THE OUTER LIMITS from Mediumrare: Well Done, or Half Baked?

Left: DVD (slipcase front). Right: Blu-ray (slipcase front).

Goodness, time's gotten away from me. I intended to post this back in early January... but my latest Blu-ray audio commentary project (for a feature film that I still can't mention) had a deadline, so I had to focus on that. I managed to get it done and submitted a couple of weeks ago but, as it turns out, my work on that particular release isn't quite finished---- I've been given the green light to produce a documentary featurette to accompany it (similar to the ones I produced for the Night Gallery Blu-rays). I've also got another classic TV commentary assignment coming up (which I also can't reveal yet). So... yeah, my March is gonna be busy. But for anyone out there who's been patiently waiting for details on Mediumrare Entertainment's Outer Limits DVD and Blu-ray releases from December... sorry for the delay. I'll, um... refund your money or whatever.

Left: DVD (slipcase back). Right: Blu-ray (Slipcase back).

First up---- the Blu-ray version. Happily, ALL of the content from the Via Vision effort from 2020 is here, including the exclusive content (detailed in my previous post). There's nothing new, however---- so that "Tourist Attraction" track that Dave Schow and I did, along with the new track for "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" by Tim Lucas (both detailed here) will languish in silence... for now.

So should you spring for it? Well, it's a helluva lot cheaper than the Via Vision version (not to mention much easier to acquire), and it's the only game in town if you want those exclusive commentaries and stuff. However (and this is a fairly critical however)--- you must be multi-region equipped, as Mediumrare's set is locked to Region B. I bought my first multi-region player about 10 years ago, and lemme tell ya--- it was life-changing. There are a couple of other caveats, which we'll get to in a bit.

On the standard-definition side of things, Mediumrare's DVD release is... well, interesting. The first 13 discs essentially mimic the Via Vision and Kino releases, but then they throw in a 14th disc with lots of extras that are otherwise only found on the Blu-rays (including some of those Aussie-exclusives you won't find on the domestic releases). Also on that 14th disc are Please Stand By (the original pilot) and The Unknown (the alternate version of "The Forms of Things Unknown") along with their attached commentaries. In fact, with this DVD edition, you get everything except the three exclusive Blu-ray commentaries and:

Cliff Robertson – Full TNT Interview (36:00)

Joanna Frank – Full TNT Interview (21:02)

Casting Director Meryl O'Loughlin - TNT Interview (23:44)

Interview with Writer Anthony Lawrence (9:13)

It's that 14th disc that pushes Mediumrare to the front of the pack on the DVD front. However, its packaging is by far the most disappointing: a flimsy cardboard slipcase and one big fat plastic inner case (with those horrific hinged stacked-disc page-flippers inside). I wasn't surprised by this, truth be told... but I was shocked to discover that their Blu-ray (which again matches Via Vision's in terms of content) has THE IDENTICAL SHITTY PACKAGING. In fact, it's even the exact same size, but the sleeve art is smaller because apparently the Blu-ray logo has to be visible due to some Draconian BDA (Blu-Ray Disc Association) requirement.

Left: DVD (inner case front). Right: Blu-ray (inner case front).

One more gripe, if you'll permit me: there are NO booklets to be found in either edition. All you get is a basic list of the episodes on the reverse of the case insert... which means you have to take several discs out just to see it (or I guess you can just jimmy out the insert--- like I did; see below--- but who wants to do that every time?). And even then, there's no way to know who's providing commentary on which episodes... you have to load up the disc to find out for yourself. Boo. I'm still planning on posting a comprehensive list of everything at some point... just gotta find the time.

But it's what's inside that really counts, yes? What Mediumrare has done is made the contents of the unobtainable Australian Blu-ray available to the world, and bested all the other DVD releases at the same time.... that is, if you've got a multi-region player (or live in Region B). Other than the cheap packaging (and the region-locking, and the lack of booklets), they do deserve some measure of kudos.

But for me, Via Vision's Blu-ray set (in that glorious hard box) is still the one to beat. I've said it before: 2023 is the show's 60th anniversary, so there's still time for any of these three labels---- or perhaps some fourth as yet unknown entity--- to do something even more spectacular. Dave Schow and I (and our Commentary Crew cohorts) still have lots to say in the form of audio commentaries, and I'd love the opportunity to put together a video featurette on the home video history of the show too.

