The BEST episodes of The Outer Limits season 1

Every episode of The Outer Limits season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Outer Limits season 1!

Tending toward the hard science, space travel, time travel, and human evolution it tries to examine in each show some form of the question, "What is the nature of man?"

Last Updated: 12/7/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
ZZZZZ
star
7.93
119 votes

#1 - ZZZZZ

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/27/1964

A queen bee with sinister intentions assumes human form in order to seek out the perfect mate.

Directors: John Brahm
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Second Chance
star
7.79
62 votes

#2 - Second Chance

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/2/1964

Believing that they're going on a mere carnival ride, a crew of discontented dreamers unknowingly boards a space ship bound to save the future of the human race.

Directors: Paul Stanley
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The Man Who Was Never Born
star
7.71
153 votes

#3 - The Man Who Was Never Born

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/1963

A horribly mutated man from Earth's bleak future travels back in time in an attempt to alter the past and save mankind from its hideous fate.

Directors: Leonard J. Horn
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The Bellero Shield
star
7.55
125 votes

#4 - The Bellero Shield

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/10/1964

An ambitious scientist, with hopes of taking over his father's corporation, creates a laser that inadvertently brings a gentle alien to earth.

Directors: John Brahm
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Specimen: Unknown
star
7.45
123 votes

#5 - Specimen: Unknown

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/24/1964

The crew aboard a space station investigates the death of a young lieutenant and uncovers a strange and deadly new life form.

Directors: Gerd Oswald
Writer: Stephen Lord
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The Zanti Misfits
star
7.32
84 votes

#6 - The Zanti Misfits

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/30/1963

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

Directors: Leonard J. Horn
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The Guests
star
7.30
30 votes

#7 - The Guests

Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/23/1964

Trapped in a mansion run by a mysterious alien being, a pair of young lovers discovers that eternal life comes at a great cost.

Directors: Paul Stanley
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The Children of Spider County
star
7.29
143 votes

#8 - The Children of Spider County

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/17/1964

A powerful alien from the planet Eros returns to Earth to rescue and claim his son who has been charged with murder.

Directors: Leonard J. Horn
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Don't Open Till Doomsday
star
7.27
156 votes

#9 - 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.

Directors: Gerd Oswald
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Controlled Experiment
star
7.26
124 votes

#10 - Controlled Experiment

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/13/1964

Two Martians conduct an investigation at the scene of a murder to try to determine why humans kill one another.

Directors: Leslie Stevens
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The Galaxy Being
star
7.17
250 votes

#11 - 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.

Directors: Leslie Stevens
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The Invisibles
star
7.16
150 votes

#12 - The Invisibles

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/3/1964

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

Directors: Gerd Oswald
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The Sixth Finger
star
7.14
161 votes

#13 - The Sixth Finger

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/14/1963

There are unforeseen consequences when a brilliant but guilt-ridden scientist performs an evolutionary enhancement procedure on an embittered miner.

Directors: James Goldstone
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A Feasibility Study
star
7.10
58 votes

#14 - 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.

Directors: Byron Haskin
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It Crawled Out of the Woodwork
star
7.07
42 votes

#15 - 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.

Directors: Gerd Oswald
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The Chameleon
star
7.04
83 votes

#16 - 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.

Directors: Gerd Oswald
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The Special One
star
7.03
31 votes

#17 - The Special One

Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 4/6/1964

A man with a intellectually gifted son is alarmed by the boy's sudden change in behavior and is suspicious of the boy's tutor, the mysterious Mr. Zeno.

Directors: Gerd Oswald
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The Man With the Power
star
6.96
68 votes

#18 - The Man With the Power

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1963

An experimental brain surgery gives a mild-mannered professor telekinetic powers and unleashes the dark side of his unconscious mind.

Directors: Laslo Benedek
Writer: Jerome Ross
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The Architects of Fear
star
6.95
180 votes

#19 - 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.

Directors: Byron Haskin
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Production and Decay of Strange Particles
star
6.95
55 votes

#20 - Production and Decay of Strange Particles

Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired 4/20/1964

A nuclear accident creates a rift in the space/time continuum, and allows deadly creatures to emerge.

Directors: Leslie Stevens
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Mutant
star
6.92
25 votes

#21 - The Mutant

Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/16/1964

After being exposed to a radioactive ionic shower, scientist on a distant planet mutates, driving him insane and making him telepathic.

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The Borderland
star
6.90
41 votes

#22 - The Borderland

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/16/1963

A man hoping to contact his dead son becomes involved in an experiment designed to open a gateway to the fourth dimension.

Directors: Leslie Stevens
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Moonstone
star
6.71
62 votes

#23 - Moonstone

Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/9/1964

Lunar colonists find themselves in grave danger when they attempt to aid five fugitive alien scientists.

Directors: Robert Florey
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The Human Factor
star
6.63
43 votes

#24 - The Human Factor

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/11/1963

A remote outpost in Greenland is endangered when an experiment is disrupted, causing the mind of a psychiatrist to be switched with that of a madman.

Directors: Abner Biberman
Writer: David Duncan
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Nightmare
star
6.63
75 votes

#25 - Nightmare

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/2/1963

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

Directors: John Erman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV