Before the original Star Trek changed television in 1966, another innovative science fiction series, The Outer Limits, premiered on ABC. While it’s not as well-remembered today, The Outer Limits was just as influential in bringing science fiction to the screen as Star Trek or even the earlier show, The Twilight Zone.
For the last fifty years, many TV shows have attempted to capture the spirit of Star Trek. However, it’s often forgotten that Star Trek itself was groundbreaking in the 1960s, much like The Outer Limits had been before it. The Outer Limits paved the way, creating a space for shows like Star Trek to explore new worlds and tell imaginative stories.
This show deserves to be considered one of the greatest science fiction series ever made, right up there with the original Star Trek and The Next Generation. In fact, The Outer Limits paved the way for those shows – and many other classic sci-fi TV series – to even exist.
The Outer Limits Was The 1st Great Sci-Fi Show On Television
As a long-time sci-fi fan, I remember what things were like back in 1963. Most of the science fiction you saw on the big screen was low-budget, kind of scary, or just plain silly – think rockets, astronauts, and over-the-top mad scientists. TV wasn’t much better! The one exception that really stood out was The Twilight Zone on CBS, though it wasn’t always straight-up sci-fi, even if a lot of episodes had sci-fi elements.
Suddenly, The Outer Limits arrived and completely changed television. It was the first science fiction show of significant quality, and it opened the door for many others that followed. With its uniquely unsettling opening and focus on believable technology and alien life, the series essentially created the formula for sci-fi on TV.
Stephen King believes The Outer Limits is even scarier than The Twilight Zone. But it’s clearly a science fiction show, and Star Trek proves that point – it borrowed heavily from The Outer Limits.
Star Trek Was Massively Influenced By The Outer Limits
Few science fiction shows have had as much impact as The Outer Limits. It’s widely considered a major influence on Star Trek, which in turn went on to shape nearly all subsequent TV science fiction dealing with outer space and alien life.
Beyond just similar ideas and plotlines, Star Trek borrowed characters, outfits, and set pieces from The Outer Limits, despite the shows airing on competing networks. More significantly, The Outer Limits provided Star Trek with three actors who later became science fiction icons.
The show featured William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and James Doohan in a promotional window display, and it wasn’t long before they were cast as the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Now, it’s hard to picture the original Star Trek series with anyone else in those iconic roles.
The Outer Limits Deserves More Recognition Today
The original Outer Limits remains a standout sci-fi series, holding up remarkably well alongside today’s shows. Its special effects are still impressive, and the stories are among the most imaginative ever created for television science fiction.
While shows like The Twilight Zone and Star Trek are still well-known today, The Outer Limits has largely been forgotten. It’s time this early science fiction gem received the praise it deserves as a true masterpiece.
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2025-11-01 05:58