Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond

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Airing nine months before the similar The Twilight Zone, Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond was an American anthology television series broadcast on the ABC network from 1959 through 1961.

Contents 1 History 2 Topics 3 Appearing actors 4 Reruns 5 DVD 6 Trivia 7 Episodes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

Created by Merwin Gerard and produced by the prolific producer Collier Young, the program was hosted by John Newland, "your guide to the supernatural". Newland presented tales which explored paranormal events and various situations that defied logical explanation. Unlike other anthology programmers, this ABC network series episodes were presented in the form of straightforward thirty-minute docudramas, all said to be based on true events. Initially, the program included the corporate name of the sponsor Alcoa as its full title.

[edit] Topics

Among its varied tales, One Step Beyond dealt with premonition of death ("The Lincoln Assassination") and disaster ("Tidal Wave", "Night of April 14th"); astral projection ("The Long Call"); the existence of ghosts ("The Last Time"); and wildly improbable coincidence ("The Glider", "Death on the Mountain", etc.). In one episode dealing with the discovery of mind-altering drugs, circa 1960, Newland traveled to Mexico, where he met with a local doctor who was experimenting with LSD. The then-unknown drug was purportedly able to increase the user's psychic powers. On camera, the TV host ingested a dose and allowed his reactions to be filmed for broadcast.^[1]

[edit] Appearing actors

Many not-yet famous actors appeared in these production, including Elizabeth Montgomery, Charles Bronson, Warren Beatty, Christopher Lee, Robert Blake, and Pernell Roberts. A total of 96 episodes were filmed.^[2]

[edit] Reruns

Following its first run cancellation in 1961, the series continued to be shown throughout the United States in syndication until the early 1980s. It was then re-made by Gerard and Young, this time for first-run syndication in 1978, as The Next Step Beyond, once again hosted by Newland (who also directed most of the episodes). It ran for one season.

[edit] DVD

In 2005, a small DVD production company called PC Treasures, Inc. released four episodes on a single DVD. Recently another company (Mill Creek) has released 50 episodes in a four-DVD box set. Alpha Video has released a 15-volume series which appears to have 60 episodes.^[3] According to IMDb, "Through an oversight, Worldvision didn't renew the copyright on most episodes of "One Step Beyond" when they expired in the late 1980s and they thus fell into the public domain. Since royalties didn't have to be paid to Worldvision, the result was a revival of the series on UHF and cable television and on VHS and DVD. Since well-worn syndication prints were and are typically used by those media, the results sometimes leave something to be desired."^[4]

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

John Kenneth Muir's book An Analytical Guide to Television's One Step Beyond, 1959–1961 presents the history of this TV series including a synopsis and analysis of the episodes.^[5]

This series was parodied in a Benny Hill sketch, entitled "One Step Behind" (available on the Benny Hill: The Lost Years DVD). Hill provides a parody of the opening monologue, and the sketch deals with a television turned evil, which promptly kills everyone and is later revealed to be part of an army.

The annual Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention has included episodes of this series in some of its past public film showings in Aberdeen, Maryland.^{[citation needed]}

Rock instrumentalists The Ventures included a cover version of the show's main theme music on their highly acclaimed 1964 Dolton Records release The Ventures in Space. The song is titled "Fear" and was composed for the show by Harry Lubin.

The avant-garde metal band Fantômas' song of the same name from the album The Director's Cut was inspired by the show's opening theme.

[edit] Episodes

For full listing of the 96 episodes see One Step Beyond episodes.

A complete list of episodes, with links to cast lists and synopses, is available at TV.com. A list of available DVDs of episodes can be found at MortysTV.com.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• One Step Beyond at the Internet Movie Database
• An interview with John Newland, host of One Step Beyond
• Watch old episodes of One Step Beyond
• Watch One Step Beyond Intro YouTube
• Watch One Step Beyond at www.archive.org