History Series / TheOuterLimits

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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/outer_limits_bears_9438.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A collage of "bears" (and a handful of humans) from various episodes.]]

->''"There is nothing wrong with your television set. [[DoNotAdjustYourSet Do not attempt to adjust the picture]]. We are controlling transmission. We will control the horizontal, we will control the vertical..."''
-->--'''[[OpeningNarration The Control Voice]]'''

A ScienceFiction [[GenreAnthology anthology]] show, created by Leslie Stevens, although producer Joseph Stefano did more to set the series' avant garde tone. Its original version, which aired on Creator/{{ABC}} between September 1963 and January 1965, was often a worthy competitor to ''Series/TheTwilightZone''.

''The Outer Limits'' was often somewhat dark in tone, and it was also unusually arty and thought-provoking for an early 60s TV series, complete with poetic dialogue, unusual camera angles, a lush orchestral soundtrack by Dominic Frontiere, and {{chiaroscuro}} cinematography (often provided by future Oscar winner Conrad Hall). The show featured some truly brilliant writing by the likes of Stefano, Robert Towne, Anthony Lawrence and Meyer Dolinsky. And then there was the show's main selling point--the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]] and other special effects, which were all the more impressive for being created on a weekly TV schedule and budget.

Although ABC commissioned ''The Outer Limits'' to cash in on the late 50s/early 60s monster boom, the network never really understood it. When ABC announced that during the series' second season in 1964, it would be [[ScrewedByTheNetwork moved to a suicidal Saturday night time slot]] against ''TheJackieGleasonShow'', Stevens, Stefano and much of their production team left in protest. The network replaced them with a new team headed by ''Franchise/PerryMason'' vet Ben Brady, who tried to save the series by making it (somewhat) less artsy and more commercial. ABC didn't help matters by reducing the series' already low production budget. Despite this, the second season produced several memorable episodes (most notably Creator/HarlanEllison's two scripts, "Soldier" and "Demon With A Glass Hand", and the two-part "The Inheritors"), but it did no good. After a few months of predictably bad ratings, ABC canceled ''The Outer Limits'' in the middle of the season, after only 49 episodes.

However, that wasn't quite the end. Despite its status as a short-lived, black and white anthology series, ''The Outer Limits'' remained popular enough to stay in constant syndication for nearly four decades. This resulted in a [[Series/TheOuterLimits1995 made-for-cable revival series]] helmed by producer Pen Densham, which far outlasted the original, beginning its seven-season run in 1995. A few of the [[Series/TheOuterLimits1995 new series']] episodes were even {{remake}}s of episodes from the original series.

A [[Recap/TheOuterLimits recap page]] is in progress. Please put any Tropes specific to the [[Series/TheOuterLimits1995 1995 series]] onto its own page.
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!!Tropes:

