The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 26 - The Guests - full transcript
A drifter enters a lonely house, unaware that it is actually an alien creature in disguise. Soon he realizes that he is a prisoner, along with several other half-mad inhabitants, but he is determined to escape.
You feel yourself
being pulled, don't you?
What's... happening?
Does he
look frightened
to you, Ethel?
He looks perfectly pitiful.
I think it's just awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
Help me.
Somebody, help me.
You can't fight it,
Drifter.
I tried when my time came.
We all did.
It's useless.
You can't outwit that thing.
There is nothing wrong
with your television set.
Do not attempt
to adjust the picture.
We are controlling
transmission.
We will control
the horizontal.
We will control
the vertical.
We can change the focus
to a soft blur
or sharpen it
to crystal clarity.
For the next hour,
sit quietly,
and we will control
all that you see and hear.
You are about to participate
in a great adventure.
You are about to experience
the awe and mystery
which reaches from
the inner mind to...
Hey.
Hey!
Are you hurt?
Hmm?
Shh. Shh!
S-s-s-s...
Save your strength,
old buddy.
I'll get some help.
Shh.
Shh... shh.
Oh...
Oh...
Anybody here?
Anybody home?
Is there anybody here?
I need help!
Miss?
Excuse me, miss?
I didn't mean
to scare you.
Hey, just a minute!
I found an old man
lying in the road.
I came for help.
You saw an old man?
Yes.
Lying in the road.
Is that his watch
you're holding?
Uh, I think so.
I found it in the brush.
Uh...
He needs attention.
I'm afraid you've come
to the wrong place,
young man.
Nonsense.
Nonsense,
nonsense, nonsense.
The watch
and the old man
obviously
have no connection,
none whatsoever.
Was he...
Very old?
Now, listen,
I came here for help.
If you people
don't want to help,
that's perfectly all right,
but may I
at least use the phone to
call the nearest hospital?
There is no phone
in this house,
and that's that.
But I don't understand
you people.
There's an old man
lying in the road.
Oh, you'll understand us,
young man, by and by,
won't he Randall?
Ethel.
Was he...
Very old?
Yes. He was the oldest man
I ever saw.
It proves nothing,
Miss Patton,
nothing at all.
It was probably someone else
he found, not Dr. Ames.
Does it matter who it is?
Who are you, young man?
You must have some
unique knowledge,
some special skill.
Uh...
My name's Florida Patton.
I'm an actress.
You're not very nice.
I don't feel very nice.
I feel as if
I'm having a bad dream.
There you are, Miss Patton.
A bad dream.
He didn't see an old man
at all.
Rubbish.
Miss Patton,
I'm going out
to help the old man.
He's gone by now.
Gone?
Yes.
You're very kind
to want to help.
Did you really
want to help him?
Yes, I did.
I'm sorry that your kindness
will not be repaid in kind.
Wait a minute.
This is your picture,
isn't it?
Yes.
And it belongs to him...
The old man I found
out on the road?
If I may,
I'd like to have that.
What makes you so sure
he's dead by now?
He's been dead
for a long time.
Tell him, Randall.
You're the head
of this house now.
I will tell him nothing
until I know precisely
who he is.
Somebody better tell me.
What's your name?
Drifter.
You have that look
about you,
the look of a thing
in movement.
Not flight.
Slow movement.
But constant.
Randall,
tell the Drifter,
and tell him
at once.
It's inhuman to
send him up there
without some sense
of the horror.
Stop it!
We can't.
You can't.
Try.
You feel yourself
being pulled, don't you?
Against your will?
What's... happening?
Don't be
overly alarmed, young man.
He isn't afraid,
are you,
Drifter?
Does he
look frightened
to you, Ethel?
He looks perfectly pitiful.
I think it's just awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
Help me.
Somebody, help me.
You can't fight it,
Drifter.
I tried when my time came.
We all did.
It's useless.
You can't outwit that thing.
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
You feel fear.
You feel anger as well.
Where am I?
What are you?
You are in
the control center
of my searching,
self universe.
I am your host.
Can you
give me the answer?
Answer?
The missing vector,
the unknown statistic,
the factor that will
balance the equation.
Do you know
what an equation is?
Close your eyes.
When you open them,
your fear
will be temporarily
anesthetized.
You will converse
with me calmly.
An equation
is a mathematical
expression
asserting the equality
of 2 quantities...
Correct?
Like 2 plus 2 equals 4.
