The Outer Limits: Difference between revisions

Line 23:

* [[And Call Him George]] ("Behold, Eck!")

* [[And I Must Scream]]: The fate of the Limbo Being in "The Premonition", who gets trapped in a [[Void Between the Worlds]].

** Also happens with the murderous priest in the [[Revival]] episode "Fear Itself", driven mad in the end, a throwback to the punishment given to the SS commander in the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "Death's Head Revisited" by the ghosts of his victims. [[Laser Guided Karma]], anyone?

** Also happens with the murderous priest in the [[Revival]] episode "Fear Itself", driven mad in the end, a throwback to the punishment given to the SS commander in the ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode "Death's Head Revisited" by the ghosts of his victims. [[Laser-Guided Karma]], anyone?

* [[Another Dimension]]: Two TOS episodes ("Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "Behold, Eck!") feature beings from other dimensions accidentally finding their way into our world.

* [[Arc Welding]]: The season finales of the [[Revival]] are [[Clip Show|Clip Shows]] that tie together the plots of various previously unconnected stories, one involving a [[Super Soldier]] project & another with a pair of immortal [[Energy Beings]] who have been [[Chessmaster|setting up the events of several stories]], all for no other purpose than their own amusement.

Line 37:

* [[Born in The Theater|Born on Pay Television]]: The revival's introduction, similar to the original's, has a "please stand by" notice added to it in syndication since the Showtime airings did not have commercials.

* [[Bottle Episode]] ("Controlled Experiment", "The Probe")

* [[~~Brainina~~ Jar]] ("The Brain of Colonel Barham")

* [[Brain In A Jar]] ("The Brain of Colonel Barham")

* [[By the Eyes of The Blind]] ("Behold, Eck!", "Music of the Spheres")

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Quoted above.

Line 44:

* [[Color Me Black]]: "Tribunal" featured an ending where a Nazi war criminal whose escaped justice for 50 years put into the uniform of his prisoners and taken back in time to his own camp. His younger self shoots him for being Jewish.

* [[Compelling Voice]] ("The Special One", "The Inheritors")

* [[Crapsack World]]: In [[The Remake|the remake series]], at least. Many episodes are interconnected through the mysterious [[Evil Inc|Innobotics Corporation]] and their [[Ridiculously Human Robots]], not to mention that every season produces a couple of sequel episodes for earlier stories for double the [[Cruel Twist Ending]]!

* [[Crapsack World]]: In [[The Remake|the remake series]], at least. Many episodes are interconnected through the mysterious [[Evil, Inc.|Innobotics Corporation]] and their [[Ridiculously Human Robots]], not to mention that every season produces a couple of sequel episodes for earlier stories for double the [[Cruel Twist Ending]]!

* [[Cruel Twist Ending]]: The [[Revival]] series did this so often, the trope used to be named Outer Limits Twist.

* [[Deprogram|Deprogramming]]: "The Deprogrammers".

Line 54:

* [[Dramatic Thunder]]: Used [[Irony|ironically]] in "Specimen: Unknown".

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: A few episodes, even in the revival.

* [[Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion]]

* [[Easily-Thwarted Alien Invasion]]

* [[Energy Beings]] ("It Crawled Out of the Woodwork", "Counterweight")

* [[Episode Title Card]]: Very distinctive on the original series; the episode title, and the names of the episode's stars, come right at the viewer, accompanied by the sine wave and (after the first few episodes) the piercing electronic whine from the opening credits.

* [[~~Everythings~~ Worse With Bees]] ("ZZZZZ")

* [[Everything's Worse With Bees]] ("ZZZZZ")

* [[Evil Teacher]]: Mr. Zeno in "The Special One".

* [[Executive Meddling]]

Line 72:

* [[Government Drug Enforcement]] (several episodes)

* [[The Grotesque]]: Andro in "The Man Who Was Never Born", the fake alien in "The Architects of Fear", the Chromoite alien in "The Mice", etc.

* [[Half Human Hybrid]] ("ZZZZZ", "The Children of Spider County")

* [[Half-Human Hybrid]] ("ZZZZZ", "The Children of Spider County")

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Several episodes of both series.

* [[Hoist By Her Own Petard]]: The fate of scheming, murderous Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield".

Line 78:

* [[Humans Are Bastards]]: Both versions of the series explored humanity at its worst, though they were also kind enough to show humanity at its best, usually at the same time.

* [[Humans Are Cthulhu]]

* [[~~Humanitys~~ Wake]]

* [[Humanity's Wake]]

* [[Human Mom Nonhuman Dad]]: The titular characters in "The Children of Spider County".

* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]] ("The Hunt")

Line 99:

* [[Murder By Cremation]]: One episode involves a scientist working in a sealed lab with a gas meant to be used to pacify riots. As a side effect, the latest batch ends up turning the lab monkey immortal. When the scientist's assistant attempts to steal the monkey's biological culture, the scientist's [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] brother traps him in the lab. The angry assistant slams the door with his fist, which results in a bloody fist. The culture in his blood triggers the decontamination system, which "flashes" the lab, killing the guy. The brother later tries the same with the scientist and his girlfriend, who have discovered that {{spoiler|the culture makes you ''temporarily'' invincible, only to kill you in a few days}}.

* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: In "ZZZZZ", humanoid queen bee Regina sics her hive on {{spoiler|the wife of the entomologist she's fallen in love with}}.

* [[~~Names~~ the Same]]: The [[Revival]] episode "The Human Factor" is ''not'' a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.

* [[Name's the Same]]: The [[Revival]] episode "The Human Factor" is ''not'' a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It Hero]]: Occurs in more than a few episodes, but "Sandkings" is the story of one man breaking things over and over. See [[Idiot Ball]].

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Occurs in more than a few episodes, but "Sandkings" is the story of one man breaking things over and over. See [[Idiot Ball]].

* [[No Immortal Inertia]] ("The Guests")

* [[No Party Given]]: The Presidential candidates in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".

Line 109:

* [[Outlaw Couple]]: Ben Garth and Lisa Lawrence in "The Zanti Misfits", although Ben fits the trope much better than Lisa does.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: In his ''Outer Limits Companion'', David J. Schow identifies this as a plot flaw in two TOS episodes, "The Mice" and "Second Chance". He notes that both episodes feature "a lone alien on a mission that is terminated because the aliens do not bother to ask for what they want."

* [[Poorly Disguised Pilot]]: There were two versions of "The Forms of Things Unknown"; one was intended as a pilot for ''The Unknown'', a straight suspense anthology that wasn't picked up.

* [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]]: There were two versions of "The Forms of Things Unknown"; one was intended as a pilot for ''The Unknown'', a straight suspense anthology that wasn't picked up.

* [[Psychic Surgery]]

* [[Puppeteer Parasite]] ("Corpus Earthing", "The Invisibles")

Line 125:

* [[Secret Test]]: In "Nightmare" a group of soldiers invading the planet Ebon are captured and tortured for information by the Ebonites. They eventually learn that the situation is a set-up by their own superiors to test their ability to resist interrogation, with the cooperation of the Ebonites (who eventually protest the unethical nature of the test).

* [[Send in The Search Team]] ("The Invisible Enemy")

* [[Show Accuracy Toy Accuracy|Show Accuracy Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''Outer Limits'' [http://science-fiction.netfirms.com/ cards] (one of which is the page pic), released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who apparently had never watched the show, concocted new stories (and [[So Bad ~~Its~~ Good|laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the [[Aliens and Monsters]]. Later series of cards didn't have this problem; one series recycled the original pics with new text including both the TV and trading card plots.

* [[Show Accuracy Toy Accuracy|Show Accuracy Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''Outer Limits'' [http://science-fiction.netfirms.com/ cards] (one of which is the page pic), released while the series was still in production, are notorious because the writer, who apparently had never watched the show, concocted new stories (and [[So Bad It's Good|laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the [[Aliens and Monsters]]. Later series of cards didn't have this problem; one series recycled the original pics with new text including both the TV and trading card plots.

* [[Spoiler Title]]: "The Probe", considering that the story is about a group of plane crash survivors who wind up on an alien space probe--without either the characters or the audience initially realizing it--and spend about half the episode trying to figure out where they are.

* [[Star Crossed Lovers]]: Andro and Noelle in "The Man Who Was Never Born".

* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: Andro and Noelle in "The Man Who Was Never Born".

** Eric and Larissa in "Stasis".

* [[Stock Footage]]: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots come from earlier science fiction films and series. "The Premonition" starts with footage of an actual X-15 flight; it also includes scenes of a coyote chasing a rabbit through the desert, which were taken from ''[[Mutual of ~~Omahas~~ Wild Kingdom]]''.

* [[Stock Footage]]: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots come from earlier science fiction films and series. "The Premonition" starts with footage of an actual X-15 flight; it also includes scenes of a coyote chasing a rabbit through the desert, which were taken from ''[[Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom]]''.

* [[Stop Motion]]: Used to animate the aliens in "The Zanti Misfits" and "Counterweight".

* [[Teleporters and Transporters]] ("The Galaxy Being", "The Mice", "Fun and Games", "The Special One", "Think Like A Dinosaur")

Line 147:

* [[What You Are in The Dark]]: Quite a few moments. The closing narration for "The Voyage Home" even outright states "The true measure of a hero is when a man lays down his life with the knowledge that those he saves... will never know."

* [[The Wild West]]: The setting of the revival episode "Heart's Desire".

* [[X Ray Sparks]] ("The Borderland")

* [[X-Ray Sparks]] ("The Borderland")

* [[Year Inside Hour Outside]]: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests" from TOS and "The Sentence" from the [[Revival]].

* [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]]: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests" from TOS and "The Sentence" from the [[Revival]].

* [[Yellow Peril]]: The Red Chinese are the villains in the TOS episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".

** Averted and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in the [[Revival]]. In the [[Clip Show]] episode "The Human Factor" about a future [[Cold War]] between America and China, the latter complain that they are [[Designated Villain|regarded as the bad guys]] even though the former are usually the ones to initiate hostilities. {{spoiler|This is borne out when the American leaders start [[World War III]].}}