the outer limits

the very name implies reaching beyond the limits of human norms and yet, this show is so trapped in religious dogma and the puritanical limits and emotional blindness that comes with the black and white good vs evil narrow views demanded and needed to maintain the human norms... this is most especially true of the second coming of the show, the more modern version in color... and watching it in reruns on the chiller network emphasizes the fear-based mindset that limits the creative possibilities so the show barely surfaces from the human stupidity and prejudice and ignorance (complete with feeble attempts at titillation and the blurring of flesh) and distorted morality that fear-based thinking creates...

this explanation provides some insight into why the continuity and technical details were so poorly put together... the lack of science and simplistic dependency on it's a miracle for explanations of phenomenon is boring to the point of annoying at times... the choice of playing to human interrelations and suspense (portrayed in heavily over=acted weakly written soap opera-esque drama leaves so much to be desired... and the low-budget shows too well... and of course, there is the puritanical fear of nudity that renders the visual even more poorly posed and wrought with unnatural camera angle affectations...

In most cases, two separate versions of each episode were filmed. The rawer, less censorially restricted version was seen first-run on Showtime, while the less explicit version was prepared for commercial TV syndication.

the sad irony is that the producers decision to, well, here is how they explain it: the decision to avoid special effects unless they were dramatically justified was because the producers felt that space aliens and other monstrosities had become rather commonplace by 1995, and they hoped to set their series apart from what had become the norm. and how they could feel that using tv-drama techniques made old in shows like dallas (and many others) could somehow "set their series apart" is rather baffling...

there is some potential in some of the ideas, but to call the show the outer limits is a bad joke and a sad reflection on just how limited human thinking is in our collective lives...