The Outer Limits at 59

'Sup? It's, uh, been a while. 

You may have noticed that, after remaining static and unchanged for at least a decade, the banner at the top of this blog is suddenly and markedly different. What gives? What’s the point? It’s been over three years since I last posted anything, and almost eight years since the mission of this blog---- the examination and celebration of each Outer Limits episode on its fiftieth anniversary--- was fulfilled. 

Valid questions, those. If you peruse the comments that follow each post, you’ll see that the extended community aspect of the blog never really died. People still find this blog after all this time, still share their thoughts on the episodes and, most gratifyingly (for yours truly), leave kind and often glowing comments on my work here. Sheesh, just look at that page views counter over to the right! The virtual corpse may be cold, but somewhere deep inside, a warm heart still beats. In light of that, I’ve wanted to check back in for some time now. 

Plus today is the 59th (!) anniversary of the show’s inaugural broadcast: “The Galaxy Being” first aired on September 16, 1963, so I should probably mark the occasion in some way (I, um, haven't watched it since my 50th anniversary spotlight exactly nine years ago, so I'm gonna try to throw it on at some point today). In addition to that, well... perhaps it's time I finally circle back to where it all started and do some blogging. But first, a quick glance backward. Cue the PREVIOUSLY ON… montage! 

It's been a few years. Where were we? 

It looks like my last dispatches mostly involved the Blu-ray releases from Kino Lorber in 2018, for which I contributed seven audio commentaries ("O.B.I.T.," "Corpus Earthling," "Specimen: Unknown," "Cold Hands, Warm Heart," "Demon with a Glass Hand," "The Invisible Enemy" and "Wolf 359"). I got that gig as a direct result of writing this blog (well, okay, I was also actively doing a podcast at the time, so I already possessed the necessary equipment and at least a modicum of experience yammering into a microphone... at least, that’s probably how David J. Schow convinced Kino to let me join in the supplement shenanigans). Seriously gang, doing those commentaries was the honor of a lifetime, the culmination of decades of fandom and several years of parlaying said fandom into blogging and podcasting… a veritable Cinderella story, if you will. As glorious as the experience was, I was pretty sure---- no, I was stone-cold certain--- that I’d never get to do anything like that again. 

But you know... sometimes it’s okay to be wrong; in fact, sometimes it’s better than okay. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  

Here’s what I’m planning (in my typical half-assed, off-the-cuff fashion)---- weekly posts (maybe twice weekly, but no promises) in which I'll detail the various opportunities and projects that have come my way as a direct result of those Outer Limits commentaries... which sprang to life from seeds sown right here in these virtual pages. In fact, everything I've done over the past several years can be traced back to this blog (and my similar Twilight Zone blog), so it seems appropriate to document it all here. Hopefully none of it will come off as bragging, but... well, I've done some pretty cool stuff since last we spoke. This doesn’t mean that the blog is back for good…. think of this as a limited revival event, a multi-part catching up-slash-continuation (sorta like The X-files and Twin Peaks did). After that… well, who knows? The show’s 60th anniversary is exactly one year from today, so maybe I’ll…. 

…well… 

Nope, dammit. I’m not committing to revisiting each episode on its 60th birthday. I won’t rule it out entirely, but right now it sounds impossible.  I don’t know how I managed it back then.  Plus... would I have anything new to say? I kinda doubt it.

Next time: (Ron)do or (Ron)do not. There is no try. It'll make sense in context, I promise.