Yes.
Would you agree
that the race thought...
The mental drives
of your species...
Could be analyzed,
separated
into its components,
and described
as a series
of mathematical symbols?
Then you will agree that
such a mathematical
expression is equal
to the ultimate destiny
of your species.
Watch closely,
the walls of my thought.
You will see
the answer computed
from its
component factors.
First,
the positive factors...
The instinct to survive,
procreation...
Work...
Faith...
Art...
Art could be
man's destiny...
If there were
no negative factors
in the equation.
But there are.
Destruction.
Fear.
Hopelessness.
Hate.
There is the answer
to the equation...
Total destruction
of this planet earth.
You left something out,
if that's the answer
to the equation.
Yes, there is
a missing quantity.
The equation
does not balance.
That missing quantity
may be in your experience.
I will search
your mind for it.
No.
You intend to resist?
I don't know why.
At least I have to
try to resist it.
What is this emotion
you are transmitting?
I have not
encountered it till now.
Everyone I've ever known
has called it "Defiance."
What do you think
of our jailer?
Have I lost my mind?
You've lost it,
Drifter.
That thing upstairs
is dissecting it.
Did you...
Submit to it?
I don't know.
I don't think so.
You will.
You'll be wooed up there
again and again.
You'll come to look forward
to those sessions,
as my analyst used to wish
I'd look forward to mine.
Imagine having your most
hidden thoughts catalogued,
absorbed into that
monstrous calculator.
We've fought it,
like cornered cats.
You won't leave here,
young man.
None of us
will ever leave here,
not until our host finds
what he's looking for.
He won't.
At which time,
we will be dispossessed,
turned out,
bag and baggage.
And it will be
right-now time
and not
way-back-then time.
Ha ha ha ha!
Ha ha heh heh heh!
My husband thinks
that you and I
and this fine actress
are figments
of his imagination.
He expects
to wake up one day
and find himself
right back where we were
when this grisly dream
started.
It's the only
sane explanation.
We've been in this house
since 1928.
No dream
could last that long.
He doesn't want to
leave this house.
You should try to curb
your imagination, Ethel.
The young man will realize
that you're spiritually ill.
I'm on my way to New York
to attend a board meeting
of my firm.
I'm an investment broker,
you see.
He's going east to
answer charges of fraud.
Misconduct. When will
you learn the difference?
Self-deception.
And miss silent movies here,
is moving east
to do a talking play.
Been here since 1935.
And a star since 1925.
When talking pictures
came in,
my studio said my voice
was difficult to record.
Ah-ha... studio politics,
naturally.
They did me a favor
when they allowed me
to break my contract.
The legitimate stage
is the only temple
for a legitimate actress.
Ahh...
I can't wait...
To step out...
onto that stage.
Why don't you start
by stepping out
the front door?
It's time I did.
You're a prisoner.
We're all prisoners.
I came into this house
through a door.
The thing upstairs
has undreamed your door.
I saw windows outside.
Somebody was looking at me
from behind a curtain.
The windows have been
undreamed, too.
It controls
your dreams now, Drifter,
and mine...
And theirs.
Not mine.
I'm wide awake
and loving every
moment of it.
Ethel, if you persist...
Rubbish. You need me
to punish you, Randall.
You sensitive
and defiant Drifters
are all sweet musicians
at heart, aren't you?
Come and accompany me,
please.
Please, Mrs. Lattimer,
you'll damage it.
Stop it. You can't play
a note, and you know it.
There's a note.
There's another.
Oh, no, now.
Oh, no.
Mrs. Lattimer.
I think I'll go
to my room now.
Pleasant dreams
within dreams, everyone.
Randall.
Excuse me.
You enjoy this,
don't you?
All of you.
Except you.
How long have you
been here?
I don't know.
You can't be much more
than 18 now.
I'm not.
Are we dreaming all this?
I looked at your picture
in the watch case...
And I heard
a pain in my heart.
It was the sweetest hurt
in all the world.
Is that when
the dream began?
It is a dream,
isn't it?
Does it matter?
I can't submit
to being trapped...
Awake or dreaming.
If I can get myself
into this madhouse,
I can get myself out.
Interesting
architecture, isn't it?
Hallways
that go nowhere.
Doors that open
into empty rooms.
How many did you count?
You followed me.
I saw you. Why?
Why?!
Did you wanna
watch the mouse
run through
the maze?
