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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2473 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 28, 2024

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Does anyone know of a sci-fi anthology series like The Outer Limits (1995-2002 TV Series)? There is something about this series that I don't seem to find in shows that are recommend as similar. The things I like most about the show are:

  1. It felt connected to real-life psychology concepts (like the unconscious mind)
  2. The future uses of technology mostly seem plausible
  3. Twist endings
  4. Most episodes felt like there was a meta level moral commentary on human nature.

The closest show I've found is Black Mirror.

The Twilight Zone? It doesn't hit 2 very well but I'd say 1 3 and 4 are at least close in many episodes.

Do you have any recommendations on which series is best (1959-1964, 1985-1989, 2002-2003, 2019-2020)?

Are there any episodes that you felt stood out above the rest?

I looked through and downloaded IMDB's top rated original (1959-1964) TZ episodes a while ago. I ended up with 9 episodes from S1, 8 from S2, 9 from S3 and 4 from S5. There's lots of other selected Twilight Zone episodes lists out there to browse, they're all roughly in agreement. If you're not bothered about filtering the best of the best you can't go far wrong by starting at the start as that's where the benchmark that justified the additional series and reboots was created.

I don't know about the '80s and '00s reboots but I'd avoid Jordan Peele's 2019 reboot, it's more concerned with moral commentary on $current_year American culture war than it is the human condition.

Like Atelier says TZ is lacking in the sci-fi aspect compared to The Outer Limits. You could try 2017's Phillip K Dick's Electric Dreams but I haven't seen any of those. TZ is a bit dated and unsophisticated compared to modern counterparts like Black Mirror but like OG Star Trek it's classic television that stands the test of time.

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