ommadawn.dk - Outer limits

Outer Limits

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

I am trying my hand at reviews for the first time, and try to analyze and grade the episodes of the original Outer Limits, second season. Spoilers ahead!

Grades:

Couldn't even stand to watch it once.	1 out of 10
Once is okay - and then never again.	2 out of 10
Twice is okay.	5 out of 10
One for the collection.	7 out of 10
Super!	10 out of 10

2:17 The probe

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

A plane. A hurricane. Crashing on water. Fog. And now the lifeboat is suddenly in a building. And experiments are conducted, and an alien supervises. Sorry, an alien rat interferes. Oh, who cares?
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

Why is that alien sniffing about? Is that supposed to be exciting?
Plot is thought provoking

And then the heroes do the truly stupid thing and split up.
Realism in plot

"Oh, a telemetry system!" Yeah, right.
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Boring.
Touching characters

"How weird and strange." Oh, how dumb and dumb.
Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

I wish I hadn't wasted time to see it all. 2/10.
Character

2:16 The premonition

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

A test pilot. A crash landing? To the pilot and his wife, the rest of the world is now frozen in time, slightly in the past. Or almost frozen. Their daughter about to be run over by a truck. And with a deadline, or they will be trapped in this limbo.
Is there a creature in this weird limbo? Ah yes - someone to explain what will happen, and a threat.
Plot in short

A story so removed from me, it's hard to relate.
Relevancy of plot

An endless, boring walk around the frozen moment.
Plot is thought provoking

See below.
Realism in plot

Urgh! The helmet is steaming up.
First the guard opens the gate, and then he refuses entry! Later he simply opens the gate for a speeding jeep.
A leap in thinking when the pilot guesses what's going on.
A plan to stop the truck - when it would probably be easier to stop the little girl.
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Nice - cutting between test-pilot and wife in car - and instead of seeing him crashland, we see her ditch the car - looks good, and must've been much cheaper.
Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Once more than enough. 2/10.
Character

2:15 The brain of colonel Barham

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Equipping a spaceship with a computer won't do - so they also have to add a human brain. The brain of an intelligent, educated, bitter, physically sick man. But what about the wife? Is the experiment even possible?
And then it turned cheasy... The brain in the bowl can zap a person, change the mind of that person, zombiefie him.
The brain feels superior. But so do the scientists - they think this experiment can succeed.
A damsell in distress, and a hero, saving her from her own husband. Nothing to do, except kill the brain.
Plot in short

Hm...
Relevancy of plot

Plot is thought provoking

Realistic, somewhat.
Realism in plot

One shot, and a whole room starts burning.
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable, mostly.
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time.
Mileage

Please spare me, once was enough. Cheasy and boring. 2/10.
Character

2:14 Counterweight

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

An experiment - letting passengers on a long, fake spaceflight, to see how they react. Is there a "stow away"?
Plot in short

It will be relevant one day.
Relevancy of plot

How much is fear based on reality, and how much on what's in our heads?
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic, I guess
Realism in plot

Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable, yeah
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

The "stow away" is a bit too obviously a trick of light. But works nicely when it goes into a head.
Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Boring... Once was enough. 2/10.
Character

2:13 The duplicate man

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

An intelligent, aggressive alien. (Argh! The hostile alien is out to get me! Groan.)
A mad scientist and an escaped alien. The scientist duplicates himself, so the copy can hunt the alien. But then it turns into another fight, as either copy or original will have to die. Or both!
The copy is a younger, better version of the original. Can the original learn from this?
Interesting - but also boring at times. And why 2 plots? Because they were both about killing?
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking, a bit
Plot is thought provoking

Realism in plot

The exposition fairy is hard at work to tell us how duplication works. Trouble is, the scientist would probably have asked somebody else.
The "more intelligent than humans" alien goes back where it escaped from - why?
Goofs/nits

Characters

At times the characters are a bit dumb.
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

I liked the video phone - it seemed the right size and shape, like any everyday object.
In the future, business suit jackets have no lapels - nice touch.
The zooms are so clumsy, bumpy.
Visuals

1st time
Mileage

I think I can manage seeing it again, but not right away. 5/10.
Character

2:12 Keeper of the purple twilight

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

A man with a scientific project. A helpful (?) alien.
On wow! Women are meant to have children, and nothing else. The unproductive should be eliminated. And emotions are unknown - a truly alien alien.
A deal. A swap. The man gains understanding, the alien gains emotions.
The alien is hostile. But the love of a good woman...
And now the emotional alien is no longer capable of destroying Earth. (I've seen this idea elsewhere.)
And woman serves another purpose, and saves Earth - heh.
Plot in short

Relevant - well, love is important, our "secret weapon".
Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking - see above.
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic - I guess so.
Realism in plot

Those perfect killers are dumb...
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

The alien is a guy in an awful suit.
Visuals

1st time
Mileage

I can imagine seeing it again. 5/10
Character

2:11 The inheritors, part 2

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

The unstoppable foe - and the scared hero, going after him.
The alien, and the pawns - and they know they are pawns, and don't exactly love it.
Using brains to fight brains.
Some local people, helpless unloved kids, agree to go on the spaceship. And still - we don't quite know what's going on.
Ah. Our children chosen to become the next generation of benevolent, wise aliens. And in the end, noone will be forced to take the final step. For once, an intelligent happy ending.
All this born in a war - ironic.
Plot in short

