You can watch it here. Includes short documentaries about her from 1974 and 1999. (Last screenshot is of a video montage from her 1993 Chelsea Hotel documentary.)
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’m really high on 90s media right now, especially science fiction and thrillers, but like… That’s not a time of happiness. The 90s was about mistrust and paranoia coming after an era that tried to slap a veneer of prosperity on everything, at least for Americans. But it’s comforting to dip into stories of this time in which people just accepted that things are fucked, and I suppose companies were seeing the tide turn and investing in media that explored those themes.
But I can still remember the fear, living through riots in Los Angeles and a strange sense that this could all come crumbling down. Being a kid, I’m sure I couldn’t grasp what adults were experiencing then, nor how much worse it was in other parts of the world. It seems safer now than it ever was in the 90s, but I think we can all see that there’s a sort of veneer being pulled over our eyes again to distract from the economic and social disparities that drive the anger and actions that can make places feel unsafe.
So being the simple person that I am, I ultimately just wonder what kinds of stories you’ll tell in ten, twenty years. How will these times lead to the media ahead? What are we fucking up now that’ll lead to the stories of tomorrow?
