The Outer Limits Show History

The Genesis

The origin of the show starts in 1962 during a conversation between independant producer Leslie Stevens and the ABC Vice President of Programming Daniel Melnick where the following premises are accepted: 'exploring the mystery of the universe with a story which is based on a strict scientific fact (communication, alien contacts and biological/philosophical experiments—which breed catastrophies—and done by extraordinary people who are confronted by the daily necessities) and which contains at least a monster', the absolute rule to sell the show. The ABC network asks Stevens to launch a science fiction anthology in order to compete with CBS's "The Twilight Zone".

The Production Crew

Leslie Stevens and his friend Dominic Frontiere contact writer Joseph Stefano, author of Hitchcock's script for "Psycho", to define the pilot episode which integrates two paramount elements: science-fiction and television. Stevens keeps the production crew of his last series, "Stoney Burke" and his unsold pilot "Mr. Kingston", in other words, composer Dominic Frontiere, music supervisor John Elizalde, director of photography Conrad Hall, art director Jack Poplin and directors John Erman, Laslo Benedek and Leonard J. Horn.

The Leaning of the Show

Stevens finds the name of the show: "Please Stand By" (pilot's original title), then, "Beyond Control" and finally modified for "The Outer Limits". This is he who invents the Control Voice: the abstract voice (of actor Vic Perrin) which introduces and closes every episodes with a dead-serious tone as a warning: a reverse reference to Rod Serling's moralistic "Twilight Zone". Stevens is a kind of production designer who takes care of the artistical continuity and its mark lies in the leaning for stylish and fancy technology conceived as aesthetic components (the peculiar mood created by the general design). Unlike Stevens, Stefano has a more gothic approach to the drama and, therefore, gives a touch of German Expressionism (theme and look) to the show—he plays the doctor in search of the psyche's bottom and its nightly manifestations. Actually, Stefano resurrects a Hollywood trend—that started back in the early 1940's in film noir and other genres—by introducing again the basic codes and symbols of psychoanalysis through vivid dreamlike narratives. He creates the leitmotif of the bear (aka the monster) in order to uplift the tension, hence a quarter of the budget is dedicated. From the opening title, the show is well sumed up with three symbolic ingredients: sound (transmission), image (communication) and space (exploration). All these elements are present while the broadcast of the first episode (which is an audio-visual tribute to the television medium melt with the sci-fi genre), "The Galaxy Being": September 16, 1963.

The Shooting

Joseph Stefano produces, writes, masters most of the scripts (and Control Voice's poetic monologues) and the editing process, with the help of Louis Morheim and Tom Selden. Leslie Stevens only writes and directs four episodes and works as an executive producer. He first hires veteran Byron Haskin ("The War of the Worlds") to shoot and also supervise the special effects as an unofficial advisor for Projects Unlimited Inc as well as a second unit director. Stevens later gets Gerd Oswald (the son of German Expressionist director Richard Oswald) to direct and highlight almost all Stefano's downbeat stories populated of torn-inside characters. But the most important aspect is the artistical composition due to demiurge-cinematographer Conrad Hall (with William A. Fraker but uncredited), who follows the way of his camera teacher Ted McCord (see "Stoney Burke"), and pioneers in the art and craft of cameraworks by subverting the traditional codes: the creative use of odd angle shots (low, high, tilted, off-centered, splitted), outré low-key lightings, fluid hand-held camera shots, any effects of the wide angle lens (the emphasis on the depth of field creating a long vanishing point and skyline or distorted close-ups) and the exploitation of the coated filters (the blur or the soft focus look). Without forgetting the strength of the Baroque soundtracks scored and conducted by music maestro Dominic Frontiere and the innovative electronic sound illustrations of music supervisor John Elizalde. In short, they experiment and work on the concept of the distortion. At the end of the making of the episode, "The Invisibles", Stevens tries to sell, for the last time, a brand new pilot: "Stryker" but with no success.

End of First Season

In spite of a decent rate audience, the network worries too much and doesn't appreciate the spirit of autonomy and the anti-conformism of the Stevens-Stefano duo and above all, the lack of budget balance. Stefano submits to them an expensive pilot: "The Unknown", fully written, directed and produced by him. ABC rejects it cold. The two men threatens to leave the ship. At last, the pilot is directed by Gerd Oswald and included as the last episode ("The Forms of Things Unknown") of the first season. But for the next season, the network decides to make some drastic changes and, feeling betrayed, both men quit "The Outer Limits" project after thirty two episodes. Following the path of "The Unknown", Stefano fashions a supernatural pilot "The Ghost of Sierra de Cobra" (series title: "The Haunted") with the post-OL crew but which doesn't sell because of new promotions at CBS. A year later, Leslie went on making his testament to fantasy, the Esperanto fable: "Incubus".

The Fall of the Second Season

From September 1964, another season begins with a brand new team—composed of key "Perry Mason" members: producer Ben Brady, story editor Seeleg Lester, associate producer Sam White and "One Step Beyond" composer Harry Lubin and a much more mainstream direction whose framework is murder and mystery-oriented. These changes, added with less budget, pedestrian scripts (even with Harlan Ellison and Jerry Sohl), dull and over-lit photography, insipid film-making (despite Haskin and Oswald), ludicrous monsters, a new time slot and a strong competition from CBS ("The Jackie Gleason Show"), ruin and sink the show in mid-season. Oddly enough, you can read in the end credits the names of Stevens and Stefano's production companies: Daystar and Villa di Stefano. "The Outer Limits" was a maverick, iconoclastic and far-out show owing to strong positions and which depicted a bleak vision of life for the television of that era.