Season Two arrives on Blu-ray!

Hey gang.... yeah, I know, it's been a DAMN long time since I've posted anything. Sue me.

So THE OUTER LIMITS Season Two has dropped, and it's magnificent.* Don't believe me? Just ask Glenn Erickson, the esteemed CineSavant himself:

CineSavant Review

Yours truly recorded four, count 'em, FOUR commentary tracks this time around (after contributing three for the Season One set earlier this year). You'll hear my annoying voice droning on incessantly on the following episodes:

Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Demon with a Glass Hand
The Invisible Enemy
Wolf 359

I dunno, maybe these are a bit better than my season one offerings...? I dunno, I'm way too close to these things to possess any semblance of an impartial view.

Longtime readers of the blog will recall my frequent MGM-bashing over the lack of a Blu-ray release for the series, especially when the show turned 50. The series turns 55 this year (actually, it already did, back on September 15th), so I guess the additional five years didn't kill me. My ire is still as strong as ever toward MGM, though, since they aren't even the ones releasing these sets.... we can all thank Kino Lorber for that.



* There's a bit of an audio problem on the episode "Soldier." The entirety of act two is marred by bad audio. I mean, like, REALLY bad. It starts out okay, then gradually blooms into full-on obnoxious-as-hell warbling. Check it out:

Kino will be offering replacement discs in early 2019, so don't let this gaff stop you from purchasing. 

On This, the Eve of the Season One Blu-ray Release...

I was interviewed about a week ago about my involvement with the Blu-ray release of The Outer Limits Season One (which streets tomorrow!), and the interview went live today. Check it out!

Control Voices from Beyond: Craig Beam on 'The Outer Limits' Season One on Blu-ray

Here's a much larger version of the (quite tiny) picture of me they used. My old friend Martin ScorZanti is clearly the better looking.

A few quick comparisons....

DVD on the left, Blu-ray on the right. Click on 'em for the full-sizedness.

.

Is this the day?

Yes. Yes it is.

First Blu-ray Review Is Up!

Two weeks from today, the legendary first season of The Outer Limits will be released on Blu-ray.... and the first review is up! CineSavant himself Glenn Erickson gives the set a pretty thorough rundown, and (spoiler alert) it's a glowingly positive review. Well, what are you waiting for? Click, man, CLICK!

Glenn Erickson's review

He even mentions me--- well, not by name, but...

"Kino has produced a tall stack of audio commentaries for the boxed set, covering more than two thirds of the episodes. Unchallenged OL master David J. Schow takes on many of the top titles, and gives us authoritative reportage on the careers of Leslie Stevens and Joseph Stefano. Tim Lucas adds his brand of analysis and insight to other well-known hits, often citing surprising sources of inspiration for episodes, and connecting OL shows to later classic works. The other commentators range from knowledgeable authors, to specialists in TV music and art direction, to a super-fan blogger who knows his territory as well as anybody."


That's definitely me (I'm the only blogger on the roster, so...!). So between being listed as a "film historian" on the back cover and this,  I may be in serious danger of developing a Gwyllm Griffiths-sized swollen head...!

Season 1 Blu-ray cover art unveiled!

I love getting exactly what I want. It doesn't happen often. But when it does... I just revel in it, man.

Just a couple of days ago I described what I was hoping the Blu-ray cover would look like:

I'm not sure I want ANY characters displayed... I'd prefer something starker. Just the logo, and the iconic sine wave behind it. Something stately. Classy. Minimalist. 

The universe heard me.

61 days.

Season One Blu-ray now available for pre-order!

There's no cover art posted yet, but Amazon now has an official listing....

