12 Best Episodes Of 1995's The Outer Limits

Revived in 1995, a relaunched version of the "Outer Limits" anthology series has sometimes been overlooked as an imitation of the original series, but it might be one of the most underrated sci-fi classics of the '90s. Relaunched thanks to a new wave of hit sci-fi shows like "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "The X-Files," it ran far longer than the original, with six seasons on Showtime and a final year on the nascent Sci-Fi channel in 2002.

Exploring more sinister stories, it eschewed the classic series' "monster-of-the-week" structure in favor of more adult-skewing sci-fi drama. One of its strengths was its impeccable casting, with sci-fi veterans like Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, and Robert Patrick joined by a laundry list of future stars including Ryan Reynolds, Kirsten Dunst, and Josh Brolin. Packed with thought-provoking stories with a message, it used allegory to explore social issues and moral lessons like the best in the genre.

That's not to say the show isn't without it's flaws: the music can be overly dramatic, the effects are overly ambitious to put it mildly, and it's very much a product of its time. But like all good sci-fi, the '90s "Outer Limits" is more about its stories than its special effects, and when it examines deeper themes, it excels. Though this list doesn't scratch the surface of the show's best, it will take you on a journey from the deepest inner mind to the best episodes of the '90s "Outer Limits."

Alien invasion stories are a staple of science fiction, and the 1995 "Outer Limits" had its fair share of them. But "Dead Man's Switch" is a very different take on the age-old formula. This time, the story doesn't revolve around the invasion or even the aliens at all, but a group of individuals chosen from around the world to act as a failsafe when an alien armada is detected on its way to Earth, and the military fears the worst.

As the alien fleet approaches, five people are isolated from the outside world in subterranean bunkers, each with a dead man's switch that controls the entire world's nuclear arsenal. At periodic intervals, one of them must activate the switch to prevent global armageddon, and if all goes well and they're released after the planned year in underground exile, then it means the aliens didn't pose a threat. If they're never retrieved, it means humanity has been conquered, and they are to allow the warheads to launch.

But before the year is up, four of the five bunkers go offline, and the final survivor (James LeGros) suspects the aliens have destroyed mankind and must decide whether to activate the bombs early. Set entirely in one room, the isolated nature of the story and the ominous alien threat we never see makes it ripe for a twist ending — and it delivers one you won't see coming.

The best science fiction will use action-packed futuristic tales or alien monsters to reinforce a powerful moral lesson. The original "Outer Limits" always excelled in this regard, and the 1995 revival carried the torch and continued that tradition in episodes like "Trial by Fire," the story of another impending alien invasion. It's also the story of another U.S. President, whose decisions could mean the difference between peace and war, while the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance.

It's a happy occasion for President Charles Halsey (Robert Foxworth), who has just been inaugurated to the highest office in the nation, and already feels the pressure of the enormous job in front of him. A politician whose critics perceive him as weak, Halsey doesn't even have his cabinet sworn in when an alien spacecraft is detected on its way to Earth, but its intentions are anything but clear. Coordinating with world leaders, the new president must decide how to proceed: if he's too open and accepting of these visitors from the stars, it could invite disaster if they're hostile. But if they take too aggressive a defensive posture, it could instigate an alien attack.

A stirring suspense story, "Trial by Fire" is more than just a powerful drama. Like the best sci-fi, it was also frighteningly prescient, as just five years after it aired a recently inaugurated President Bush was forced to deal with a real-life attack on the nation.

Always on the cutting edge of cultural, political, and social issues, "The Outer Limits" was never afraid to tackle uncomfortable or controversial subjects. It did so again in a unique way in "Final Exam," the story of an embittered trenchoat-wearing student who holds millions of lives hostage. Angry at the world, he threatens deadly violence unless the government executes five individuals who he feels have ruined his life.

Former student Seth Todtman (Peter Stebbings) is a brilliant but troubled young man, an outcast who had previously been expelled from the local college. Frequently mocked by his peers, the pariah returns to the school claiming he's cracked cold fusion technology, and built a bomb capable of killing millions. When the military responds, he demands the arriving general round up his personal hit list of enemies and have them executed or he'll detonate the bomb, a device that nobody believes is real. Now it's up to Dr. James Martin (Brett Cullen), a seasoned negotiator and physicist, to talk down Todtman and decide whether he really has developed a cold fusion bomb. But if he has, Martin may have no choice but give in to his twisted demands.

