The Outer Limits (1995–2002): Season 3, Episode 3 - Re-Generation - full transcript

Four year old male,
contusion, posterior skull,

He fell down the stairs,
unconscious when we arrived,

Hustle, get him
to Ward Three, stat!

Everything's gonna
be all right, Justin,

Sorry, sir, you have
to wait outside,

I don't want to wait
outside, that's my son,

You can't help us in there,

We'll do everything we can,

Let's go,

Excuse me,
can you help me?
My son Justin...

Paging Dr, White, Dr, White,



Graham,

Graham!

Where's Justin? Is he
all right? Can I see him?

Rebecca,

I'm sorry,

No,

Dr, Palmer, please report
to the emergency desk,

God, Justin,

Flatline
on all monitors,

Thank you for coming by, Father,

There he is!

Can you make
a statement?

Mr, Highfield,
will this affect
your run for office?

How do you
answer the charges you're
trying to buy the election?



Can you give
us a statement, sir?

I don't think the press
needs a statement
today, Graham,

You're absolutely right,

Keep back,

What were you
going to tell them?

I was going to
tell them to go away,

Yes,

It's a PR dream,

Go for the sympathy vote,

Rebecca, that's cruel,

You know, I would never
use our tragedy
for political gain,

You must know that,
I don't know that,

I don't know anything anymore,

We're gonna be alone
forever now, aren't we?

No,

We don't have to be,

That's what I've been
trying to tell you,

I don't know if I can
go through that again,

It took us so long to get
pregnant the first time,

Rebecca,
come with me to the lab,

I want to show you something,

Please, Graham, can't this wait?

Honestly, Rebecca,

no,

Rebecca, this is Dr, Lucy Cole,

Hello, Mrs, Highfield,

I'm so very sorry, Thank you,

This must seem like
an inexcusable intrusion,

but your husband thought
it was very important,

Is it ready?

Yes, sir, It's right over here,

Take a look,

What is it?
It's called a blastocyst,
Mrs, Highfield,

It's the first few cells
of a human embryo,

they're used for making clones,

After insemination,
the resulting embryo

regrows into an identical copy
of the original organism,

Well, I still
don't understand
what I'm doing here,

Thank you,

Yes, sir, Excuse me,

Rebecca, please understand,
I did what I did out of love,

After Justin died,
I asked Dr, Cole

to harvest cells
from his brain
and his spinal cord

to begin the procedure,

That's our son, Bec,

It's Justin,

That's not possible,

There is nothing wrong with
your television,

Do not attempt
to adjust the picture,

We are now controlling
the transmission,

We control the horizontal
and the vertical,

We can deluge you
with a thousand channels

or expand one single image
to crystal clarity

and beyond,

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination
can conceive,

For the next hour,

we will control all that
you see and hear,

You are about to experience
the awe and mystery

which reaches from
the deepest inner mind

to The Outer Limits,

Humans appear
to be the only animals

aware of their own mortality,

When death comes,

we console ourselves
with its inevitability,

But when
the unthinkable happens,

and a child dies
before a parent,

the natural order
is turned upside down

as are the lives left behind.

My God, Graham,
we just buried
our son this morning,

I can't talk about this
right now, I need more time,

Rebecca, please,

We don't have more time,

I wish we did,
but you heard what
Dr, Cole said,

These cells will
only be viable for
another 48 hours,

If we're gonna do
the implantation,
we have to do it now,

You expect me to make
a decision like this
in two days?

I realize it's hard
to absorb all at once,

especially with how
devastated you are,

Apparently more
devastated than you,

That's not fair,

You think I don't get nightmares

of Justin falling
over and over again?

I know,

Rebecca, please,

Dr, Cole has taken
a handful of nerve cells

and turned them
into a living embryo,

That's never been done before,

Do you realize how lucky we are?

Lucky?

How can you say that?
Our son is dead,

Rebecca, everything
Justin was, is in those cells,

We can make him live again,

You make it sound
as if our goldfish died,

And all we've to do is,
just go to the pet store
and get a replacement for it,

and then everything's
gonna be the same,

I know it can never be the same,

but maybe we've
been given a chance

to make things even better
than they were before,

Hi, Mom,

Rebecca,

I guess I don't have to ask
how you're doing,

Maybe this will help
lift your spirits,

It's from Dr, Cole,

It's something you need to see,

I'm not ready
to make any
kind of decision,

Rebecca,

Dr, Cole has
created a genetic
development simulation,

a computer model
that can predict

how our
cloned embryos
will develop,

I really don't
want to see this,

Look, Rebecca,

Look,

That's Justin,

Just like the day he was born,

My God,

It really is Justin,

The simulation
can extrapolate how
the new child will look

as it grows and ages, Watch,

That's Justin at 20,

He's 20?

