RETURN TO THE OUTER LIMITS...season one part two.

About a week ago I posted my top five episodes from the first half of season one of The Outer Limits. I've finally got round to finishing the first season. So let's crack on with the second half...

It was hard to compose a top five for the second half of the season as the overall quality of the episodes was very high, so not every episode I liked is on this list. Honourable mentions must go to the episode 'ZZZZZ' for it's incredibly sexy bee lady, 'The Chameleon' for its sympathetic aliens, 'The Form of Things Unknown' for its time twisting gothic horror and 'Specimen : Unknown' for its cheesily fun killer flowers. Here then are the top five...

5 - DONT OPEN TILL DOOMSDAY

A nightmare tale of an evil alien entity trapping people in a box. This episode is noteable for its surreal feel. The creature itself and the way it is filmed is reminiscent of the sort of visual that you would find in the early work of David Lynch. In fact the whole episode has such an oddball feel - from the cast of strange characters down to its otherworldly atmosphere - that it makes you wonder if a young Lynch was a fan of The Outer Limits and drew some influence from it.

4 - FUN AND GAMES

A tale of gladiatorial combat and survival on an alien world. This episode is headlined by good performances from its central cast (Nick Adams and Nancy Malone) and some decent alien designs. It's a slightly faster paced episode than others in the series and has some memorable scenes of combat over broken down bridges and acid swamps. It has a similar feel and theme to the classic Star Trek episode 'Arena'. Hardly surprising as both 'Fun and Games' and 'Arena' where inspired by the same short story - Arena by Fredric Brown which was originally published in 1944. The Trek episode is the closest adaptation of the two, but this episode still clearly has its roots in Brown's story.

3 - THE MUTANT

This story is essentially a whodunit where you know straight away who the murderer is. Mainly because the killer's identity is given away in the pre-credits cold opening and also because its The Outer Limits, of course the killer is going to be the guy with the mutated eyes. Its a fun episode nonetheless and Warren Oates gives a suitably menacing performance as the titular villain. 

The main reason I picked this episode was that it triggers nostalgic childhood memories in me. I would have been around five or six years old and the fun fair came to the town where I grew up. My parents took me there one night, I think it was during the Autumn months as I remember it being quite chilly at the time. I had a go on the "hook a duck, win a prize" game. I scooped up my plastic duck in no time and was asked to pick my prize. Among the various assorted pieces of crappy cheap plastic tat that you usually find at such things, one prize stood out to me - an issue of the poster magazine 'Monster Mag'. Needless to say with its great front cover featuring Vincent Price as Dr Phibes, I was instantly sold and practically swiped the magazine off the shelf as my prize. I took the magazine home and eagerly devoured its contents that night as I ate my supper.

Inside, the magazine had a feature about a science fiction show that I'd never heard of before called The Outer Limits and most specifically its aliens and monsters. What I thought was by far the best monster was a huge half page photo of a human looking man with gigantic blood shot eyes - Warren Oates in 'The Mutant'. For some reason this photo just fascinated me, he looked so real to my six year old self. I wasn't scared of him, I just wanted to know what his story was. Why where his eyes like that ? Was he a goodie or a baddie ? What powers did he have ? Did his eyes hurt ? Now, forty five years later, I know the answers to all those questions and he's still one of my favourite monsters and still fires my imagination.

2 - THE SPECIAL ONE

This episode mainly earns its place due to the brilliant performance of Richard Ney as the story's villain - Mr Zeno. Zeno is an alien posing as a human teacher who seeks out exceptionally intelligent human children and trains them to become weapons against the human race. On the surface Zeno appears to be a charming, suave and erudite man but underneath lies the heart of a cold, ruthless killer. Its the way that Ney flips from one state to the other that makes his performance so great. He absolutely steals the show and makes a great villain. It also helps that this story has a great script - not a scene is wasted, even the pre credits scene is utilised to the full. Normally the intro just shows a clip from later on in the episode (in some cases spoiling key plot points), here its actually a part of the story and acts as a proper prologue setting up what is to come and giving a context and a background to the plot. Clearly the programme makers knew that they had gold with this episode and these extra little tweaks only serve to make 'The Special One'...well...special. 

1 - A FEASIBILITY STUDY

Another episode with a surreal almost Lynchian feel to it. Everything about this episode comes together perfectly, the acting, the scriping, the sound design and the direction all convey an atmosphere of ominous dread, that feeling right from the opening of something being not quite right. The alien Luminoids are a brilliant creature design too with thier blank, unfinished, lumpy mishapen faces. 

The factor that really makes this episode stand out is the bittersweet ending - its both sad and uplifting and speaks of the strength of the human spirit, a change in pace for The Outer Limits which usually dwells more on the darker side of human nature. You'll not forget this one easily.

So, there you have it. Season one is done and dusted. Now all I've got to do is watch season two. Rest assured we will be returning to The Outer Limits soon. We now return control of your television set to you...