The Outer Limits: Keeper of the Purple Twilight (1964)
[under construction]
There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to chrystal clarity.
For the next hour sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to ... the outer limits.
opening narration; read by Vic Perrin
listen to the wav
The Series
From 1963 to 1965 first Leslie Stevens and then Joseph Stefano took viewers to The Outer Limits. Unlike The Twilight Zone this anthology series had hour-long episodes, which allowed for greater depth and complexity. (TZ did change to an hour format in its fourth season.) What I like about OT is that quite a few of the episodes have a science fiction plot. TZ was more horror/mystery orientated. A new Outer Limits series started in 1995 - it has a really cool opening sequence which stays true in spirit to that of the old series.
The Theme
Click here for the end theme wav.
The Episode
Stevens plays Prof. Eric Plummer in the second-season episode, Keeper of the Purple Twilight, originally aired on December 5, 1964. It co-starred Robert Webber and Gail Kobe, was written by Milton Krims and directed by Charles Haas.
Eric Plummer have his emotions transferred to an ugly alien (Webber) in return for some equations, with remarkably little concern about the effect this will have on his relationship with his girlfriend. I guess the pursuit of knowledge has its own attractions. (He needs the equations needed to finish his Antimagnetic Disintegrator.) Did anyone say Faust? The results are predictable but the episode is really well done.
A fine episode. Click here to buy it online.
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