The Outer Limits: Season One Blu-ray

From the listing:

Newly Re-Mastered in HD! There Is Nothing Wrong With Your Television Set... Do Not Attempt To Adjust The Picture... We Are Controlling Transmission... The entire first season 32 Episodes You hold in your hands an artifact from a time now vanished forever; a compendium of portals into worlds unknown. A seven-disc set that controls over 27 hours of transmission from the 1963-1964 series, this vessel has sought you out for one specific purpose: to expand your mind to The Outer Limits! Guest stars include Ed Asner, Macdonald Carey, Dabney Coleman, Robert Culp, Bruce Dern, Robert Duvall, Mimsy Farmer, Don Gordon, Harry Guardino, Gloria Grahame, Signe Hasso, Miriam Hopkins, Richard Jaeckel, Sally Kellerman, Shirley Knight, Martin Landau, George Macready, John Marley, David McCallum, Ralph Meeker, Gary Merrill, Vera Miles, Leonard Nimoy, Simon Oakland, Warren Oates, Carroll O Connor, Donald Pleasence, Cliff Robertson, Ruth Roman, Barbara Rush, Martin Sheen, Henry Silva and many more

'The best program of its type ever to run on network TV!' - Stephen King

Special Features:

Audio commentaries by David J. Schow (author of The Outer Limits Companion) and film historians Tim Lucas, Reba Wissner, Craig Beam, Gary Gerani, Michael Hyatt and Steve Mitchell 

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOUR TELEVISION SET: a 40 Page Booklet Essay by David J. Schow


It appears that the cat is officially out of the bag, so I'm free to talk about it. Yours truly contributed three commentary tracks: "O.B.I.T.," "Corpus Earthling," and "Specimen: Unknown." Not gonna lie--- I'm still having a hard time believing this is all really happening.



March 27th, folks. 

The Outer Limits in Portland, circa 1985

The following is the result of an entire Saturday wasted. Using the Multnomah County Library's online research archive, I was able to piece together a complete record of The Outer Limits’ late-night run here in Portland in 1985 (when I first saw the series; I did something similar for The Twilight Zone a couple of years ago, but nowhere near this extensiveness). Forgive the formatting --- I was way into it before I realized that putting the dates first would've been infinitely tidier). 

The Outer Limits on Portland's KPDX-49

1/07/85-9/14/85

Jan-June 1985 M-F @ 10:00 pm

July-Sept 1985 M-F @ 11:00 pm + Sat @ 10:00 pm

Run #1 (Monday 1/07/1985 - Monday 3/11/1985)

I wasn't able to get specific episode descriptions for the first 3 weeks, but I did determine that the show was preempted THE VERY FIRST FUCKING DAY. Not a great start, KPDX programmer (whoever you may have been).

