The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 21 - The Children of Spider County - full transcript

LBJ's CIA seizes young supermen, except Ethan who's facing trumped-up murder charges, back in the children's Maryland home county. Ethan's the only one who wasn't hounded out of Spider County by suspicious locals. The spooks believe the boys had the same super-father, though each was born to a different mother. Ethan's plotting escape from the clutches of beady-eyed Sheriff Simon Stakefield anyway - to avoid an old-fashioned down-home lynching.

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You are about to participate
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the awe and mystery



which reaches from
the inner mind to...

In the light
of today's growing anxieties,

it has become
more absolute

that the wealth
of the nation

consists in the number
of superior men

that it harbors.

It is, therefore,
a matter of deep concern

and deeper consequence

when 4 of the most
magnificent and promising

young minds in the country

suddenly disappear
off the face of the earth.

Hansley,
mathematician

for the burn
rocket corporation.

Wheatly, chief
engineer's assistant



of the Advasine
Project.

Bassett,
psychiatric division,

the hale Neo-kinetics
institute.

Robertson, space agency
cosmobiologist.

All have vanished
in the same day,

and without a trace.

They could have
been kidnapped

for the obvious reasons
and by obvious parties.

Well, this was the
federal investigator's

first speculation,
of course.

But their
investigations

uncovered
a curious pattern

in the background

of these widely
separated men.

That is why
my department

was brought into it.

There is no reason
or desire

to keep the space
agency out of it.

Not on our part.

But as I
personally see it,

these speculations
regarding abduction

by representatives
of an alien planet

are just that...
Speculations.

We do not speculate
promiscuously.

Well, we're here
to do something

about those 4 young men.

We'll do anything,
if we must,

but please explain
this curious pattern.

All 4 of these men,

considered intellectually
and physically superior

in aptitude, performance,
and delivery,

were born
at the same place.

Same state?

In the same county.
Spider county.

And in the same year,

and within
the same month.

Their birth records
are there,

and indicate
a curious phenomenon.

Each child was born

at least
2 months premature.

Immediately
after birth,

their fathers
disappeared

and were never
heard from again.

And each child,
although unrelated...

At least,
on the maternal side...

Had been given
the same middle name:

Eros.

The Greek word for love.

And it is also the name
of an obscure planet

in the galaxy Krell.

Now, the records of their
school years are curious, also.

Incidents being found in
the newspapers of that time.

Appears that they
were the object

of considerable
superstitious nonsense,

apparently because of their
inherent superiority

over the other children
in the area.

They eventually
left the community,

went different ways,

and gradually achieved
prominence in different fields

at a very early age.

Now, their mothers
are unwilling to admit

or even to discuss
the possibility

that these 5 men are con...

5? I thought you said
there were 4.

No, there are 5.

We've just learned that
the fifth man...

Ethan Wexler... did not
leave spider county,

nor did he
disappear last week

when the 4 others did.

Now, we believe that
he is our single possible key

to this mystery.

You know his whereabouts?

Yes.

I think we better have him
brought in for questioning.

He can't be taken out
of spider county,

at least not by us.

He's being held
on a murder charge.

Then we'll have to send
someone up to spider county.

The space agency
is aware that this case

appears to fall
into a federal

or military category,
sir.

But in view of our
findings and suspicions,

Chief Wilkerson strongly
urges you to allow me

to go up there first.

And before
it's too late.

If it isn't
already too late.

Aah!

Wake up.

Aah!

Wake up, boy. Come on,

let's answer some more
of those questions.

You can sleep all you
want to later on.

You've been
at him over and over, Sheriff,

most of the night.

Care for something
to eat, Ethan?

You got a reputation
for eating

like a whole truckload
of farmhands, way I hear it.

I have many reputations.

No, thank you, I will not
eat in this place.

Starts the third day of his not
eating in this place, Sheriff.

Suppose you and I

and a half a dozen deputies
could take him...

Mr. Greenberg, I appreciate
your consideration

for your client.

But if he'll
confess now

and tell us what he did
with Jonathan's body...

I did not kill
Jonathan Simpson.

You were found sleeping
in Jonathan's barn.

Jonathan's wife saw him
go into that barn,

and he never
came out again.

And you hated him...

I didn't hate him!

I only wanted him
to apologize

for the indecent
remarks he made

at the harvest dance

in front of the girl I...
Anna bishop.

I work on her
father's farm.

No one who was
present at that dance

heard those remarks.

But Jonathan did admit
that he thought them,

thought them!

Are you
implying that Ethan

can read people's minds

as well as make their
corpses disappear

into thin air?

