Sixty years ago today, ABC broadcast the final episode in the short, glorious run of The Outer Limits, a science fiction anthology series unlike any that’s aired before or since. Combining sci-fi and horror in episodes steeped in the visual style of noir and German Expressionism, The Outer Limits has proven, in its own, less zeitgeisty way, to be just as influential as its iconic cousin, The Twilight Zone. Its alien invaders and bizarre monsters were often not what they seemed, and its stories offered sobering examinations of humanity's penchant for bloodshed, greed, and fear. The Outer Limits was ahead of its time — and misunderstood accordingly.
By the time it went off the air, however, the show was a shadow of its former self. Its season-and-a-half, 49-episode run (can you imagine a modern genre show producing nearly 50 episodes in less than two years?) came to a close with “The Probe.” Directed by Felix Feist, who helmed the 1953 sci-fi B-movie classic Donovan’s Brain, the story concerned three men and a woman who survive a plane crash, only to find themselves aboard an automated alien laboratory.
