The original incarnation of the Outer Limits television series came into existence in the early 1960s. The first episode was transmitted on September 16, 1963 and the broadcast was picked up by antenna and viewed on televisions. The opening control voice set the tone for the show. The stories had elements of science fiction and horror with monsters or extraordinary events to provide shock, fear and suspense. The show was an anthology so each episode was a self-contained story.
The original Outer Limits had two seasons with a total of 49 episodes. Re-runs of the episodes have been shown frequently ever since the original series ended.
The Outer Limits was revived in the mid 1990s with the first episode transmitted on March 26, 1995 this time coming to homes via cable to televisions. The opening control voice was updated for the times as well as the show itself. The stories were still science fiction based with more extraordinary events and less monsters. The anthology format was retained.
The new Outer Limits had seven seasons with 152 episodes. Two episodes from the original series were re-done, all of the other episodes were written for the new series. Re-runs of the episodes have been shown frequently since the new series ended.
Outer Limits News
February 2024
Coming in Fall 2024 is Volume 2 of From the Inner Mind To…The Outer Limits Scripts of Joseph Stefano. Like Volume 1 it will have original Outer Limits scripts for both aired and episodes that were not filmed. Also like Volume 1 the new book will be available in both a limited edition and an even more limited special edition. For details on both books see the books page.
June 2023
Amazon Freevee reached a deal with MGM where MGM will launch 12 FAST Channels which will include the single-title channel The Outer Limits along with branded channels which will include MGM Presents: Sci-Fi. These will launch over the next several months. Freevee is an Amazon-owned free ad-supported streaming service.
April 2022
The Amazon acquisition of MGM which was announced in May 2021 closed in March 2022. MGM's more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 TV episodes (including Outer Limits) are now part of Amazon. Because of existing contracts and other reasons it will take time for Amazon to figure out how best to use all of MGM's holdings but in the long term there may be changes to how MGM's content will accessed.
December 2020
For those in Canada the new Outer Limits is airing on the Showcase network weekday mornings at 3 am pacific time. See the Showcase website schedule for the episodes.
The new Outer Limits is also airing there on cable on the Crime+Investigation channel. See their website for the episodes, times, and where to find the cable channel.
January 2020
For those down under a new Outer Limits: The Complete Series box set was released on DVD in Australia on January 31, 2020. It has all seven seasons on 42 discs.
Also in Australia an original Outer Limits: The Complete Series Blu-Ray box set is scheduled to be released on April 15, 2020. It is to have both seasons on 11 discs.
November 2019
This TV is now airing original Outer Limits episodes. See the This TV schedule for the episodes I know about.
On November 24 Comet TV is running a marathon of 17 new Outer Limits episodes starting at 11 am Eastern/Pacific. See the Comet TV schedule for the episodes.
June 2019
All 133 pages in the Outer Limits section of this website have been converted to the new format. Besides the different look the site is more mobile friendly for those that browse with their phones. A static site generator was used which should make future updates easier. For anyone interested in behind the scenes the boilerplate I created for updating the sections on this website is available on GitHub .
November 2018
For those down under all of the new Outer Limits episodes are being released on two DVD box sets in Australia. The first was released on November 1, 2018 and contains seasons 1-4 on 23 discs. The second is scheduled to be released on December 5, 2018 with seasons 5-7 on 18 discs. According to the release information they are NTSC format and region 0 (All Regions).
October 2018
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Outer Limits at the Inner Mind website. It is hard to believe I have been maintaining this website for that long. I am currently doing a long overdue update of the design which I hope to have done by the end of this year.
The new DVD and Blu-ray box sets for season 2 of the original Outer Limits are now scheduled to come out November 20, 2018. The list price for the DVD set is $49.95 and the Blu-ray set is $69.95, but they usually can be purchased for less.
August 2018
TVShowsOnDVD reports the new DVD and Blu-ray box sets for season 2 of the original Outer Limits will be available on November 13, 2018. Amazon is currently selling the season 1 Blu-ray box set for $58.40 which is about what DVDPlanet.com and DeepDiscount.com are selling it for.
April 2018
The new DVD and Blu-ray box sets for season 1 of the original Outer Limits are now available. There are reviews by DVD Talk, RockShockPop.com, and Slant Magazine. All the reviews said good things about the video and audio quality. There is also an interview with Craig Beam who is one of the people who did the audio commentaries. Presently Amazon is selling the Blu-ray box set for the list price of $99.95, DVDPlanet.com is selling it for a 47% discount, and DeepDiscount.com is selling it for a 40% discount.
January 2018
Amazon has added a pre-order link for the upcoming original Outer Limits season 1 DVD and Blu-ray box sets. The price for the Blu-ray set is listed as $99.95 and for the DVDs as $79.95 which is pretty spendy. These box sets will have optional English subtitles, a 40 page Booklet, and 24 commentaries. More details are in the DVDs and Blu-rays page.
December 2017
Kino Lorber Studio Classics release of the original Outer Limits season 1 DVD and Blu-ray sets are now scheduled for March 27, 2018. There are not yet other updates on the releases.
November 2017
NBCUniversal will pull the plug on the Chiller Cable Channel at the end of 2017. Chiller has been airing the Outer Limits since April 2011. There are two places in the U.S. that still air Outer Limits: Comet TV and MeTV. See the schedules for details on the Outer Limits airings.
