One of the greatest days in my life came in September of 1963 with the introduction of a new and startling television show. Let's face it, many of us were too scared to try and adjust our television sets. We did not try to control the volume, or sharpen anything to crystal clarity. The control voice told us clearly that they control the volume, the television, and basically us for the next hour.
Clearly, The Outer Limits was the most innovative and serious sci-fi/horror television program of its kind. Probably ever, in fact. The stories and themes were sophisticated, more on an adult level which only augmented the shows mystique. So many of its themes which incorporated hard science, astronomy, and time-warp continuum were so far above my young head that I found myself just going along for the ride! The theme song was just as intense as any could be. It announced itself hard with powerful crescendos softening to a wierd electronic cold shrill. In my opinion, the theme song for the second season was quite corny, and destroyed the overall effect of the opening.
Indeed, once The Outer Limits got into my head, it was hard to get rid of it. The program embedded itself into my brain, and once an episode played out, it was with me until the next week. The Outer Limits aired on ABC Television, and I believe, if memory serves correctly, the slotted time was Monday evening at eight o'clock. Each week, as we sat huddled on the floor in front of the TV, the control voice was telling us that we no longer had control over the TV, let alone our lives.
Okay, here's my picks for the best Outer Limits Monsters:
The "Rock Monsters". Fear Level: 10
The Zanti Ants. Fear Level: 10
The Chromoite Alien. Fear Level: 7
Gwyllum. Fear Level: 9
The Ebonite Interrogator.Fear Level: 10
The Swamp Creatures. Fear Level: 5
The Invisibles. Fear Level: 9
The players shown above were the stars of what I, as a third grader, considered to be the "all-time scariest episodes that left me a damaged human being for life." Though I'm not listing them in the order in which they were originally aired, here goes:
"When 'Corpus Earthling' was finished and the music added, I sat there wishing I could say 'don't air this.' I had never thought it could be that scary, and I was horrified. It hit me in a disturbing way that I never wanted our shows to hit people."
I had to agree with Joe, for this one terrified me to a point where I was too scared to go to bed. I was thinking that those rocks could be under the covers waiting to stick themselves to my face.
Next up, "Nightmare". I can still see this episode in my head presenting itself on our black and white television screen. There was this constant foghorn-like sound in the background, and the creatures were terrifying to me. The long-faced Ebonites with their bizarre wands that broke peoples' bones, blinded them, and made them mute, were ultimately scary to me.
"The Zanti Misfits." I started off okay with this episode, but when those ants with humanoid faces started arriving en massé, that's when the old fear level kicked in. Like "Corpus Earthling", I was sure those ants were in my bed, and I could just feel them crawling all over me when the lights went out!
"The Sixth Finger." I was as fascinated with this episode as I was scared by it. At least, they brought on the changes slowly, bit by bit as Gwyllum began morphing into a "man of the future". I can still hear his words "The whole town must be utterly destroyed. An example must be made" in such cold-blooded tones that it chilled me.
"Don't Open 'Till Doomsday." The whole idea of someone being vacuum-sucked into a box by their eye was ultimately disturbing. Then, once inside the box, they encounter other victims who haven't a clue as to what just happened to them. This was the prelude to one freaky episode. I don't have much of a memory of this episode, except for what I just described.
And so, in conclusion, I have both of these seasons of OL on DVD, so the memories are forever preserved. I was a bit disappointed in the packaging though. I feel that it lacks that 60's era class of black and white sci-fi and horror. There's too much "now" and not enough "noir".
Wasn't it fun?...