Ethan has been performing
all sorts of witch-boy tricks

ever since he was a child.

He and the rest of those
fatherless geniuses.

If spider county
is foolish enough

to bring Ethan to trial,

it'll be for the suspected
murder of a missing corpse.

I did not commit
any murder.

And no one
in spider county

really believes
I did.

I am gonna be tried
for reading minds

and for walking on
moonlit meadows

and for being a thing
that goes bump in the night.

Good-bye, Anna.

Let's go.

Are you all right?

I think so.

Hurry.

You must leave before
someone comes by.

Now come. Follow me.

Are you looking
for Ethan?

Yes. Is he still here?

Are you the man who phoned up
about him last night?

No.

Oh. A man phoned up.

Wanted to know
where they had him.

Said he was his father.

Are you certain the man said
he was Ethan's father?

That's what he said.

I've got to rest.

The deputy...

He wasn't
in the car.

You cannot afford
to rest too long.

Why are you helping me?!

You aren't guilty
of murder.

Fear, suspicion,
ignorance

will sentence you
to die, not facts.

We must go.

How do you know
I'm not guilty?

I know,
because I know you.

I don't know you.

But I feel as if I do.

And is that not a warm feeling
to meet a stranger

and feel as if you knew him?

Shall we go?

Where?

Where superstition and fear
can never reach you again.

There is no such place
on earth.

Please. We must
get away from here.

They'll
track you down...

With dogs
and desperation.

They'll destroy you.

Won't you let me
save you?

I appreciate your help,
and I want to thank you,

but I don't want
to incriminate you

any more than you've already
incriminated yourself.

Where are you going?

Far away
from spider county.

Wherever you go...
However fast you run...

Every turn may be
the wrong one...

The last one,
and you'll be caught.

You cannot escape
dogs and desperation...

Except with me.
Won't you come with me?!

What holds you here?!

What in this hating,
barking world could hold you?!

Nothing.

I wanted
to be held here.

I even fooled myself
into thinking

that someone could hold
me here no matter what.

But I guess
I always knew

I'd have to go someday
and go alone.

Well, I can't go
without saying good-bye.

Anna.

Be careful.

I'll meet you
in your room.

Anna.

Oh, I just couldn't leave
without seeing you again.

They're looking
for you, Ethan.

Everyone's
looking for you.

Sheriff Stayfield
called my father

to join the search.

Why did you run away?

I don't want to die,
Anna.

You won't, Ethan.
You're innocent.

Don't you see
it's wrong to run?

It makes you look guilty.

I already look guilty
to everyone but you.

Don't go, Ethan. We'll take
your case to a higher court.

You and I?

Someone will help.

There are people
who believe in innocence.

Yes, there are.
I met a man.

He helped me out of the car
after the accident.

And I met a man.

I think he believes
in your innocence.

A man?

He came up from Washington
just to talk to you.

He had something good
in his eyes.

He said he wanted
to help you.

Well, I met a man, too.

I don't know why,
but he helped me.

He said he knew
I wasn't guilty,

and he wanted me
to go somewhere with him.

And we must hurry.

You wanted to say good-bye
to her, now, say it.

Who is he?

That's the man I met.

The one who believes
in his innocence.

Then why help him run away?!

Ethan, please don't run.

You'll never stop running
as long as you live.

They'll track you down
forever.

Stay and clear yourself,
please.

Come, Ethan.

Where are you going?

To a place where Ethan
will be honored

for his rare
and special natures...

Where his magnificence
will set him not apart,

but above.

My special natures?

I'll explain
another time

when there is time.

Come.

Ethan,
take me with you.

No! He cannot,
even if he wanted to.

The choice
is not yours or mine.

Destiny gives choice
to no one, my son.

And your destiny was shaped

before the seed of your life
took root.

What did you say?

I'll explain another time.

You said, "my son."

I'm your father.

My father?

I came a long way
to reclaim you.

I came from very far.

My father's dead. No one
can come that far.

Come, my son.

The others are waiting
for us.

We are all
going home together.

No, Ethan!

Don't go with him!

Anna, I don't know why,

but I know
I must go with him.

I know he is my father.

Then I'll go with you.

I don't care where.
I just wanna go with you.

I need to be with you.

No, Ethan.

Then we'll go
our own way.

You would take her
into a world where

that sound will
drown out all music,

all soft-spoken beauty?

You would have her live
in love with you

in shadows and fear?

Afraid to sigh too loud

for fear of being
overheard?

Afraid to make you smile
because someone might

recognize your face
while it is smiling?

Well, then,
she'll come with us.

Would my father want me
to break her heart

as well as my own?