Persistence of (Via) Vision

I now have the UK-exclusive Outer Limits Complete Series (both Blu-ray and DVD) sets from Mediumrare Entertainment in hand; however, that's not what today's entry is about. Before we explore those, I want to back up a step and give the 2020 Australian releases from Via Vision a bit more attention.

As previously reported, the Via Vision Blu-ray improves on Kino's 2018 effort in terms of both content and packaging. Let's hit the packaging first: The set is comprised of two Blu-ray cases (one for each season) and a lavish booklet, nestled rather tightly inside a gorgeous hard outer box.

'Rather tightly' is an understatement. It's SUPER tight in there. But look at that box! There are obviously more iconic aliens/monsters to choose from, but given how brilliantly successful this turned out, I don't mind seeing Ikar there at all. It's a classy job through and through. Sorry Kino, but those clunky digipacks can't touch this.

But it doesn't end there. Via Vision's effort includes all the bonus content from Kino's releases and augments the package with a number of new, exclusive extras:

Audio commentary on "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" by Tim Lucas

Audio commentary on "The Architects of Fear" by David J. Schow

Audio commentary on "The Man Who Was Never Born" by Craig Beam

THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWN audio essay by David J. Schow (regarding a newly-discovered early draft of Joseph Stefano's "The Forms of Things Unknown")

The First Control Voice (early radio spots by Leslie Stevens)

Season Two original ABC commercial spot

Seasons One & Two photo gallery

60 PAGE BOOKLET featuring essays by David J. Schow and episode guide

The booklet, which is essentially both the Kino Blu-ray booklets smooshed together.

Ikar's head extends to the top of the case. Adorable.

In 2020, the Via Vision Blu-ray release was far and away the single greatest release of the series in the history of home video. I never bothered to get the DVD edition (despite my pathological completist nature), an oversight that I finally rectified about a month ago. I assumed that it would come in a similar hard outer box (though it certainly wasn't advertised as such), so the flimsy slipcase that greeted me when I opened the package was admittedly a bit of a disappointment. It's the same exact design, which I do like, but... it still feels cheap (I guess Ikar's head isn't nearly as impressive if you can't pull it off).

The real shocker for me was the discovery that all that exclusive content found on the Blu-ray edition (including my new commentary for "The Man Who Was Never Born") is NOT present on the DVD version. Further, all the Blu-ray content that Kino didn't include in their 2018 DVD* is also missing here (so, basically, this is a clone of Kino's DVD effort). While Kino included a booklet with both the Blu-ray and DVD releases of Season 1, only the Season 2 Blu-ray came with a booklet (and, as previously reported, their 2022 Blu-ray reissues omit the booklets entirely). The Via Vision Complete Series DVD is similarly lacking a booklet, so no proper episode guide is included. The episodes are listed on the reverse of the case inserts, so at least you can see where to find each episode, and asterisks are employed to denote which episodes feature audio commentaries... but that's it. Who did the commentary for "Nightmare," you ask? You'll have to load up the disc to find out (spoiler alert: it's not me, and his initials are DJS). 

Left: spines. Right: Um... the other side. The opposite of spines. Anti-spines?

Hey! I just thought of a hilarious idea: they should've used the image of one of Ikar's soldiers on the DVD to further differentiate the two. It's especially appropriate since, like the DVD version, the soldier is taller and dumber.

So while Via Vision's Blu-ray edition is (or at least was, in 2020 when it was released) the gold standard of The Outer Limits on home video, their corresponding DVD edition is unfortunately... well, nothing special. Via Vision's efforts represent both ends of the spectrum: the best Blu-ray, and the worst DVD. You'd be better off just getting the Kino DVDs from 2018, since at least you'll get a booklet with Season 1.

But c'mon. It's 2023. Why buy DVD at all when you can enjoy the series in high definition on Blu-ray? It boggles my mind that DVD is still a thing, especially since it's been superseded by superior formats twice (Blu-ray and, more recently, 4K UHD). But apparently DVD is *still* the highest-selling home video format.

