We've no doubt blathered on before about what huge fans we are of the original "Twilight Zone" series. We'll sit there and rewatch those episodes over and over, every time Syfy deals up one of their three-day weekend "Twilight Zone" marathons, and we'll be just as happy as a pig in slop doing it. (Now this author's bro has lent her his "Twilight Zone" DVD set. Oh, the humanity.)
In truth, this author loves all things 1960s -- "Twilight Zone," "Mad Men," even "Pan Am," and definitely her mother's vintage clothing! In fact, BRB is about to move into a bona-fide "Mad Men" house -- but hey, that's another story. The topic today is not 1960s houses, or even "The Twilight Zone." The subject is another TV series of the same era, one we eagerly looked forward to viewing, since we had seen just one single episode of this show years ago, in all its one-hour, black-and-white, 1963 glory. The show is "The Outer Limits," another one that's been redone over the years, but we're talking original, beautiful, vintage, with every delightful, cringe-y special effect intact. All that.
We know John Considine as the commanding , shrewd Grant Capwell of "Santa Barbara." He was also David Prescott on "Dynasty" and Lt. Braden on "The Colbys." He even did a voice on "Batman: The Animated Series." On the "Outer Limits" episode "
The Man Who Was Never Born," he is so very young, nary a distinctive line drawn on that fresh face, all of the Grant Capwell distinction clearly missing. He's handsome beyond belief, and we didn't even recognize him at first, his dark, wavy hair shining. It's a time-travel episode, and he portrays a young officer who ends up being the object of the time-traveling character's mission -- an astronaut has got to stop an apocalyptic disease from being unleashed on mankind by killing its creator, a scientist yet to be fathered by Considine's character.
With our "Twilight Zone" bias effectively ensconced in our sensibilities, maybe we've been expecting a bit too much out of "The Outer Limits" as we've been cruising through the first-season DVD set. But we can't help feeling that it seems like a clunkier version of its competitor Rod Serling show. And the writing and acting --
distant, is that the word we're looking for? Cold? Unfriendly? "The Man Who Was Never Born" is a better pick from the episodes we've viewed so far, with enough humanity to keep us interested. And, of course, we're watching for those '60s female fashions, being such an aficionado. Even in black and white they glimmer beyond belief.
Space aliens are a big, big theme in this show, much like "TZ." The ep we saw years ago was "The Sixth Finger," starring David McCallum as the subject of an experiment to evolve human brains eons into the future, his character becoming more and more drunk with the power as his head swells -- literally. We really enjoyed that one. And "The Man Who Was Never Born" -- that's another yes.
So we'll keep watching and see what we else come up with ...