Already an inch
taller than his dad,

He'll have such a long life
ahead of him, Rebecca,

Doesn't he deserve that?

Stable,
all signs are normal,

Okay, now, Mrs, Highfield,

you're going to feel
a little bit of pressure,

but no pain,
I can promise you that,

All right, take a deep breath,

Here we go,

That's it, easy,

Easy,

Easy, good,

That's good,

Okay now, Mrs, Highfield,
nice deep breaths,

Honey,
I've got to get going,

You don't keep
the governor waiting,

The governor?

Don't you remember?
I got a call last night,

He wants to see me this morning,

maybe to endorse
my candidacy
for the Senate,

Of course,

That's wonderful,

All these years
of blood and sweat,

building a company,
making it a success,

it was all about this moment,

It's all within reach, Bec,

It's finally within reach,

I am so proud of you,

You know that, don't you?

Maybe you should come with me,

You and me and the governor,

it would make
a great photo op,

Our first new family photo,

You and me, and Justin,

I told you to stop that,

It's sick,

This baby deserves its own name,

Of course,

We'll choose
a name for him tonight,

Okay?

Graham, wait,

What is it?

I think this baby deserves

to know who he really is
and who he was,

I don't think that's
such a good idea,

Why not?

This baby is
going to look
exactly like Justin,

and we're in the public eye,

and people are going
to say things to him,

It's okay,
it's a family resemblance,

There are a lot of pictures
of Justin in that house,

and this baby's going to
see them and he's
gonna know that something's...

Rebecca, Rebecca,
listen to me, sweetheart,

No one will ever replace Justin,

He'll always be
special in our hearts,

And our new boy,
even though he looks
like Justin,

he's going to be his own man,

and loving him doesn't
mean we're dishonoring
Justin's memory,

I promise you,

Do you think you can
stop worrying?

I'm gonna try, Good, good,

I'll see you soon, okay?

Hi, Mommy,
How's
my little man?

You're gonna be
a good little boy?

Yes, Mommy,

My good little boy,

How's my little man?
Good little boy?

Be a good boy for Daddy,

My God,

Be a good little boy,
I love you, sweetie,

It's going to be okay,

It's gonna be okay,
We're going to be okay,

You're a very lucky woman,
Mrs, Highfield,

There aren't many men
like your husband,

He personally funded
an entire wing
at Mercy Hospital,

and then refused to
have his name put on it,

I don't think I've ever met
a more giving man,

Is there something,
you're avoiding
telling me?

No, not at all,

Your blood pressure's fine,
just like rest of your
vital signs,

Then what is happening to me?

You're pregnant,

I know that,

Your body is
going through
tremendous changes,

Your hormone balance
is fluctuating
practically every day,

There is nothing
physically wrong
with you,

You had a few dizzy spells
and that was all,

No, this is not a dizzy spell,

This is more like a,

a wave of emotion,

I was in Justin's room,

and I was remembering
the last time I saw him,

He was playing
with his toys and,

and then suddenly
everything switched,

and for a moment, it was
as if I was seeing things,

but through someone else's eyes,

They were Justin's eyes,

It was as if
he was remembering it,

Mrs, Highfield,
you lost a child,

I think this is probably
nothing more than
a very vivid daydream,

a manifestation of your wish
that Justin was still alive,

You know, I think you should
consider talking to someone,

a therapist or
a grief counselor,

No, no, no this is
not about grief,

This was as if I was getting
flashes from someone else,

and the more I think
about this and the more
I talk about it,

I know that it wasn't
coming from me,

I think it was coming
from the baby,

That's not possible,

Well, not long ago,
you would have said

turning nerve cells
into an embryo was impossible,

Apart from the way that we
obtained the embryo,

you went through
an absolutely routine
artificial insemination,

The procedure's performed
thousands of times every year,

It does not give you
memories or experiences,

All it gives you is a baby,

I think you should try
to accept the possibility

that what you felt was
simply in your mind,

You're busy today,

Sweetie, please,

I know that you're
eager to get out,

but we've got
a couple of months yet,

Honey, please, please,

Just take it easy, okay?

For Mommy's sake?

Thank you,

You're a good listener,

Hear that heartbeat?

It's good and strong,

He's doing just fine,

I'm sure there is nothing
for you to worry about,

Just bear with me, okay, Lucy?

Can you see him yet?

Yes, I can see him, in fact,
that's a pretty good
picture of him,

Everything looks normal,

There's his head and his arms,

His legs,

He doesn't appear
to be awake right now,

He will be,

Now watch this,

Justin?

Justin?

Wake up, sweetheart,

Wake up,

He's moving his shoulder,

Yes,

There appears
to be some movement,

How did you know
he was going to wake?