* ''Literature/AdamLink'': The story was adapted by ''both'' versions of the show, under the title "I, Robot". Creator/LeonardNimoy appeared in both, as different characters.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Joseph Stefano loved this trope. His scripts are full of phrases such as "this virile, violent inevitability" ("The Invisibles") and "mad mechanical magics" ("Fun and Games").
* AfterTheEnd: In "The Man Who Was Never Born", a present day astronaut goes through a "time convulsion" and winds up in 2148, where an accidental SyntheticPlague has devastated humanity, with only a few mutants left. The plot centers around the characters trying to return to the present and prevent this.
* AlienInvasion: Several episodes of both series.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: A frequent trope in both series, understandably enough. Given a variety of {{handwave}}s, some of which are more plausible than others. "The Zanti Misfits" is the only episode where the aliens don't speak English.
* AllThereInTheScript: The name of Aabel, the alien from "The Children of Spider County". His name is never shown or spoken in the episode.
* AndIMustScream: The fate of the Limbo Being in "The Premonition", who gets trapped in a VoidBetweenTheWorlds.
* AnotherDimension: "Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "Behold, Eck!" feature beings from other dimensions accidentally finding their way into our world.
* BattleBoomerang: Used by one of the Calco Galaxy aliens in "Fun and Games".
* BecomingTheMask: "The Chameleon" features a human spy who is turned into an alien to infiltrate a crashed spaceship. He adapts well to his transformation.[[spoiler:..so well that he abandons his empty life and goes into space to live on the aliens' world.]]
* BeepingComputers: Commonplace in the series.
* BigBrotherIsWatching: The titular device in "O.B.I.T." is a highly advanced surveillance machine that is used to spy on the scientists at a research station, leading to an atmosphere of pervasive paranoia.
* BigNo: One of the aliens in "The Chameleon" does this when [[spoiler:the human spy kills the other alien]].
* BittersweetEnding: Several episodes end with the protagonists saving the world, but they (and/or their loved ones) pay dearly for it in the process. Examples:[[spoiler:"The Architects of Fear", "The Man Who Was Never Born", "Corpus Earthling", "ZZZZZ", "The Guests", "A Feasibility Study", "Demon with a Glass Hand" and "'I, Robot'".]]
* BodySwap: "The Human Factor" features an accidental one caused by a PhlebotinumBreakdown.
* BottleEpisode: "Controlled Experiment" (from the first season) and "The Probe" (the very last episode) were both written to be filmed cheaply when the producers were trying to control the series' budget.
* BrainInAJar: The plot of "The Brain of Colonel Barham", in which a terminally ill astronaut's brain is preserved so it can control a space probe to UsefulNotes/{{Mars}}.
* BuildingOfAdventure: Most of "Demon with a Glass Hand" was filmed inside [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradbury_Building The Bradbury Building]], a UsefulNotes/LosAngeles landmark dating from 1893. Creator/HarlanEllison tailored his script around the location, which is called The Dixon Building in the episode.
* ByTheEyesOfTheBlind: The titular creature in "Behold, Eck!" is usually InvisibleToNormals, but people wearing glasses whose lenses are made from meteoric quartz can see him.
* CloningBlues: A major plot point in "The Duplicate Man". Space anthropologist Henderson James has himself "duplicated" so the clone can hunt an alien monster that James let escape. While the clone accumulates the real James' memories, James' wife discovers that she prefers the clone because her husband has become a cynical {{Jerkass}} and the innocent clone reminds her of his younger self.
%%* CompellingVoice: "The Special One", "The Inheritors".
* ConspicuousGloves: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent (the man with the glass hand) wears a glove over it, only removing it to speak to it or add a finger as he finds them.
* ContentWarnings: In 1977, an independent station that was rerunning the series gave it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLxfJuD9t0 this warning]].
* CourtroomEpisode:
** In "O.B.I.T.", a murder at a research station leads to an investigation of the titular surveillance device.
** "I, Robot" is about a sentient robot on trial for the murder of its creator.
* CreepyMonotone: The Control Voice.
* CrypticBackgroundReference: In Joseph Stefano's scripts, characters sometimes make fleeting references to their pasts that are never explained.
* DarkIsNotEvil: [[spoiler:The Ebonites in "Nightmare". Their sinister appearance, including gargoyle-like faces and bat wings, belies that it's the human generals who command them to torture and interrogate their prisoners.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than most shows at the time.
* DecoyProtagonist: Joseph Reardon in "The Man Who Was Never Born." He's primarily focused on for the first ten minutes, then after he gets [[RetGone Ret Goned]] Andro (played by Martin Landau) serves as the true protagonist of the episode.
* DeusExMachina: The ending rainstorm of [[spoiler: Specimen: Unknown.]]
* DoesNotWearShoes: The perpetually barefoot Mrs. Dame in "The Bellero Shield". The episode has several lengthy closeups of her bare feet.
** FeetFirstIntroduction: How we first see her.
*** Some of the TOS aliens went barefoot as well ("O.B.I.T.", "The Children of Spider County", "The Chameleon").
* DolledUpInstallment: The episode "Controlled Experiment" was actually a rejected pilot for an unrelated half hour comedy series, hence why It feels so out of place in the series.
