The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 29 - A Feasibility Study - full transcript

Ah, ah!

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...

The planet Luminous...

A minor planet...

Sultry and simmering...

Incapacitated.

Earth scientists
have concluded

that there could be
no life on Luminous...

That it is too close
to its own sun,

and its inhabitants
would be victimized

by their own
blighting atmosphere.

But there is
life on Luminous.

Life that should
resemble ours,

but doesn't.



Desperate life...

Suffering a great
and terrible need.

The Luminoids have begun
to search the universe

in an effort
to gratify that need.

They seek a planet
on which life is healthy...

Vibrant...

Strong...

And mobile.

They need such people...

To do their work...

To labor and slave
for them...

To manufacture
their splendored dreams.

The Luminoids
need slaves,

and they have chosen
the planet

off which their slaves
will be abducted.

Not too many at first...

A neighborhood-full,
perhaps...

A neighborhood like mine...

Or yours.

Those who will be abducted
sleep in dreamy ignorance,

unaware that they are
about to become the subjects

of a grotesque and
sophisticated experiment...

A feasibility study.

So what's the catastrophe
this morning?

Ralph, is fallout
anything like rain?

It's raining?

No. No, it's not raining.

But it's doing something,

and I'll bet
it's radioactive.

And there's
an uncanny noise, too.

No wonder
you're so insecure.

Pretzels for breakfast?

I'm going down
to the office.

Ralph, you haven't even
had breakfast.

I'm eating a pretzel.

Really, Ralph,

do you have to give in to
this thing on Sundays, too?

What thing?

This success compulsion
that's making us all widows.

Now, really, Ralph...

I wish you'd stop saying,
"Really, Ralph."

It sounds like you're
calling me mealy-mouth.

You could at least
have a normal breakfast.

Really, Ralph.

Morning, Doc.

Ah, good morning.

You, uh, want to diagnose
this weather?

And there's something
wrong with my car.

Hey, maybe
you're out of gas.

No.

Simon...

We didn't
say good-bye.

I'll be gone
when you get back.

Look, Doc,
I'm driving downtown.

I'll drop you.

Thank you, Mr. Cashman.

I'm going to church.

Ralph!

Ralph, come and eat.

Good morning, Doctor.

Good morning,
Mrs. Cashman.

The Doc's car
won't start.

Go take a look
under the hood, rhea.

She's one of those
housewives

who can fix anything.

Oh, really, Ralph.

Go take a look
and get out of this rain

or whatever it is, huh?

I'll see you later.

Ooh, really, Ralph.

We've been next-door
neighbors for over a year,

but we're not
next-door friends yet.

Excuse me?

Uh, never mind.

I... I wish
we were friends

so I could ask you
what's breaking you up?

How did you know
my wife and I were separating?

I didn't.

I meant
breaking you up inside.

Just an expression.

Gee, you've been married
how long now?

A year and a week.

Long enough to find out
we made an honest mistake.

That's the worst kind.

She thinks our marriage
is the beginning

of her mental and spiritual
deterioration.

Those are her words.

My father used to say,

"Ralphy,
marry a dumb girl"

or marry a smart girl,

"but keep away from
the intelligent ones."

Oh, there's your church.

Well, thanks for the lift,
Mr. Cashman.

Ralph...

Now that we
know each other.

Thank you.

Ah, ah!

No, I just haven't
been able to get a taxi.

The phone is out of order.

Didn't you
believe me?

Please don't go, Andrea.

How would you do it?

Wouldn't it hurt you
or make you resentful?

How would you adjust

to such an immoral
relationship?

Immoral?

Living with someone
you don't love.

Loving with someone
you don't... Love.

But we're
married!

Marriage is
no substitute for love.

I haven't
stopped loving you.

I'm just disappointed,
that's all.

And I'm angry.

Maybe... just
a little frightened.

But, Andrea,
I still love you.

No, not if you won't bend
just a little...

Not if you can't let me have

some part of my life
to live my own way.

Simon, love isn't
supposed to weaken,

but it should make you
able to understand

another person's
heartbeat,

even if the rhythm
is different from yours.

I can't live with you
if life has to be lived

according
to your prescriptions.

I can't! No matter
how benevolent

or secure you'd make it,

it's slavery!

It's a kind of slavery.

Rhea!

Rhea!

Rhea!

Andrea, wait!

This morning, I couldn't
get it started.

Must have been cold.
It's all right now.

Andrea...

I'm not trying to
deprive you of your rights.

I just don't want you
wandering around the world

with your camera
and your typewriter

worrying about
everybody else,

when I need you here,
always, at home

with some of that
crusader instinct

working on our marriage.

Marriage has become
insignificant

in this big, troubled
world of ours.

Maybe that's
one of the reasons

the world is in
such big trouble.

I thought marrying you

would be the greatest adventure
I'd ever know, but...

It isn't.

It's a dead-end world...

Walled in by curtains
that don't even get dirty.

Why must that be?

Why can't I go on
being part of everything?

I wanna worry.

I want to care about making
the world a better place.

