The Outer Limits Season 2 (1964)
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The Outer Limits Season 2 Review
The second season of The Outer Limits was released in 1964 and it consists of 17 episodes. Although inferior to the previous season, it’s still pretty good overall.
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“The curious mind cannot be chained.
It is a free mind endlessly searching for the greater freedom
that must eventually make every living being joyfully complete within himself,
therefore at peace with himself and his neighbors“
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Soldier is actually a terrific opener. It so obviously influenced James Cameron to make ‘The Terminator’ that I would call that movie honestly a rip-off. That’s how similar they are. It’s truly an influential, really memorable story. Cool Hands, Warm Heart and Expanding Human I actually could not find so I did not see them sadly.
Behold, Eck! is a very original episode about a two-dimensional being trapped in our world. Although not entirely successful in making use of its premise, it’s still pretty good and overall very intriguing. Demon with a Glass Hand is somewhat forgettable and not as sophisticated as it needed to have been. Cry of Silence is one of those silly Outer Limits episodes which are still a lot of fun. It was quite entertaining watching the protagonists get attacked by tumbleweeds.
The Invisible Enemy is overall intriguing, but not particularly memorable when it ended. The same goes for Wolf 359 which ended up being sadly rather forgettable despite a great premise. I, Robot is one robot episode too many as I found it overall rather repetitive and dull. The Inheritors is a solid dual episode with Part 2 being more fun than Part 1, but both are interesting.
Keeper of the Purple Twilight is excellent and surely one of the highlights of this entire season. It follows a man who gives all of his emotion to an alien who doesn’t understand emotion to troubling results. It’s a sophisticated episode with particularly great character development for both of the main characters.
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The Duplicate Man is quite a lot of fun and also rather effective in its premise which was well utilized. Counterweight, on the other hand, is very forgettable as I have already forgotten most of the things about it. The Brain of Colonel Barham has a fine premise, but again it’s not particularly sophisticated in dialogue or in the overall plot execution.
The Premonition is an absolutely fantastic episode where the two parents have to save their daughter by dealing with time travel. This is a rather effective short-period time travel storyline which is very authentic in premise. The Probe starts off intriguingly, but it did not end as promising as it had begun.
Overall, the second season of The Outer Limits has its forgettable episodes, but it has a couple of true winners. And although many of its stories are not well told, at least most of them are very original and influential which is admirable. It’s sadly the last season of a very short-running show.
Worst Episodes: I, Robot and Counterweight.
Best Episodes: Keeper of the Purple Twilight and The Premonition.