* DownerEnding: Not nearly as often as in the revival, but "Nightmare" and "The Bellero Shield" are good examples.
* DramatisPersonae: "Counterweight" does this at the ''end'' of the episode.
* DramaticThunder: Used [[{{irony}} ironically]] in "Specimen: Unknown".
* DrivenToSuicide: At the climax of "The Man with the Power", [[spoiler:Harold Finley, who has gained deadly new mental powers that [[PowerIncontinence he can't consciously control]], declares that "If I have this power, then I don't want to live" and turns it on himself]].
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A few episodes.
* EnergyBeings: Featured in "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and "Counterweight".
* EpisodeTitleCard: Very distinctive; 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 TitleSequence.
* EverythingsWorseWithBees: In "ZZZZZ", an entomologist raises a super-intelligent hive who plan to TakeOverTheWorld by turning their queen into a HalfHumanHybrid who can mate with humans.
* EvilTeacher: Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" is actually from planet Xenon, and he influences [[ChildProdigy child prodigies]] to help his homeworld with their AlienInvasion. (He also murders the father of one pupil for asking too many questions.) However...
** FakeDefector: Kenny Benjamin, Zeno's latest pupil, was only pretending to cooperate, and he saves the day by turning the alien's own weapon against him.
* FirstContact: One of the series' central tropes.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: The main characters of the TimeTravel episodes listed below.
* FreeSamplePlotCoupon: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", the character Trent must find the three missing fingers of his artificial left hand to save humanity from the Kyben invasion. Fortunately Trent's incomplete left hand is a talking computer that can help him find the three fingers.
* FrogsAndToads: They're possessed by a disembodied alien in "Cry of Silence".
* GenghisGambit: The plot of "The Architects of Fear"; a group of scientists turn one of their own into a terrifying fake alien so he can threaten an AlienInvasion and thus unite the nations of Earth.
* GenreAnthology: A well-known example.
* GetAholdOfYourselfMan: When test pilot Jim Darcy and his wife Linda are trapped in a TimeStandsStill situation during "The Premonition", she [[FreakOut freaks out]] and he calms her down with a slap to the face.
* GladiatorGames: The plot of "Fun and Games"; the Anderans kidnap beings from various planets to fight for survival, with the losers' homeworld being destroyed.
* AGodAmI:
** In "The Sixth Finger", [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]] miner Gwyllm Griffiths is turned into a futuristic superhuman. He doesn't react well, planning to destroy his hometown because of its "dirt and stupidity".
** "The Brain of Colonel Barham" is a BrainInAJar who goes mad with power and gains the ability to enslave the people around it with {{Hypno Ray}}s.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: In "The Invisibles", the protagonist is a spy who works for the '''G'''IA [[{{CIA}} (General Intelligence Agency)]].
* TheGrotesque: Andro in "The Man Who Was Never Born", the fake alien in "The Architects of Fear", the Chromoite alien in "The Mice", etc.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Regina in "ZZZZZ" and the titular characters in "The Children of Spider County".
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The fate of scheming, murderous {{Villain Protagonist}}s Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield" (whose plan to kill a Christ-like alien and steal his technology backfires disastrously) and Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" (see FakeDefector above).
* HumansAreBastards: 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.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: "Controlled Experiment" features two comical [[HumanAliens humanoid]] Martians who strive to understand humanity, especially its strange custom of murder.
* HumanMomNonhumanDad: The title characters in "The Children of Spider County".
* InsectQueen: "ZZZZZ". A giant mutant queen bee takes human form so she can mate with a human male. She can control her fellow bees and make them attack people, such as the wife of the man she wants to seduce.
* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Referenced in "Counterweight".
-->'''Keith Ellis:''' We're a simple people. Given a chance, we'll destroy ourselves. Why do it for us?
-->'''Antheon alien:''' Because you'll destroy us, too, if we let you. You do not know us, we have never hurt you, yet you come to attack, to conquer. We will not allow this.
* JacobMarleyWarning: The Limbo Being gives one of these to the main characters of "The Premonition"--mostly because they threaten to ''[[ValuesDissonance set him on fire forever]]'' if he doesn't tell them how to escape from their TimeStandsStill situation, as he was unable to do.
* JekyllAndHyde: In "Expanding Human", a mind-enhancing drug transforms one of its researchers physically and mentally, turning him back and forth between his normal self and a super-strong, super-intelligent alter ego who wants to TakeOverTheWorld and convert or destroy the rest of humanity.
* {{Jerkass}}: The bad-tempered, self-pitying title character in "The Brain of Colonel Barham". Yes, he's terminally ill, but the episode makes it clear that he was a jerk even when he was healthy.
* JustAMachine: The result of the RoboticReveal at the end of "Demon With a Glass Hand".
* KillAndReplace: A U.S. Presidential candidate by an Asian government's agent, in the 1960's episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