Is that how you
get your enjoyment?
I just didn't
want you to be alone
when you finally
gave up.
Ah.
Oh.
You wanted me
to kiss you, you know.
No.
What's your name?
Teresa Ames.
What's yours, please?
Wade Norton.
But they
call you Drifter.
That's because
I drift.
Do you wanna leave here?
This moment?
Yes.
Yes.
I'll show you a door.
Go and open that gate
and leave.
Do I make you
uncomfortable, Teresa?
I'm usually called
simply Tess.
Oh, no. Not simply.
Your name should
never be spoken simply...
With simplicity
and Serenity,
but never
with simpleness.
Am I funny, Tess?
You play with words...
But I admire you for it.
Don't.
Words are weapons.
You wouldn't admire me
if I were playing
with an atom bomb.
You'd be afraid of me.
An atom bomb?
Oh. You remember those
old-fashioned
little firecrackers?
Where do you drift to?
I don't. I drift from.
From then. From where?
Never interrogate
the wind.
Can you leave here
with me, now?
No.
Oh.
You're going to leave,
though, aren't you?
No.
You must.
I must?
Hurry!
Go now, before
it's too late.
Once he dissects you,
you'll never wanna go.
Yes. Yes, it is in you.
I don't understand it yet,
but I know it's there.
Come close.
Let me dissect it.
Let me absorb it.
Bring it here.
Bring your brain here.
No!
No! Don't do that
to him!
Ah!
It hurts.
Hope hurts.
My head. Inside.
It hurts inside.
If I were a creature
of your species,
I would feel compassion.
Let me go.
No.
Yes.
You have projected
a new factor
into the equation.
It is still
unclear, however.
Please.
It hurts too much.
All your feelings
are becoming unclear.
Does pain do that?
Oblivion.
Oblivion.
You feel hatred.
I recognize it
from my exploration
of the others,
but it's new
to you, isn't it?
Will I be caged here now...
Like Tess?
Like the others?
Forever?
They are not caged.
For each, there is
a door to freedom.
All they have
to do is find it.
Each knows
where his door is.
They don't try
to leave then?
They don't try
to leave then?
Do you play bridge,
Drifter?
3-handed's
a crushing bore.
Why are you all pretending
that you're trapped
in this place?
Each one of you
knows a way out.
Who gave you
that stunning piece
of misinformation?
It was telling the truth.
You've been mocked,
Mr. Norton.
I believe
I warned you
that the creature
would use
all sorts of hellish
little torments.
Do you know a way out?
There is no way out.
Don't you suppose we've
searched and searched?
You're interrupting
our game, young man.
From the moment I stepped
into this madhouse,
you've been needling
the others,
making noises like
you know the truth.
Well, now, let's have it.
Does each of us
know of a door?
Are we deliberately
remaining here
complaining,
fighting,
and clawing at
each other's souls?
Why should you care?
You're not one of us.
You're above us.
You're a special
and gifted dreamer
chasing a rainbow
no one else believes in
much less sees.
The reason you drift,
there's nothing heavy
in your noble heart
to anchor it in reality.
But you're scared,
young man.
You begin to suspect
you, don't you?
You're not so sure
you won't just
plunk yourself
right down here
and dream a life...
And live a dream.
How do you like that,
my small-eyed swindler?
Dream a life
and live a dream.
You never did get
to make that talkie,
did you,
Miss Silent Screen?
I'm a star.
Audiences hear stars
with their souls,
not with their ears.
Why don't you leave?
A wife's duty
is to share her husband's
life sentence.
And if you can
tear him down
to match your secret
image of yourself,
so much the better.
Shut up, Randall,
or I'll be nice to you.
I, on the other hand,
require niceness.
I wither without it.
Be nice to me...
Or else get outta here!
Tess...
Go with me?
You can go.
It's too late.
It won't let you go now.
Why can't I leave?
This force
I feel from you,
it must be understood,
even if only
to be discarded
as inconsequential.
That may
take you forever.
I have more time
than forever.
I don't.
Tess and I don't.
What are you
feeling now?
Why don't you probe
my brain again
and find out for yourself?
Wait! I caught
a glimpse of it
just before
your hatred erupted.
Hatred
canceled it out.
I must ponder this
carefully, quietly.
Please return
to the room below,
Mr. Norton.
I cannot be distracted
at this moment.
Certainly not by so
disruptive an emotion
as hope.
Is that what
I was feeling?
