The Outer Limits

The Outer Limits sometimes made use of techniques (lighting, camerawork, even makeup) associated with film noir or German Expressionism (see for example, Corpus Earthling), and a number of episodes were noteworthy for their sheer eeriness. Credit for this is often given to cinematographer Conrad Hall, who would go on to win three Academy Awards (and many more nominations) for his work in film. However, it should be noted that Hall worked only on alternate episodes of the show during the first two-thirds of the first season; the show's other cinematographers included John M. Nickolaus and Kenneth Peach.

Special effects

Each show was to have a monster or creature as a critical part of the story line. Stefano believed that this element was necessary to provide fear, suspense, or at least a center for plot development. Many times, the "bear," as it came to be called, was notably frightening to audiences. In some cases, it was nothing more than an unusual force directed by a person or other being. These creatures and props were developed by a loose-knit group organized under the name Project Unlimited. Members of the group included Wah Chang, Gene Warren and Jim Danforth. Makeup was executed by Fred B. Phillips along with John Chambers.

Influence on Star Trek

A few of the monsters reappeared in Gene Roddenberry's 1960s Star Trek show. A feathered creature was modified to appear as a zoo animal in the background of the first pilot of Star Trek; a prop head from "Fun and Games" was used to make a Talosian appear as a vicious creature. The moving carpet beast in "The Probe" later was used as the "Horta", and operated by the same actor (Janos Prohaska). The process used to make pointed ears for David McCallum in "The Sixth Finger" was reused in Star Trek as well. Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) appeared in two episodes, "The Production And Decay Of Strange Particles" and "I Robot", William Shatner (James T. Kirk) appeared in the starring role in the episode "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" as an astronaut working on a project ironically called Project Vulcan, James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) appeared in a supporting role as a policeman in "Expanding Human", Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand) appeared in the episode "Controlled Experiment" and other actors established in the genre by the first series appeared in Trek episodes.

In fact Gene Roddenberry paid a lot of attention to what The Outer Limits team was doing at the time, and he was often present in their studios. Later he hired several Outer Limits alumni, among them Robert Justman and Wah Chang for the production of Star Trek.