Things are not what they seem

The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light - the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other.

- Vic Perrin (Sep. 1963)

Source

When I was just a little kid I remember seeing a program on TV. It was so long ago I never could even remember what it was, but it scared the bejeezus out of me! The memory of it gives me chills to this day. I spent years trying to find out what it was. In fact, one of the reasons I joined ATS was in hopes of finding the name of the program. I finally figured it out after years of research.

Looking at it now, the acting and costumes look kind of corny, but the message it contained was profound and stuck with me all my life. You may have even seen this theme in some of my posts here; Aliens won't be like us, not anything like us.

What was this enigmatic TV program, you ask? Well, it turned out to be the very first episode in what would become a legendary TV program, Episode #1 of 'The Outer Limits', and the episode was entitled 'The Galaxy Being'.

Outer Limits

The Outer Limits only ran for two years (Sep 1963- Jan1965). It would go into syndication for decades after that. Rod Serling's, 'The Twilight Zone could never hold a candle to The Outer Limits (IMHO).

I think one of the great things about The Outer Limits was how they had both scientific, current events and sociological issues woven into each episode, but they did it in such a subtle way that each episode came off as science fiction when in reality it was a metaphor of the ills of modern society. Of course, back then, I didn't have that level of philosophical understanding to grasp it.

If you look back now at the plot line for each of the episodes you can see many meanings which even apply today.

Take Episode #6 for example, you can see parallels to today with coronavirus and the lengths it would take to undo it.

List of Episodes here

There is a hyperlink for each episode and when you read the plot lines you can see a message in every one of them.

Aliens won't be anything like us, but there are many things around us every day which we fail to understand the magnitude and synchronicity of.

Maybe worth some thought.

We now return control of your television interwebz set to you, until next week at this same time, when the Control Voice will take you to... The Outer Limits.

If we are recalling older programs and looking for parallels with modern events or hopefully a direction we find ourselves going down, Star Trek resonates a lot with me.

Much of the technology has come to fruition in some form or fashion, and hopefully more to come.

The ideals of a unified planet, with a collective goal and ambition to explore the universe in search of scientific discovery are noble to me.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Rod Serling's, 'The Twilight Zone could never hold a candle to The Outer Limits.

I'm a fan of both, but totally disagree, you also have to consider that without the Twilight Zone then there's a good possibility that The Outer Limits may never have existed at all

a reply to: Zcustosmorum

Okay, I'll grant you that, but I still think TOL was a better program. Don't get me wrong, I loved TTZ also, just liked TOL better, but to each their own.

a reply to: MDDoxs

Much as the poster above me just called me out on The Twilight Zone, I have to do the same with Star Trek.

You do know that Star Trek was largely based on many of the concepts presented in The Outer Limits. In fact..."To boldly go where no man has gone before..." was truly to explore the 'Outer Limits', was it not?

And, some of the very same space creatures who appeared in Star Trek first appeared on The Outer Limits.

I avidly watched Outer Limits as a teenager. Enjoyed it a lot. But to say that Twilight Zone could not even hold a candle to OL is difficult to comprehend. One might just as easily suggest that OL was merely a cheap knock off of TZ capitalizing on the market niche that TZ had established.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

I already conceded the point.

Just my opinion.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

LOL...What a trip down memory lane. I was 5-6 years old when The Outer Limits came out. I had neighbor friends whose parents forbid them to watch scary stuff, so they would come over to my house. My mom let us watch those shows.
One of the neighbor kids got so freaked out by a show that he stopped coming over! A couple other kids and I were more daring, and we liked getting scared. It was a rush.
Two Outer Limits episodes in particular scared the hell out of me. The worst was the Thetan creature from "Architects of Fear". The other was the big ants with human heads. "The Zanti Misfits".

One morning I was watching TV and saw a Superman episode called The Mole Men, which scared the living hell out of me. I'm talking terror! I didn't like the Superman show, but I happened to watch that damn episode!
The story was actually kind of cool. A construction crew was putting up an oil rig, and the drilling disturbed these weird little humanoid creatures that lived underground. I became worried that a culvert in a local field was the entrance to their lair. I avoided walking by the field for months!

The Mole Men

While I was too young to watch when it originally came out, it is still my go to in the middle of winter. I watch those, Twightlight zones and the older anthologies like Cat's eye.

I've loved to be scared, ever since I was little.
And its crazy how some of the older shows, still scare me more, with their terrible costumes, than even the more realistic slasher/horror movies.

a reply to: chiefsmom

If I remember, Cat's Eye was the movie with the creepy little jester thing that lived in the wall. That scared the heck out of my niece and nephew when they were very young.

I loved the Outer Limits. It used to scare the crap out of me. My parents didnt like me watching it, if I remember correctly. Id go to bed and have nightmares , and be calling out to my mom in the dark. She would have to come in and tell me " theres nothing to be afraid of. God is always right here watching over you. That stuff on TV is make believe".

Can you check under my bed real quick Mom. Make sure nothing is under there....

originally posted by: MDDoxs
If we are recalling older programs and looking for parallels with modern events or hopefully a direction we find ourselves going down, Star Trek resonates a lot with me.

Much of the technology has come to fruition in some form or fashion, and hopefully more to come.

