Outer Limits for me! Some things you might not have known about Outer Limits:
Influence on Star Trek
A few of the monsters from
The Outer Limits reappeared in
Gene Roddenberry's
Star Trek series later in the 1960s. The moving microbe beast in "
The Probe" was modified and used as the '
Horta' in "
The Devil in the Dark", operated by the same actor,
Janos Prohaska. The "ion storm" from "
The Mutant" (a projector beam shining through a container containing glitter in liquid suspension) became the transporter effect in
Star Trek. The black mask from "
The Duplicate Man" was used by the character Dr. Leighton in "
The Conscience of the King". The Megasoid from "The Duplicate Man" and the Empyrean from "Second Chance" (1964) were briefly seen near Captain Christopher Pike in other cages in the
Star Trek pilot "
The Cage".
The process used to make pointed ears for
David McCallum in "
The Sixth Finger" was reused in
Star Trek as well. Lead actors who later appeared in
Star Trek's regular cast included
Leonard Nimoy, who appeared in two
Outer Limits episodes ("
Production and Decay of Strange Particles" and "
I, Robot"); and
William Shatner, who appeared in the episode "
Cold Hands, Warm Heart" as an astronaut working on a Project Vulcan. Other actors who subsequently appeared on
Star Trek were
Grace Lee Whitney (episode "
Controlled Experiment") and
James Doohan (episode "
Expanding Human"). Roddenberry was often present in
The Outer Limits' studios, and hired several of its staff, including
Robert Justman and
Wah Chang, for
Star Trek.
[8] Michael Ansara, who appeared in the
Outer Limits episode "
Soldier", guest-starred as Klingon commander Kang in the original and spin-off
Star Trek series.
Arlene Martel, who appeared in the
Outer Limits episode "
Demon with a Glass Hand", guest-starred as Spock's Vulcan bride, T'Pring, in the
Star Trek original series episode "
Amok Time".