All right.

Hold it...

Right there.

Run across
to the house, Anna,

call the Sheriff.

You stay here, boy.

And whoever you are,
you'll stay, too.

I can not.
Neither can my son.

Your son?!

I figured a no-good
dreamer like Ethan

didn't have a father
he could call his own.

Go on, both of you.
I'll join you in a moment.

Go!

One step more
and I'm firin'.

You may wound him.

He has to go
on a long, long journey...

Journey much too special to be
marred by bloodshed and pain.

So before you fire at him...

You'll fire at me.

You say that
like you think I won't.

Won't?

No, you can't.

You can't fire.

Harry, now, listen to me.
Tell it slow.

We were coming
down the road.

You saw this terrible apparition
in the middle of the road

and it made you
lose control of the car?

Yeah, and...
what? What?

Why didn't you stop it?

I don't know.

Well, where's Al
and the prisoner?

I don't know.
I don't know!

Did... did Al
take 'em away?

How'd they get out
of this thing?

You saw him, didn't you?

Yes.

He wasn't alone?

No. No,
there was a man.

He said he was
Ethan's father.

Where are they going?
Did he say?

Journey...

Long,
special journey.

Did you see him?

No, no. Uh,
just a few traces.

We'll trace them down.

Sheriff Stayfield sent you home
to put that gun away.

Still think
that's a good idea.

But they took
my daughter.

A man's got cause
to go gunnin'

when his daughter's
taken.

You're a stubborn and
a foolish man, Ethan.

It's unwise to stop
for any reason.

To stop because
of hunger is madness.

Why did you come for me
after all these years?

I had hoped you wouldn't
begin asking questions

until we reached home.

How did you find me?

You were
the easiest to find.

You were where I left
you... in spider county.

My mother was gonna
take me away from here.

She died.

I was 9 years old,

and nearly everybody
in the town

already hated and feared me.

So when Anna's father
came up to that funeral home

and said I was to move in
with him, I moved in.

He said the bishop's
weren't scared of me.

All they feared was god

and being short-handed
at the farm.

He took you in
for that purpose alone?

Well, he had no sons.

The farm needed
a lot of attention.

He saw I was strong,
so he took me in.

Even then I was strong.

And you tolerated
such exploitation?

I was too young
to run away.

Then when I grew older,
there was Anna.

For Anna, I stayed.

Do you hear that sound?

Come. We must go.

Are you really
my father?

Yes.

Where have you been?

Where we're going.

The other boys...
The ones that left town...

We used to talk and wonder.

About your fathers?

Well,
none of us had one.

Each of you had one.

We came here and chose
the strong and gentle girls,

and then in accordance with
the customs of this planet,

we married them.
this planet?

We waited until each of us
had been assured of a son,

then we left.

We could not then
take our sons with us.

Nothing so small
could have endured

the timeless
and torturous journey.

Now, of course,
you're more than strong enough

to endure it and survive.

You are strong enough...

But Anna is not,
is that what you mean?

I did not say that.

You thought it.
I hear you think.

I hear
other people's thoughts.

Used to frighten me.

I don't know why,

but I'm not frightened
when I hear your thoughts.

Haven't your dreams
explained it all, my son?

I never dream. Dreams are
a normal experience.

I only have nightmares.

Part of you
is very different

from other dreamers,
Ethan.

But that "different"

isn't necessarily
abnormal.

You'll understand
everything very soon.

When we have reached
our home?

Yes.

You are foolish,
and you are evil.

You called my special
and gifted son...

A no-good dreamer.

In our world
on the planet Eros

it was the absence
and abhorrence of dreaming

that made men no good.

They worked
like insect slaves.

They fought evil wars.

They gathered lush riches
and splendid pains,

but they took
no time out for dreams,

and dreaming
became a lost art.

And, as always happens,
they began to die off.

For all their riches,
they began to die.

No male child had been born
in many years.

The seed that spawns the male
had retreated in sorrow,

faded out
of this dreamless race.

The wise ones thought
it was the climate,

so they sent 5 of us
here to prove

that in a more
favorable climate,

the males of Eros
could again produce males.

Perhaps they were right.

Perhaps it was the climate

that enabled us
to produce sons,

but I do not think so.

I think it was
because while here,

we once again caught
the fashion of dreaming.

You and the others will
start a new race for Eros.

A race of men
who cannot help but dream,

who have the dream machine
in their human half

and call it a soul.

Aah!

Now, I understand.

Now I know
where I'm running

when I'm running
through my nightmares.

You should have
remained here, father.

It was the climate.

In time it might have
given you a dream machine.