I didn't know
I had hope.
I thought
I only had illusions.
Where's Tess?
I had to do that.
Blame it on
my madcap heart.
My madcap heart
was the title
of my first
bad picture.
Did you think
I was being sincere
there for a moment?
Tess!
Tess!
You're cold.
Yes.
Will you escape
with me?
Would you try?
No, I can't.
I don't believe
that of you.
I believe it
of the others,
but not of you.
It's more true of me.
Listen. The silence.
It isn't watching.
You can escape, Wade.
Hurry.
Alone?
yes, yes!
Why?
I can't go out there
with you.
I can't go beyond
that gate.
This is as far
as I can go without...
Being afraid.
Tell me what
you're afraid of.
Tell me.
Death.
That man you found
in the road...
That old, old man...
He was my father.
The moment he stepped
outside that gate...
His years caught up
with him.
He became
the 120-year-old man
he really was.
He was already dead...
Already dust
before he left.
But here, inside this
dreamy nothingness,
he at least
seemed to be living...
Just as I seem
to be living.
No, you're alive.
No, Tess.
I know you're alive.
Out there, my years
are waiting for me.
Don't let it happen
to you, Wade.
Save yourself
while your life
can still be lived.
While it's real.
While you're real.
Why did you stay
till it was too late?
My father was a resigner.
He saw this as a way
of resigning from
the human race.
He asked me
to stay with him,
and I stayed
because he needed me.
You must have hated him
for asking you that.
No, I didn't. I... I was
taught never to hate.
Go now, Wade.
Forget about me.
How can I?
I'm an illusion.
They're so easy to lose.
I want to lose them.
I want
to believe...
In you.
I want to love you.
I'll stay with you.
Here. Forever.
I can't let you do that.
There's nothing
you can do or say
to drive me out.
Oh, yes, there is.
There is.
No, Tess!
Tess, come back!
Tess?
There's nothing for me
out there either, Tess.
Yes, Mr. Norton.
There is nothing
out there
now that you have it
inside yourself.
Something. What?
What is it?
The single factor
I was searching for.
The one note in
the human symphony
that will forever
make impossible
man's final
self-destruction.
Go out of this
dream, Mr. Norton.
Close your eyes
to illusion.
The real factor
is out there.
Love is out there.
You will take it
out there with you
when you go.
Ah. Aah!
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...
being pulled, don't you?
What's... happening?
Does he
look frightened
to you, Ethel?
He looks perfectly pitiful.
I think it's just awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
Help me.
Somebody, help me.
You can't fight it,
Drifter.
I tried when my time came.
We all did.
It's useless.
You can't outwit that thing.
There is nothing wrong
with your television set.
Do not attempt
to adjust the picture.
We are controlling
transmission.
We will control
the horizontal.
We will control
the vertical.
We can change the focus
to a soft blur
or sharpen it
to crystal clarity.
For the next hour,
sit quietly,
and we will control
all that you see and hear.
You are about to participate
in a great adventure.
You are about to experience
the awe and mystery
which reaches from
the inner mind to...
Hey.
Hey!
Are you hurt?
Hmm?
Shh. Shh!
S-s-s-s...
Save your strength,
old buddy.
I'll get some help.
Shh.
Shh... shh.
Oh...
Oh...
Anybody here?
Anybody home?
Is there anybody here?
I need help!
Miss?
Excuse me, miss?
I didn't mean
to scare you.
Hey, just a minute!
I found an old man
lying in the road.
I came for help.
You saw an old man?
Yes.
Lying in the road.
Is that his watch
you're holding?
Uh, I think so.
I found it in the brush.
Uh...
He needs attention.
I'm afraid you've come
to the wrong place,
young man.
Nonsense.
Nonsense,
nonsense, nonsense.
The watch
and the old man
obviously
have no connection,
none whatsoever.
Was he...
Very old?
Now, listen,
I came here for help.
If you people
don't want to help,
that's perfectly all right,
but may I
at least use the phone to
call the nearest hospital?
There is no phone
in this house,
and that's that.
But I don't understand
you people.
There's an old man
lying in the road.
Oh, you'll understand us,
young man, by and by,
won't he Randall?
Ethel.
Was he...
Very old?
Yes. He was the oldest man
I ever saw.
It proves nothing,
Miss Patton,
nothing at all.
It was probably someone else
he found, not Dr. Ames.
Does it matter who it is?
Who are you, young man?
