* [[Theremin]]: Harry Lubin's scores for the second season of the original series use the instrument extensively.
* [[Time Is Dangerous]]: In one [[Revival]] episode, the result of [[Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory]] is that an entirely new lifetime's worth of memories gets added onto the existing one, which could result in brain damage.
** Also, the aforementioned [[And I Must Scream]] situation in "The Premonition".
* [[Time Stands Still]]:
* [[Time Travel]]:
* [[Tomato Surprise]]:
* [[Treacherous Spirit Chase]]: The main plot of "If These Walls Could Talk" concerns a house "infected" by an alien substance. Not only does the house absorb people into its structure, it's able to regurgitate [[Doppelganger]]s of those people to lure in their friends and loved ones when they come searching for answers.
* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: The setting of "The Duplicate Man" and some episodes of the [[Revival]].
Line 146 ⟶ 150:
* [[What You Are in the Dark]]: Quite a few moments. The closing narration for "The Voyage Home" even outright states "The true measure of a hero is when a man lays down his life with the knowledge that those he saves... will never know."
* [[The Wild West]]: The setting of the revival episode "Heart's Desire".
* [[X-Ray Sparks]]:
* [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]]: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests" from TOS and "The Sentence" from the [[Revival]].
* [[Yellow Peril]]: The Red Chinese are the villains in the TOS episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
Line 164 ⟶ 168:
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:Multiple Works Need Separate Pages]]
[[Category:Live-Action TV of the 1960s]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Outer Limits, The}}
| |||