Thursday, November 01, 2012

Ask JKM a Question #48: The Outer Limits Remake?



Reader and commenter Trent writes:

“While horror, by far, is my favorite genre, I do appreciate smart science fiction. I enjoyed 'TNG' and watched it irregularly however my personal favorite was 'The Outer Limits', 1995-2002. You have not acknowledged this series, as far as I can tell, even once, and I am curious as to the reason why.  After all, 'TNG' had 178 episodes & 'TOL' had slightly less at 154, I would think that there would be a substantial amount of material available for review .Your thoughts on this series would be appreciated.”

Great question, Trent. 

I can’t really quibble with your assessment of my writing on the remake series.  I may have mentioned it on the blog once or twice in seven years, but you’re right, there’s been nothing substantive about it here.

In part, I haven’t written about the remade Outer Limits simply because I don’t have a deep familiarity with it. 

I watched it on and off during its first season or two, way back in the 1990s when I was working in a blood bank (don't ask...) but that is the extent of my knowledge.  And I have learned from professional and personal experience it is better for me not to write about productions that I don’t have a very clear memory of, because I am more prone to making mistakes.

From what I saw of the Outer Limits series back in the nineties, I liked it fine, but was disappointed that it didn’t feature the atmospheric camera-work of the original, and that some of the writing was not as strong as that found on the original Leslie Stevens/Joe Stefano anthology.  It may just have been the episodes I saw, because I didn’t watch the series regularly.

I don’t want to over-promise, because I’m already watching Timeslip and have Fringe in my queue at the moment, but I honestly wouldn’t mind re-visiting The Outer Limits. 

That said, I also have an urge to watch Quantum Leap and Sliders.  But on your recommendation, I will definitely re-visit (or more accurately, visit…) The Outer Limits remake.  I see it is available on Netflix, so…I’m on it.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:15 PM

    Sliders(1995-2000) is definitely worth watching because it examines so many variants of society.

    SGB

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  2. The Outer Limits redux had some episodes that were very good, but some others that were absolutely wretched. It was very hit or miss. Sometimes they concentrated more on the sex angle rather than good storytelling.

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  3. Just be careful when watching the first season of Sliders, they showed the episodes out of order, so you have to find the proper line up and watch accordingly as the slides link from show to show. FOX didn't like that and wanted individual episodes with no links as they wanted the option to air out of sequence. Sliders had a lot going for it, but behind the scenes quibbles and FOX suits derailed the show...a real shame, the possibilities were endless.

    ReplyDelete

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