All right, my son.

I've lost.

I'll go...

Without you...

If I must.

We must go.

I just can't go
any farther.

It's all right.

I think we can rest
for a minute.

Is your leg all right?

Yeah.

I just twisted it
a little.

We've been out
since early this morning.

I don't think anybody's dogs
are gonna hold out,

including my own.

So we'll take a run down
the east side of the orchard

and then we'll...

What's the matter with you?

We've got
to get out of here.

We can get
across the river.

There must be paddles
in here.

It's locked.

All set.

Ethan, that's as far
as you're gonna go.

Sheriff Stayfield, it's time
we had a long talk.

I think so,
and so does Washington.

Will you talk to me,
Ethan?

It took a lot of doing
and a few big phone calls

to get Sheriff Stayfield
to let me come in here.

Will you listen,
then, if I talk to you?

I saw your father...

In the barn in the orchard.

I saw what he did
to Mr. bishop...

And what he became
while he was doing it.

Who are you?

I'm with the space agency,
investigation division,

and I've been wanting
to talk to you.

You believed
what you saw?

Why not?
Anna believed it.

Well, I thought she just
wanted to for my sake.

You going to do anything?

I mean, is it
all right if I hope?

I'm going to do as much
as I can, whatever I can.

Well, tell them.
They'll believe you!

I'm not so sure.

Not a thing as
unbelievable as this is.

If... if we want
to convince anyone,

we've got to produce
your father.

He's on his way
back to Eros by now.

He admitted he had lost.

Sheriff Stayfield's deputy
can't imagine

how he was able to find you
at the riverbank.

I can imagine. Can't you?

You father wants you
right in this cell, Ethan.

He wants you back in
the hand you have no faith in.

You're sure you're
going to be convicted

and sentenced to die,
aren't you?

Yes, I'm sure.

Maybe going to Eros...

Even with a father like that...

will seem the best
of 2 possible worlds

to you after a while.

I believe that's what
he's counting on.

Most living things
would choose life

under any circumstances
over death.

Your father
will come to you.

I'm certain of that.

He's going to show you
that choice.

You choose Eros.

You go with him.

Yes, look at me.

I am here
when I appear truth.

You see a monster,

yet you see a monster
who could not kill you.

These men,
these pale-faced earthmen,

they will kill you.

Is it possible you can choose
to remain with them

and let go the reigns
of eternal superiority?

Come, my son.

Come close.

Take my hand
and tell me to my eyes

that you are human enough

to make that
self-destructive choice.

I thought I heard a sound,

and it made me sad.

Father...

If I say no
this last time,

you will kill me,
won't you?

Kill?

We are not killers,
Ethan.

We do not have
the power to kill,

only to destroy...
Suddenly and totally.

Killers have
the power to kill...

Slowly and partially.

We do not kill, Ethan.

We uncreate.

I would have to
do that to you.

I can not let
plain earthmen

undo what I have done.

Hurry.

We're there?

Yes.

Just a little farther now.

Only a million stars.

And I am so sad.

Sad? Why, father?

You have chosen the dogs
and desperation.

You send betraying signals
back to them

to keep them on our trail.

I gave you the strength
and genius of Eros,

but your mother gave you
the weak senses of earth.

Our sense of hearing
allows us

to hear such sounds
as these.

We could hear
the silent sigh of a star.

I was commissioned to reclaim
all of you, Ethan.

I can not go back
without my own son.

You, above all,
belong to my world.

And to my mother's.

There are dogs here,
father,

and desperate men,

killers and hypocrites
and bigots...

Cruel, unthinking,
senseless men,

but here they have
no special powers

unless we give them
to them.

Here they are no
stronger than good men.

Unless the good
make themselves weak.

But here
there's a chance.

The battle isn't lost
before it's begun.

But in your world...

What chance
would anyone have

with a soul
in your world?

I wanted to go home,

but I didn't want to go
with a murderer.

I don't think home
should be a world

where you have to live
with a murderer.

This world isn't
a whole lot better,

but if spider county
murders me,

at least they'll do it
neat and legal.

I can not destroy
the better part of myself,

the dream part.

He is the better part
of you, too.

Can you destroy the better part
of yourselves?

The wealth
of a nation, of a world,

consists in
the number of superior men

that it harbors.

And often it seems that
these men are too different,

too dreaming.

And often, because
they are driven by powers

and dreams strange to us,

they are driven away by us.

But are they
really so different?

Are they not, after all,

held by the same things
that hold us?

By strong love
and soft hands.

We now return control
of your television set to you

until next week
at this same time

when the control voice
will take you to...