* KillItWithWater: [[spoiler: This is how the space plants are defeated in Specimen: Unknown; they're spreading unbelievably fast, but a sudden rainstorm ends up killing them all, thwarting their invasion as soon as it began.]]
* LighterAndSofter: The second season, while not lighthearted, generally lacked the darkness and moral ambiguity found in many season one episodes, and took far fewer risks.
* MandatoryTwistEnding: What are these [[HappyEnding "happy endings"]] of which you speak?
** To be fair, both versions of the show do have the occasional episode with a {{happy ending}}.
* MechanisticAlienCulture: Many episodes of the classic sci-fi anthology featured aliens with ambiguously robotic characteristics.
* MildlyMilitary: TOS episode "The Invisible Enemy". The officers in the second mission repeatedly disobey orders and get each other killed.
* MindControl: "The Brain of Colonel Barham" (from the episode of the same name) somehow gains this power.
** Also, in "The Special One" Mr. Zeno can control the bodies of his victims, while their minds remain free. A nice power to have when you're an alien invader who sadistically delights in forcing the humans who discover your plot to commit suicide against their will...
* MonsterOfTheWeek: One of the series' central tropes, but there are several episodes that twist or outright eschew the formula:
** "The Man Who Was Never Born" turns the formula on it's head by having the monster (Andros, a deformed mutant from a far flung BadFuture) be the ''protagonist'', who seeks to undue the very future he was from.
** "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" is centered around a Chinese government operative who uses a special drug that can shape shift his face, but no monster is present or implied.
** "The Borderland" has no monster to speak of; the episode is set around a machine that can reach into another dimension.
** "Controlled Experiment" likewise has no "monster", with the central characters being two martians with completely human appearances and a time control device on hand, and they aren't evil.
** "The Inheritors" has no monster in either part of the episode.
** "The Form of Things Unknown" is another episode with no monster, but a science fiction element (namely, a Time Tilter device).
* MultinationalTeam: The human soldiers in "Nightmare" come from the UsefuilNotes/UnitedStates, UsefulNotes/{{Britain}}, UsefulNotes/WestGermany, UsefulNotes/{{China}} and an unnamed nation in UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: In "ZZZZZ", humanoid queen bee Regina sics her hive on [[spoiler:the wife of the entomologist she's fallen in love with]].
* NamingYourColonyWorld: In "Wolf 359", Dundee's Planet is a miniature recreation of an actual alien world. It's named after the businessman who financed the project.
* NoImmortalInertia: In "The Guests", people who leave the alien-controlled house instantly become their real age--which leads to RapidAging and death for anyone who stays too long.
* NoOneLeftBehind: In TOS episode "The Invisible Enemy", Captain Buckley refuses to leave Major Merritt behind on Mars.
* NoPartyGiven: The Presidential candidates in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
* TheNounWhoVerbed: The title of "The Man Who Was Never Born".
* OneWordTitle: "O.B.I.T.", "Nightmare", "ZZZZZ", "Moonstone", "Soldier" and "Counterweight".
* OpeningNarration: Partially quoted above.
* OutlawCouple: Ben Garth and Lisa Lawrence in "The Zanti Misfits", although Ben fits the "outlaw" part much better than Lisa does.
* PistolWhipping: In "Demon With a Glass Hand", Trent knocks out one of the Kyben by hitting him on the head with the butt of his pistol.
* PlantAliens: The anenome-like Grippians from "Moonstone".
* PoorCommunicationKills: 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."
* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: 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. The PointOfDivergence: In "Forms", the "[[TimeMachine Time Tilter]]" actually works, while in ''The Unknown'' it doesn't.
* PowerIncontinence: In "The Man With the Power", Milquetoast scientist Harold Finley invents a "link-gate" that gives him mild mental powers. However, the device causes his subconscious resentments to manifest as an energy cloud that zaps his enemies without his knowledge.
* PsychicStatic: Used by a man to protect his thoughts from the title character in "The Mutant".
* PuppeteerParasite: "Corpus Earthing", "The Invisibles".
* ReallyWasBornYesterday: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent initially thinks he's "A full grown man, born ten days ago." [[spoiler:He's wrong on both counts.]]
* RecycledSoundtrack: Some of Dominic Frontiere's music came from ''Stoney Burke'', an earlier Leslie Stevens series. Later, some of his ''Outer Limits'' scores were used in ''Series/TheFugitive'' (especially the fourth season), ''Series/TheRatPatrol'' and ''Series/TheInvaders'' (including the theme music, which was originally composed for ''The Unknown'').
* ReluctantMonster: The titular alien in "Behold, Eck!" Also the episode's WorkingTitle.
* RoboticReveal: The ending of [[spoiler:"Demon with a Glass Hand".]]
* SandIsWater: "The Invisible Enemy" had a sand ocean complete with tides and several giant monsters swimming in it.
* ScienceIsBad: A recurrent theme and the basis for the plots of many (though not all) of its episodes.
** Notably averted in the episode "Behold, Eck" where not only is the scientist character the hero, but his invention ultimately saves the day (and the alien, who just wanted to go home).
%%* ScreamingWoman: Quite a few examples.
* SecretTest: In "Nightmare" a group of soldiers invading the planet Ebon are captured and tortured for information by the Ebonites. [[spoiler: 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).]]