(preempted) Monday 1/07/1985

(?) Tuesday 1/08/1985

(?) Wednesday 1/09/1985

(?) Thursday 1/10/1985

(?) Friday 1/11/1985

(?) Monday 1/14/1985

(?) Tuesday 1/15/1985

(?) Wednesday 1/16/1985

(?) Thursday 1/17/1985

(?) Friday 1/18/1985

(?) Monday 1/21/1985

(?) Tuesday 1/23/1985

(?) Wednesday 1/24/1985

(?) Thursday 1/25/1985

(?) Friday 1/26/1985

"The Invisibles" Monday 1/28/1985

"The Bellero Shield" Tuesday 1/29/1985

"The Children of Spider County" Wednesday 1/30/1985

"Specimen: Unknown" Thursday 2/01/1985

(preempted) Friday 2/02/1985

"Moonstone" Monday 2/04/1985

(preempted) Tuesday 2/05/1985

"The Guests" Wednesday 2/06/1985

(preempted) Thursday 2/07/1985

"The Special One" Friday 2/08/1985

(preempted) Monday 2/11/1985

"Production and Decay of Strange Particles" Tuesday 2/12/1985

"The Chameleon" Wednesday 2/13/1985

"The Forms of Things Unknown" Thursday 2/14/1985

"Soldier" Friday 2/15/1985

(preempted) Monday 2/18/1985

"Behold, Eck!" Tuesday 2/19/1985

"Expanding Human" Wednesday 2/20/1985

(preempted) Thursday 2/21/1985

"Cry of Silence" Friday 2/22/1985

"The Invisible Enemy" Monday 2/25/1985

"Wolf 359" Tuesday 2/26/1985

"I, Robot" Wednesday 2/27/1985

"The Inheritors Part 1" Thursday 2/28/1985

"The Inheritors Part 2" Friday 3/01/1985

"Keeper of the Purple Twilight" Monday 3/04/1985

"The Duplicate Man" Tuesday 3/05/1985

"Counterweight" Wednesday 3/06/1985

"The Brain of Colonel Barham" Thursday 3/07/1985

"The Premonition" Friday 3/08/1985

"The Probe" Monday 3/11/1985

That first run is confusing---- the fourth week (the first week that the TV listings provided episode synopses) starts off with "The Invisibles," so I'm thinking that they either didn't start with "The Galaxy Being" or they skipped several episodes. However, they almost-religiously stuck to the same order of episodes throughout all four runs, which makes "The Invisibles" the 19th episode overall. If they'd started with "The Galaxy Being," "Controlled Experiment" should've aired on Monday 1/28/85, and "The Invisibles" shouldn't have aired until Thursday 2/01/1985. This mystery aside, KPDX kept strictly to the same schedule for all four passes (except for one really weird exception in Run #3) ... so if an episode was preempted, they didn't kick it ahead a day---- they just skipped it, so you were shit outta luck until it came around next time (if indeed there was a next time; who knew how long they'd keep airing the series?). The first Outer Limits episode I ever saw was "The Sixth Finger" during that first run (which aired at some point in those first three weeks; wish I knew which date); by then I was fairly well-versed in the series thanks to David J. Schow's Twilight Zone Magazine articles/episode guide (which would form the basis for his Outer Limits Companion in 1986); so yes, every episode was spoiled for me before I ever saw it... but hell, for all I knew I'd NEVER see them). I'm convinced KPDX started airing the series because said articles resulted in enough viewer inquiries to justify it (though I have no proof).

Run #2 (Tuesday 3/12/1985 - Friday 5/17/1985)

The second run, well, ran like a well-oiled machine. Eight episodes weren't shown due to preemptions, but otherwise... clockwork.

