I met Carrie Fisher exactly once at a convention, and when I met her she immediately bought a poster from our booth with the words “Hey Assbutt” on them with the intention of sending it to Harrison Ford for his birthday.
I’d like to think of that as the epitome of how I’d like to have met her and honestly wouldn’t want it any other way.
columbo goes ehh… bleh! ano…. before casually mentioning the contact lens he found on the floor that’ll send a man to the electric chair at the end of the episode
First, this TV show I’m about to write about is online! And free! (With ads, in the US.) It’s worth hopping in just to poke around in this weird and very Canadian science fiction anthology show from the 90s.
That said, I finished watching The Outer Limits (1995) and I’m really torn on how to proceed. I’m glad I watched it after all these years of vague memories from its syndication run, and there are some stand-out episodes which I will write about here, but I also want to… do more. And this is after spending the past month ‘n a half editing the poorly maintained wiki for it because I needed this information to be properly sorted and laid out. I mean, at the very least, there ought to be an online collection of all of the Control Voice’s narration. It’s like a book of Psalms or Proverbs when it’s all put together. I think a podcast would be neat, but I gotta figure out that workload.
For now, let me jot down the episodes that stood out to me. I grouped my recommendations into broad categories of episodes but there’s a lot of overlap in themes and settings:
Space!: If it’s an episode beyond Earth, out in space somewhere, I’m in. I don’t care about the individual quality of a given space episode, I’ll watch it again, even if it’s really just a bottle show on a small spaceship set or an “alien” planet that looks a lot like British Columbia.
Quality of Mercy Season 1, Episode 13 A fighter pilot is taken prisoner during an intergalactic war.
The Voyage Home Season 1, Episode 15 An alien from Mars hitches a ride aboard a returning space capsule.
The Light Brigade Season 2, Episode 18 Five astronauts attempt to save humanity from destruction.
Tempests Season 3, Episode 9 While bringing medicine to his plague-infested colony, an astronaut enters alternate realities after his ship crashes.
Relativity Theory Season 4, Episode 6 A biologist discovers a race of aliens but loses control of her ship to a mutinous crew.
The Human Operators Season 5, Episode 7 A woman inspires an enslaved man to rebel.
Abaddon Season 6, Episode 14 A space salvage crew gets a deadly history lesson from a genocidal militia leader supposedly executed 150 years earlier.
Rule of Law Season 7, Episode 17 A judge tries to establish law and order on a remote alien mining colony.
Aliens be invading: Whether friend or foe, aliens show up on Earth often, which ya gotta do if you’re science fiction in the 90s.
Sandkings Season 1, Episode 1 A scientist searches for a way to continue his experiments when the top-secret government project he is working on is shut down.
The Deprogrammers Season 2, Episode 16 A rebel leader concocts a plan for freedom on a dark future Earth that has been conquered and programmed for slavery by aliens.
Bodies of Evidence Season 3, Episode 16 When the crew members of a space station die, the captain is accused of murder.
Feasibility Study Season 3, Episode 17 Aliens take a human community into space to see if they will make good slaves.
Promised Land Season 4, Episode 21 Human survivors terrorize a handful of aliens who remain on Earth after an interplanetary war.
The Grell Season 5, Episode 4 A government official and his family are shot down over slave territory.
Ripper Season 5, Episode 11 A doctor in Victorian London discovers Jack the Ripper is an alien.
Star Crossed Season 5, Episode 21 Cosmic “Casablanca” tale of a cynical cafe owner who encounters an old flame in a world dominated by alien invaders.
Something About Harry Season 6, Episode 18 A youth becomes suspicious of his mother’s new boarder when three townspeople suddenly disappear.
Think Like a Dinosaur Season 7, Episode 8 A space station technician lives with aliens to learn the secrets of long-distance space travel.
That good time body horror: Genetic modification, mutations, horrible surgeries, you know the deal.
The New Breed Season 1, Episode 16 A scientist’s experimental potion yields disastrous results when his close friend decides to test it upon himself.
Afterlife Season 2, Episode 15 A convicted murderer agrees to participate in a secret military experiment to avoid being executed.