A haunting tale of a disillusioned man teetering on the edge of sanity, "Final Exam" explores the taboo subject of school violence with a sci-fi twist. It's also a powerful lesson in the dangers of technological discovery and how our own destruction may be inevitable.

Late in its run, "The Outer Limits" was dropped by Showtime (per Variety) and received a grand two-part finale. But a year later, the series was resurrected by the Sci-Fi Channel for one final season, and while that last year of stories wasn't its best, it did produce at least one stellar installment. That episode is "Patient Zero," with future "Guardians of the Galaxy" star Michael Rooker as a man determined to save the world from a deadly virus.

In "Patient Zero" Rooker stars as a military soldier named Beckett who arrives in the present day from a dystopian future where Earth has been ravaged by a devastating plague. Scientists in the future have discovered the origins of the virus, tracing them to a doctor (Tanya Allen) who came into contact with three different strands of DNA which combined to form the initial viral outbreak. But when Beckett meets her, he can't go through with his mission to kill her, and sets out instead to try to prevent her from causing the first virus to form. 

Unfortunately, the more he tries, the more circumstances seem to conspire against him, and he may be forced to do the unthinkable. Meanwhile, a fellow future agent follows him back to make sure that he completes his mission. While the episode shares certain hallmarks with the Bruce Willis classic "12 Monkeys," "Patient Zero" takes the story in an entirely new direction.

Twisted experiments, alien invaders, and moral lessons — "Afterlife" mixes them all to deliver a powerful story of redemption. Much like "A Quality of Mercy," the story revolves around a human subject turned into an extraterrestrial monster, but this time it's not alien torture, but a government experiment. The episode sees Clancy Brown — then best-known for his role as prison guard Hadley in "The Shawkshank Redemption" — as a killer and former soldier named Lindon Stiles who's sentenced to lethal injection, then given a second chance at life thanks to a top secret program.

The principled Stiles, who insists he was framed for a mass murder, is now subjected to brutal series of clinical procedures where he's injected with DNA that was discovered in a crashed alien spacecraft. Hoping to learn what kind of creatures they're up against, the military mutates Stiles into one of the aliens and sets him loose on a military manhunt. Fighting for his life, he'll have to use his newfound alien physiology, combined with his military training, to stay alive while he struggles to come to terms with his waning humanity. 

No matter how they've transformed his body, though — giving him enhanced strength, stamina, intelligence, and a grotesque appearance — they can never alter his soul. In the end, "Afterlife" is a classic sci-fi parable capped off by a sobering ending that provides a stark examination of our own worst impulses and unending hubris.

While the original "Outer Limits" mostly told stories about aliens with moral messages about mankind's worst traits, the 1995 revival embraced far darker stories, with more disturbing themes. "A Stitch in Time" is bar none the best episode in the series, mixing a tragic story of trauma and injustice with a stellar cast that included Amanda Plummer ("Pulp Fiction") and Michelle Forbes ("Battlestar Galactica"). 

Forbes plays FBI agent Jamie Pratt, a dedicated law enforcement officer whose testimony successfully convicted the man who killed her best friend, along with 16 other women. But with the killer's execution now behind her, Pratt is working on the mystifying new case of a serial killer whose victims span decades, and the evidence doesn't make any sense. Ballistics and fingerprints at the scene of the first crime in the 1950s all point to a woman who was still in kindergarten when the first murders occurred, while the gun used wasn't even manufactured until the 1980s. Her name is Theresa Givens (Plummer), a seemingly deranged person who claims to use a time machine to execute convicted murderers before they commit their crimes.

The tale of a time-traveling serial killer and a dedicated agent out to stop her, "A Stitch in Time" is an unforgettable sci-fi crime story that feels like it could have been an episode of "The X-Files." Forbes and Plummer give tour de force performances in a story about how trauma shapes our past, present and future.