MovieChat Forums > The Outer Limits (1963) Discussion > Does anyone else feel....

Does anyone else feel....

posted 14 years ago by TermlnatriX
4 replies | jump to latest

that "The Hundred Days of The Dragon" should have been the pilot episode instead of Galaxy Being?

I know they probably needed to sell the series as a hardcore sci-fi series from the getgo, but I think the second episode is much more interesting than the first despite any lack of "beings" and "space" content going on.

I dunno, those are just my thoughts

EDIT: I guess I posted this thread too early now that I've seen the third episode - Architects of Fears would also work as a great pilot episode, well either way 2nd and 3rd at least to me were a lot more attention grabbing than Galaxy Being which felt a tad too slow and not exactly that effective. But, that's just one man's opinion.

[–] mickeyone 14 years ago

Welllll, you can't really say this or that other episode should have been the pilot. The pilot is the thing that they use to sell the series. Until that happens, they don't know if they will get the go ahead to make any more episodes (I'm not sure they had even thought of any other episodes to film at that point). Could they have come up with "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" right off the bat? I agree it is an excellent episode. And so is "Architects of Fear". But then so are a whole slew of other great episodes. Also remember, Leslie Stevens was the one who was trying to sell the series to the network, so I guess it kind of had to be one he had conceived. Just imagine. At that point, there was no The Outer Limits series. It was all in the future (it was all just an idea in Steven's mind). So Stevens had to create something that he thought would represent what kind of series his show would be (the pilot, which we now know as "The Galaxy Being", was titled "Please Stand By"). I think us TOL fans would say, the direction the series went, under producer Joe Stefano, was not quite exactly what Leslie had originally thought it was going to go.

[–] thegalaxybeing 14 years ago

I would suspect that they used "The Galaxy Being" because it was so effects laden. Those effects were very cutting edge at the time and looked pretty dazzling to a 1963 audience. I think the first one actually filmed was "The Borderland" which also had some pretty interesting effects (mostly in the final 15 minutes or so). Special effects of any kind on TV in the early 60's was pretty unusual. Oddly enough, comedian, Ernie Kovacs was one of the first TV effects pioneers.

[–] wbf200 14 years ago

Stevens was as much interested in selling ABC on the concept of the show, not just turning out a good episode (though that was important too), and "The Galaxy Being" was a lot more representative of what the show would become than "100 Days", which was mostly a political thriller. While it is good episode, it always seemed rather out of place for TOL. Also, casting Cliff Robertson was considered a coup for Stevens since at that time, he was one of the biggest movie actors around.

[–] 14 years ago

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