Double Helix Season 3, Episode 12 A reckless scientist’s experiments initiate a close encounter.
Music of the Spheres Season 3, Episode 14 A music broadcast from distant planets turns young listeners on Earth into something alien.
The Joining Season 4, Episode 13 To survive in a hostile environment, a scientist combines his DNA with that from creatures from Venus.
Leave those brains alone: Often done as an exploration via virtual reality, but also mind control, this is about diving into people’s minds and messing with them.
The Sentence Season 2, Episode 22 A doctor invents a virtual reality device that allows convicts to mentally serve a life sentence in a few hours.
Hearts and Minds Season 4, Episode 3 Soldiers battle insectlike aliens trying to steal an energy source from Earth.
Nightmare Season 4, Episode 20 A voice interrogates aliens’ captives and probes their weaknesses.
Don’t make robots, dummy: People were broadly scared of robots in a way that’s very different from our current AI nightmares. There was also often an inversion of the theme, asking “who’s the real soulless automaton?”
I, Robot Season 1, Episode 18 A humanoid robot is accused of murdering its creator.
The Camp Season 3, Episode 7 A prisoner learns the truth about the alien invaders that have enslaved mankind for centuries.
The Hunt Season 4, Episode 2 After animal hunting is banned, sportsmen hunt androids which are no longer useful.
Simon Says Season 6, Episode 8 A man builds a robot to replace his deceased son.
Can’t the AI do it?: What if robots but they don’t have a body.
Bits of Love Season 3, Episode 1 The lone survivor of a devastating war meets again with a holographic lover.
Stream of Consciousness Season 3, Episode 5 A virus program threatens a computer-controlled society of the future.
The Haven Season 5, Episode 15 A high-tech building malfunctions disastrously, compelling its previously isolated inhabitants to work together to get free.
Don’t time travel either, dummy: Not all time travel episodes have a bad outcome, but they do all agree that you just shouldn’t do it even if you could go back and kill baby Hitler.
A man’s life disintegrates as he inexplicably moves from one world to another.
In Another Life Season 4, Episode 4 A suicidal man is transported to another dimension to kill a homicidal alter ego.
Tribunal Season 5, Episode 12 A concentration camp survivor relies on a time traveler to bring a Nazi war criminal to justice.
Doom: Why focus on one’s own mortality when the extinction of the species is on the table?
Inconstant Moon Season 2, Episode 12 A lonely physics professor discovers the sun is burning out and uses the Earth’s final hours to make up for lost time.
Dark Rain Season 3, Episode 6 Two parents try to prevent a government agency from using their healthy newborn in a plan to repopulate mankind.
Deadman’s Switch Season 3, Episode 13 A soldier inhabits a bunker with doomsday devices as aliens land on Earth.
The Vaccine Season 4, Episode 11 A dozen survivors of a fatal plague must decide who will get the only three vaccinations available.
Lithia Season 4, Episode 17 A man held in suspended animation reawakens on a planet inhabited only by women.
Phobos Rising Season 4, Episode 24 Soldiers on Mars fear an explosion on Earth marks the end of a long truce between opposing alliances.
Summit Season 5, Episode 13 Negotiators for Earth and Gregocia, a planet inhabited by a genetically engineered race, try to build trust after a summit goes wrong.
Stasis Season 6, Episode 9 Two lovers living in an oppressive future society try to connect even though they’ve only seen each other as holograms.
I’m not paranoid, just saying: A lot of this show is a response to the popularity of The X-Files, and many episodes directly deal with fear of… well, all of it. *waves arms around*
To Tell the Truth Season 4, Episode 14 No one believes a discredited scientist when he claims that the world must be evacuated.
Alien Radio Season 5, Episode 1 A radio host pooh-poohs callers’ UFO encounters until one caller kills himself.
Manifest Destiny Season 6, Episode 4 A rescue crew starts going suicidally insane after boarding a derelict interplanetary battleship.
Down to Earth Season 6, Episode 10 A mysterious stranger who claims to have a piece of an alien spaceship causes paranoia and chaos at a UFO convention.
