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Sci-Fi & Fantasy

The Best Episodes of The Outer Limits Season 1

Every episode of The Outer Limits Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of The Outer Limits Season 1!

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The Outer Limits is an anthology tv series of self-contained sci-fi-horror stories, sometimes with a plot twist at the end.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 1 - The Galaxy Being
    7.5/10(1668 votes)

    #1 - The Galaxy Being

    S1:E1

    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

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  2. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 2 - The Hundred Days of the Dragon
    7.2/10(1233 votes)

    #2 - The Hundred Days of the Dragon

    S1:E2

    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
    Writers:Allan Balter, Robert Mintz

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  3. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 3 - The Architects of Fear
    7.5/10(1274 votes)

    #3 - The Architects of Fear

    S1:E3

    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

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  4. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 4 - The Man with the Power
    7.2/10(1016 votes)

    #4 - The Man with the Power

    S1:E4

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

    Director:László Benedek
    Writer:Jerome Ross

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  5. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 5 - The Sixth Finger
    8.0/10(1256 votes)

    #5 - The Sixth Finger

    S1:E5

    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

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  6. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 6 - The Man Who Was Never Born
    8.0/10(1194 votes)

    #6 - The Man Who Was Never Born

    S1:E6

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

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Anthony Lawrence

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  7. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 7 - O.B.I.T.
    7.3/10(931 votes)

    #7 - O.B.I.T.

    S1:E7

    A new invention allows spying on anyone, anywhere.

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writer:Meyer Dolinsky

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  8. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 8 - The Human Factor
    6.9/10(802 votes)

    #8 - The Human Factor

    S1:E8

    At a military base far in the arctic, a man invents a machine which allows two minds to contact one another. An earthquake causes a malfunction and two men wake up to find that their minds have switched bodies.

    Director:Abner Biberman
    Writer:David Duncan

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  9. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 9 - Corpus Earthling
    6.9/10(842 votes)

    #9 - Corpus Earthling

    S1:E9

    A man with a steel plate in his head overhears conversations about global conquest. But where are the voices coming from?

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writers:Louis Charbonneau, Orin Borsten

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  10. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 10 - Nightmare
    7.6/10(947 votes)

    #10 - Nightmare

    S1:E10

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

    Director:John Erman
    Writer:Joseph Stefano

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  11. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 11 - It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
    7.2/10(849 votes)

    #11 - It Crawled Out of the Woodwork

    S1:E11

    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

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  12. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 12 - The Borderland
    6.7/10(761 votes)

    #12 - The Borderland

    S1:E12

    A scientist named Ian Fraser invents a machine which can pierce the borderland between this world and... The Afterlife? Maybe. Fraser convinces an industrialist to finance future experiments with the possibility of contacting the rich man's dead son.

    Director:Leslie Stevens
    Writer:Leslie Stevens

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  13. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 13 - Tourist Attraction
    6.1/10(716 votes)

    #13 - Tourist Attraction

    S1:E13

    In a South American country a group of explorers discover a prehistoric monster in an ancient lake. The discovery leads them into conflict with the country's dictator.

    Director:László Benedek
    Writer:Dean Riesner

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  14. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 14 - The Zanti Misfits
    7.8/10(1088 votes)

    #14 - The Zanti Misfits

    S1:E14

    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

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  15. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 15 - The Mice
    6.7/10(677 votes)

    #15 - The Mice

    S1:E15

    A convict serving a life sentence finds that he has an alternative: change places with an alien.

    Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
    Writers:Bill S. Ballinger, Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim

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  16. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 16 - Controlled Experiment
    7.1/10(800 votes)

    #16 - Controlled Experiment

    S1:E16

    Two Martian investigators probe our custom of homicide.

    Director:Leslie Stevens
    Writer:Leslie Stevens

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  17. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 17 - Don't Open Till Doomsday
    6.9/10(756 votes)

    #17 - Don't Open Till Doomsday

    S1:E17

    A young couple's honeymoon is cut short by the horrifying contents of a mysterious box.

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writer:Joseph Stefano

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  18. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 18 - ZZZZZ
    7.1/10(786 votes)

    #18 - ZZZZZ

    S1:E18

    A queen bee assumes a human appearance in order to make an unwary scientist into her new mate.

    Director:John Brahm
    Writer:Meyer Dolinsky

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  19. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 19 - The Invisibles
    7.3/10(695 votes)

    #19 - The Invisibles

    S1:E19

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

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writer:Joseph Stefano

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  20. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 20 - The Bellero Shield
    8.0/10(826 votes)

    #20 - The Bellero Shield

    S1:E20

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

    Director:John Brahm
    Writers:Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim

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  21. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 21 - The Children of Spider County
    6.3/10(598 votes)

    #21 - The Children of Spider County

    S1:E21

    Four scientists disappear in one day. All were born in the same county, on the same day. A fifth scientist is in jail and a federal agent is assigned to the case. The fifth man is sprung from jail by a mysterious stranger who says he's the young man's father.

    Director:Leonard Horn
    Writer:Anthony Lawrence

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  22. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 22 - Specimen: Unknown
    6.7/10(623 votes)

    #22 - Specimen: Unknown

    S1:E22

    Scientists on a space station discover an unusual and dangerous plant.

    Director:Gerd Oswald
    Writer:Stephen Lord

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  23. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 23 - Second Chance
    7.2/10(668 votes)

    #23 - Second Chance

    S1:E23

    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
    Writers:Lou Morheim, Lin Dane, Sonya Roberts

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  24. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 24 - Moonstone
    6.8/10(595 votes)

    #24 - Moonstone

    S1:E24

    Workers on a moon base find a mysterious rock that appears to be alive.

    Director:Robert Florey
    Writers:Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim, William Bast

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  25. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 25 - The Mutant
    6.8/10(596 votes)

    #25 - The Mutant

    S1:E25

    A radioactive rainstorm at a scientific base on a distant planet mutates a scientist driving him insane and making him telepathic.

    Directors:Alan Crosland, Jr.
    Writers:Allan Balter, Robert Mintz, Jerome B. Thomas

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Galaxy Being" is the best rated episode of "The Outer Limits" season 1. It scored 7.5/10 based on 1668 votes. Directed by Leslie Stevens and written by Leslie Stevens, it aired on 9/16/1963. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "The Hundred Days of the Dragon".