Retro : Know Your ‘Limits’ : TNT OFFERS 9-HOUR MARATHON OF CLASSIC SCI-FI SERIES

There is nothing wrong with your set. We are controlling the transmission. We can control the vertical. We can control the horizontal. For the next hour we will control all that you see and hear and think. You are watching a drama that reach es from the inner mind . .. to “The Outer Limits.”

For nine hours on Saturday, TNT will be controlling all that you see and hear with “The Best of ‘The Outer Limits.’ ” The marathon is part of the cable network’s special “MonsterVision” festival this month. The next two Saturdays, “MonsterVision” will feature campy and classic science-fiction and horror flicks. Those bad boys of magic, Penn & Teller, are the hosts of the proceedings.

Created and produced by Leslie Stevens, “The Outer Limits” originally premiered Sept. 16, 1963, on ABC. Unlike CBS’ “The Twilight Zone,” the sci-fi anthology series failed to catch on with audiences despite critical acclaim. Only 49 episodes were produced and the show was history by Jan. 16, 1965. Through the years, “The Outer Limits” has a developed a cult following, thanks to syndication and video.

“The Outer Limits” just happens to be a favorite show of Lisa Mateas, senior vice president of program acquisitions for TNT. In the last two years, TNT has presented several marathons of “The Outer Limits” episodes.

“They’re great,” Mateas says.

She believes the series initially failed because it was too “intelligent and wonderful” for television.

“Like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, if you are killed off in your prime, the memories are so fabulous,” she says. “It’s not like every single episode is great. What makes a great series is when you can specifically pick out episodes because they are so darn good.”

And Mateas and the TNT staff have picked some good episodes for “The Outer Limits” marathon:

-- “The Zanti Misfits,” with Bruce Dern and Michael Tolan, in which an extraterrestrial race sends an insect-sized prison colony to a stretch of desert.

-- “Cold Hands, Warm Heart,” starring William Shatner, about an astronaut who returns from his first space flight only to discover the evil inhabitants of another planet have infected him with a dangerous mutation.

-- ‘The Man Who Never Was,” starring Martin Landau and Shirley Knight, about a mutant from Earth’s future who travels back in time to prevent the birth of a scientist destined to destroy mankind.

-- “The Architects of Fear,” starring Robert Culp--the most frequent guest star--as a scientist who undergoes radical surgery that transforms him into an alien creature designed to frighten Earth into peaceful existence. The creature was considered so shocking that several ABC affiliates chose to black out the scenes in which it appeared.

--”The Sixth Finger,” with David McCallum and Edward Mulhare, about an uneducated Welsh miner who becomes a guinea pig for a genetic scientist.

--”The Galaxy Being,” starring Cliff Robertson, in the very first “Outer Limits” episode, as curious scientist who establishes contact with a being from another galaxy.

--”Demon With a Glass Hand,” penned by Harlan Ellison and starring Robert Culp as a man from the future who tries to save Earth.

--”I, Robot,” with Leonard Nimoy, in a thriller about a mechanical man who is put on trial for the murder of his creator.

--”Nightmare,” with Martin Sheen and Ed Nelson, a horrifying look at extraterrestrial brainwashing.

Penn & Teller, Mateas says, will comment on each episode.

“They are so smart,” she says. “It is not that they only know the episodes, they get it. They know why it is great. It is going to be so refreshing. You may have seen this episode before, but you haven’t heard what they are going to say about it. They are going to hit on the one thing that is so great.”

“Monster V ision: The Best of ‘The Outer Lim i ts’ ” begins Saturday at 5 p.m. on TNT.