The ideals of a unified planet, with a collective goal and ambition to explore the universe in search of scientific discovery are noble to me.

Yeah, but hopefully we won't have to take the same path to get there. In Star Trek the federation only arose after nuclear, biological and genetic wars. Which was alluded to in many of the episodes of the original series.

I remember The Outer Limits well.
I loved that show!
I had an Outer Limits puzzle that was a scene on a beach with space monsters searching for people and it scared the crap out of me.
That puzzle would probably be worth a few $$$ today.
Thanks for the “blast from the past”!!!

reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The Zanti Misfits:



Cat's Eye:
(This one scared the beejeezus out of my niece & nephew!


There was a movie that scared a younger neighbor girl so badly, it was nuts! She was majorly traumatized! It was an early 1970s movie called "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". A young couple moved into an old house that was inhabited by these freaky little demonic creatures. The couple and some friends are sitting down to dinner, and one of the things peeks out of a plant. About a minute later, they show the thing. I remember the neighbor girl covering her eyes and screaming! She was about 6 or 7 years old.

The first glimpse is at the 1:40 mark, then you get a good look at 2:10

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yeah the outer limits was a favorite of mine.

I found an even older sci-fi series, 1950's "Tales of Tomorrow"... It's got very good writing and good acting. (unlike today's remakes)

Anyway, check it out... I think Rod got some of this ideas from here possibly.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


So weird this popped up. I finally have a day off and all I want to do is rest and maybe catch a good movie or show, no such luck until I find a show on some channel I rarely watch, and I got deeply into it not even knowing what I was watching til the end where the credits showed it was the Outer Limits.

Definitely an interesting show!

I fly a lot. Never does a flight go by at night and in a storm that I do not think about the Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"

The irony is it was William Shatner in that episode since some folks here are talking about Star Trek.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Doesn't this kind of post belong to 'chit-chat' or something?

Anyway..

The Twilight Zone could never hold a candle to The Outer Limits (IMHO).

Way to shoot down your credibility with one sentence. Unless this is a mental typo and you, _OF_COURSE_ meant it the OTHER WAY AROUND, I can't trust anything you write after this display of lack of ... well, let's just say I can't believe anyone would think this, when the opposite is SO obvious.

Sure, there were a couple of good-ish episodes, but come on. Have you ever seen The Twilight Zone?

It's hard to explain my shock about your statement, and how much disdain it accumulated in me instantly, but let me try to draw a comparison.

Let's say there's a culinarist that has a great taste, and knows because of his sensitive tongue and culinary skill exactly what's good food, what's bad food, what's exquisite culinary experience, what's a mediocre, but passable meal, what's just trash food (even if it technically (but artificially) 'tastes good', like junk food would). He can immediately know if a food was made with love, or with routine, even if the exact same portions and ingredients are used. He can detect if food has 'soul' or 'excitement', and other very refined things normal people would never even consider.

This culinarist could be called Ben.

Then there's Tom, who doesn't understand anything, except 'good grub'. He'll eat trash if it's not -too- bad-tasting, and he can't detect difference between a big mac and a 240 dollar gourmét meal in a fanciest restaurant on the planet. To him, it's just grub, and it's either good, or not good. Very rarely it's 'pretty good, but not your best'.

It would be a waste to offer him anything 'sophisticated and sentsitive', when he would experience it only as "grub, but not as good as a big mac". It would be such a waste to try to titillate his sensitive parts with attractive visuals, amazing smells and finally, exquisite, deliciously prepAAHHTHAT WAS GOOD, what's for dessert?

Now, if Tom says big mac is better than some painstakingly prepared gourmét meal, Ben would certainly be shocked, knowing not only superficially, but with EVERY FIBER OF HIS BODY AND EVERY SPARKLE IN HIS SOUL that Ben couldn't be MORE WRONG. Big mac is robot-built trash junk fastfood crap and it only 'tastes good', because it's carefully CALCULATED to do so. There's no soul, there's no finésse, there's no layers of deliciousness that form umami that just melts your tastebuds carefully from back to front in a very specific way that grants an experienced man with sensitive (or cat, as they say in Japan) tongue a climactic, almost psychedelic, downright órgasmic super experience.

To Tom, it's just 'grub', and 'big mac is better'.

Can you imagine Ben's reaction, if he saw Tom say this after eating a 240 dollar gourmét meal that the cook masterfully crafted, and then RATHER wanting a robot-built soulless junk crap to eat?

This mirrors my experience when it comes to your, maybe slightly thoughtless sentiment, as well as I can put to words. I am still almost shivering from shock.

I think one of the great things about The Outer Limits was how they had both scientific, current events and sociological issues

So, -one- thing.. becomes -both- things.. then you list THREE things!

You can't do that.

BOTH this AND that.

Not "Both this, this and that".

You can't list THREE things under "BOTH", because the word 'both' implies ONLY TWO THINGS ARE INCLUDED.

You are breaking the rules of english language, no wonder you also break the rules of good taste (sorry, can't hold it in any longer).

Never before in my life have I so deeply understood what the word 'philistine' really means.

Anything before 1963 had a lot to offer, in the way of "Inspirations", and warnings. After 1963, slowly, Television turned into a slow, portal to hell.