Decompression Season 6, Episode 13 A mysterious woman visits a presidential candidate on his plane, saying she has come from the future to save his life.
Zig Zag Season 6, Episode 19 A cybercolumnist leads a daring attack against supercomputers that have taken control of society.
Nest Season 6, Episode 20 A pair of old buddies must overcome their haunted past while battling a strange infestation at an Arctic research station.
I went to Star of the Sea a few times a week all February, which means it took me like a month to look up and discover the giant pipe organ over the entrance. It’s crazy how habitually I only look where I’m stepping, I’m constantly missing the most obvious (and interesting) things. I wonder if anyone ever plays it! There’s a piano and also an electric keyboard of some kind up front that they use on the weekends, when music is played by an older lady with bright red hair and an absolutely wild operatic soprano. Every single person who comes here is an absolute capital-C character. I’ve even started to see these cool strega types in black furs with chic wigs or dye jobs and cateye glasses; with any luck that’s what I’ll be like when I’m their age.
I usually say that I’m going to this place, never having been to church in my life, because of an art history-related project I’m working on, but it feels like a lot of different converging paths have led me here. When my husband and I first moved to this neighborhood ten years ago, we stumbled upon the procession of Our Lady of Sorrows aka Mater Dolorosa aka La Maria Addolorata one day, and I immediately thought…man am I in the right place. Here is her statue in the Italian social club garden (which is cut back for the winter in this image, but when it’s in bloom it’s like a vibrant little jungle), and here is a photo from Wikipedia of the procession:
Naturally this introduction to the local traditions made me very interested in what could be in the church, although I took my time getting there. Bizarrely, when I finally checked it out last month, almost the first thing I heard was a reading in which Mary is told about how she’s going to suffer for her son’s fate, using the wording: “And you yourself a sword shall pierce”. The phrase has a beautiful musicality to it, but it really caught my ear because it so obviously inspired the imagery of the Dolorosa. If I had gone on any other day, I wouldn’t have received this strangely meaningful-to-me welcome. This pincushion version of Mary is strikingly gothic, and often garbed in black and gold:
I’m sure that when I first started coming to Star of the Sea, creeping around sneaking pictures, it might have been perturbing to at least some of the old time neighborhood retirees who come to weekday masses. But, I eventually became a familiar face, and I brought my husband to this wine and cheese thing they offered after last Saturday’s service. We went around and introduced ourselves to the main regulars plus the monsignor (who is really sweet and good-humored), and that seemed to help; when I came back on Tuesday, one of the main ladies introduced me to more people and told them about our Saturday visit, it really seemed to mean something to her. Maybe it’s pretentious of me but I feel like it might be good for them to see me around, like maybe if they get to know a punk-looking chick like me a little bit, then it will make them feel like they might have more in common with really different-seeming people than they think. And vice-versa, of course.
At the end of yesterday’s mass, I got to meet the extremely sharp and charismastic Father Patterson who comes on Thursdays to help out, since the church’s original guy passed away. Patterson came out and met everybody this time, and I was excited to tell him that I had never been to church before the week that he himself started coming to Star of the Sea, and his homilies were part of what kept me coming back. He stunned me by saying something like, “Keep coming, because while you might be inspired by this place, people around you are being inspired by you at the same time. You won’t see it yourself and you don’t even have to, because it’s just you, your you-ness is what’s inspiring.” I was so humbled, I didn’t really know how to act. It was an interesting insight; often when we feel bad about ourselves, we get served this condescending rhetoric about how your low self-esteem prevents you from seeing yourself as wonderful the way others do–but this was more like, you have to spend all your time with yourself, so you never experience yourself as novel, you can’t possibly see what other people see. It’s like how you can’t smell yourself, basically. Up at the top I was saying how everybody who comes here is a big time Character with unique personalities, and suddenly it occurred to me that I am now one of those Characters. I have the feeling Patterson was sent to Star of the Sea like Mary Poppins, to uplift everybody who lost their pastor and are worried about the future of the parish. He’s doing a really good job and it will be a bummer when he’s gone.
