he SCI FI Channel takes over where Showtime left off, offering a seventh brand-new season of The Outer Limits with a 22-episode commitment. The award-winning anthology series looks at home on SCI FI, and wastes no time getting back into the swing of things as it explores the fragile balance between man and technology.
The premiere episode, "Family Values," features a workaholic husband and father named Jerry Miller (Arnold), who can't seem to find time for his family. While trying to appease his unhappy wife, Brooke (Stewart), and his unruly kids, Jerry decides to try out a robot home servant called the Gideon 4000. With a 30-day free trial, what does he have to lose?
When his Gideon 4000 (Gerard Plunket) arrives, it seems like the perfect home appliance. It can mow the lawn, cook wonderful meals and be at home to help when Jerry can't. At first his wife and kids are not so convinced that having Gideon around is a good thing. However, as they spend time with the robot, the question becomes--now that they have Gideon, do they really need Jerry anymore?
In the second episode, "Patient Zero," a soldier named Beckett (Rooker) is sent back in time to prevent a terrible plague from nearly wiping out the human race. His mission is to kill the doctor who appears to have accidentally started the plague by coming into contact with two other people. Beckett succeeds in his mission, but when he returns to his time he discovers that nothing has changed.
He is sent back again, this time to find Patient Zero, a young widow named Amy Barrett (Allen). Amy is believed to be one of the other people the doctor needed to come into contact with to start the plague. However, when Beckett is injured, Amy comes to his aid, and he realizes she does not deserve to die. Beckett decides he must find a way to save her--but will her life come at the cost of the rest of the human race?
Shifting networks, constant quality
The Outer Limits has never ventured far from the spirit of the original 1963 version, and there are no noticeable changes with the move to the SCI FI Channel. While the first two episodes are not the strongest the series has produced, they offer a nice, comfortable transition to The Outer Limits' new home, with the same consistently wonderful production values.
The season premiere, "Family Values," starts out weakly in what appears as a take-off of the film Bicentennial Man. A busy father brings home a robot to help out. The episode does manage to redeem itself at the end as it takes an Outer Limits-style turn.
"Patient Zero" is a stronger episode that deals with the classic time travel question, "If someone from the future could go back in time and kill a key person in the past, could they change the future for the better?" It's not a surprise that things don't happen quite the way they are supposed to. However, the acting is particularly affecting by both Rooker as Beckett, the soldier turned assassin, and Allen as Amy, the young widow who seems destined to carry a plague that will kill millions.
