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The Best Episodes of The Outer Limits

Every episode of The Outer Limits ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Outer Limits!

Binge this in 2d 21h•Peaking at 8.6/10

Anthology series of composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end, with occasional recurring story elements that were often tied together during season-finale clip shows.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 1 - A Stitch in Time
    8.6/10(9 votes)

    #1 - A Stitch in Time

    S2:E1

    FBI agent Jamie Perrin has investigated some pretty strange cases in her time but this one may be the strangest of all. During the last fifty years, seventeen men throughout the country were all murdered with the same gun. This gun is traced to Dr. Theresa Givens, a scientist who recently left a top-secret government agency. This discovery deepens the mystery because Givens was only five years old at the time of the first murder. The gun itself hadn't even been made. While investigating further, Perrin discovers a secret that lies behind the locked door in Dr. Givens' office and learns first-hand of the temptations and dangers of undoing the evils of the past.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Steven Barnes

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  2. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 12 - Inconstant Moon
    8.4/10(8 votes)

    #2 - Inconstant Moon

    S2:E12

    When a lonely physics professor realizes the sun is going to burn out, he knows that he and humanity have only a few hours to live. In that time, Stan resolves to make up for lost years. He courts and proposes to Leslie, a woman he has known for two years but never dated. Leslie, although puzzled, finds herself more and more entranced by Stan until she finds out the reason for Stan's sudden attention. Based on a short story by famed sci-fi writer Larry Niven, this episode brings its characters face to face with both death and their own visions of life - with surprising results.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Larry Niven

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  3. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 21 - Vanishing Act
    7.8/10(5 votes)

    #3 - Vanishing Act

    S2:E21

    THE OUTER LIMITS examines the classic domestic fable of a husband who leaves to go to the store and doesn't return for ten years. Where has he been? And why? It happens to Trevor McPhee and his return is more than a little distressing for his wife Theresa, especially since he insists he was in a car crash ... only hours ago. Then, just after they reconcile, he vanishes again ... for another decade. Trevor finds himself trapped between two worlds; one is a recurring nightmare of caves and predatory creatures; the other is the real world, ever-changing as civilization leaves him further and further behind. Is Trevor mad ... or just reaching The Outer Limits?

    Director:Jonathan Glassner
    Writer:Chris Dickie

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  4. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 9 - Glyphic
    7.7/10(3 votes)

    #4 - Glyphic

    S4:E9

    When Tom Young (Peter Flemmming) from the Department of Health travels to a small town in the Pacific Northwest to examine an old case file, it appears as though long ago the town had stopped trying to live in the present. Twelve years have passed since a tragedy killed many of their young children and left the residents without hope, without a future. Many of them are still angry with the medical community for not finding a cure to save the children in their small community. The town's physician, Dr. Malcolm Boussard (Lane Smith) has felt the brunt of their anger - especially since his own two children did not die during the epidemic. Although they were spared, his son Louis (Brad Swaile) still lays in a coma while his daughter Cassie (Rachel Leigh Cook) has learning disabilities and expresses herself through abstract sculpture and artwork. Through hypnosis, Tom begins to probe Cassie's mind and unravels a memory of 'alien' proportions.

    Director:Catherine O'Hara
    Writer:Naren Shankar

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  5. The Outer Limits Season 7 Episode 2 - Patient Zero
    7.6/10(5 votes)

    #5 - Patient Zero

    S7:E2

    A desperate man from the future travels back to the present to find and kill the carrier of a deadly plague that threatens to annihilate humankind.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:James Crocker

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  6. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 19 - Sarcophagus
    7.5/10(2 votes)

    #6 - Sarcophagus

    S4:E19

    The archeological team has just about given up on finding anything significant in this remote corner of Alaska when Natalie Grainger (Lisa Zane) stumbles upon what appears to be a burial mound. Inside, the team discovers a number of human skeletons, including one dressed in a strange metallic tunic and preserved in an amber cocoon. When Natalie's husband, Curtis (David Cubitt), touches the cocoon, something amazing happens. He begins to see through the eyes of the creature whose bones were contained in amber, an alien with fearsome claws and teeth. This psychic connection also provides a jolt of energy that liquefies the cocoon and initiates the reconstitution of flesh on the alien's bones. As the creature begins to come back to life, some of the team, including Emmet Harley (Robert Picardo) want to call in a big corporate lab in order to cash in on their discovery.