This is particularly bizarre since virtually ALL televisions sold are either high definition (1080p) or 4K. A helluva lotta people are either still using 20+ year-old TVs or they just don't care how things look. 

What REALLY kills me is that the Via Vision Blu-ray (again, the single greatest home video release of the series ever) was strictly limited to 1,500 units, and they sold out pretty fast (I tried to track down a second backup copy recently, and I couldn't find one anywhere---- not on eBay, not on Australian eBay, not on Australian Amazon, not on Via Vision's website, nowhere. They're just gone, baby, gone. There are rumors that they may be doing a second run at some point this year (which would make it a 60th anniversary release, so hopefully they present it as such if it happens), but for right now---- if you don't have the Australian Blu-ray, you're outta luck.

Shortly after Kino released their 2022 Blu-ray reissues (which deleted the booklets but switched from digipacks to standard cases), UK-based Mediumrare Entertainment announced that they'd be releasing a Complete Series Blu-ray and DVD of their own in December 2022. With the Via Vision Blu-ray out of print and unattainable, the immediate and obvious question was: would the UK release simply replicate the original Kino effort, or would it include the exclusive Australian content? And, perhaps even more importantly, would it include anything new?

I guess I already answered that last question in a previous entry (no, there's no new content). But as to the content that is there.... well, stay tuned. Will the Brits dethrone the Aussies? All will be revealed... soon.

* I don't think I've ever mentioned in these pages that Kino's Season 2 DVD is missing several bonus features found on the corresponding Blu-ray. I'm planning a comprehensive post detailing ALL of the bonus features across all the various home video releases soon.

Of Sine Waves and Shelf Space

We live in an age of inexpensive DVD and blu-ray sets that comprise entire seasons of television shows. I still marvel at the sight of my five ultra-slim Twilight Zone volumes on blu-ray, which take up a little more than three inches of shelf space. When I first collected TZ, I needed two bookcase shelves for all the VHS tapes and, later, despite the DVD format's thinner profile, the whole series still took up one entire shelf (for the single-disc releases; there were 45 volumes total). The release of the Definitive Edition DVD sets in 2005 brought the space requirement down to about one foot, maybe a bit less (those sets ended up my storage unit when I acquired those impossibly-skinny blu-ray sets in 2010 and 2011.

 The Outer Limits can also be had on DVD in varying widths. The original season sets were released in 2002 and 2003 in double-wide cases; together they require a little over two inches of shelf space. In 2007, the show was split up into three volumes in single-wide cases, bringing that number down to about 1.5 inches. Those three volumes were then bundled into a single set which, thanks to its outer cardboard slipcase, more or less matches the 2+ inches of real estate demanded by the first DVD sets. In all of its DVD iterations, The Outer Limits has required very minimal room within one's collection... but it hasn't always been that way.

Unless you're fairly young and/or new to The Outer Limits, you may have collected some (if not all) of the series on VHS before they hit DVD. MGM/UA released every single episode, one episode per tape (except for the two-part "The Inheritors," which they stupidly combined into a "feature length" episode, so that one technically had two episodes on it), over a four-year period (1987-1991; Jesus, we were patient back then). Even completist collectors of the superior LaserDisc volumes had to buy tapes if they wanted everything, since 21 episodes never saw release on LD. 

I've repeatedly extolled the virtues of the VHS releases in these pages, particularly the awesome blue artwork that tied them all together (which actually drifted toward green as the series wore on, but that sense of visual continuity happily remained intact). I recall gazing lovingly at those blue boxes: I'd lay them out on the floor, my eyes drifting across their faces, my brain generating a strange free-association of images from the episodes. I bought each tape as they came out, and I amassed a total of 24 before I stopped, exactly half of the eventual 48 that would be released.

