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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!

The Outer Limits is an anthology tv series of self-contained sci-fi-horror stories, sometimes with a plot twist at the end.
Genre:Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Network:ABC
Episodes
49
Avg. Rating
7.2
S1
S2
S3
S4
E1
E2
E3
7.5
7.8
7.2
6.6
7.6
6.9

Best Episodes Summary

"Demon with a Glass Hand" is the best rated episode of "The Outer Limits". It scored 8.6/10 based on 1175 votes. Directed by Byron Haskin and written by Harlan Ellison, it aired on 10/17/1964. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Inheritors Part II".

  • Demon with a Glass Hand
    8.6/10(1,175)
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    #1 - Demon with a Glass Hand

    Season 2 Episode 5

    Aired 10/17/1964

    A man with a glass hand attempts to unravel the mystery of who he is.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: Harlan Ellison

  • The Inheritors Part II
    8.4/10(682)
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    #2 - The Inheritors Part II

    Season 2 Episode 11

    Aired 11/28/1964

    An investigation reveals a desperate plan involving the construction of a spaceship and a group of special children.

    Director: James Goldstone

    Writer: Seeleg Lester, Sam Neuman, Ed Adamson

  • The Inheritors Part I
    8.3/10(726)
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    #3 - The Inheritors Part I

    Season 2 Episode 10

    Aired 11/21/1964

    After being shot in the head, a soldier gains a genius IQ and begins working fervently toward a mysterious goal.

    Director: James Goldstone

    Writer: Seeleg Lester, Sam Neuman

  • The Man Who Was Never Born
    8.1/10(1,022)
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    #4 - The Man Who Was Never Born

    Season 1 Episode 6

    Aired 10/28/1963

    An astronaut travels to the 23rd Century, where he finds the Earth a blasted wasteland inhabited by monsters.

    Director: Leonard Horn

    Writer: Anthony Lawrence

  • The Sixth Finger
    8.0/10(1,058)
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    #5 - The Sixth Finger

    Season 1 Episode 5

    Aired 10/14/1963

    A scientist discovers a way to speed up evolution and tries out the process on a simple miner.

    Director: James Goldstone

    Writer: Ellis St. Joseph

  • The Bellero Shield
    8.0/10(730)
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    #6 - The Bellero Shield

    Season 1 Episode 20

    Aired 2/10/1964

    A scientist captures an alien that can protect itself with an unbreakable shield.

    Director: John Brahm

    Writer: Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim

  • A Feasibility Study
    7.9/10(659)
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    #7 - A Feasibility Study

    Season 1 Episode 29

    Aired 4/13/1964

    The people of Earth surprise their alien captors when an entire neighborhood is transported to another planet as part of a plan to enslave the human race.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • I, Robot
    7.9/10(634)
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    #8 - I, Robot

    Season 2 Episode 9

    Aired 11/14/1964

    A robot is put on trial for the murder of his creator.

    Director: Leon Benson

    Writer: Robert C. Dennis, Otto Binder

  • The Zanti Misfits
    7.8/10(926)
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    #9 - The Zanti Misfits

    Season 1 Episode 14

    Aired 12/30/1963

    Exiles from the planet Zanti arrive on Earth, and a startling truth is uncovered when two human renegades invade their privacy.

    Director: Leonard Horn

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • Soldier
    7.8/10(793)
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    #10 - Soldier

    Season 2 Episode 1

    Aired 9/19/1964

    Two soldiers from the future are thrust back through time to the present day.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Harlan Ellison

  • Nightmare
    7.7/10(809)
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    #11 - Nightmare

    Season 1 Episode 10

    Aired 12/2/1963

    In a war action with the planet Ebon, some soldiers are captured, interrogated and tortured.

