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.

Viewmaster

The ViewMaster system was invented by William Gruber, an organ maker and avid photographer who lived in Portland, Oregon. He had the idea of updating the old-fashioned stereoscope by using the new Kodachrome color film that had recently become available. While a View-Master reel holds 14 film slides, there are really only seven stereoscopic images; two film slides are viewed simultaneously - one for each eye - thus simulating binocular depth perception.

When on vacation with his wife in 1938, Gruber met Harold Graves, the president of Sawyer's, Inc., a company specializing in picture postcards, and the two men struck up a conversation about Mr. Gruber’s invention that lasted well into the night. Shortly thereafter, Gruber and Graves formed a partnership in 1939 which led to the retail sales of View-Master viewers and reels. Within a very short time, the View-Master quickly took over the postcard business at Sawyer's.

Later that year, View-Master was first introduced at the New York World's Fair. It was intended as an alternative to the scenic postcard, and was originally sold at photography shops, stationery stores and scenic attraction gift shops. The main subjects of View-Master reels were Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon. In the 1940s, the U.S. military recognized the potential for using View-Master products for personnel training, purchasing 100,000 viewers and nearly six million reels between 1942 and the end of World War II in 1945.

In 1951 Sawyer's purchased Tru-Vue, the main competitor of View-Master. In addition to eliminating their main rival, the takeover also gave Sawyer's Tru-Vue's licensing rights to Walt Disney Studios. Sawyer's capitalized on the opportunity and produced numerous reels featuring Disney characters and the newly opened Disneyland.

In 1952 Sawyer's began its View-Master Personal line, which included a 35mm camera for its users to make their own View-Master reels. Although at first highly successful, within ten years the line would be discontinued. Despite an untimely death, many of these ruggedly well-made cameras are still being used today. This line also spawned the Model 'D' viewer (available until the early seventies it was View-Master's highest quality viewer) and View-Master's only 3D projector.

The View-Master had originally been constructed from Kodak Tenite plastic and then bakelite, a hard, sturdy, somewhat heavy plastic. Beginning in 1959, the material of choice became the much lighter-weight thermoplastic.

In 1966 Sawyer's was acquired by the General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corporation, and became a wholly owned subsidiary. Under GAF's ownership View-Master reels started to feature fewer scenic and more child-friendly subjects, such as toys and cartoons. Several now-classic TV series were also featured on View-Master reels, such as Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Star Trek, The Man From UNCLE, Here's Lucy, and The Beverly Hillbillies. Actor Henry Fonda appeared in a series of TV commercials for the GAF View-Master.

In 1976, a red and white View-Master with a blue handle was released to commemorate the United States Bicentennial.

GAF sold View-Master to a group headed by Arnold Thaler in 1981 for $24 million. Six years later, a thriving View-Master International purchased Ideal Toy Company and became known as View-Master Ideal (VMI).

In the mid-1980s, the toy eventually had a home video label, notable for producing Kidsongs.

In August of 1989, the ViewMaster product line was sold for the third time to Tyco Toys, Inc. of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, upon its purchase of View-Master Ideal. The View-Master line remained part of Tyco until Tyco’s merger with Mattel, Inc. in 1997.

Shortly after the merger with Mattel, Inc., the View-Master category shifted to Fisher-Price in East Aurora, New York.

View-Master is now part of the National Toy Hall of Fame of the USA.