ARTICLE WRITTEN & EDITED
by: Lee Fenton
A modern remake of a 1960s science fiction anthology series of the same name, ‘The Outer Limits’ debuted in 1995 — created by Leslie Stephens, the show was filmed entirely in Canada. Principal photography occurred in (and around) Vancouver, BC. ‘The Outer Limits’ has been heralded as an achievement in televised Sci-fi and manages #91 on RottenTomatoes.com top 100 sci-fi shows of all time.
While that rank isn’t incredibly high on the list – it still lets us know that someone recognizes this show had to crawl, before future sci-fi properties could leap and bound into worldwide recognition. ‘The Outer Limits’ was an innovator in the field of television special effects.
Some episodes are much better than others; the quality of storytelling in ‘The Outer Limits’ is a bit “hit or miss”.
A good portion of the effects that the showrunners were instituting in the making of ‘The Outer Limits’ were quite revolutionary for the era, and what is seen as terribly ‘cheesy’ by today’s standards, was cutting edge work in the mid 90s, albeit in some cases the CGI and or prosthetics just didn’t come off as well as they could have.
You see the same sort of thing in the early seasons of ‘ The X-files’ a show that had a shaky start with budgetary restraints affecting the look of the series (also filmed in the greater Vancouver area). But similar to ‘The Outer Limits’ as the series progressed it managed some very unique creature FX and practical effects in general, which made the show not only a pop-culture juggernaut but also the mold for procedural police dramas that borrowed the aesthetic of Chris Carter’s ‘X-files’.
But back to ‘The Outer Limits’ — the show that we’re here to discuss. Although the visuals of the series never reached the levels of Mulder & Skully’s ‘X-files’ badassery, it did allow for another show to improve upon the various monster and alien makeups presented on-screen. The creator of ‘The Outer Limits’ Lesie Stephens also went on to make another hit sci-fi show, ‘Stargate: SG-1’ which was quite the success in the early 2000s — being the flagship series of the Space Network (later renamed Syfy). All in all the Outer Limits is a loving recreation of a classic anthology series and although it features a myriad of lackluster acting; it also manages some really convincing drama at times, and always attempts something visually stunning in it’s special effects and set-construction.
Does it always work? Well I’ll leave that up to you – the viewer.
Here’s a list of famous actors that appear in episodes of ‘The Outer Limits’ – 1995
-Malcom McDowell
-Mark Hamill
-Beau Bridges
-Doug Jones
-Robert Patrick
-Michael Dorn,
-Jonathan Frakes,
-Gates McFadden,
-Marina Sirtis
-Brent Spiner
-Levar Burton
-Kirsten Dunst
-Neal Patrick Harris
-Ryan Reynolds
-Will Atherton
-Leslie Ewen
-Roger Cross
-Bill Cobbs
-Kevin Conway
(The Outer Limits)
WDM’s – Rating 7/10
“There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission.”
“We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to the outer limits.”
-The Outer Limits Control Voice
(Beginning Narration in Opening Sequence) [1 -]IMDb.com
Sources:
[1]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112111/quotes/?item=qt2527354
