One Step Beyond

In 1978 the series was revived with John Newland returning as host and directing most of the episodes. The new series was titled The Next Step Beyond. It aired for one year with 25 episodes, 14 of which were remakes of One Step Beyond episodes.

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Worldvision failed to renew the copyrights on most episodes of the series, which ended in the late 1980s, through an oversight, and they therefore fell into the public domain. Because no royalties had to be paid to Worldvision, the result was a revival of the series on UHF and cable television and on VHS and DVD. Since outdated syndication prints were typically and often still are used by these media, the results generally leave something to be desired in terms of quality. Despite the public domain status of most episodes, the remaining copyrights to the series belong to its distributor, CBS Television Distribution. CTD is the successor to the series' previous distributors, including Worldvision Enterprises, the successor to ABC Films, and Paramount Domestic Television, CTD's predecessor.

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The last 13 episodes of the third season were shot at MGM Studios in Borehamwood, England, on Newland's suggestion. According to Newland, "I thought it would give the show a bit of momentum because Great Britain offered good actors, good situations and good settings. We asked (sponsor) Alcoa for permission and they approved it."

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After its first cancellation in 1961, the series continued to be shown in off-network syndication in the United States until the early 1980s.

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The program's original broadcast title included sponsor Alcoa's corporate name ("Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond"). In syndication the program's title became simply "One Step Beyond."

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For its rebroadcast on television for the Sci-Fi Channel in the 1990s, the opening and closing titles were given new theme music and graphics designed for that period, as if the series had continued in the 1990s. These episodes were also edited down from 25 minutes to 22 minutes in length.

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Harry Lubin composed the series' music, with a soundtrack album titled 'Music from One Step Beyond' released by Decca Records (DL 8970) in 1960. The series' best-known pieces were "Weird" (originally composed by Lubin in April 1955 as "Feeling No Pain" for the music of an episode of The Loretta Young Show), usually played while the episode's supernatural aspect is discussed, and "Fear," which became the series' theme. The Ventures included a cover version of the series' main theme "Fear" on their acclaimed 1964 Dolton Records album The Ventures in Space. A variation of "Fear" was used for the end titles of the second season of The Outer Limits. A heavy metal cover of the title song was recorded by the band Fantômas for their 2001 album The Director's Cut.

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The Next Step Beyond was not a continuation of this series but a remake.

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ONE STEP BEYOND was inspired by the novel THE WORLD GRABBERS by the prolific author Paul W. Fairman (1909-1977), who produced many fiction books under his own name and numerous pseudonyms. His short stories were published in the 1940s, after which he became a magazine editor in the 1950s. Fairman began his career as a novelist in the late 1950s.

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