I told him to,

Mrs, Highfield, at this
stage of development,

all babies are
constantly waking up,

they're constantly
moving around
and falling back to sleep

for all sorts of reasons,

Just say hello
to the nice lady, Justin,

You tell me, Lucy,

do all unborn babies wave hello?

This might explain
what's going on,

This is your umbilical cord,

It's usually a very
simple structure,
two arteries and a vein

bound together
by some connective tissue,

What do you mean
by "usually?"

Well, in this case,
it isn't quite as simple,

Now, these two strands here,

those are the arteries,

This one coming up in blue,

that's the vein,

But you said that there were
only three blood vessels,

that looks like a fourth,

That's not a blood vessel,

It's a bundle of nerve fibers,

And it's not
supposed to be there,

You see, I think,
that's how you're managing
to communicate with the fetus,

So you believe me?

Yeah,

Look, the EEG Confirmed it,

Every time you said
the two of you

were communicating,
the graph clearly shows

two sets of brain waves,

At least I know
I'm not going crazy,

Yeah, well, maybe I am,

As far as I can see,
there can only be one
logical explanation,

I took brain and
spinal cord cells from Justin
to create the embryo,

Now, unlike other cells,

nerve cells,
they don't regenerate,

They're like a blank slate,

which is why I can insert
instruction into their DNA,

to revert them back
to their embryonic state,

But Justin's cells,
they weren't clean slates,
were they?

Apparently not,

Justin's old cells
must have retained

some kind of a blueprint
as to where they came from,

Justin's mind and his memories

are slowly being
reconstructed piece by piece,

You see, this baby
is not just a clone,

In more ways than we imagined,
this baby really is Justin,

Justin?

Rebecca,
sweetheart?

Honey?

Honey,

I'm sorry, honey,
I didn't hear you,

I was so wrapped up in this,

Rearranging the furniture?
Yes,

Well, you know,
Justin, he always liked
to be by the window,

so he can see the stars,
and he couldn't do
that over there,

You just called him Justin,

Yes, I did,

Are you all right?

Yeah,

It's just,

our little guy
is kicking a lot tonight,

So, how did everything
go with the governor?

I was right,

He wants to endorse me,

I never doubted it,

He says he's impressed
with what I've accomplished
in the community,

and how I built
Highfield Industries
up from nothing,

how I have the perfect,
beautiful wife,

Who's as fat
as a cow right now,

And how being pregnant
is a good, wholesome image,

Yes and the fact that we
lost a child six months ago,

that should help with
the sympathy vote,

Honey, please,

You, I and our son
are going to Washington,

It's everything
we ever dreamed of,

It's everything
you ever dreamed of,

I'm gonna shower
and jump into bed,

Going to join me?

Yeah, I'll be there in a minute,

Daddy, look,

Daddy, look,

Dad!

Justin,

Mommy!

Justin, it's okay,

It's okay, baby,

Mommy's here,

Rebecca?

Rebecca, what are you doing?

I couldn't sleep,

I mean, Justin couldn't sleep,

I thought he might enjoy
playing with some of his toys,

Bec, are you all right?

Listen, Graham,
I've been getting

these thoughts in my head,

They're coming from the baby,

They're Justin's thoughts,

This baby is Justin,

I think we should see
Dr, Cole in the morning,

No, I saw Lucy today,

She did a bunch
of tests to confirm it,

She says that Justin's mind

is actually rebuilding itself,

and there's an
extra nerve strand,

It's connected
to my umbilical cord

and it lets us communicate,

You're serious?

Sometimes there are
so many thoughts,
with such intensity,

it's like a physical force,

This is incredible, Rebecca,

You could teach him
things while he's
still in the womb,

Yes,

Will you tell him
something for me?

Tell him his
father says, "Hello,"

He loves him
and he's proud of him,

I will,

What is it, Rebecca?

Mommy, Mommy!

I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

What's wrong?

Rebecca?

Dad!

Mommy!

Rebecca,

My God, Rebecca,
can you hear me?

Rebecca?

I can't
understand it,

I mean, all of her
vital signs are fine,

I'm right here, sweetheart,

It's all right,
You're going to be all right,

Where am I?
In the hospital,

You were unconscious
for about six hours,

You had some kind of seizure,

you just suddenly collapsed,

There's a small tear
in your placenta, but...

The baby's fine,

Yes, he is,

and as far as we can tell,
so are you,

We ran some neurological tests,

Everything came up clean,

There doesn't appear
to be anything
physically wrong with you,

Can you remember what happened?

I was, um,
I was in the attic, and I was,

I was playing
with Justin's toys,

and then Graham came up,
and we started talking,

and then suddenly
he started lashing out,

Do have any idea why?

I don't know, maybe he was mad
because we stopped playing,

Are you saying he had a fit?

