Season 5
The Outer Limits is a revival of the 60s science fiction anthology show created by Leslie Stevens. Each episode is a self-contained story, ranging from encounters with aliens to experiments with new technology.
The series originally aired in the USA on ABC from September 16, 1963 – January 16, 1965. The reimagined series aired on Showtime and the Sci Fi Channel from March 26, 1995 – January 18, 2002.
The Outer Limits originally aired in South Africa on SABC3. It was later broadcast on DStv's M-Net Action (formerly actionX) channel.
Season 5 aired on M-Net Action from 25 October 2007 to 20 March 2008, on Thursdays at 19h00. There are 22 episodes in the season.
Season 5 Synopsis
The fifth season premieres with Stan Harbinger, a top-rated talk show host with a flair for the outrageous and a reputation as a skeptic's skeptic.
Assisted by his producer Trudy (Cynthia Nixon), Stan takes special delight in shooting down callers who claim to have alien encounters, especially people like Eldon DeVries (Alan Zinyk), who believes his body has been taken over by aliens.
However, when Eldon commits suicide by setting himself on fire in front of Stan, things begin to go wrong for him. A plan to syndicate the show is threatened by protests from UFO believers, angry at Stan's role in Eldon's death.
Stan's skepticism is challenged when he notices that other people have the same distinctive triple heartbeat he heard coming from Eldon just before he died.
The Show
The show originally ran from 1963 to 1965 for 49 episodes, and was revived in 1995, running for seven seasons to end in 2002.
There were no recurring characters or subplots, but each episode started with The Control Voice delivering the following opening narration:
"There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity - and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to... The Outer Limits."
The series was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and featured numerous guest actors from other sci-fi series that were also shot in Vancouver, notably Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping from Stargate SG-1, Leonard Nimoy and Rene Auberjonois from Star Trek, William B. Davis from The X-Files and Bruce Boxleitner from Babylon 5.