Show cover for The Outer Limits

The Worst Episodes of The Outer Limits

Every episode of The Outer Limits ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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

Worst Episodes Summary

"Tourist Attraction" is the worst rated episode of "The Outer Limits". It scored 6.1/10 based on 620 votes. Directed by László Benedek and written by Dean Riesner, it aired on 12/23/1963. This episode scored 0.1 points lower than the second lowest rated, "The Children of Spider County".

  • Tourist Attraction
    6.1/10620 votes
    Loading...

    #1 - Tourist Attraction

    Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/23/1963

    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

  • The Children of Spider County
    6.2/10538 votes
    Loading...

    #2 - The Children of Spider County

    Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/17/1964

    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

  • Counterweight
    6.2/10425 votes
    Loading...

    #3 - Counterweight

    Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 12/26/1964

    Six future astronauts are put through a simulation of a long space flight.

    Director: Paul Stanley

    Writer: Jerry Sohl, Milton Krims

  • Production and Decay of Strange Particles
    6.3/10528 votes
    Loading...

    #4 - Production and Decay of Strange Particles

    Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 4/20/1964

    An accident in a nuclear research facility opens a dimensonal doorway and allows deadly creatures to emerge.

    Director: Leslie Stevens

    Writer: Leslie Stevens

  • The Invisible Enemy
    6.5/10549 votes
    Loading...

    #5 - The Invisible Enemy

    Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 10/31/1964

    A manned mission to Mars is menaced by Martian creatures who swim in the planet's sandy soil.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: Jerry Sohl

  • The Borderland
    6.6/10658 votes
    Loading...

    #6 - The Borderland

    Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/16/1963

    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

  • Cold Hands, Warm Heart
    6.6/10595 votes
    Loading...

    #7 - Cold Hands, Warm Heart

    Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 9/26/1964

    After returning from a mission to Venus, an astronaut can't seem to stay warm enough and has strange dreams about encountering a wraith-like being outside his spaceship window.

    Director: Charles F. Haas

    Writer: Milton Krims, Daniel B. Ullman

  • Wolf 359
    6.6/10483 votes
    Loading...

    #8 - Wolf 359

    Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/7/1964

    A college professor recreates the environment of a distant planet in a lab in order to study its evolution... which happens quickly.

    Director: László Benedek

    Writer: Seeleg Lester, Richard H. Landau

  • The Brain of Colonel Barham
    6.6/10406 votes
    Loading...

    #9 - The Brain of Colonel Barham

    Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 1/2/1965

    A dying astronaut agrees to have his brain implanted into a robot body.

    Director: Charles F. Haas

    Writer: Robert C. Dennis, Sidney Ellis

  • The Probe
    6.6/10452 votes
    Loading...

    #10 - The Probe

    Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 1/16/1965

    After flying into a hurricane, the crew of a cargo plane bound for Tokyo is captured by an alien space probe.

    Director: Felix E. Feist

    Writer: Seeleg Lester, Sam Neuman

  • The Mice
    6.7/10595 votes
    Loading...

    #11 - The Mice

    Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/6/1964

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

    Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.

    Writer: Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim, Bill S. Ballinger

  • Cry of Silence
    6.7/10531 votes
    Loading...

    #12 - Cry of Silence

    Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 10/24/1964

    A couple of motorists stranded in the desert are stalked by a bunch of tumbleweeds.

    Director: Charles F. Haas

    Writer: Louis Charbonneau, Robert C. Dennis

  • Specimen: Unknown
    6.8/10552 votes
    Loading...

    #13 - Specimen: Unknown

    Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 2/24/1964

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

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Stephen Lord

  • Moonstone
    6.8/10525 votes
    Loading...

    #14 - Moonstone

    Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/9/1964

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

    Director: Robert Florey

    Writer: Joseph Stefano, Lou Morheim, William Bast

  • The Mutant
    6.8/10520 votes
    Loading...

    #15 - The Mutant

    Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/16/1964

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

    Director: Alan Crosland, Jr.

    Writer: Robert Mintz, Allan Balter, Jerome B. Thomas

  • Expanding Human
    6.8/10474 votes
    Loading...

    #16 - Expanding Human

    Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 10/10/1964

    A man experimenting with conciousness expansion drugs becomes super-human and not really human at all.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Francis M. Cockrell

  • The Human Factor
    6.9/10690 votes
    Loading...

    #17 - The Human Factor

    Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1963

    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

  • Corpus Earthling
    6.9/10729 votes
    Loading...

    #18 - Corpus Earthling

    Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/18/1963

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

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Louis Charbonneau, Orin Borsten

  • Behold, Eck!
    6.9/10530 votes
    Loading...

    #19 - Behold, Eck!

    Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1964

    A scientist invents a pair of glasses which enable him to see and communicate with a two dimensional being.

    Director: Byron Haskin

    Writer: John Mantley, William R. Cox

  • Keeper of the Purple Twilight
    6.9/10465 votes
    Loading...

    #20 - Keeper of the Purple Twilight

    Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 12/5/1964

    An alien offers his technical knowledge of how to build a ray gun in exchange for a scientist's ability to feel emotions.

    Director: Charles F. Haas

    Writer: Stephen Lord, Milton Krims

  • The Duplicate Man
    6.9/10453 votes
    Loading...

    #21 - The Duplicate Man

    Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 12/19/1964

    A man wants to capture a dangerous alien creature. Doing it himself would be way too dangerous, so he has his clone do it.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Robert C. Dennis, Clifford D. Simak

  • Don't Open Till Doomsday
    7.0/10656 votes
    Loading...

    #22 - Don't Open Till Doomsday

    Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/20/1964

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

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Joseph Stefano

  • ZZZZZ
    7.0/10686 votes
    Loading...

    #23 - ZZZZZ

    Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/27/1964

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

    Director: John Brahm

    Writer: Meyer Dolinsky

  • Controlled Experiment
    7.1/10696 votes
    Loading...

    #24 - Controlled Experiment

    Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/13/1964

    Two Martian investigators probe our custom of homicide.

    Director: Leslie Stevens

    Writer: Leslie Stevens

  • The Special One
    7.1/10512 votes
    Loading...

    #25 - The Special One

    Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/6/1964

    Parents of a gifted youngster discover that their son's new tutor is not quite human.

    Director: Gerd Oswald

    Writer: Oliver Crawford