* SendInTheSearchTeam: The plot of "The Invisible Enemy". The protagonists are sent to Mars to learn why the astronauts from the first expedition disappeared.
* [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy 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 couldn't use the series' actual plots due to licensing issues, concocted new stories (and [[SoBadItsGood laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the AliensAndMonsters. 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.
* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: Level 0 (Non-Linear Installments).
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Tends to fall on the cynical side, but there are exceptions.
* SnarkToSnarkCombat: In "I, Robot", the exchanges between Thurman Cutler (Adam Link's attorney) and Judson Ellis (a cynical reporter covering the robot's murder trial) fall into this.
* SpoilerTitle: "The Probe", considering that the story is about a group of plane crash survivors who [[spoiler: 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.
* StarCrossedLovers: Andro and Noelle in "The Man Who Was Never Born". [[spoiler:Their time tampering saves the world, but Andro's existence is erased in the process.]]
* StockFootage: 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 and a hawk attacking its prey, which were taken from ''Series/MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom''.
* StopMotion: Used to animate the aliens in "The Zanti Misfits" and "Counterweight".
* TeleportersAndTransporters:
** "The Galaxy Being" is accidentally brought to earth through a TelevisionPortal.
** In "The Mice", the Chromoites have invented a "Teleportation Agency" that they use to send one of their people to Earth--and vice versa.
** In "Fun and Games", the Anderan senator "electroports" Mike and Laura between Earth and the site of the Gladiator Games.
** In "The Special One", Mr. Zeno travels between Earth and Xenon via a "lightning bolt" effect that is one of the series' most striking visuals. .
* {{Theremin}}: Harry Lubin's scores for the second season use the instrument extensively.
* TickertapeParade: "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" begins with one.
* TimeIsDangerous: The aforementioned AndIMustScream situation in "The Premonition".
* TimeStandsStill:
** In "Controlled Experiment", the Martians have a "temporal condenser" that can stop time, then reverse or fast forward it like a cosmic VCR.
** In "The Premonition", this seemingly happens to the Darcys, but what's actually happening is closer to JustOneSecondOutOfSync.
* TimeTravel:
** "The Man Who Was Never Born" starts with a 1963 astronaut going through a "time convulsion" and ending up in the BadFuture of 2148. Andro makes the trip in the opposite direction.
** "Soldier" begins with another accidental example, as Qarlo and The Enemy are somehow sent from the distant future to 1964 via "a crossfire of death beams".
** Finally, an intentional example! In "Demon with a Glass Hand", both Trent and his enemies the Kyben use a "Time Mirror" to travel from the future to the present. However, they'll die if they try to return to their own time.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: The result of the RoboticReveal at the climax of "Demon with a Glass Hand".]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The setting of "Moonstone", "The Mutant" and "The Duplicate Man".
* TwoRightsMakeAWrong: Several episodes have this as the twist.
* VideoPhone: "The Duplicate Man" had video phones with rotary dials.
* WaitHere: "Demon with a Glass Hand". Trent has Consuelo climb out onto a window ledge outside the building so she'll be safe from the Kyben.
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: Happens to a college professor who's been experimenting with a mind-enhancing drug in "Expanding Human".
* WalkThroughTheCamera: Trent does this twice during "Demon with a Glass Hand". Wade Norton does it in "The Guests".
* WarriorPoet: Major Jong in "Nightmare", who recites {{Haiku}} while the aliens are torturing him.
* WhatNowEnding: "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork". [[spoiler:The deadly energy monster is confined again, but as a policeman notes, "It's under control--''for the moment''". No one knows how (or if) it can be destroyed, or how else to deal with it.]]
* WholePlotReference: "The Man Who Was Never Born" is based on ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', and "The Bellero Shield" is based on ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' (which also makes it an example of TheBardOnBoard). Coincidentally, both episodes star Martin Landau.
* XRaySparks: Seen at the climax of "The Borderland" when a character jumps into the dimensional travel machine. His skeleton shows through his body as he's obliterated.
* YearInsideHourOutside: A plot element in "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and "The Guests". Both episodes feature human characters trapped in an alien-controlled environment where they don't age because time doesn't pass.
* YellowPeril: The Red Chinese are the villains in "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".
* YouLookFamiliar: Many instances, but most notably with Robert Culp, who starred in three episodes.
* YouWakeUpInARoom:
** Trent, in "Demon With a Glass Hand," who also has LaserGuidedAmnesia.
** In "The Duplicate Man", the clone of Henderson James has a similar awakening.
* {{Zeerust}}: "The Duplicate Man", an episode from 1964, is set in 2025, a future in which humanity has been exploring outer space at least since the 1980s.
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->''"We now return control of your television set to you, until next week at this same time, when the Control Voice will take you to... The Outer Limits."''