You must have some
unique knowledge,
some special skill.
Uh...
My name's Florida Patton.
I'm an actress.
You're not very nice.
I don't feel very nice.
I feel as if
I'm having a bad dream.
There you are, Miss Patton.
A bad dream.
He didn't see an old man
at all.
Rubbish.
Miss Patton,
I'm going out
to help the old man.
He's gone by now.
Gone?
Yes.
You're very kind
to want to help.
Did you really
want to help him?
Yes, I did.
I'm sorry that your kindness
will not be repaid in kind.
Wait a minute.
This is your picture,
isn't it?
Yes.
And it belongs to him...
The old man I found
out on the road?
If I may,
I'd like to have that.
What makes you so sure
he's dead by now?
He's been dead
for a long time.
Tell him, Randall.
You're the head
of this house now.
I will tell him nothing
until I know precisely
who he is.
Somebody better tell me.
What's your name?
Drifter.
You have that look
about you,
the look of a thing
in movement.
Not flight.
Slow movement.
But constant.
Randall,
tell the Drifter,
and tell him
at once.
It's inhuman to
send him up there
without some sense
of the horror.
Stop it!
We can't.
You can't.
Try.
You feel yourself
being pulled, don't you?
Against your will?
What's... happening?
Don't be
overly alarmed, young man.
He isn't afraid,
are you,
Drifter?
Does he
look frightened
to you, Ethel?
He looks perfectly pitiful.
I think it's just awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
Help me.
Somebody, help me.
You can't fight it,
Drifter.
I tried when my time came.
We all did.
It's useless.
You can't outwit that thing.
Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
You feel fear.
You feel anger as well.
Where am I?
What are you?
You are in
the control center
of my searching,
self universe.
I am your host.
Can you
give me the answer?
Answer?
The missing vector,
the unknown statistic,
the factor that will
balance the equation.
Do you know
what an equation is?
Close your eyes.
When you open them,
your fear
will be temporarily
anesthetized.
You will converse
with me calmly.
An equation
is a mathematical
expression
asserting the equality
of 2 quantities...
Correct?
Like 2 plus 2 equals 4.
Yes.
Would you agree
that the race thought...
The mental drives
of your species...
Could be analyzed,
separated
into its components,
and described
as a series
of mathematical symbols?
Then you will agree that
such a mathematical
expression is equal
to the ultimate destiny
of your species.
Watch closely,
the walls of my thought.
You will see
the answer computed
from its
component factors.
First,
the positive factors...
The instinct to survive,
procreation...
Work...
Faith...
Art...
Art could be
man's destiny...
If there were
no negative factors
in the equation.
But there are.
Destruction.
Fear.
Hopelessness.
Hate.
There is the answer
to the equation...
Total destruction
of this planet earth.
You left something out,
if that's the answer
to the equation.
Yes, there is
a missing quantity.
The equation
does not balance.
That missing quantity
may be in your experience.
I will search
your mind for it.
No.
You intend to resist?
I don't know why.
At least I have to
try to resist it.
What is this emotion
you are transmitting?
I have not
encountered it till now.
Everyone I've ever known
has called it "Defiance."
What do you think
of our jailer?
Have I lost my mind?
You've lost it,
Drifter.
That thing upstairs
is dissecting it.
Did you...
Submit to it?
I don't know.
I don't think so.
You will.
You'll be wooed up there
again and again.
You'll come to look forward
to those sessions,
as my analyst used to wish
I'd look forward to mine.
Imagine having your most
hidden thoughts catalogued,
absorbed into that
monstrous calculator.
We've fought it,
like cornered cats.
You won't leave here,
young man.
None of us
will ever leave here,
not until our host finds
what he's looking for.
He won't.
At which time,
we will be dispossessed,
turned out,
bag and baggage.
And it will be
right-now time
and not
way-back-then time.
Ha ha ha ha!
Ha ha heh heh heh!
My husband thinks
that you and I
and this fine actress
are figments
of his imagination.
He expects
to wake up one day
and find himself
right back where we were
when this grisly dream
started.
It's the only
sane explanation.
We've been in this house
since 1928.
No dream
could last that long.
He doesn't want to
leave this house.
You should try to curb
your imagination, Ethel.
The young man will realize
that you're spiritually ill.
I'm on my way to New York
to attend a board meeting
of my firm.
I'm an investment broker,
you see.
He's going east to
answer charges of fraud.
