The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 2 | 
 enlarge | Directors: Byron Haskin, Charles F. Haas, Felix E. Feist, Gerd Oswald, James Goldstone
Actors: Robert Duvall, Donald Harron, Steve Ihnat, Ivan Dixon, Dee Pollock
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $54.98
Buy New: $23.49
You Save: $31.49 (57%)
New (5) Used (7) from $16.49
Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 19157
Format: Box Set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 3
Running Time: 870 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 0792858077
UPC: 027616895271
EAN: 9780792858072
ASIN: B00009Y3RE
Theatrical Release Date: September 16, 1963
Release Date: September 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Despite forced changes in executive and creative personnel, plummeting ratings and the constant threat of cancellation, the truncated second season of The Outer Limits (1964-65) yielded some of the series' finest episodes. While The Twilight Zone was fading fast on CBS, the bean-counters at ABC used focus groups and ratings statistics to enforce their previous mandate for a "monster of the week" format for their flagging science-fiction series, and after a few promising episodes early in the season, Outer Limits settled into a regrettable routine of reduced budgets and rubber-suit creatures that wouldn't pass inspection at a drunken Halloween party. A former network executive with minimal creative input, Perry Mason producer Ben Brady struggled to keep the doomed series alive while coproducer Seeleg Lester sought legitimacy by courting respected writers and material. As Harlan Ellison observes in David J. Schow's indispensable book The Outer Limits Companion, weak ratings allowed quality episodes to slip under the radar of ABC executives. Ellison's own classic teleplays--"Soldier" (which would later inspire The Terminator and subsequent legal squabbles) and "Demon with a Glass Hand"--yielded the season's finest stand-alone episodes, while the two-part "The Inheritors" (featuring the young Robert Duvall) fulfilled the series' neglected potential for longer-form plotlines. While these highlights redeem the season, "Wolf 359" (a title that would later factor in Star Trek: The Next Generation) is eerily effective despite low-tech restrictions, and "Behold Eck!" is the "best" (relatively speaking) of the tepid monster-themed shows that ABC demanded. It wasn't enough: After 17 episodes against the Saturday-night dominance of The Jackie Gleason Show, the greatest science-fiction anthology series of the 1960s was mercifully canceled, primed for phenomenal success in syndication and eventual revival as the "new" Outer Limits in 1995. --Jeff Shannon
Description
You hold in your hands an artifact from a time now vanished forever - a compendium of portals into worlds unknown. A three-disc set that controls over 14 hours of transmission from the 1964-65 series, this vessel has sought you out for one specific purpose: to expand your mind to "The Outer Limits"!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 52 more reviews...
 Great series, wish they had run longer December 31, 2007
Anthony J. Fasy (Westville, NJ United States)
I had been waiting for this series to come to DVD, and after watching all the episodes I had loved as a kid I am glad for the purchase. It is true the small budget led to some hokey special effects, and some of the production values were not up to those expected for the time. I still enjoyed the stories, and I think any fan of sci-fi will do so.
 OK, I'm scared. (Including a suggestion) September 29, 2007
Douglas Vencill (San Diego, CA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having just finished watching the complete first season on DVD--and having been an OL fan since being glued to the TV as a 10-year-old kid during its original run--I found myself in the position of jonesing for the complete 2nd season and being prepared to pay for it.
Glad I came to Amazon first before I did. What's all this BS about the second season product being defective and Sony/MGM not doing anything about it? It seems like a lot of OL fans like me got royally ripped off, and I feel for you. How sad that the powers that be appear to be thumbing their noses as their customers.
My suggestion, for whatever it might be worth: Have any of you who received defective disc sets and did not receive quality replacements considered reporting Sony/MGM to the Better Business Bureau? I honestly don't know what, if any, good this might do, but the BBB needs to hear about matters like this. They've helped me in dealing with other ripoff situations, and for me this would seem to be a classic example of "nothing ventured, nothing gained."
I loved the original OL series (and I seem to be one of the few who liked the remake series of the 90's as well) and it infuriates me that because of what I've read here, I can't (or to be more accurate, WON'T) order the 2nd season on DVD. Thank God I kept most of the VHS copies of the 2nd series instead of giving them away, as I almost did. I will keep an eye on this review column to see if any of you find out about quality reissues of this set. This really, really saddens me...especially when you consider that those resposible for this travesty are not taking responsibility for their actions. A real sign of the times if ever there was one.
Disc 2 defective September 15, 2007
Scott J. Wilson (Portland, OR United States)
As many other people I have also received the same bad batch with a defective disc 2 for the second time. If you look at the disc you can clearly see it is defective. Why doesn't Amazon demand a new batch? They must getting sick and tired of all the returns. MGM is so freaking cheap and greedy it's absolutely pathetic. How much more could it possibly cost to press better quality discs?
scififan September 13, 2007
William Hall
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love the show. But the DVD just does not work. I have ordered three copies from Amazon and only parts the disks will play. I have tried them in several DVD players and computers. They will not play in anything. Amazon was great but the disks are not. I would have given the set a 4 or 5 if they just worked.
defective discs August 14, 2007
ChefBum (Fremont,, CA United States)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This review is not about the content itself and does not reflect on the original "Outer Limits" television series. That part is great, and has been for over 40 years.
I DO have a problem, however, at how CHEAP the presentation of this DVD set is. MGM have shown themselves to have NO CLASS and care only about making the most profit rather than doing a landmark, historical TV series its due justice.
AVOID this box set. I've had problems with both my first order and the replacement sent quickly by Amazon. Both have a defective section of the first side of disc 2 in which both "I Robot" and the first part of "The Inheritors" will not play on a DVD player nor a DVD ROM drive. Strangely, "Wolf 352" played fine.
I'm sure this is partially due to the CHEAP presentation of this box set. The small episode guide is helpful if very bare bones, but no doubt the technical problems are due in part to the CHEAP decision to CRAM as many episodes as they can on one disc by using both sides of the DVD. I've often had problems with these kinds of discs, and almost never with standard DVDs that play on only one side.
How much does a blank DVD cost? Not even a buck? And for MGM, it's even less than that.
They're just out to make a quick buck on this one, that's clear. Don't even get me started on the TOTAL lack of DVD extras-- no subtitles, languages, no audio setup options, no nothing. I'm sure that after everybody who really wanted the whole series buys this anyways, MGM will wait a couple years and reissue it as a "deluxe set"-- like they should have done in the first place-- to make more money on selling you the same thing twice. They're greedy and no-class. Would it have hurt them to put out the series on a greater number of high quality discs instead of cramming all those hours of programming on just a few cheap double sides? I would've been willing to pay more for a higher quality product. After all, people are buying these because they want to keep them and watch them for nostalgia's sake.
I also received season 1 as a gift, and I had to return it because it was missing the episode guide. Luckily, the replacement had the episode guide and doesn't seem to have any technical problems, but the quality control on these products is obviously very questionable.
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