Thanks to all that loving gazing I did, I can recall exactly which ones I had (in yellow):

1. The Galaxy Being (clamshell)

2. The Hundred Days of the Dragon (clamshell)

3. The Architects of Fear

4. The Man with the Power (clamshell)

5. The Sixth Finger

6. The Man Who was Never Born

7. O.B.I.T.

8. The Human Factor

9. Corpus Earthling

10. Nightmare

11. It Crawled Out of the Woodwork

12. The Borderland

13. Tourist Attraction

14. The Zanti Misfits

15. The Mice

16. Controlled Experiment

17. Don't Open Till Doomsday

18. ZZZZZ

19. The Invisibles

20. The Bellero Shield

21. The Children of Spider County

22. Specimen: Unknown

23. Second Chance

24. Moonstone

25. The Mutant

26. The Guests

27. Fun and Games

28. The Special One

29. A Feasibility Study

30. The Production and Decay of Strange Particles

31. The Chameleon

32. The Forms of Things Unknown (a.k.a. The Unknown)

33. Soldier

34. Cold Hands, Warm Heart

35. Behold, Eck!

36. Expanding Human

37. Demon with a Glass Hand

38. Cry of Silence

39. The Invisible Enemy

40. Wolf 359

41. I, Robot

42. The Inheritors (Parts 1 and 2)

43. Keeper of the Purple Twilight

44. The Duplicate Man

45. Counterweight

46. The Brain of Colonel Barham

47. The Premonition

48. The Probe

Why did I stop? I'd gone from a teenager with a job and disposable income to a college student with very little money, so I didn't have the $12.95 for each tape (and Tower Video charged the full MSRP, the bastards). I planned to catch up, but then I found myself married with babies and having even less money. But I still watched those first 24 pretty regularly, and I managed to snag quite a few of the missing episodes thanks to TNT's MonsterVision marathons in the early 90's, which eased my pain considerably. Here's a great promo:

When DVD rendered my beloved tapes more or less obsolete, I did what many do when a new format supplants the old: I sold them on eBay, except for a couple (I think I still have "The Architects of Fear" and maybe "The Galaxy Being" somewhere in storage; it seems like I saw them not that long ago). Did I get good money for them? I don't recall, but probably not. As I've worked on this blog over the last couple of months... well, I've found myself missing them, I mean really missing them. So much, in fact, that I've decided to recollect them at some point... but only for the boxes, which I can store flat so they won't take up a ton of room. My plan is to acquire high-resolution scans of all of them so I can gaze lovingly at them whenever I want (multiple desktop wallpapers, maybe, or a slideshow of all 48).

You know, that would make a great blu-ray extra: a gallery of all 48 VHS volumes. MGM/UA, are you listening?

My Life in the Glow of The Outer Limits

The following was originally posted on 3/19/2011 over at my Twilight Zone blog (My Life in the Shadow of The Twilight Zone). As you'll read, the concept of THIS blog had started brewing up in the ol' noggin, and that post seems a fitting jumping-off point for the proceedings here.

I love The Twilight Zone. If this blog is proof of nothing else, let it stand as a digital testament to my undying love for the series. However, my lifelong relationship with TZ is by no means monogamous. I’ve been known to step out, as it were. It’s what you might call an open relationship. In other words, I love other shows too. However, no matter how far I stray, in the end I always come home to the old girl.

Today, I’d like to turn the spotlight away from my immortal beloved for a change and focus on one of my televisual mistresses. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… The Outer Limits.

The Outer Limits was an hour-long anthology series that aired on ABC for a scant season-and-a-half (1963-1965). While The Twilight Zone typically presented morality plays wrapped in science fiction or fantasy stylings, TOL concerned itself with straight science fiction wrapped in monster movie and/or gothic horror stylings. Both series deviated from their respective formulas numerous times, of course, but while TZ kept a fairly cool, urbane head most of the time, TOL took some pretty deep swerves into absolute batshit oblivion. Episodes like “Don’t Open Till Doomsday” and “The Guests,” drenched in psychosexual angst and disturbing alien imagery, were probably the weirdest things to hit the airwaves up to that point in time. “ZZZZZ,” about a queen bee who takes human form and becomes entangled in an entomologist’s family affairs, is one of the most overtly sexual things I’ve ever seen on television, and not just because of Joanna Frank’s astounding, uh, attributes.

