The Outer Limits : Season 1 product reviews

16 hours... that's how long it takes to watch all 22 episodes. Add in an extra hour to cover the disc changes, the occasional pitstop and refueling, plus another hour or 2 to deal with unexpected phonecalls, visitors and pets... let's round it out to 20 hours... sounds about right... that's how long I stayed up to watch all these... one big marathon of OUT THERE stuff... like X-files, but without the stupid over-riding storylines and plots... just 21 chunks of "What the..." with a final 45 minute session that kinda made some attempt to summarise the series, done in the style of a governmental briefing.

Having been a great fan of the original series, which first aired well before I was born, but thankfully got replayed a few times after, I was curious to see how this modernised version was going to stand up... new actors, new special-effects technologies... I was actually quite impressed by the results. Still keeping to the chilling style of the early days, but with far more contemporary themes, this series is a worthy successor.

Rated 'M' for Mature Audiences, there are scenes of nudity, and even a couple of sex scenes that border on 'R' rating in places, so the parents might want to keep an eye on this one, or put it up out of the reach of little fingers. Let's face it, this sort of stuff really doesn't do the kids much harm, but keeping it under strict control could prevent a few dozen nightmares and some awkward questions later on.

Probably the most stunning episode for me was "Valerie 23", partly because I wasn't expecting a couple of full-frontal nude shots of a the lead actress, but also because of what went into the story, as shown in the first of the bonus features doco's. Two other docos cover episodes in the series, with the remaining two exploring the origins of 'The Outer Limits.'

Overall, very impressive, very stunning, highly entertaining, and well worth it for any classic dark sci-fi buff. Other favoured episodes worth paying close attention to: I, Robot... Dark Matters... and Quality of Mercy... all of which stand out from the rest IMHO. The famous faces popping up throughout help it along too... watch for the shockingly revealing performance by Alyssa Milano, a stunning performance by Beau Bridges, and the slightly-cheesy offering by Robert Patrick, to name but a few.