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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!

Binge this in 16h 33m•Peaking at 8.1/10

Anthology series composed of distinct story episodes, sometimes with a plot twist at the end, with occasional recurring story elements that were often tied together during season-finale clip shows.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 13 - Quality of Mercy
    8.1/10(961 votes)

    S1:E13

    Major John Skokes is taken prisoner by the enemy during a savage galactic war and a seemingly undefeatable alien race. The tension increases when his cellmate, a cadet named Pri, is being transformed into one of them. Skokes must find an escape to save his cellmate and to avoid a disturbing revelation of the course of this war.

    Director:Brad Turner
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  2. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 14 - The New Breed
    7.9/10(706 votes)

    S1:E14

    The discovery of a gifted scientist falls into the wrong hands, bringing what at first appears to be a lifesaving miracle, but ultimately the untimely death of his closest friend.

    Directors:Mark Sobel, Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Grant Rosenberg

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  3. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 12 - The Conversion
    7.7/10(833 votes)

    S1:E12

    Henry Marshall is a greedy man who has paid for his greed with a prison sentence but has yet to learn his lesson. His life abruptly changes when he encounters visitors from another planet who instill new sense of compassion for others.

    Director:Rebecca De Mornay
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  4. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 2 - Valerie 23
    7.5/10(1128 votes)

    S1:E2

    Frank Hellner, a lonely paraplegic, takes part in a top-secret project -- allowing an "inorganic human," or robot named Valerie, to be his companion for a week. The experiment goes awry when Valerie, unable to control her programmed emotions, becomes jealous and threatens the life of Frank's physical therapist and close friend Rachel.

    Director:Timothy Bond
    Writer:Jonathan Glassner

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  5. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 18 - I, Robot
    7.5/10(633 votes)

    S1:E18

    Adam, a powerful robot, kills his creator when the scientist attempts to convert him into a military killing machine by destroying his more human qualities.

    Directors:Adam Nimoy, Tibor Takács
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  6. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 17 - The Message
    7.3/10(565 votes)

    S1:E17

    A deaf woman with a transplanted device, which is supposed to enable her to hear, turns into a transmitter for aliens, who are crying for help.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  7. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 20 - Birthright
    7.2/10(523 votes)

    S1:E20

    An environmentally-friendly U.S. Senator's life changes drastically after a freak accident, when he realizes he's actually an alien in disguise, with a "mission" to surreptitiously reconfigure the earth's atmosphere.

    Director:William Fruet
    Writer:Eric Estrin

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  8. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 1 - The Sandkings
    7.1/10(1387 votes)

    S1:E1

    Scientist Simon Kress finds himself the master of a colony of Sandkings -- creatures from Mars that look like insects, but have the intelligence of much higher beings.

    Director:Stuart Gillard
    Writers:Melinda M. Snodgrass, George R.R. Martin

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  9. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 15 - The Voyage Home
    7.1/10(564 votes)

    S1:E15

    When an astronaut returning from Mars discovers an alien aboard ship, he must face the loss of his shipmates, and make the ultimate sacrifice in order to prevent the alien from reaching Earth.

    Director:Tibor Takács
    Writer:Grant Rosenberg

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  10. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 4 - The Second Soul
    6.9/10(741 votes)

    S1:E4

    Man's first encounter with beings from another planet -- the N'Tal -- appears to be a mutually rewarding arrangement. But a leery doctor/scientist must decide whether the N'Tal are friend or foe.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Alan Brennert

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  11. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 11 - Dark Matters
    6.8/10(599 votes)

    S1:E11

    Dropped out of hyperspace by a mysterious chunk of dark matter, Pilot Paul Stein must save the transport vessel by facing his past and ultimately trusting his own decisions.

    Director:Paul Lynch
    Writer:Alan Brennert

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  12. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 9 - Corner of the Eye
    6.7/10(596 votes)

    S1:E9

    A disillusioned priest is given healing power by aliens who use him as they attempt to save their own planet by destroying all human life.

    Director:Stuart Gillard
    Writer:David J. Schow

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  13. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 16 - Caught in the Act
    6.7/10(669 votes)

    S1:E16

    A chaste co-ed is enveloped by a strange power that gives her an insatiable sexual appetite, which is perpetuated by encounters with consenting men who, after making physical contact, morph into her body and disappear.

    Director:Mario Azzopardi
    Writer:Grant Rosenberg

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  14. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 7 - Virtual Future
    6.6/10(623 votes)

    S1:E7

    A brilliant young scientist discovers a way to see the future, but gets caught up in a billionaire's ambitious political schemes, and must alter the future to save his own life.

    Director:Joseph L. Scanlan
    Writer:Shawn Thompson

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  15. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 19 - If These Walls Could Talk
    6.6/10(522 votes)

    S1:E19

    Levi Mitchell, a physicist and skeptic, meets Lynda Tillman, a woman whose strength and faith help him unravel the mystery of a haunted house.

    Director:Tibor Takács
    Writers:Eric Estrin, Manny Coto

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  16. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 6 - The Choice
    6.5/10(658 votes)

    S1:E6

    A young girl with strange, supernatural powers is shunned by her friends, but welcomed by a nanny with similar gifts, while her parents must decide what's ultimately best for their child.

    Director:Mark Sobel
    Writer:Ann Lewis Hamilton

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  17. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 3 - Blood Brothers
    6.4/10(724 votes)

    S1:E3

    Two diametrically opposed brothers, wrestle for control of a million-dollar pharmaceutical company. A vaccine that could hold the secret to eternal life, becomes the object of the brothers' bitter struggle.

    Director:Tibor Takács
    Writer:Brad Wright

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  18. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 8 - Living Hell
    6.4/10(553 votes)

    S1:E8

    Ben Kohler's life is saved after having an experimental chip implanted in his brain, but when he starts seeing and experiencing violent images, it becomes clear something is desperately wrong.

    Director:Graeme Campbell
    Writers:Melinda M. Snodgrass, Pen Densham

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  19. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 10 - Under the Bed
    6.4/10(567 votes)

    S1:E10

    When a little boy is abducted the only witness, his sister, claims that someone or something under the bed took him.

    Director:René Bonnière
    Writer:Lawrence Meyers

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  20. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 5 - White Light Fever
    6.1/10(659 votes)

    S1:E5

    An experiment at St. Peter's Hospital threatens nature's order of existence, when billionaire Harlan Hawkes pays a brilliant cardiologist, Dr. "Mac" McEnerney to help him cheat death.

    Director:Tibor Takács
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. The Outer Limits Season 1 Episode 21 - The Voice of Reason
    5.9/10(473 votes)

    S1:E21

    A civilian with strong ties to the military tries desperately to use concrete evidence to convince a high level committee that alien forces are trying to overcome the human race.

    Director:Neill Fearnley
    Writer:Brad Wright

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Quality of Mercy" is the best rated episode of "The Outer Limits" season 1. It scored 8.1/10 based on 961 votes. Directed by Brad Turner and written by Brad Wright, it aired on 6/16/1995. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The New Breed".