The Outer Limits (1963)

The Outer Limits originally was broadcast from 1963 to 1965 on the U.S. television broadcasting network ABC; in total, 49 episodes. Leslie Stevens created it, and was one of many series influenced by The Twilight Zone and Science Fiction Theatre, though it ultimately proved influential in its own right. In the un-aired pilot, the series was titled Please Stand By, but ABC rejected it; Stevens retitled it The Outer Limits. With a few changes, the pilot aired as the premiere episode, "The Galaxy Being".

Writers for The Outer Limits included creator Stevens and Joseph Stefano (screenwriter of Psycho), who was the series' first-season producer and creative guiding force. Harlan Ellison wrote "Demon With a Glass Hand" and "Soldier" for the more cautious second season. After James Cameron revealed in an interview that the inspiration for Terminator had come from Ellison's work, Ellison sued and was awarded several hundred thousand dollars in damages, and an end-credits mention in The Terminator (1984), stating the creators' wish to acknowledge the works of Harlan Ellison. The courts also awarded Ellison the right to an acknowledgement of his works appended to all future versions of the film.

Like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits had an opening and closing narration to almost every episode — the "Control Voice" (Vic Perrin) - and distinctive music by Dominic Frontiere, who doubled as Production Executive; the second season featured music by Harry Lubin. The dramatic thrust of the two programs was different. The Twilight Zone used irony; the protagonist would achieve his goal, but not in the manner desired. The Outer Limits was straight action that often deeply delved into philosophical problems within a science fiction context. Many of the stories asserted the triumph of the human spirit, often in confrontation with dark existential forces within or without (hence, the "... mystery which reaches from the inner mind to... The Outer Limits").