    Director:Jeff Woolnough
    Writer:Bill Froehlich

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Outer Limits

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  7. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 8 - Straight and Narrow
    7.4/10(7 votes)

    #7 - Straight and Narrow

    S2:E8

    Rusty Dobson has always been a problem child. His single mom decides to send him to the Milgram Academy, an ultra-strict private school that has produced some of the nation's top business and political leaders. What Rusty's mom doesn't know - and what Rusty finds out the hard way - is that Milgram doesn't just build the leaders of tomorrow, it controls them. The academy installs small computer chips in the student's brains, turning them into blindly loyal servants of the academy and The Committee, a shadowy body that controls the project. Thanks to a malfunctioning chip, Rusty has eluded their control so far, but can he escape from this prison of the mind?

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Joel Metzger

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  8. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 15 - Afterlife
    7.4/10(7 votes)

    #8 - Afterlife

    S2:E15

    Linden Stiles struggles to retain his humanity after heis convicted of a murder he didn't commit. When asked to make a frightful choice: accept execution or become the subject of a secret military experiment -- he chooses to live. As the experiment progresses, Stiles fights the dehumanizing influence of injected DNA from an alien lifeform. The attending doctor is troubled by a growing awareness of the inhumanity of the experiment itself, of the men in charge and of her own role. Using his super-human strength, Stiles escapes. Then, hunted by his former compatriots, he faces a decision even more difficult than the one that set him on such a tragic course.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:John Whelpley

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  9. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 16 - The Deprogrammers
    7.3/10(7 votes)

    #9 - The Deprogrammers

    S2:E16

    With Earth under alien rule and millions dead, the human race has been programmed to slavery. A small band of rebels kidnaps Evan, alien leader Koltok's personal slave. Trent Davis, leader of the rebels, tries to return Evan to his former self through arduous deprogramming sessions. To aid in the process, Evan is reintroduced to his wife Jill. As his sessions progress, Evan learns of the death of his daughter. He agrees to join the rebels and assassinate his former master - with devastating results.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:James Crocker

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  10. The Outer Limits Season 6 Episode 12 - Glitch
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #10 - Glitch

    S6:E12

    Tom and Wendy seem like the perfect couple, happy together and very much in love. But at night when Wendy sleeps, Tom has terrible memories about being stuck in a burning building with a crying baby. The nightmares, however, aren't real and neither is Tom. He's an android and the ""memories"" are bugs placed in his artificial intelligence by his creator, the late Joe Walker. Walker had originally created Tom to save humans from fires and other dangerous situations. However he anticipated that his colleague, Dr. Edward Normandy, might try to militarize the android and use him as a cyber-soldier-spy and planted the bugs as a way of forcing Normandy to upgrade Tom so the android could think for itself.

    Director:Mike Rohl
    Writers:Ron Greenstein, Mike Berman

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  11. The Outer Limits Season 7 Episode 1 - Family Values
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #11 - Family Values

    S7:E1

    A man believes all his family problems will be solved when he purchases a robot to help around the house.

    Director:Mike Rohl
    Writer:James Crocker

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  12. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 11 - The Refuge
    7.2/10(6 votes)

    #12 - The Refuge

    S2:E11

    ""What is reality?"" is the question before Raymond Bava after he collapses during a blizzard and awakens in a private refuge run by Sanford Valle. Valle's companions include his son and daughter-in-law, Thomas and Justine, and Gina Beaumont. Ray, drawn to the gentle Gina, recoils from the callous corruption displayed by the all-controlling Valle and the other inhabitants. Then, following a moment of violence, Ray begins to doubt reality when all the characters, including Gina, reverse roles and personalities. When he is suddenly freed from Valle's control, Ray finds he has been locked in a cryogenic-induced nightmare, but one he must return to fulfill his love for Gina.

    Director:Ken Girotti
    Writer:Alan Brennert

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  13. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 18 - The Light Brigade
    7.2/10(9 votes)

    #13 - The Light Brigade

    S2:E18

    Actor Robert Patrick returns for this first-ever THE OUTER LIMITS sequel, a follow-up to last year's 'Quality of Mercy.' On a desperate mission, a young Cadet learns the difference between heroic ideals and the bitter realities of war. The only survivors on a crippled battle cruiser - Earth's last hope for victory and survivors - are the Cadet, the weapons Chief and Major John Skokes, a repatriated prisoner of war. Exposed to fatal doses of radiation when their fleet was wiped out by the aliens, they fight illness and death to launch a preemptive strike. As the awesome responsibility for success descends on him, the Cadet learns that fear is not his only enemy.