Happiness does exist. Brings hope.
Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking - oh yeah
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic
Realism in plot

Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable, yes. So wonderfully different.
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

I want to watch it again and again and... 7/10
Character

2:10 The inheritors, part 1

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Almost dead. And now: 2 brains in one head - one of them alien.
A lot of heads with 2 brains - but the 2nd brain always the same. X heads, X+1 brains. And the alien brain controls the show.
Super intelligence. Financial, used to make money fast. Biochemistry wise, used to make "air conditioning". Metallurgical, to make strong modules. (For what?) And physical, to make a motor to beat gravity.
Telepathy.
Something is going on - but what?
Bothered: I should be dead. And now I worry whether I am still good, conscious that I'm being forced to do - what?
Aha - we are buolding a spaceship - I suspected that.
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

A mystery
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic, yes
Realism in plot

How can they measure brainwave patterns, at different times, and still get something that lines up?
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable, yes
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Want to see it again, I missed some details, and think there will be more depth 2nd time. 5/10
Character

2:9 I, robot

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Man creates something extraordinary (a humane robot), and then man fears it and wants to destroy it. Can the law protect it? Is it a thing or a human?
Should man rush progress, or slow it down?
Plot in short

Relevant - yes
Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking - makes me think
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic - I think so, yeah
Realism in plot

The idea that disorder (in the circuits of the robot) will always be evil/violent - most times it will be meaningless.
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Good one! - 7/10
Character

2:8 Wolf 359

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Creating life, without knowing it.
And this life can create unplesant feelings. Fear of evil. Scare creatures to death.
Simulating our past - and our future. The past was violent, a manifestation of evil. The future - is unknown, as it should be.
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

Earth is basically evil? Hm...
Plot is thought provoking

"Destroy the planet!" Why not just turn on the light?
"A place of love - like Earth." Seems to me he's just proven Earth is a place of evil..
Realism in plot

Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Might want to see it again. 5/10
Character

2:7 The invisible enemy

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Too much reliance on following orders from the big boys. Lots of stupidity on all sides - like doing things completely alone.
Ah - there's life on Mars, and it's hungry - yawn.
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

Plot is thought provoking

Realism in plot

Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time
Mileage

Don't need to see it again. 2/10
Character

2:6 Cry of silence

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

Aliens trying to communicate with a farmer/scientist, a husband and a wife.
Trapped.
Plot in short

Relevancy of plot

Plot is thought provoking

"Attack of the tumbleweeds from outer space!" Give me a break!
"Attack of the small frogs" - even better!
Oh - and a mad scientist.
And wild theories about benign aliens, based on almost nothing. Blech.
Deaf aliens? Oh goody!
"Millions of light years". That's a lot.
Realism in plot

Within 2 weeks the farmer/scientist becomes certain of how the tumbleweeds work - a little fast for me.
Goofs/nits

Characters

The wife is a bit of a drama queen - so the husband doesn't really look and listen. Yeah, I guess that works.
Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

Visuals

1st time.
Mileage

I took a break halfway through. I wanted to fast forward. I made it all the way through - but I wish I hadn't. 1/10
Character

2:5 Demon with a glass hand

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

The eternal man. A man with only 10 days of memories. A device with all knowledge - very easy to grasp, that since the device is a hand, missing 3 fingers, it is not complete. The last man in the future - a hero. A war. The man accepts death. The device goes on, with an added finger. And the (eternal) man is easy to revive. A woman falling in love with the man - hm... Unwilling killer. Neither wants to kill, but choose to do it anyway. Ah - a twist. And a tragedy. For them both.
The repeated question: what is going on?
Plot in short

Relevant - reluctance to kill - the impossible love - yeah.
Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking - who am I?
Plot is thought provoking

Realism in plot

Methinks the enemy is a bit careless with the hand and the 3 fingers.
Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Touching characters

Lines

Other

Music

The enemy disappears in a flash of light - thankfully no sound effect.
Visuals

1st time
Mileage

I'll have to see it again to make up my mind - it is either very deep or very shallow... So far: 5/10.
Character

2:4 Expanding human

Fri, 15 Oct 2004 00:00:00 +0200

Tags: Me, Outer limits, Review, Science fiction

Plot / themes

We use only a little of our brain capacity - there is a way to use more. Expanding consciousness. Expanding everything about a human. Among these the powers of pursuation. Telepathy? Charisma? Nice anyway. "Hypnosis". Ah - and then somebody dies. Superior = evil? Superior = not caring whether the inferior lives. And then the super-smart makes some dumb moves - guess he wasn't so smart after all.
Dr. Jekyll / mr. Hyde.
Plot in short

Relevant - learn humility!
Relevancy of plot

Thought provoking - yes
Plot is thought provoking

Realistic - yeah
Realism in plot

Goofs/nits

Characters

Believable characters

Touching characters

Trying to describe what expanded consciousness is like. Quite poetic. And making the police officers uncomfortable ;-)
Lines

Other

Music

Reactions to seeing a dead man. Slow close up. Nice.
The mystery. What does the "expanded" human look like? Nicely revealed.
Visuals

First time
Mileage

One for the collection - 7/10
Character