Misconduct. When will
you learn the difference?
Self-deception.
And miss silent movies here,
is moving east
to do a talking play.
Been here since 1935.
And a star since 1925.
When talking pictures
came in,
my studio said my voice
was difficult to record.
Ah-ha... studio politics,
naturally.
They did me a favor
when they allowed me
to break my contract.
The legitimate stage
is the only temple
for a legitimate actress.
Ahh...
I can't wait...
To step out...
onto that stage.
Why don't you start
by stepping out
the front door?
It's time I did.
You're a prisoner.
We're all prisoners.
I came into this house
through a door.
The thing upstairs
has undreamed your door.
I saw windows outside.
Somebody was looking at me
from behind a curtain.
The windows have been
undreamed, too.
It controls
your dreams now, Drifter,
and mine...
And theirs.
Not mine.
I'm wide awake
and loving every
moment of it.
Ethel, if you persist...
Rubbish. You need me
to punish you, Randall.
You sensitive
and defiant Drifters
are all sweet musicians
at heart, aren't you?
Come and accompany me,
please.
Please, Mrs. Lattimer,
you'll damage it.
Stop it. You can't play
a note, and you know it.
There's a note.
There's another.
Oh, no, now.
Oh, no.
Mrs. Lattimer.
I think I'll go
to my room now.
Pleasant dreams
within dreams, everyone.
Randall.
Excuse me.
You enjoy this,
don't you?
All of you.
Except you.
How long have you
been here?
I don't know.
You can't be much more
than 18 now.
I'm not.
Are we dreaming all this?
I looked at your picture
in the watch case...
And I heard
a pain in my heart.
It was the sweetest hurt
in all the world.
Is that when
the dream began?
It is a dream,
isn't it?
Does it matter?
I can't submit
to being trapped...
Awake or dreaming.
If I can get myself
into this madhouse,
I can get myself out.
Interesting
architecture, isn't it?
Hallways
that go nowhere.
Doors that open
into empty rooms.
How many did you count?
You followed me.
I saw you. Why?
Why?!
Did you wanna
watch the mouse
run through
the maze?
Is that how you
get your enjoyment?
I just didn't
want you to be alone
when you finally
gave up.
Ah.
Oh.
You wanted me
to kiss you, you know.
No.
What's your name?
Teresa Ames.
What's yours, please?
Wade Norton.
But they
call you Drifter.
That's because
I drift.
Do you wanna leave here?
This moment?
Yes.
Yes.
I'll show you a door.
Go and open that gate
and leave.
Do I make you
uncomfortable, Teresa?
I'm usually called
simply Tess.
Oh, no. Not simply.
Your name should
never be spoken simply...
With simplicity
and Serenity,
but never
with simpleness.
Am I funny, Tess?
You play with words...
But I admire you for it.
Don't.
Words are weapons.
You wouldn't admire me
if I were playing
with an atom bomb.
You'd be afraid of me.
An atom bomb?
Oh. You remember those
old-fashioned
little firecrackers?
Where do you drift to?
I don't. I drift from.
From then. From where?
Never interrogate
the wind.
Can you leave here
with me, now?
No.
Oh.
You're going to leave,
though, aren't you?
No.
You must.
I must?
Hurry!
Go now, before
it's too late.
Once he dissects you,
you'll never wanna go.
Yes. Yes, it is in you.
I don't understand it yet,
but I know it's there.
Come close.
Let me dissect it.
Let me absorb it.
Bring it here.
Bring your brain here.
No!
No! Don't do that
to him!
Ah!
It hurts.
Hope hurts.
My head. Inside.
It hurts inside.
If I were a creature
of your species,
I would feel compassion.
Let me go.
No.
Yes.
You have projected
a new factor
into the equation.
It is still
unclear, however.
Please.
It hurts too much.
All your feelings
are becoming unclear.
Does pain do that?
Oblivion.
Oblivion.
You feel hatred.
I recognize it
from my exploration
of the others,
but it's new
to you, isn't it?
Will I be caged here now...
Like Tess?
Like the others?
Forever?
They are not caged.
For each, there is
a door to freedom.
All they have
to do is find it.
Each knows
where his door is.
They don't try
to leave then?
They don't try
to leave then?
Do you play bridge,
Drifter?
3-handed's
a crushing bore.
Why are you all pretending
that you're trapped
in this place?
Each one of you
knows a way out.
Who gave you
that stunning piece
of misinformation?
