Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits Does 'M3gan' in 1998

 I control the vertical, the horizontal and the other directions too.

The 1990s revival of The Outer Limits was a big deal when I was younger, giving us a more adult-themed Sci-Fi Show.

How does it hold up to 2025 me?

This is 'Mary 25,' the 15th Episode of Season 4.

It is technically the Sequel to 'Valerie 23,' but they recap it nicely enough.

You'll see why I picked it soon enough.

After the 23rd Model didn't go well- see Footage of said Episode aired-, the Company is now up to the 25th Model and it will be a babysitter.

If you're wondering why they skipped 24, just wait.

* To note, I'm getting Screen Caps from a different (less HD) source, but you can stream these for free (ATM) on The Roku Channel in solid video quality. *

The CEO makes a bold move to keep the company running- he'll make Mary his Babysitter.

We soon find out that he's an awful guy, as he beats his Wife AND has relations with Mary.

Mary proves to be too strict in certain regards, as she separates the kids (a son and daughter) and locks them in while the Parents are away.

When Mom tries to stop her, Mary chokes her before being stopped.

The Mom tries to make moves towards the Engineer for Mary (Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks).

He feels bad for her, especially when he learns about the violence towards her.

Meanwhile, Mary fills out the Nudity quota, showing off her butt in this Scene, after having her top off earlier.

Shanks feels bad for her and does some new programming on Mary.

Now she will take action against the Husband if he harms the kids...by way of hitting their Mom.
That's...logical.

He gets all choked up.

In the aftermath, Shanks finally can be with the no-longer-Wife and he's happy, until he finds out a secret!

The Wife is actually Valerie 24, given the face of the real lady after her Husband killed her.
I kind of want to see how he arranged that, but whatever!

She reveals that was all her plan, since the guy was going to replace her.  The End.

A solid Episode, even if it just a play on the previous 'Valerie 23' Episode.

In that one, a lady Android became obsessed with the guy and got deadly.  In this one, the lady robot was manipulated...by another one.

Incidentally, this is a Sequel Episode, but they changed the last name of the Husband from said Episode.  Whoopsie.

The Episode uses its Effects Budget wisely, giving you a couple good moments of practical effects and not using, what I recognized, as CGI.  See below for an example.

All in all, it is not amazing, but a solid Drama with some Sci-Fi flavor and a nice twist.  It is just also one of those Episodes that just kind of ends though.

Fittingly, this is my 2nd Sequel Episode I've covered on the Show.  This one doesn't have Ryan Reynolds, but it is quite good all in all.

Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits- 'The Origin of Species' (with Ryan Reynolds)

 The previous Episode had a Sequel a year later in 1998.

Let's get right to it...

I guess I kind of have to SPOIL the ending of the last one a bit.  Just read about/watch that Episode first...

*Pause*

So, the Professor and his Students...and his Son...and his Son's Girlfriend have found an ancient ship and are invited to enter it to meet our Makers.

The trip into orbit is rough and the Professor (Ron Rifkin) tries to interface with the ship afterwards.

It seems to hurt him and make him glow blue, so his son (Ryan Reynolds) tries to free him...and they both disappear.

There goes the future A-List Actor!
The remainder of his screen time here is limited to *sharing* a hologram role with Rifkin.
(The shot below is from The Outer Limits Wiki Page and I still can't screen cap this one proper, so no Ryan)

I kept waiting for a big return, but nope.

So now the Students (and Hope) are stuck on the ship.

They look for information, when the ship starts to morph (with some slightly dated '90s CGI).

It also starts to separate the group, pulling some into the Wall and not returning them!

They all end up being taken and are confused when they wake up with a mark on them.

Well, we only see Hope do this, but they had to squeeze lots of content into 44 minutes after all.

The Ship lands and they see....

Yeah, I don't want to SPOIL everything here.

Look- you can watch this for free (at time of Writing) on YouTube.

Stream it now already.

Well, it wasn't great in one regard- Ryan Reynolds has about 5 lines in the whole thing.  Most of them are when he's the shared hologram with Rifkin.

So, now it looks like I'm doing lazy clickbait.  Thanks for that, 26-year-old TV Show!

Joke aside, the Episode is quite good.
It makes a good use of a small, but creative Set.

Yes, this did come out a year (roughly) after Cube.  Did the Film inspire this?  Maybe.

There's more to the Episode than that of course, with some high-concept Sci-Fi and a not-so-subtle moralizing.

I'm still peeved about the lack of Reynolds here (especially how they try to explain it!), but it is not so bad that I have to lie down or anything.

A good Episode which raises many moral questions and doesn't truly answer any.  Should I go back to review Mr. Reynolds' earlier appearance next?

Forgotten TV: The Outer Limits- 'Double Helix' (with Ryan Reynolds)

 I still see no reason to hide the reason I'm covering this.

After all, the only picture from this Episode currently on its IMDB Page is of him.

This is not his first appearance on the '90s revival of 'The Outer Limits.'
This one just sounded more interesting and, as I learned later, it has a Sequel.

In Season 3's 'Double Helix,' a man (Ron Rifkin) is studying the Human Genome.

Since this is Science Fiction, they had it mapped by 1997.
It happened in 2003, so not far off.

He says that he has found a way to activate the hidden parts of our DNA.

To prove his case (and to give the Episode a big moment before the Opening Credits), he shows off a fish that he studied on.

Said fish now has legs and can walk (about 3 inches) onto land.

* A quick note on the Screen Caps.  The best source is not an option, so I got some from a SciFi Channel version and some from IMDB *

He has a contentious relationship with his son- Ryan Reynolds.

The kid (he's 19) wants to leave College to live life and thinks that his Dad worked too much.

The Scientist- it turns out- did the experiment on himself too, causing him to get weird growths on his body and his brain to grow.

He goes on to pick 8 Honor Students for a special Research Class.

He has a series of weird and highly specific requests for his Research Students.  He seems to want the most perfect and complete specimens.
That means a touch of Nudity (that was obviously cut for SciFi).

Among the group is.... Karen from Corner Gas?!?
Canada sure is a small Country!

The group ends up 2 people short (actually 3, but ignore that)...

...so he recruits his Son and his Girlfriend.  He doesn't tell them what they are doing, but they drive out deep into the Woods with him anyhow.

They just have the worst survival instincts.

To find out what all of the strange stuff relates to, stream it now on YouTube (it is the full Showtime Version).

A strong Episode altogether.

Is it most famous for Reynolds?  Yes.
Is there more to like about it?  Yes.

The Show builds up nicely with some good mysteries, a bit of light Body Horror, humor and an intriguing Plot.

There were lots more mysteries about the Genome back in 1997, so this one makes sense as a topic.

Does it cover some familiar ground?  Yes.
That doesn't make it bad per se.

As I said, the big draw is seeing Ryan Reynolds here, but there's actually a neat Story here that got a follow-up, which was rare for this Show.

For now, let's just enjoy the crazy Corner Gas-Reynolds connection that took 24 years to pay off.  Here's Karen on the live-action Show...

...and look who was on the final Episode of Corner Gas Animated.

He even gets his brain removed in this one too!

As a fan of the Show (only watching Sci-Fi Channel reruns, mind you), this was a neat look back.  Let's see how the Sequel Episode goes.