# The Outer Limits: We Really Watched That Show With A Straight Face, Didn't We? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238 "2003-10-03T01:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/21 "2003-10-03T17:21:57Z")
Mini-Hijack: Anybody ready for a new _Twilight Zone: The Movie_? I want Ayckroyd back in there! Also, I’m a huge fan of _Tales From The Crypt_. Way overdue, IMHO! Quasi (gettin’ into the _spirit_ of the month!) ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/22 "2003-10-03T17:43:01Z")
Remember “Thriller”? Anyone, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/23 "2003-10-03T17:45:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*Was “The Cold Equations” (in which a space pilot must jettison a stow-away) an Outer Limits or a Twilight Zone? \*\* That is interesting. I didn’t know they had done a version of that story on television. I heard the story on an episode of radio’s X-Minus One. I suppose it started as a short story, most of X-Minus One’s stories were taken from sci-fi magazines. pat ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/24 "2003-10-03T18:05:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j.c. \* > \*\*Remember “Thriller”? Anyone, anyone? \*\* With _Boris Karloff_ as the narrator/host? Or the Michael Jackson/Vincent Price collaboration? I’m afraid (!) I remember both! 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/25 "2003-10-03T18:13:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arden Ranger \* > \*\*The aliens are pretty amusing. But did you see the one about the scientist studying bees?] \*\* That was one sexy bee, huh? 😉 Was that one of those “Howard-Hughes” bras she had on? I mean, them bad boys were _out there_, doods! **Sorry! I have a thing for 60’s broads! I used to fantasize to Ventures album covers!** 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/26 "2003-10-03T18:41:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by j.c. \* > \*\*Remember “Thriller”? Anyone, anyone? \*\* Yes, especially the ep with the slot machine. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/27 "2003-10-03T19:15:30Z")
It’s worth pointing out (or maybe not, who cares?) that the 1990s _Outer Limits’_ “Control Voice” (i.e. the narrator) was Kevin Conway, who played Kahless the Unforgettable on _Star Trek: The Next Generation_ as well as Ryan and Cyril’s scumbag father on _Oz_. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/28 "2003-10-03T19:28:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pricciar \* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > > \*\*Was “The Cold Equations” (in which a space pilot must jettison a stow-away) an Outer Limits or a Twilight Zone? \*\* > > That is interesting. I didn’t know they had done a version of that story on television. I heard the story on an episode of radio’s X-Minus One. I suppose it started as a short story, most of X-Minus One’s stories were taken from sci-fi magazines. > pat The short story “The Cold Equations” was written by Tom Godwin and originally appeared in the August, 1954 issue of [_Astounding_ magazine](http://www.hycyber.com/SF/astounding_aa.html#G). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/29 "2003-10-03T19:31:02Z")
I can’t recall if it was on the TZ, OL, or Night Gallery, but I remember an episode where astronaughts are sitting in the capsule, having landed on the moon, and they look out the window to see a giant mouse! The moon was, indeed, made of green cheese. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/30 "2003-10-03T20:16:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > \*\*I can’t recall if it was on the TZ, OL, or Night Gallery, but I remember an episode where astronaughts are sitting in the capsule, having landed on the moon, and they look out the window to see a giant mouse! The moon was, indeed, made of green cheese. \*\* Sounds like NG. When an episode ran short, it would be followed by a short piece of comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/31 "2003-10-03T21:14:05Z")
I’m with RealityChuck on this one. I’ll go even further and call the original **Outer Limits** my favorite TV show ever. So what if the monsters and effects don’t always look good. that was the lits of the technology at the time. The strength was in the mise-en-scene–the writing, directing, acting, photography and music. OL never resorted to lame comedy or cheap schmaltz, as TZ too often did. It always leaves me with the feeling that we are all alone on a tiny planet in an infinite universe full of creatures and forces far beyond our understanding and (at best) indifferent or (at worst) hostile to our existence. I gave up on the new version several years ago when they tried to tie up a bunch of different episodes into one big X-Files type conspiracy. Bleh. Not entirely by coincidence, I started off this morning by watching my DVD of **Incubus** , which was made by some of the people behind **The Outer Limits**. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/32 "2003-10-03T21:42:07Z")
Another great episode of the Outer Limits: “Hundred Days of the Dragon” in which an “Asian country” (China) creates a formula that makes the skin elastic and moldable. They intend on replacing all the top leaders in DC with their agents. “Demon With the Glass Hand” was shot in the same building where _Bladerunner_ was shot. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/33 "2003-10-03T22:57:19Z")
**Feasibility Study** was the episode that I’ll always remember. The scene at the end where all the people who were abducted grasp each other’s hand, knowing that in doing so, they will be infected with an alien disease can still make me cry. Some of the episodes were not so good, but some were just awesome. I want the dvd’s some day… ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/34 "2003-10-04T01:04:24Z")
The ‘slot machine’ was a Twilight Zone. I’ve had my share of ‘was it a TZ or an OL’ arguments. I usually win. Sadly. Anyway, since nobody mentioned my favorite OL, I will. “The Man Who Was Never Born” with Martin Landau as the ‘bear’. A fine science fiction love story. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238/35 "2003-10-04T02:04:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > **The new Outer Limits has its clunkers, too, but I’d say that overall it is some of the finest SF ever broadcast.** I agree to a point. The last season or so has had WAY too many clip shows. I think I’ve caught 5 episodes lately, 1 of them was a repeat from an early season, 2 of the others were wholly clip shows, one had clips from earlier episodes, while being mostly new material. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-outer-limits-we-really-watched-that-show-with-a-straight-face-didnt-we/205238.md?page=1)