Though it’s often thought of as a knockoff of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits offered some pretty choice kicks for sci-fi-horror-cheese buffs. The second season, which ran in ’64–’65, has just been released in a DVD set.

The plots of these episodes are often rather mysterious, in that much of the time things simply aren’t explained or wrapped up in any sense whatsoever. It makes for an odd feeling of confusion, one apparently shared by the actors themselves. Most of the plots revolve around some kind of extraterrestrial life showing up and not being understood by anyone - except our protagonist, who desperately attempts to convince the angry mob that Mr. Other is in fact okay.

Notably, Lloyd Nolan, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy make guest appearances in different episodes, but the real stars of the show are the miraculously low-rent special effects, which are thoroughly charming in their ineptness. And watching Shatner turn into a lizard man after a trek to Venus feels somehow prophetic. Whoa, is there another actor in the universe who can ham it up like this one can?

» Matthew Hays