Why is that wrong now
just because I'm married?

But it isn't wrong.

I work here, in one place,
in one hospital.

20 hours a day.

Well, I want
the other 4 with you.

I don't want you running
errands for some newspaper.

Why can't they get someone
else who has the time?

All I have is time.

Look, darling,
when you have a child...

I don't want
to just have a child.

I wanna plan for it.
I wanna be ready for it.

I want to at least try
to better the world

I'm going to bring it into.

Don't touch me.

Call the hospital.

Ralph?

Is that my Ralph?!

Don't touch him.

Well, what's the matter?

We're not... On Earth.

That's the same sound
I've been getting all morning.

Shall I try
one of the other neighbors?

Yes, yes,
perhaps you'd better.

He disappeared.

It's impossible.

It has to be.

Where's...

She says
he disappeared.

Well, did you see
where he went?

Yes.

Well, where?

Thin air.

No! No!
Let me go to him!

Please, Mrs. Cashman.

Let me go!

Mrs. Cashman,
it wasn't your husband!

I saw it!
It wasn't your husband!

It wasn't even a man!

Get the car. We'll take him
to the hospital.

And you stay here.

Don't come in!

I'll go away
if you will.

Do you need help?

Is it Mr. Cashman?

Ralph?

No!

Please go away!

Stay there!

I'm a Doctor.
Are you hurt?

No!

Yes.

Being afraid hurts.

Well, what are you
afraid of?

I came through the shield.

I'll be punished
if I spoil the experiment.

Stay out!

Well...

Can't I come in
and just talk to you?

I'd like to hear
about that experiment.

No.

You wouldn't
understand, anyway.

Sometimes Doctors
understand children

better than
their parents do.

I'm not a child!

I'm 16.

I'm almost an old man.

Please, can I come in?

I promise I won't...

Your kind doesn't
keep promises.

My kind?

Doctors?

All of you.

You're untrustworthy,

below-normal intelligence,

undependable,

and generally inferior,

except physically.

Well, it isn't
very manly

to hide your face
when you're trying

to give someone
an inferiority complex.

Now please come out.

I will.

I'll go back
where I came from,

but I can't let
any of you see me.

You're not supposed to.

All right.

I'll go
and tell the others

to go indoors.

Go indoors quickly.

But I...

Just go at once!

Drive down the street
a few yards and wait.

Keep the motor running.

Take me back...

Or I'll touch you!

No, Andrea, no!

Andrea, no!

Andrea!

Andrea!

God help us.

Aah!

Stop.

Stop.

Stop!

Stop!

Do you know where you are?

Nowhere on Earth.

You're on
the hot, greedy planet

which we call Luminous.

It sweats just outside
your admirable galaxy.

How did we get here?

Teleportation.

Teleportation?

As your television cameras
transmit images,

so ours... refined
and advanced, of course...

Transmit root matter.

While you
and your neighbors slept,

we borrowed, so to speak,

6 square city blocks of Earth.

Disassembling
the atoms there,

reassembling them here.

Naturally, we did not intend
that you become aware

of our experiment
until it was concluded.

Experiments
are best conducted

upon the blithely ignorant.

What kind of experiment?

Watch.

We shall exhibit
the full extent

of our physical mobility.

We do not begin life
as we end it.

Luminoid children
at birth are as yours:

Sweet, golden nuggets

in the palm of fate's hand.

But the hot organism
is in the genes,

and soon,

all too soon,

while still in
the cock-a-hoop dawn

of their maturity,

the eruptions begin.

And all luminoids
celebrate their majority

in places like this.

Like this?

We call these places
"contemplative energy plants."

We elders sit here,

doomed, immobile,

unable to do
anything but think.

And there
is our compensation.

Since no single fraction
of life energy

is wasted
on meaningless movement,

all energy...

All the mad,
monstrous force of it...

Is made available
to the mind.

Can you comprehend the scope
and skill of minds

that are never drained,

never dulled?

Minds like nuclear birds,

soaring to the most splendid
dreamings of the universe?

I cannot conceive
of such minds

sanctioning the abduction
of innocent people.

Nothing is so modifiable
as morality.

Until recently,

our youngsters produced
the end products of our dreams.

But now they rebel.

And we are helpless.

And there is so much work
to be done.

You've brought us here
to do your work for you?

We're studying
the feasibility of it...

If your small test group
survives this sultry clime.

But you've already failed!

My next-door neighbor...

Yes. He wouldn't
listen to us.

We were only trying
to keep him from going back

and betraying everything
too prematurely.

And we saw
that contagion does occur

when one of us
touches one of you.

I doubt if there
will be much of that.

And, barring any other
built-in infeasibles,

we will soon abduct
the rest of you.

All of you.

All of the brutes

that plow that brutal star
called Earth.

We can rebel, too.

You?

Vain, Fleshmen

who love their bodies
above all else

that nature
has given to them?

No.

You will obey.

At the threat of our touch,

you will obey.

And...

You will be happy.

Your life here
will be comfortable...

And secure.

And you will be free
to worship

and love and think

as haphazardly as usual.

What if some of us
do become infected,

even if we aren't
touched by one of you?

Then you won't
be able to work.

You'll be as we are.

We shall consider
the project infeasible

and turn our minds
and instruments

on other lively planets.

Go now.

A guide will show you
the way through the fog.

And tell your neighbors
to fear no fears...

And dream no dreams
of escape.

For there is no escape.

Go.

Please...

Where is my wife?

She will be returned
to you quite soon.

Where is she?

Go!

Where is my wife?!

Take him back!

Andrea.

Andrea.

Stay away, Simon.

They said this
would fade soon.

What is it?

A gas.

A sterilizing gas.

The boy didn't
touch me, but...

We were so close
in that closed car.

We breathed the same air.

They thought
I should be sterilized

as a precautionary measure.

It seems to be fading.

Oh, yes.

It's gone.

They use it to control...

The growth of their
population.

Oh, my poor darling.

I wanted our children

to inherit
a better Earth, but...

Now there won't
be any to...

And no Earth.

Not even a bad one
to bring children into.

No Earth?

If we survive here,

they'll take
every capable,

able-bodied
human being alive.

Perhaps even the old
and the useless.

They need millions
of us as laborers.

To work for them.

To manufacture
their dreams.

We can't let them abduct
the whole human race!

What can we do, Simon?

Do? Nothing!

There's nothing
that you or I can do.

Not just you and I.
Everybody.

All of us together might
think of something.

Look, there's only one
advantage we have over them.

Mobility.

But there's nowhere
we can run!

Not run, fight!

Resist!

Forgive me, Andrea.

Forgive you? Why?

For trying to put out
that spirit in you.

I just didn't understand.

Oh...

Simon, I'm awake.

I'm afraid there's no way
we can fight them, Andrea.

No.

I love you.

I didn't want
to leave you.

I gave you no choice.

That's the whole
bright mystique of life,

isn't it?

Choice.

Maybe that's
what the soul is.

Choice.

Can we live
with the loss of it?

Perhaps.

But I think it would
be better to die

trying to
win it back.

6 square blocks,
he said.

I'll go
from door to door.

I'll explain,

if anyone still
needs explanations.

We'll meet somewhere.

All of us.

We'll work
something out.

Where shall we meet?

Oh...

What's the matter?

Nothing.

What is it?
What's the matter?

Uh...

Suddenly I feel bad.

Frightened.

Suddenly it's
hitting me.

Now, I'll be
all right.

You go on.

Door to door.

But will you
come with me?

I'll meet you

wherever all
of you will meet.

Church?

Church.

Ohh.

Ohh...

Rhea!

Rhea!

Rhea!

Where's Rhea?

Where's Rhea?

Don't worry.

She'll be here.

No!

We close our doors
to no one!

No.

I don't believe you!

Let me go.

Rhea!

Let me go!

Let me go!

Rhea!

Please believe me.

They don't intend
to harm us.

Not physically.

They want us
strong and well.

They need our strength.

Our father who
art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

thy will be done, on Earth

as it is in heaven.

Give us this day
our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.

And lead us not
into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Open the door.

Please, it's my wife!

Father...

Be careful.

This man
who does nothing

and still strikes
fear in your hearts...

He's your neighbor.

His name is Ralph Cashman.

Ralph.

Don't touch me.

Andrea.

No! Don't come closer!

Oh, my...

Just...

Just from being
in the car

with that boy?

Just from breathing
the same air?

Yes.

Tell them not
to go through the fog.

It's safe here.

The air's safe here.

Is it?

Mr. Cashman and I...

We'll go back...

To them.

No.

No, we may need
your help.

We will need
your help.

We can't help you, Simon.

I don't even think
you can help yourselves.

Perhaps not.

But maybe we can
help the others.

Back on Earth.

There is no escape
for us, not for us.

We need not suffer the same fate
as Ralph Cashman,

not so long as
we stay in our homes

and never wander more than
6 blocks in any direction.

But we will never
go back to the world

we've been stolen from.

Understand that.

Never.

It's a lonely feeling,
isn't it?

But we won't be lonely
very long.

Soon, the entire
Earth's population

will be teleported
to this place.

We will live in labor camps,

we will toil and sweat

and die in controlled areas.

Some of us may
become infected.

Contagion can occur,

even when we breathe
the same air

in a confined space.

But enough of us
will survive

to make their project
feasible.

Out of the whole
world of us,

enough will survive.

If we survive.

We are their Guinea pigs.

But we are human
Guinea pigs,

which gives us some choice
in this experiment...

Human choice.

We can choose to make their
enslavement of our Earth

infeasible.

We can choose not
to escape infection.

We can deliberately
become what they are.

My wife has already
been infected.

I'm going to take her hand.

Will someone take mine?

It could have happened
to any neighborhood.

Had those who lived in this one
been less human, less brave,

it would have happened to all
the neighborhoods of the Earth.

Feasibility study ended.

Abduction of human race...
Infeasible.

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...