* SnarkToSnarkCombat: In the TOS version of "I, Robot", the exchanges between Thurman Cutler (Adam Link's attorney) and Judson Ellis (a cynical reporter covering the robot's murder trial) fall into this.

->''We now return control of your television set to you, until next week, at the same time when the Control Voice will take you to... The Outer Limits.''

* MonsterOfTheWeek: One of the series' central tropes.

* BodySwap: The TOS episode "The Human Factor" features an accidental one caused by a PhlebotinumBreakdown.

%%* HeroicSacrifice: Several episodes.

* BillingDisplacement: When the series was released on VHS, the tape packages sometimes gave top billing to well-known actors who played supporting characters (such as Creator/EdwardAsner in "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" and ''Series/HappyDays''' Marion Ross in "The Special One").

* BeepingComputers: Commonplace in the original series.

* BittersweetEnding: Though most common in the Revival, besides outright {{Downer Ending}}s, the original series did it fairly often as well.

* DownerEnding: Both series, although the [[{{Revival}} revival]] did it more often; the original series was more likely to do {{Bittersweet Ending}}s.

* NamingYourColonyWorld: In "Wolf 259", Dundee's Planet is a miniature recreation of an actual alien world. It's named after the businessman who financed the project.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The fate of scheming, murderous {{Villain Protagnoist}}s Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield" (whose plan to kill a Christ-like alien and steal his technology backfires disastrously) and Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" (see FakeDefector above).

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The fate of scheming, murderous {{Villain Protagnist}}s Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield" (whose plan to kill a Christ-like alien and steal his technology backfires disastrously) and Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" (see FakeDefector above).

** Finally, an intentional example! In "Demon with a Glass Hand", both Trent and his enemies the Kyben use a "Time Mirror" to travel between the present and the future.

* EvilTeacher: Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" is actually from planet Xenon, and he influences [[ChildProdigy child prodigies]] to help his homeworld with their AlienInvasion. (He also murders the father of one pupil for asking too may questions.) However...

* EvilTeacher: Mr. Zeno in "The Special One" is actually from planet Xenon, and he influences [[ChildProdigy child prodigies]] to help his homeworld with their AlienInvasion. However...

** FakeDefector: Kenny Benjamin in "The Special One". He was only pretending to cooperate with Mr. Zeno, and he saves the day by turning the alien's own weapon against him.