It was telling the truth.
You've been mocked,
Mr. Norton.
I believe
I warned you
that the creature
would use
all sorts of hellish
little torments.
Do you know a way out?
There is no way out.
Don't you suppose we've
searched and searched?
You're interrupting
our game, young man.
From the moment I stepped
into this madhouse,
you've been needling
the others,
making noises like
you know the truth.
Well, now, let's have it.
Does each of us
know of a door?
Are we deliberately
remaining here
complaining,
fighting,
and clawing at
each other's souls?
Why should you care?
You're not one of us.
You're above us.
You're a special
and gifted dreamer
chasing a rainbow
no one else believes in
much less sees.
The reason you drift,
there's nothing heavy
in your noble heart
to anchor it in reality.
But you're scared,
young man.
You begin to suspect
you, don't you?
You're not so sure
you won't just
plunk yourself
right down here
and dream a life...
And live a dream.
How do you like that,
my small-eyed swindler?
Dream a life
and live a dream.
You never did get
to make that talkie,
did you,
Miss Silent Screen?
I'm a star.
Audiences hear stars
with their souls,
not with their ears.
Why don't you leave?
A wife's duty
is to share her husband's
life sentence.
And if you can
tear him down
to match your secret
image of yourself,
so much the better.
Shut up, Randall,
or I'll be nice to you.
I, on the other hand,
require niceness.
I wither without it.
Be nice to me...
Or else get outta here!
Tess...
Go with me?
You can go.
It's too late.
It won't let you go now.
Why can't I leave?
This force
I feel from you,
it must be understood,
even if only
to be discarded
as inconsequential.
That may
take you forever.
I have more time
than forever.
I don't.
Tess and I don't.
What are you
feeling now?
Why don't you probe
my brain again
and find out for yourself?
Wait! I caught
a glimpse of it
just before
your hatred erupted.
Hatred
canceled it out.
I must ponder this
carefully, quietly.
Please return
to the room below,
Mr. Norton.
I cannot be distracted
at this moment.
Certainly not by so
disruptive an emotion
as hope.
Is that what
I was feeling?
I didn't know
I had hope.
I thought
I only had illusions.
Where's Tess?
I had to do that.
Blame it on
my madcap heart.
My madcap heart
was the title
of my first
bad picture.
Did you think
I was being sincere
there for a moment?
Tess!
Tess!
You're cold.
Yes.
Will you escape
with me?
Would you try?
No, I can't.
I don't believe
that of you.
I believe it
of the others,
but not of you.
It's more true of me.
Listen. The silence.
It isn't watching.
You can escape, Wade.
Hurry.
Alone?
yes, yes!
Why?
I can't go out there
with you.
I can't go beyond
that gate.
This is as far
as I can go without...
Being afraid.
Tell me what
you're afraid of.
Tell me.
Death.
That man you found
in the road...
That old, old man...
He was my father.
The moment he stepped
outside that gate...
His years caught up
with him.
He became
the 120-year-old man
he really was.
He was already dead...
Already dust
before he left.
But here, inside this
dreamy nothingness,
he at least
seemed to be living...
Just as I seem
to be living.
No, you're alive.
No, Tess.
I know you're alive.
Out there, my years
are waiting for me.
Don't let it happen
to you, Wade.
Save yourself
while your life
can still be lived.
While it's real.
While you're real.
Why did you stay
till it was too late?
My father was a resigner.
He saw this as a way
of resigning from
the human race.
He asked me
to stay with him,
and I stayed
because he needed me.
You must have hated him
for asking you that.
No, I didn't. I... I was
taught never to hate.
Go now, Wade.
Forget about me.
How can I?
I'm an illusion.
They're so easy to lose.
I want to lose them.
I want
to believe...
In you.
I want to love you.
I'll stay with you.
Here. Forever.
I can't let you do that.
There's nothing
you can do or say
to drive me out.
Oh, yes, there is.
There is.
No, Tess!
Tess, come back!
Tess?
There's nothing for me
out there either, Tess.
Yes, Mr. Norton.
There is nothing
out there
now that you have it
inside yourself.
Something. What?
What is it?
The single factor
I was searching for.
The one note in
the human symphony
that will forever
make impossible
man's final
self-destruction.
Go out of this
dream, Mr. Norton.
Close your eyes
to illusion.
The real factor
is out there.
Love is out there.
You will take it
out there with you
when you go.
Ah. Aah!
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...