I suppose I am,

Mrs, Highfield,
I'm going to keep you

under observation
for a little while longer,

Now if everything
looks good, you can
go home tomorrow,

but after that it's minimal
activity and lots bed-rest
until delivery,

As of right now,
this pregnancy is
officially high risk,

That's three months in bed,

Well, I'm afraid that any
other alternative would be
just too dangerous,

I'm sorry, honey,
there goes your photo ops,

To hell with the photo ops,
It's what's best for the baby,

Now the next order of business,

is to help you get
your strength back,

You hungry?
Yes, now that
you mention it,

Well, I am starved,

You're in luck,

Unless you want the food,

I'll get you something
from the cafeteria,

Thanks, honey,
Actually, I,

I should be going as well,

I will definitely
check in on you later,

Lucy,

could you just stay
for just a minute, please?

Sure,

I'll be right back,

Lucy, Justin
didn't have a tantrum,

I was telling him
how much his father

was looking
forward to seeing him,

and I got this sharp pain,

It was as if he was
trying to get away,

I see,

Are you sure, you're not
just projecting your feelings?

I mean, why didn't you
tell me about this before?

Because I didn't want
to hurt Graham's feelings,

I don't know, it seems
every time I try

to tell Justin about Graham,
he gets really upset,

Mrs, Highfield,
I'm sure you know Graham
a lot better than I do,

but I've seen him
with other children,

and I cannot imagine
a more caring father,
It's not that,

Graham always
expected so much from him,

He drove him sometimes
a little too hard
to be the best in everything,

I have to let him know how
much his father loves him,

You must be tired
after your journey,

Perhaps we can get you a brandy,

I'm sorry, there's nothing
like that left in the house,

My apologies,

You know what, sweetie?
We had enough of this
in the hospital,

I'm going for a walk,

It's okay, sweetie,

What's the matter?
You always liked...

Being in your Daddy's study,

There's nothing to be afraid of,

I'm going to show you,

You see?

You remember this, honey?

This is Daddy's desk,

and over here is the fireplace,

Remember, this is where
we used to warm you up,

It's okay, sweetheart,

It's okay, It's okay,

Justin!
Look, Daddy,

It won't turn off, Daddy,

When will you learn to do
what you're told?

When will you learn to do
what you're told?

Daddy, look!

Justin,

Look, Daddy, look,
Justin, please,

Look, Daddy, look,

When the hell are you gonna
learn to do what you're told?

Mommy!

Sweetie, My baby,

It's all right,

He will never go near you again,

He will never go near you again,

No,

No,

Rebecca?
Sweetheart?

Honey, how was...

What are you doing?
I'm leaving,

What's wrong?
Do you need to go
to the hospital?

Let me help you,
I know what happened,

Justin showed me,

It was your fault,

But if Justin showed you,

then you know
it was an accident,

Our son is dead,

Our son is alive, inside of you,

No, I'm leaving,

Rebecca,

Rebecca, no,

Calm down so we
can discuss this,

We have nothing to discuss,

All I want is a second chance

to be a good father
to our child,

You don't get a second chance,

Let go of me,

Dad!

Rebecca, please stop,

Rebecca!

Dad!

Rebecca,

Please don't destroy our lives,

everything we've worked for,

Are you gonna let me go or not?

You want to go?

Go, Rebecca,

You're going to
push me down the stairs,

I've had dizzy spells,

You're going to make this
look like an accident,

No!

Rebecca, you're not
making any sense,

No!

Rebecca,

Rebecca,

Here, Mommy,

No,

There are no bullets,

Under here, Mommy,

Under here, Mommy,

Honey, I can't hide underneath,

I need this to open,

No, I need the key,

Here, Mommy,

Yes, sweetheart, thank you,

Try to show me where it is,

No,

Rebecca,

Rebecca, please
stop this nonsense,

Rebecca,

You have no reason
to be afraid of me,

Rebecca,

I would never hurt you,

Stay where you are,

And I would never
hurt our child,

Don't come
any closer,
You must know that,

I have paid such a price

for that one moment
of anger and frustration,

Stay where you are,

I'll be living with
that nightmare for
the rest of my life,

Daddy,

I didn't mean it!
Mommy!

Rebecca, put down the gun,

Dad!

Paging Dr, Sademan,

Please thank
Dr, Spencer for me,
Sure,

I was a little bit worried
about the fever,

No problem,

So the doctor just thinks
it's a slight cold,

Otherwise he's
in perfect health,

Thank you,
I'll see you at
our next check-up,

Sure,

Bye now,

Graham,
quiet, please,

Shh, it's okay,

It's okay, Graham,
it's all right,

They've gone away,

Shh, that's it,

The will to live
is part of our biology,

It exists in every cell,
in our very DNA,

Of course, sheer will
can't keep us alive forever,

But sometimes, it can give us
a second chance.