There are a few Outer Limits offerings that I’d rank among the finest things EVER presented on television: “The Architects of Fear,” “The Man Who Was Never Born,” “Corpus Earthling,” “Demon With a Glass Hand” and “The Inheritors” are absolutely brilliant (three of those star Robert Culp, a favorite actor of mine who passed away recently). There are many others beyond those that range from good to really great. Episode-for-episode, I’d say The Outer Limits achieved a much higher quality-to-crap ratio than even my beloved Twilight Zone. Of its 49 episodes, there are probably only 1 or 2 TOL episodes (at most) that I absolutely hate. By contrast, TZ has at least a dozen dismal failures in its 156-episode run. Do the math.

I first discovered The Outer Limits in 1984 through my old friend, Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone Magazine. They ran a multiple-issue overview of the series, complete with an episode guide, written by David J. Schow. He later expanded his work and published it in book form as The Outer Limits: The Official Companion, which is an absolute must-have for fans of the show. The book has been offered in two distinct editions, and both are way out print (I still have the original, and my friend Bill Huelbig has the second, much more valuable edition). Resourceful internet users may manage to track down a PDF version of the second edition (which I did a few months back).

Sometime in 1985 (I think), a local channel (KPDX-49) started airing The Outer Limits five nights a week in syndication. I couldn’t tape them, as the VCR was already busy recording The Twilight Zone every night over on KPTV-12, so I caught as many of them as I could (“The Sixth Finger” was the first episode I ever saw). Starting in 1987, MGM/UA started releasing individual episodes on VHS, so I started buying them as they were released (three episodes at a time). I never did collect the entire series on tape, but I did pretty well…. about half, if memory serves.

The VHS boxes were just plain gorgeous. In fact, the basic design has continued to pop up over the ensuing years… first in the packaging of the (wonderful) Sideshow Collectibles deluxe action figures, then in the DVD sets from MGM (whose enclosed episode guides feature several of the episode-specific artwork created for the VHS releases). I’ve actually considered re-collecting the tapes with the express purpose of acquiring high-quality scans of all 49 boxes. Yeah, they’re that gorgeous (and I’m that obsessive-compulsive).

Anyway, the entire series was also available on VHS through Columbia House, and select episodes were made available on laserdisc too. And then the entire series was released on DVD (in two sets, one for each season), effectively rendering the earlier VHS and laserdisc offerings obsolete. The DVDs have been re-released at least twice in different packaging, but the actual discs are identical to the original release… which is unfortunate, since the discs are DVD-18s (double-sided) and are prone to failing (my copy of season two glitches up on “Behold, Eck!” and “The Premonition”). A blu-ray release would be MOST welcome, but I doubt it’ll happen any time soon.

The Outer Limits will turn 50 in September 2013. I was seriously considering starting a blog similar to this one, in which I’d celebrate each episode on the 50th anniversary of its original broadcast… until I became aware of the following:

We Are Controlling Transmission

It’s not an anniversary project like mine, but it’s a similar concept…. in a compressed time frame. Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri (co-editors of The Scream Factory: The Magazine of Horrors Past, Present and Future) are watching an episode every day and publishing their thoughts in a conversational format. Peppered between the daily episode reviews are spotlights and essays by such luminaries as Gary Gerani (author of Fantastic Television and frequent commentator on The Twilight Zone blu-rays) and David J. Schow, author of the aforementioned The Outer Limits: The Official Companion (large chunks of which are being published on the blog in the form of scanned pages… right-click-save, baby!). It’s a truly great blog, and reading it every day these past few months has been a real treat. One truly inspired touch --- they’ve embedded Hulu links for all 49 episodes, so you’re one click away from watching every single episode. I imagine the links will eventually expire, but for now they work.*

Unfortunately, I’m plugging WACT right at the end: as I type these words, they’ve finished reviewing the series and have just posted what appear to be their final entries. Fortunately, internet content doesn’t go out of print, so the blog should be around for a long, long time (just like this blog… I hope…).

So anyway, I’m torn. I was really excited about the prospect of doing an Outer Limits blog, but will I really cover any ground not already traversed? By TOL experts, no less?

I dunno. I’ve just become aware that there are multiple other Twilight Zone blogs out there, chronicling the series an episode at a time just like me, so maybe there’s room. The internet is pretty big, after all.

* Side rant: I can watch The Outer Limits for free on Hulu’s website, but the show ISN’T available through Hulu Plus (which I’m a paying member of)? What the hell?