WACT regular Wayne Carter (Hollywoodaholic) was kind enough to share these Xeroxes (all that remain) of his Outer Limits magazine from the late 60s:
This was around 1967-68 when I was in Junior High School and probably around 14. I actually cut the loglines out of TV Guide magazine and taped them in a couple of pages, but by the time I had made this Xerox, many of them had dried up and fallen out. Still, it's interesting to see the original one line logline for some of the episodes. In the essay, it's funny how I note, "Most of the episodes were sad." You had to be a melancholy kid to really enjoy this show. I also love that old typewriter font from the Smith Corona. Wish MS Word had it. Anyway, here they are, for what they're worth.
Fantastic, Wayne! There were so many of us kids out there who were uncommonly moved by this unique show. Moved to create fan publications dedicated to propagating its memory and analyzing its excellence.
ReplyDeleteFanzines at the time were most often focused on the comic book scene. STAR TREK probably was the first TV sf series with a vocal following in the fan press. But I wonder how many home-brew 'zines were inspired by TOL first.
Thanks for sharing your early zeal for the show with us. Some very nice work, serious thought and cogent expression. It's remarkable what we find still in our files, isn't it?! Living, communicating pieces of our heart's youthful whispers, not so interred as we were led to believe.
Thanks, Ted. It's a bit embarrassing but, hey, it's somewhat gratifying 42 years later to have this finally find a sympathetic audience here. I think the idea of sharing this in the tribal and traumatic 8th grade at 14 and possibly being mocked mercilessly through junior high and high school beyond must have terrified me. But I had one great buddy then who shared my enthusiasm for the show, and this was put together after we had recently screened the show during a syndication run. So, if you're out there, David Reinke, this one's for you. Thanks again to J & P.
ReplyDeleteSimply splendiferous, and unique -- finally, the blog attracts something I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE. A whole hitherto-unsuspected OUTER LIMITS 'zine! Pure, unadulterated teen exuberance ported to the printed page. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey---thanks for the shot of Evil Wilhelm, whom I've been curious to see identified since you first revealed his existence!
ReplyDeleteOops, I overshot the UCLA show comments and landed here---but you get the message, DJS!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Wayne, for soiling your dignified comment thread with my silliness.
Wayne--
ReplyDeleteThanks for diggin this out and posting it; possibly OL's very first "Fanzine". Your article certainly reveals a sensitive and perceptive 14-year old mind at work.
And now your own son is 14, and you have recently related to your fellow bloggers something of HIS reaction to the same series that sent you over the edge when you were his age. Thus, the generational-continuum aspect of your story becomes more fascinating.
But maybe you shouldn't show him any of S2 (other than "Demon"). We wouldn't want to lose him as a possible future OL-fan.
LR
Thanks Wayne (easier to type than Hollywoodaholic!). Were those your sketches too? You definately had an artistic eye. Interesting, what you said about having to be "melancholy kid" to fully appreciate OL. I think that was true, although OL always lifted me up anyway. I remember a typewriter my dad had (I'll have to ask him what brand it was), that must've weighed 30 lbs. or more! I remember being excited just that it could type in red and black. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteWOW! So enthusiastic, appreciative, understanding -- from a 14 year old boy? Amazing! It's sad that there wasn't an easier way to reach out in those days to find kinds of like mind -- my sister and I formed the only TOL fan club that we knew of! (My other sister was a Zanti fan but that's about as far as she went.)
ReplyDeleteYou clearly cared so much and how wonderful that what you loved then STILL deserves the love, eh? I also understand the melancholy aspect and it's very perceptive...certainly part of my psyche but also able to be breached by the thrill of contemplating amazing things like TOL.
How terrific that you had these and shared them! xoxoxo
My art, but in most instances inspired from other sources (bubble gum cards, Famous Monsters cover), except for the last page of drawing free. My mother was a painter and my sister is still an unbelievable artist, so there was not way to compete. Might as well become a writer. And learn how to spell.
ReplyDeleteThanks again DJS, Ted, Larry R. and Jim for the kind comments. My inner 14 year-old feels somehow vindicated. My 'outer' 14 year-old still prefers "Left 4 Dead" on Xbox, but I'll try to lasso him for "Demon."
Hollywood-
ReplyDeleteJust found the time today to check out this spotlight. Wow! Are you sure you were only 14? Your magazine looks like it was more put together then most of the ones you see on newsstands today.
"Most of the endings were sad." Ah, the melancholy outlook of an early teenager. I remember it well.
Just nosed around on your blog. Good call with the Oscar picks! I might have to put some money down in Vegas for next year if you're always that spot on with your award predictions.
Thanks for providing these pages for OL.
UTW - 14 or 15. I had my first stories published in the fan pages of Creepy and Eerie magazines around the same time. At some point, when I actually SOLD a story and got 40 cents per word, I suddenly realized, "Wow, that's a lot of work for $150," and I switched to mercenary scriptwriting.
ReplyDeleteBut with dumb moves like dropping out of the go-film with Cameron attached to direct in 1983-4 (Hey, who knew?) ... for artistic reasons, those mercenary instincts got derailed by other factors. Ten unproduced studio features later, and the ego was sufficiently humbled and a new path chosen (wisely).
But those Oscar contest winnings paid off my home PMI insurance early on and knocked 10 years off my mortgage, so this 'recovering' Hollywoodaholic enjoyed some karmic return from those adventures.
Very cool, Wayne, thanks for sharing this. Nice observation on melancholia as a prerequisite for Outer Limits love, too. Among its other delights, the series showed us that an affinity for the dark and moody weren't necessarily things we had to outgrow -- no small thing to a kid surrounded by skeptical adults who'd have preferred us to be grooving on Flipper.
ReplyDeleteLisa - I think we were simultaneously commenting, so I didn't thank you in that post. It's true back in junior high, that shy ... melancholy kids had no real way of knowing what other kids were into, or they might've blossomed earlier or formed wider friendships. I wish you had been in my junior high (you probably would've showed up at my school fundraiser where I screened "The Raven" with Karloff and Price). Nobody else did.
ReplyDeleteCourse, I remember going back to my 10 year high school reunion and realizng most of the high profile popular kids had already peaked back in the day, and I was just starting to hit my stride. A very fun night that put a happy ending on every moment of unresolved high school angst.
And thanks also, Mark. Yeah, I wonder about my poor parents with their kid grooving on Edgar Allan Poe and The Outer Limits wondering how such a happy childhood could produce an interest in those melancholy things. But isn't it sometimes BECAUSE we had such a safe and secure place to grow up that we became so interested in the UNSAFE in our entertainment? That's my two-cent theory and I'm sticking to it.