"The Galaxy Being" Tuesday 3/12/1985

"The Hundred Days of the Dragon" Wednesday 3/13/1985

"The Man with the Power" Thursday 3/14/1985

"The Architects of Fear" Friday 3/15/1985

"The Sixth Finger" Monday 3/18/1985

"The Man Who Was Never Born" Tuesday 3/19/1985

(preempted) Wednesday 3/20/1985

(preempted) Thursday 3/21/1985

"Corpus Earthling" Friday 3/22/1985

"Tourist Attraction" Monday 3/25/1985

"Nightmare" Tuesday 3/26/1985

"It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" Wednesday 3/27/1985

"The Borderland" Thursday 3/28/1985

"The Zanti Misfits" Friday 3/29/1985

"The Mice" Monday 4/01/1985

"Controlled Experiment" Tuesday 4/02/1985

"Don't Open till Doomsday" Wednesday 4/03/1985

"ZZZZZ" Thursday 4/04/1985

"The Invisibles" Friday 4/05/1985

"The Bellero Shield" Monday 4/08/1985

"The Children of Spider County" Tuesday 4/09/1985

"Specimen: Unknown" Wednesday 4/10/1985

"Second Chance" Thursday 4/11/1985

"Moonstone" Friday 4/12/1985

"The Mutant" Monday 4/15/1985

"The Guests" Tuesday 4/16/1985

"Fun and Games" Wednesday 4/17/1985

"The Special One" Thursday 4/18/1985

(preempted) Friday 4/19/1985

"Production and Decay of Strange Particles" Monday 4/22/1985

"The Chameleon" Tuesday 4/23/1985

"The Forms of Things Unknown" Wednesday 4/24/1985

"Soldier" Thursday 4/25/1985

"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" Friday 4/26/1985

"Behold, Eck!" Monday 4/29/1985

(preempted) Tuesday 4/30/1985

"Demon with a Glass Hand" Wednesday 5/01/1985

"Cry of Silence" Thursday 5/02/1985

(preempted) Friday 5/03/1985

(preempted) Monday 5/06/1985

"I, Robot" Tuesday 5/07/1985

"The Inheritors Part 1" Wednesday 5/08/1985

"The Inheritors Part 2" Thursday 5/09/1985

"Keeper of the Purple Twilight" Friday 5/10/1985

"The Duplicate Man" Monday 5/13/1985

(preempted) Tuesday 5/14/1985

(preempted) Wednesday 5/15/1985

"The Premonition" Thursday 5/16/1985

"The Probe" Friday 5/17/1985

Run #3 (Monday 5/20/1985 - 7/20/1985)

The third run was a bit all over the place. I will note that there was nearly an entire week preempted by a couple of movies and baseball games (only one episode aired that week, "Tourist Attraction" on Friday 5/31/1985) and, in a move of profound dickheadedness (or inspired tomfoolery), they aired "The Mice" on a Friday (6/07/1985), then AGAIN the following Monday (6/10/1985). They added Saturday airings starting 7/06/1985, so going forward The Outer Limits controlled local TVs for six nights... however, the two weeks leading up to that had NO Outer Limits at all... it appears the show was removed from the KPDX schedule for two weeks, then as inexplicably put back on with no interruption in episode order (meaning 10 consecutive episodes weren't shown, 11 counting the preemption the preceding Friday). Did I say a "bit" all over the place? Try a lot.

"The Galaxy Being" Monday 5/20/1985

"The Hundred Days of the Dragon" Tuesday 5/21/1985

(preempted) Wednesday 5/22/1985

"The Architects of Fear" Thursday 5/23/1985

"The Sixth Finger" Friday 5/24/1985

(preempted) Monday 5/27/1985

(preempted) Tuesday 5/28/1985

(preempted) Wednesday 5/29/1985

(preempted) Thursday 5/30/1985

"Tourist Attraction" Friday 5/31/1985

"Nightmare" Monday 6/03/1985

(preempted) Tuesday 6/04/1985

(preempted) Wednesday 6/05/1985

"The Zanti Misfits" Thursday 6/06/1985

"The Mice" Friday 6/07/1985

"The Mice" Monday 6/10/1985

"Don't Open till Doomsday" Tuesday 6/11/1985

"ZZZZZ" Wednesday 6/12/1985

"The Invisibles" Thursday 6/13/1985

"The Bellero Shield" Friday 6/14/1985

"The Children of Spider County" Monday 6/17/1985

"Specimen: Unknown" Tuesday 6/18/1985

"Second Chance" Wednesday 6/19/1985

"Moonstone" Thursday 6/20/1985

(preempted) Friday 6/21/1985

N/A Monday 6/24/1985

N/A Tuesday 6/25/1985

N/A Wednesday 6/26/1985

N/A Thursday 6/27/1985

N/A Friday 6/28/1985

N/A Monday 7/01/1985

N/A Tuesday 7/02/1985

N/A Wednesday 7/03/1985

N/A Thursday 7/04/1985

N/A Friday 7/05/1985

"Demon with a Glass Hand" Saturday 7/06/1985

"Cry of Silence" Monday 7/08/1985

"The Invisible Enemy" Tuesday 7/09/1985

"Wolf 359" Wednesday 7/10/1985

"I, Robot" Thursday 7/11/1985

"The Inheritors Part 1" Friday 7/12/1985

"The Inheritors Part 2" Saturday 7/13/1985

"Keeper of the Purple Twilight" 7/15/1985

"The Duplicate Man" 7/16/1985

"Counterweight" 7/17/1985

"The Brain of Colonel Barham" 7/18/1985

"The Premonition" 7/19/1985

"The Probe" Saturday 7/20/1985

Run #4 (Monday 7/22/1985 - Friday 9/14/1985)

The fourth and final run suffered the least number of preemptions, so it certainly aspires to clockwork-dom... but there were a couple of notable, um, issues...