    Director:Michael Keusch
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  14. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 22 - The Sentence
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #14 - The Sentence

    S2:E22

    Let the punishment fit the crime: an ambitious inventor, Dr. Jack Henson, creates a "" virtual prison"" and wants the government to adopt it nation-wide. Using his invention, convicts serve a life sentence in just a few hours. Henson claims the harsh sentences will ensure that criminals never offend again while the short time required cuts prison costs. He seems to be making his point until they connect an innocent man to the apparatus and the demonstration goes sour. To save the young man's life, Henson must submit to his own invention -- and to a lesson in the true meaning of justice.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Melissa Rosenberg

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  15. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 2 - The Hunt
    7.2/10(5 votes)

    #15 - The Hunt

    S4:E2

    After environmentalists successfully ban the hunting of animals, a black market emerges, with humans paying big money to hunt androids who have outlived their usefulness in the mines. The androids are the perfect prey -- strong and intelligent yet unable to turn on their pursuers, thanks to an inhibitor chip that prevents them from harming humans. A group of bow-hunters, George Nichols (Rob White), his son Eric (Tobias Mehler), his older brother Clute (Bob Gunton) and their guide Pete (David McNally), count on that chip as a safety net while they track down a quartet of androids led by Kel (Doug Savant). Eager to provide his brother and his reluctant nephew with a real challenge, Clute has secretly planted information that allows the androids to disable the inhibitor chip thus allowing them to fight back. The machines, angry at being turned into game, contemptuous of human bloodthirstiness, are only too happy to oblige.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Sam Egan

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  16. The Outer Limits Season 7 Episode 7 - Replica
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #16 - Replica

    S7:E7

    A biogeneticist illegally clones his comatose wife.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Sam Egan

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  17. The Outer Limits Season 7 Episode 16 - Abduction
    7.2/10(4 votes)

    #17 - Abduction

    S7:E16

    An alien makes an offer to five high school students.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:James Crocker

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  18. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 7 - First Anniversary
    7.0/10(5 votes)

    #18 - First Anniversary

    S2:E7

    As he celebrates his first wedding anniversary, Norman Glass thinks he's the luckiest man alive. His wife Ady, whom he met after the tragic death of her first husband, is stunningly beautiful and talented. She loves him more than anyone alive. They have two great friends, Dennis and Barbara, who were arried on the same day and are just as madly in love as Norman and Ady. But suddenly things start to change. First, Dennis leaves Barbara. Then, Norman must struggle with the strange, growing revulsion he feels when he touches, smells, tastes or sees his lovely wife. Norman thinks he's going crazy, but Barbara and Ady know better. Is love blind? Is beauty only skin-deep? Guess again.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writers:Richard Matheson, Ali Marie Matheson, Jon Cooksey

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  19. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 9 - Trial by Fire
    7.0/10(7 votes)

    #19 - Trial by Fire

    S2:E9

    On the day of Charles Halsey's inauguration as President of the United States, scientists detect a large object heading towards Earth at half the speed of light. Halsey, a peace-loving liberal, is rushed to an underground bunker by the Presidential transition team, a group of aides and military men that share the hawkish bent of the previous administration. As the crisis unfolds, it becomes clear that the object came from an armada of alien ships, which are fast approaching Earth. Contact is made, but the aliens' message is unclear. As the U.S. and the other nuclear powers gear up to defend themselves, Halsey must decide: Are these invaders bent on conquering earth or benevolent explorers reaching out to another civilization?

    Director:Jonathan Glassner
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  20. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 3 - Hearts and Minds
    7.0/10(3 votes)

    #20 - Hearts and Minds

    S4:E3

    The mission for Captain Taverner and his squad of North American Federation (NAF) soldiers is simple: search and destroy invading aliens on a distant planet to prevent them from stealing a mineral which is a vital source of energy for earth, and a vital source of profit for the NAF. To guard against infection from the hideous bug-aliens, the soldiers are forced to inject special genetic drugs; however, the mission becomes complicated when Lieutenant Rosen is wounded in a firefight with the aliens. Rosen begins to hallucinate, experiencing disturbing images of the aliens, and when she discovers that her druginjector has malfunctioned, she begins to suspect that the drugs do more than protect the soldiers from infection. Ultimately, Rosen must take command and risk the lives of her soldiers on the hunch that their mission may have more to do with human politics than alien enemies.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Naren Shankar

