Topic: The Awe and Mystery - The Outer Limits
One of my favourite science fiction series of all time is the Outer Limits. Not the old 60s version but the version they started in the 1990s. I've not seen the old version but the clips I've seen are rather horribly dated. It's an anthology series featuring a wide range of different stories and themes, often morality plays or often with a twist. It has an iconic opening and each episode features a short narration at the start and end, an ominous voice posing thoughtful questions or comments, invariably about the nature of man.
My first memory of this series is watching the episode Valerie 23 at boarding school. Imagine you've got about 20 13-year-old boys around a TV watching this X-files like offbeat TV episode about a man who gets to try out a robot sex doll, then the woman drops her clothes and there's a spontaneous roar of cheers in the room. The schoolmaster comes into the room, sees tits on the screen, and immediately turns it off. The room boos! But the schoolmaster just ignores us, counts to 10, then turns it back on again. No tits. He then casually walks out.
Thus was my introduction to this indelible series. There are many episodes that are burned into my memory. To the extent that when I rewatch them, I seem cursed with the ability to recall the entirety of the story within seconds of the first frame. There are too many to go through here, I'd be here all month. But I thought I'd post some thoughts about those that I think represent the best of the series. If you've not seen any, I highly recommend seeing the series and getting your dose of high brow science fiction. Good old fashioned ballsy story-telling.
No spoilers because that would just be a dick move if you haven't seen them. Oh, and try to restrain yourself from looking at wikipedia, as there are big spoilers on even the episode list page.
Quality of Mercy (Season 1), an episode that I genuinely have trouble watching again because it's that freaky. Robert Patrick is an Earth soldier who's been captured by this alien race and kept in a horrible cell, he finds a sort of solace when he finds another human prisoner, a young female cadet. This episode oozes atmosphere, oppressive, hostile and dark as hell, and masterfully leaving enough to your imagination to exacerbate all these feelings.
It has a follow-up episode that features in the next season, called The Light Brigade, which is so unsettling I have not been able to ever watch it again (I've tried).
Trial by Fire (Season 2), the newly elected president of the US is whisked away to an underground bunker and told that alien objects coming towards Earth. Are they coming in peace? A fascinating episode about how different people react to the same news.
Inconstant Moon (Season 2), a simply lovely story about a professor who, believing that the sun has gone supernova, chooses to start living his life more.
The Deprogrammers (Season 2), a human slave to a cruel alien race is rescued and forced to undergo a dangerous procedure to remove the brainwashing to which he was subjected. To paraphase Trey in the "The Mist" commentary, the makers couldn't punch you in the gut in person so they made this. In fact, a general statement about most of Outer Limits is being punched in the gut... Features Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek).
Stream of Consciousness (Season 3), it's a future where all knowledge is downloaded directly into our brains in seconds, run by a central computer, except for a young man with brain damage who can't access the stream and has to rely on books. I liked this one because it's about isolation, paranoia, and the power of knowledge.
Dark Rain (Season 3), inspired from Children of Men (the novel) interestingly enough and about a sterile humanity and the hope born from the pregnancy of a young couple and the people that would seek to control it. Like Children of Men, there's an air of discomfort from watching the premise play out but it handles it differently to that film (which is more unsettling).
Dead Man's Switch (Season 3), an alien fleet is coming towards earth and 5 individuals are placed deep below the surface to operate a doomsday device should the aliens turn out to be hostile. I like this one because of the way it ends, so it's hard to talk about without spoilers, but the episode is essentially about ignorance, since the operators of the machine can only talk to each other and don't know what's happening to the rest of humanity.
Hearts and Minds (Season 3), humans are battling alien bugs on a mining planet and they come across a startling revelation about the enemy. It reminds me of Space Above and Beyond a bit, a squad of soldiers on a desolate and dark planet faced with an enemy about whom they know so little.
Relativity Theory (Season3), humans set down on an alien planet to survey it in preparation for strip mining and come across primitive natives, do they repeat history or do they come to an understanding? I love, love, love this episode and would probably recommend it the most.
Damn... I'm listing way too many of these to be a simple best of list. That's how good this series is!
Other great eps are Rite of Passage, The Vaccine, The Joining, Final Exam, Lithia, Phobos Rising... hell, all of Season 3 is great.
One episode (Star Crossed) even features Nathan Fillion 
