It’s the golden age of science fiction television. One of the biggest space-based franchises of all time, Star Trek, is still going strong, releasing what feels like two or three new shows every year. However, it faces competition from Alien: Earth, a show set in the same universe as Ridley Scott’s movies. Noah Hawley infuses his project with horror, following in the footsteps of big-screen entries, making the characters fear what they don’t understand. Of course, he’s far from the first person to try this tactic, as countless filmmakers have used the great unknown as a springboard for their wild stories.
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All the way back in 1963, ABC thought it was a good idea to get in on the sci-fi action by dropping The Outer Limits, a The Twilight Zone ripoff full of self-contained stories. The original series had plenty of notable entries, such as “Demon With a Head Glass” and “The Architects of Fear.” But it’s the reboot that really hit the nail on the head, running for seven seasons and never failing to keep its audience guessing. There’s one The Outer Limits episode, in particular, that still hits as hard today as it did a couple of decades ago, despite Hollywood trying to recreate its magic.
The Outer Limits Gives a Group of Characters an Impossible Task
Season 3, Episode 13 of The Outer Limits, “Dead Man’s Switch,” doesn’t start with much pomp and circumstance. Ben Conklin, a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, arrives at a bunker, where General James Eiger informs him that an alien force is heading toward Earth and that governments around the world are taking some precautions. Ben, as well as four other people around the world, must stay in their bunkers for a full year and command nuclear weapons. If they don’t hear from the surface by a certain point, they’re to activate the weapons and wipe out all of the aliens.
It all seems simple enough, and Ben and his international counterparts are having a grand old time at the start. They get to know each other and bond over shared interests. Unfortunately, the walls start to close in after a few accidents leave members of the coalition dead. Before he knows it, Ben is alone with the fate of the world in his hands. He starts to go mad, like anyone else would, but word from the general puts him at ease. A rescue team is on the way, and there’s no reason to launch the weapons. But what Ben doesn’t realize is that the aliens are controlling the general, having already taken control of the world. All hope is lost, and The Outer World doesn’t even wait around for Ben to find out.
The Premise of “Dead Man’s Switch” Is a Familiar One
Doomsday bunkers are far from a modern concept. They’ve been part of society for decades, so there are more than a few movies and TV shows that use them. One notable example is 10 Cloverfield Lane, starring John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. The whole movie centers on the idea that aliens are attacking Earth, but it’s hard to trust Goodman’s character because his story has some holes. 10 Cloverfield Lane barks up the same tree as “Dead Man’s Switch,” making the horrors inside just as terrifying as the ones on the outside.
Unfortunately, not every bunker-based project can hit its mark. 2025’s War of the Worlds parks Ice Cube’s Will Radford behind a desk at the Department of Homeland Security. While he isn’t underground, he has to watch the events of an alien invasion unfold on monitors and devise a way to stop it. But War of the Worlds doesn’t focus enough on what Radford is going through mentally. At one point, he loses his son, and it doesn’t dampen the mood all that much. War of the Worlds would’ve been a far better movie if it had taken a page out of The Outer Limits’ playbook.
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Promotional art for Star Wars: Empire at War with the LucasArts logo emblazoned over it.