    Director: John Erman

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • The Architects of Fear
    7.6/10(1,074)
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    #12 - The Architects of Fear

    Season 1 Episode 3

    Aired 9/30/1963

    A noble scheme goes horribly awry when a group of scientists plan an elaborate hoax designed to frighten and ultimately unite humankind.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: Meyer Dolinsky

  • The Chameleon
    7.6/10(541)
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    #13 - The Chameleon

    Season 1 Episode 31

    Aired 4/27/1964

    A government agent faces a crisis of conscience when he infiltrates a band of aliens marooned aboard the wreckage of a flying saucer.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim, Robert Towne

  • The Galaxy Being
    7.5/10(1,375)
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    #14 - The Galaxy Being

    Season 1 Episode 1

    Aired 9/16/1963

    A radio station engineer named Allan Maxwell establishes contact with an alien being. But when the station's power is turned up, the alien is teleported to Earth where its radioactive nature causes havoc.

    Director: Leslie Stevens

    Writer: Leslie Stevens

  • The Forms of Things Unknown
    7.5/10(672)
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    #15 - The Forms of Things Unknown

    Season 1 Episode 32

    Aired 5/4/1964

    Two women with a body in their car trunk come upon a house by chance wherein a crazed inventor has a machine that can bring back the dead.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • The Invisibles
    7.4/10(618)
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    #16 - The Invisibles

    Season 1 Episode 19

    Aired 2/3/1964

    A government agent infiltrates a secret criminal organization that uses alien parasites to control its members.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • The Premonition
    7.4/10(543)
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    #17 - The Premonition

    Season 2 Episode 16

    Aired 1/9/1965

    An out-of-control test flight traps a pilot and his wife in a slow-moving time warp, and they're not alone.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Ib Melchior, Samuel Roeca

  • O.B.I.T.
    7.3/10(792)
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    #18 - O.B.I.T.

    Season 1 Episode 7

    Aired 11/4/1963

    A new invention allows spying on anyone, anywhere.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Meyer Dolinsky

  • The Guests
    7.3/10(604)
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    #19 - The Guests

    Season 1 Episode 26

    Aired 3/23/1964

    After discovering an elderly man dying by the side of the road, a young man finds a strange house where some people are kept prisoner and ageless by an alien intelligence.

    Director: Paul Stanley

    Writer: Donald S. Sanford

  • The Hundred Days of the Dragon
    7.2/10(1,030)
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    #20 - The Hundred Days of the Dragon

    Season 1 Episode 2

    Aired 9/23/1963

    A sinister foreign power replaces the President of the United States with its own agent via the use of a powerful drug allowing the skin to be temporarily molded into any likeness.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: Robert Mintz, Allan Balter

  • The Man with the Power
    7.2/10(857)
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    #21 - The Man with the Power

    Season 1 Episode 4

    Aired 10/7/1963

    A radical experiment gives a college professor incredible power, which his subconcious mind uses to destroy his enemies.

    Director: László Benedek

    Writer: Jerome Ross

  • It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
    7.2/10(738)
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    #22 - It Crawled Out of the Woodwork

    Season 1 Episode 11

    Aired 12/9/1963

    An incredible being made of pure energy imperils the staff of a research lab and hides a deadly secret.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • Controlled Experiment
    7.2/10(699)
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    #23 - Controlled Experiment

    Season 1 Episode 16

    Aired 1/13/1964

    Two Martian investigators probe our custom of homicide.

    Director: Leslie Stevens

    Writer: Leslie Stevens

  • Second Chance
    7.2/10(590)
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    #24 - Second Chance

    Season 1 Episode 23

    Aired 3/2/1964

    A group of people board an amusement park ride. Then they (and their surprised "captain") find that they're really going on a space jaunt.

    Director: Paul Stanley

    Writer: Lou Morheim, Lin Dane, Sonya Roberts

  • Fun and Games
    7.2/10(565)
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    #25 - Fun and Games

    Season 1 Episode 27

    Aired 3/30/1964

    Two Earth people are transported to an alien planet, along with two aliens. The are told by their abductors that they will fight each other to the death. The stakes are high: the homeworld of the losers will be destroyed slowly, for the further amusement of their captors.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano, Robert Specht