"The Galaxy Being" Monday 7/22/1985

"The Hundred Days of the Dragon" Tuesday 7/23/1985

"The Man with the Power" Wednesday 7/24/1985

"The Architects of Fear" Thursday 7/25/1985

(preempted) Friday 7/26/1985

"The Man Who Was Never Born" Saturday 7/27/1985

"O.B.I.T." Monday 7/29/1985

"The Human Factor" Tuesday 7/30/1985

"Corpus Earthling" Wednesday 7/31/1985

"Tourist Attraction" Thursday 8/01/1985

"Nightmare" Friday 8/02/1985

"It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" Saturday 8/03/1985

"The Borderland" Monday 8/05/1985

"The Zanti Misfits" Tuesday 8/06/1985

"The Mice" Wednesday 8/07/1985

"Controlled Experiment" Thursday 8/08/1985

"Don't Open till Doomsday" Friday 8/09/1985

"ZZZZZ" Saturday 8/10/1985

"The Invisibles" Monday 8/12/1985

"The Bellero Shield" Tuesday 8/13/1985

"The Children of Spider County" Wednesday 8/14/1985

"Specimen: Unknown" Thursday 8/15/1985

"Second Chance" Friday 8/16/1985

"Moonstone" Saturday 8/17/1985

"The Mutant" Monday 8/19/1985

"The Guests" Tuesday 8/20/1985

"Fun and Games" Wednesday 8/21/1985

"The Special One" Thursday 8/22/1985

"A Feasibility Study" Friday 8/23/1985

"Production and Decay of Strange Particles" Saturday 8/24/1985

"The Chameleon" Monday 8/26/1985

"The Forms of Things Unknown" Tuesday 8/27/1985

"Soldier" Wednesday 8/28/1985

"Cold Hands, Warm Heart" Thursday 8/29/1985

"Behold, Eck!" Friday 8/30/1985

"Expanding Human" Saturday 8/31/1985

"Demon with a Glass Hand" Monday 9/02/1985

"Cry of Silence" Tuesday 9/03/1985

"The Invisible Enemy" Wednesday 9/04/1985

"Wolf 359" Thursday 9/05/1985

"I, Robot" Friday 9/06/1985

(preempted) Saturday 9/07/1985

"The Inheritors Part 2" Monday 9/09/1985

"Keeper of the Purple Twilight" Tuesday 9/10/1985

"The Duplicate Man" Wednesday 9/11/1985

"Counterweight" Thursday 9/12/1985

"The Brain of Colonel Barham" Friday 9/13/1985

"The Premonition" Saturday 9/14/1985

That's right, they didn't even show "The Probe" to close out the final run! Even more egregious is the preemption that occurred on Saturday 9/07/1985 (imagine the dismay felt by those poor unfortunates who'd never seen "The Inheritors Part 1"!).  

KPDX adhered mostly to the original broadcast order, with a few weird exceptions: "The Man with the Power" was shown before "The Architects of Fear." "Tourist Attraction" and "The Borderland" weren't where they belonged either. Otherwise, broadcast order.

Thus ended the syndicated run of The Outer Limits here in Portland in 1985. And so ends an entire day of my life that I ain't never getting back.

Possible Blu-Ray Cover Art...?

Here's something making the rounds on the ol' interwebs.... 

Could we be looking at the cover art for the Outer Limits: Season 1 Blu-ray set, coming March 27th? I dunno. There's no Blu-ray logo on it, for one thing. And quite honestly, I'm not crazy about it. Too... busy, I guess. I'm not sure I want ANY characters displayed... I'd prefer something starker. Just the logo, and the iconic sine wave behind it. Something stately. Classy. Minimalist. But I dunno. If that's the real thing, I can live with it. The important thing is---- we're finally getting the show in high definition and, as a pretty reliable source tells me, there's gonna be a whole lotta commentary tracks. More on that later....

Hey... this is our 100th post!