History Series / TheOuterLimits

* FableRemake: "The Man Who Was Never Born" is based on ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', and "The Bellero Shield" is based on ''{{Macbeth}}'' (which also makes it an example of TheBardOnBoard). Concidentally, both episodes star Martin Landau.

* AndIMustScream: The fate of the Limbo Being in "The Premonition", who gets trapepd in a VoidBetweenTheWorlds.

* AndIMustScream: The fate of the Limbo Being in "The Premonition".

* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis: In his ''OuterLimits Companion'', David J. Schow identifies this as a [[BadWriting 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."

* CruelTwistEnding: The {{revival}} series did this so ften, the trope used to be named Outer Limits Twist.

!!This series is the TropeNamer of:

* OuterLimitsTwist

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!!This series provides example of:

* CrapsackWorld: In [[TheRemake the remake series]], at least. Many episodes are interconnected through the mysterious [[EvilInc Innobotics Corporation]] and their RidiculouslyHumanRobots, not to mention that every season produces a couple of sequel episodes for earlier stories for double the OuterLimitsTwist!

* OuterLimitsTwist: The TropeNamer, as stated above. The {{Revival}} did it much more often than the original.

* RoboticSpouse: The premise of the Revival episode "Valerie 23" [[spoiler: and the mandatory OuterLimitsTwist of its sequel, "Mary 25"]]

** Crystal Cass appeared in "Paradise", "Bits of Love", and "Rite of Passage". Emmanuelle Vaugier appeared in "Rite of Passage" and "The Other Side". Kristen Lehman appeared in "Falling Star", "Dead Man's Switch", "Stasis", and "Time To Time". Each time, these are different characters in unrelated stories.

* YellowPeril: The Red Chinese are the villians in the TOS episode "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".

!!Tropes:

* OuterLimitsTwist: The TropeNamer, obviously; the {{Revival}} did it much more often than the original.

* StockFootage: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots are taken of 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 ''MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom''.

* StockFootage: Used from time to time in the original series. Some spaceship shots are taken of earlier science fiction films and series. "The Premonition" starts with footage of an actual X-15 flight; it also includes scenes of a coyote chaasing a rabbit through the desert, which were taken from ''MutualOfOmahasWildKingdom''.

* HoistByHerOwnPetard: The fate of scheming, murderous Judith Bellero in "The Bellero Shield".
* HumansAreBastards: The new series loved to explore humanity at its worst, though it was always kind enough to show humanity at its best, usually at the same time.

* NamesTheSame: The {{revival}} episode "The Human Factor'' is ''not'' a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.

* NamesTheSame: The {[revival}} episode "The Human Factor'' is ''not'' a remake of the TOS episode with the same title.

* YearInsideHourOutside ("Don't Open Till Doomsday", "The Guests")
* YellowPeril ("The Hundred Days of the Dragon")

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture ("The Duplicate Man", some episodes of the {{Revival}})

* SpoilerTitle: "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 realizing it--and spend about half the episode trying to figure out where they are.

''TheOuterLimits'' 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, 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 ''TheOuterLimits'' to cash in on the late 50s/early 60s monster boom, the network never really understood it, which helps explain why it was TooGoodToLast. 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 ''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 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 ''TheOuterLimits'' after only 49 episodes.

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

* [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy Show Accuracy Trading Card Accuracy]]: The original TOS ''OuterLimits'' [[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 writers, who apparently had never watched the show, concocted new stories (and [[SoBadItsGood laughable]] ones, at that) around colorized photos of the AliensAndMonsters. A later series of cards, released in 2002, didn't have this problem.

* ReallyWasBornYesterday: In "Demon with a Glass Hand", Trent initially thinks he's "A full grown man, born ten days ago." [[spoiler:He's wrong.]]