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  21. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 6 - Relativity Theory
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #21 - Relativity Theory

    S4:E6

    Biologist Teresa Janovitch (MELISSA GILBERT) is a civilian among military men, traveling on the Resource Survey Vehicle Cortez to Tau Ceti Prime in search of minerals for an Earth that has squandered its own. Initial signs indicate that the planet is both uninhabited and rich in mineral resources, which could mean a million dollar payday for both the crew and the company that owns the Cortez. But on the first exploration, the crew is attacked by gigantic and apparently primitive aliens. After the command falls to Janovitch, she is overpowered by her crew: Sgt. Adam Sears (Jeremy Ratchford), a veteran of pacification missions on Earth, who favors annihilation of the new race and an ambiguous Corporal Charles Pendelton (Tim Guinee). Sears leads a patrol that hunts down and kills the aliens, in the process seizing a golden object that appears to be a religious totem. As he celebrates his slaughter, Janovitch examines his victims and makes a shocking discovery.

    Director:Ken Girotti
    Writer:Carleton Eastlake

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  22. The Outer Limits Season 4 Episode 16 - Final Exam
    7.0/10(2 votes)

    #22 - Final Exam

    S4:E16

    Dr. John Martin (Brett Cullen), a negotiator for the Department of Energy Nuclear Response Team, is called in when a disgruntled grad student takes hostages at a university. The student, Seth Todtman (Peter Stebbings) claims to have invented a cold-fusion bomb and is threatening to detonate it, killing millions, unless the government brings him five people on a list and kills them for him. Martin's colleagues dismiss Todtman as a crank, until a sample device he provides goes off with megaton force, wiping out a DOE team and the top-secret facility where they work. Faced with an impossible choice, Martin meets with Todtman face to face and tries to understand the logic behind his rage at the people he wants killed: cruel foster parents, corrupt professors, a heartless librarian. As the clock ticks, Martin tries to reason with Todtman while the military tries to find a way to disarm the device.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Carleton Eastlake

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  23. The Outer Limits Season 7 Episode 8 - Think Like a Dinosaur
    7.0/10(4 votes)

    #23 - Think Like a Dinosaur

    S7:E8

    One human is the only permanent occupant of a station located on a vast empty plain of the moon. His companions are an emotionless lizard-like alien species who have developed a highly advanced means of long distance travel by 'jumping' through space.

    Director:Jorge Montesi
    Writer:Mark Stern

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  24. The Outer Limits Season 2 Episode 4 - I Hear You Calling
    6.9/10(8 votes)

    #24 - I Hear You Calling

    S2:E4

    Reporter Carter Jones is on her way to work when her cellular phone picks up a suspicious conversation about the ""removal"" of a controversial author. Her journalistic curiosity piqued, Carter investigates, despite the objections of her boss and the police. As a result, she finds herself in a deadly game of cat and mouse, involving a strange man with violet eyes, an ill-fated cruise and people who disappear leaving behind only a pile of purple ash. Can Carter get to the bottom of these mysterious disappearances? Or will she be the next to vanish?

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Katherine Weber

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  25. The Outer Limits Season 6 Episode 8 - Simon Says
    6.7/10(3 votes)

    #25 - Simon Says

    S6:E8

    Gideon Banks lost his wife Liz and son Simon in a horrific car accident some twenty years ago. At the time of the accident he was involved in something called the Neural Archiving Project - NAP for short. The technology was developed to create smart computers - transferring human engrams to computers. The company eventually gave up on the technology, but Gideon didn't. After years of quietly perfecting it, he built a small robot, from parts he stole from Concorde Robotics, where he now works. Zoe, Gideon's niece, discovers Gideon's secret, the robot contains actual neural engrams from the real Simon. She becomes worried not only about Gideon but also about the robot that sounds and acts a lot like her little cousin used to.

    Director:Helen Shaver
    Writer:Scott Peters

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Best Episodes Summary

"A Stitch in Time" is the best rated episode of "The Outer Limits". It scored 8.6/10 based on 9 votes. Directed by Mario Azzopardi and written by Steven Barnes, it aired on 1/14/1996. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Inconstant Moon".