June 2017
Kino Lorber Studio Classics plans to release the original Outer Limits episodes on both DVD and Blu-ray. They say their releases will be from brand new HD masters, be presented in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio, and will include English subtitles. The first season is expected to be out in late 2017 followed by the second season in early 2018. This information comes from Kino Lorber's facebook page.
May 2017
In June the MeTV television network starts running a couple of original Outer Limits episodes a week so an Outer Limits schedule for MeTV has been added.
January 2017
Since Comet TV now lists episode titles for TV shows an Outer Limits schedule for Comet TV has been added. It also serves as a prototype for a mobile friendly re-design of the Outer Limits section.
October 2016
After 18 years with one web host I moved the Inner Mind site to a new one. The new web host is less expensive and still has eveything needed to do this website. As an added bonus the new web host is much faster than the old one (at least so far).
January 2016
The new Outer Limits has been airing on the Comet TV network which is a channel created for TV stations to air on their digital TV sub-channels. Comet was launched on October 31, 2015 by MGM and the Sinclair Television Group to air science fiction, supernatural, adventure and fantasy series and films. More information on Comet is on this Wikipedia page. See this Wikipedia page for a list of affiliates carrying Comet. Alternately the Comet website allows one to search for stations that carry Comet. The website also has a schedule for when Outer Limits airs. However it does not list the episodes.
October 2015
This month the U.S. Chiller Channel started re-running the new Outer Limits after a long break. See the Chiller Channel schedule for the episodes.
July 2015
The Spring 2015 issue (No. 140) of FILMFAXplus magazine has a one page review of The Outer Limits at 50 book which was published last year. The review also has some of author David J. Hogan's musings on the series.
The Outer Limits at 50 also received this years Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Book of the Year (actually only one vote separated it from another book so they were considered a tie but still quite an honor).
June 2014
There is a big screen movie of Outer Limits in the works. It will be based on the Demon With a Glass Hand episode written by Harlan Ellison. Scott Derrickson and Robert Cargill are the writers, and Mark Victor is producing it. The info comes from this Hollywood Reporter article.
However a number of mentions of Outer Limits movies have come up in the past such as this in 2010 and this in 2002 but nothing became of them. Hopefully this time a movie will actually get made.
January 2014
In December 2013 TGG Direct released in the U.S. a new Outer Limits DVD box set which has all season 7 episodes that they label as The Final Season. There are no extras, subtitles or closed captions. Since this was produced for the Sci-Fi Channel there are no edits for content.
November 2013
An administrative note: the contact email address for the Outer Limits section of the website has changed so use this link:
September 2013
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the premier of the original Outer Limits on TV. Sadly very little has been done to commemorate this event. The Outer Limits 50th Anniversary Tribute at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention in August is the only event I am aware of in the U.S.
December 2012
This month the Syfy cable channel is running a 2 hour Syfy 20th Anniversary Special. Outer Limits is seen briefly several times near the beginning but does not get any coverage.
July 2011
The EPIX Cable Channel will be airing an original Outer Limits episode at the following days and times (pacific).
July 22, 2011 1:00 AM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
July 22, 2011 10:35 AM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
July 26, 2011 8:45 AM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
July 29, 2011 10:00 PM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
EPIX has both standard and high definition feeds so it will be interesting to see if the episode is re-mastered in HD or is just upconverted. I do not know if they have plans to show more episodes. More info on EPIX is on this Wiki page.
Update: This episode was part of a block of programming EPIX was running with William Shatner. I am not sure what the source was but the quality looked good in HD. EPIX shows the episode without commercials and based on the running time, uncut. It will air more in August.
August 2, 2011 11:00 PM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
August 10, 2011 11:30 AM - Cold Hands, Warm Heart
April 2011
The Chiller Cable Channel started airing new Outer Limits episodes this month so I added a schedule for it.
January 2011
A local station started to carry the This TV Channel so I added a schedule for it. In January it is running original Outer Limits episodes.
August 2010
Completing the releases, Alliance Home Entertainment of Canada announced the new Outer Limits Season 7 DVD box set will out on October 5, 2010.
Variety reports that MGM has hired 2 writers to develop a script for an Outer Limits movie. There are no other details on the project yet, and considering MGM's financial problems it is uncertain if the movie will be made.
July 2010
Still continuing the releases, Alliance Home Entertainment of Canada announced they will release a new Outer Limits Season 6 DVD box set on September 7, 2010.
June 2010
Continuing the releases, Alliance Home Entertainment of Canada announced they will release a new Outer Limits Season 5 DVD box set on August 3, 2010.
April 2010
In addition to the previous announcements, Alliance Home Entertainment of Canada will release a new Outer Limits Season 4 DVD box set on July 6, 2010.
Alliance Home Entertainment of Canada is releasing several new Outer Limits DVD box sets. On May 4, 2010 separate sets for Season 1 and Season 2 will be released to be followed by Season 3 on June 1, 2010. Release information indicates these are to be complete seasons. However the episodes are reported to be the edited for syndication versions, not the versions shown on Showtime. List price is $25.99 (Canadian).