I was a little too young to have seen the original “Outer Limits” when it first aired. After all, the first episode premiered a mere two months after I was born. But that didn’t stop me from becoming a fan of the series later in life. Thanks to my parents, who were very well rounded when it came to entertainment, I was introduced to a lot of older shows as I was growing up. Some of the anthology series, like “The Twilight Zone” and “The Outer Limits” were my favorites. I think it was mostly because you didn’t get all caught up in a continuing storyline or set of characters. Each episode offered up a slice of life, albeit a rather twisted and bizarre slice, but that was right up my alley. The original series, though limited by the special effects technology of the time, made up for the shortcomings with well-written and occasionally provocative plotlines. It only lasted two seasons, but there are very few people who are not still familiar with the opening quote from the credits:

“There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image; make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to the outer limits.”

In 1994, Showtime brought the famed anthology series back and I had my doubts about it at first, mainly because part of what made the original so great was its simplistic style. Updating an old idea sometimes doesn’t really work. But while the episodes were hit and miss in terms of overall quality, a great many of them succeeded in capturing some of the themes of the original series. Fortunately they did a good enough job that this new series lasted 6 seasons on the Cable Network, and was picked up for a 7th on the Sci-Fi Channel.

As you might guess, since we are so much more technologically advanced, both in terms of special effects and overall knowledge of the previously unknown, the newer series tapped into this, even going so far as to update the opening quote just enough to fit the times:

“There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now in control of the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousands 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."

The original series was popular enough to have gotten some of the better actors of the time to come on board for some of the episodes. It wasn’t unusual to see stars like Robert Duvall or Martin Landau. The new series boasts the same advantage, and over the course of its extensive run saw the likes of Leonard Nimoy, Beau Bridges, Clancy Brown, William Sadler, and Ron Rifkin join the ranks of “The Outer Limits” guest stars.

There’s been a growing request list for the episodes to be released on DVD, as the original series has already been made available. The answer from MGM has been to sporadically release episodes on a themed basis, similar to the way episodes of “Unsolved Mysteries” have been released. Admittedly, as much as I like having the opportunity to own some of the better episodes on DVD, I (like most fans of the series) would much rather they release them in full season sets. By releasing them they way they have been, there will either be episodes that will never see the light of day of DVD, or consumers will end up double-dipping down the road if the decision is ever made to release them in full season sets. I guess time will tell.

In the meantime, I am glad to see some of the episodes being released are amongst my favorites. “I, Robot” and “The Camp” are included on the disc “Fantastic Androids & Robots”, as well as “Quality of Mercy” and “Beyond the Veil” on “Aliens Among Us.”

Each disc has 6 of the episodes, and they are available individually, or as a Gift Pack that holds all six sets. I recommend the Gift Pack as it offers more bang for your buck, and a handsome slipcover case. All of the discs also offer their own set of special features. In most cases it is a short promo documentary about the particular subject, but two of the discs (“Time Travel & Infinity” and “Sex & Science Fiction) have seven separate featurettes with cast and crew interviews.

Though I still prefer the original “Outer Limits” series over the new, I still recommend catching the new show when you can. Grabbing these new DVD sets (or the Gift Pack) is probably the best way (if not the only way) to see some of the best the series had to offer.

Episodes on each disc:

Aliens Among Us Collection
Quality of Mercy
Afterlife
The Grell
Relativity Theory
Alien Shop
Beyond the Veil

Fantastic Androids & Robots Collection
I, Robot
The Hunt
Resurrection
The Camp
Glitch
Small Friends

Mutation & Transformation Collection
The New Breed
Descent
The Joining
Double Helix
The Gun
The Inheritors

Death & Beyond Collection
The Second Soul
The Other Side
New Lease
Essence of Life
Human Trials
Black Box

Sex & Science Fiction Collection
Caught in the Act
Bits of Love
Valerie 23
The Human Operators
Skin Deep
Flower Child

Time Travel & Infinity Collection
A Stitch in Time
Tribunal
Gettysburg
Time to Time
Déjà vu
Patient Zero

Specifications: Full Screen
Studio: MGM
Release Date: 6/21/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give The New Outer Limits Gift Set an A.