The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 1, Episode 5 - The Sixth Finger - full transcript

Your ignorance
makes me ill and angry.

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...

Where are we going?

Life... the timeless,
mysterious gift...

Is still evolving.

What wonders or terrors
does evolution

hold in store for us
in the next 10,000 years?

In a million?
In 6 million?

Mrs. Ives?

Mrs. Ives?

Perhaps the answer
lies in this old house

in this old
and misty valley.

What are you doing here?

I'm Kathy.



Oh.

Indeed.

I brought you
fresh bread,

and I was looking to be paid
by your housekeeper... Mrs. Ives.

That woman is never around
when she's needed.

It's impossible to find
good help here.

I can't even
find an assistant.

Fresh bread did you say?
Give it here.

Ah...

One and tuppence,
please.

Oh, yes.

I didn't take any time out
for breakfast,

and I've been working all night.
One and tuppence.

Thank you.

Uh, what kind of work
is it you do here?

I'm a professor of genetics.

This bread is very good.
Do you have any more?

That was the last, but I can
bring you some more

if you can wait.

I can wait. Only hurry. I can't
wait very long for anything.

Hurry up.

Genetics?

Genetics.

Ah, Darwin. Oh, you're
hungry, too, eh?

Well, you've had
a hard night. There.

Have you teached it
any tricks?

Oh, much more than that.
He earns his keep.

Here. File these under "mg."

Oh.

Molecular genetics.

However did he become
so smart?

I made him that way.

Can you do that
with people, too?

That, my dear,
is what I want...

Why do you ask?

I'd like to be smart.

There's someone
I'd like to be smart for.

Who are your parents?

I don't have any.

Could you make me
halfway smart?

I'd like a sample
of your blood.

It's all right.
It won't hurt.

Extend your arm.

There we are.

Now make a fist.

12 loaves
at 1 and tuppence.

And all you bring home
is 12 and tuppence?

You're holding back
1 and 9.

No, Gert.

Little miss
innocent eyes herself,

thieving from her own
sister. Give it to me.

It must've been the professor
give me the wrong change.

I'm going to teach you
to count

if I have to
beat it into you.

No, Gert. I'll get
the right change.

I've got to go back,
anyway.

Here... here now, miss witch.

Leave the helpless child be.

My customers cheat her
out of the right change,

and she isn't
bright enough to know.

Beating up never made
anybody bright, girl.

That's love
and fondness

is makes ladies
think the right way.

You know that,
don't you, Gert?

Ooh, please, Wilt.
Please, Wilt.

I'll let you go if you give me
one little sisterly kiss.

Hey, knock it off,
Wilt.

Distract
me friend, Gert.

He annoys me terrible.

Isn't this town
dirty enough?

Thanks, Wilhelm.

Well, if the professor
wants another loaf,

take it to him.

I'm going that way.

I'll walk with you.

The foreman told the manager

that I'd been making trouble
among the miners...

Spreading discontent

and acting myself superior.

Manager called me
in his office.

Asked me if I thought
I was too good for the job.

So I told him
that maybe I was.

So it's down tools for me,
and I'm out of a job.

That's it, isn't it?

Yes, Wilhelm.

All right, then,
I'll wait for you here.

No. Come on.

Well, there's
one good thing.

I'll be able to turn me
back on that mine.

I wish I could turn my back
on that whole town forever.

Life should go forward, see,
and not backward like here.

How can a man
go forward here?

It's the most backward
place in the world.

Where would you go, then?

Oh, anywhere...
To get out from under,

away from all this dirt
and stupidity,

away from that black mine
that's to blame for it all.

It would give me
great pleasure

to see this whole town
utterly destroyed.

You'll go forward, Wilhelm.
You're smarter than the others.

I'm too smart to go on
eating coal dust

for the rest of my life.

I wish I was smart.

Well, you're not stupid.

That's the big difference
between you and them others.

All I need is one
lucky break, see.

A job where I could use
my head, and I'd show them.

I'd be riding around
in a sports car

and wearing a big
gold ring on my finger.

So that's him?

Who?

The professor
from London.

Hmm. Why don't you
ask him for a job?

Don't be ridiculous.

Excuse me,
Professor Mathers.

Young Kathy's
come to see you.

Oh, Kathy.
Show her in, Mrs. Ives.

Oh, Kathy, I'm sorry
I have to disappoint you.

I'm afraid your blood
is the wrong type.

Oh, professor, it wasn't
for that I've come.

Here's my friend...
Wilhelm Griffith.

Kathy tells me you're in need
of an assistant.

I come to apply
for the job.

Do you think you're eligible
for this particular job?

I can do anything
another man can do.

And better, maybe.

Oh...

I work here on
high-frequency electronics

on a molecular level.

Are you familiar with
solid-state circuitry?

Any experience in
ordinary lab techniques?

Microscopy, biopsy,
protein analysis and synthesis?

Know anything about the
mechanical side of office work,

computer technology,

filing procedures,

stenography?

Are you trying
to make a fool of me?

On the contrary.
I was merely suggesting

that you are best adapted
for what you've been doing.

Wait. If you could
teach that monkey,

couldn't you
teach Wilhelm,

who's smarter than
anyone else in town?

Afraid it isn't that simple.

Learning is worthless

without the brain capacity
to use it.

That's what I'm working on.

Racing against time,
trying to speed up

the slow process
of evolution

by a molecular approach
to genetics.

I've already succeeded
with that ape.

He's almost human.

Now, if I could do it
with a man,

if I could create
the man of the future,

we could rise above
the animal passions

which lead to violence
and self-destruction

and develop the intelligence
that's necessary

for a peaceful
and civilized co-existence.

Will you do it with me?

You?

Yes.

You realize an experiment
always has its dangers.

I'm game for anything,

sooner than go crawling back
to that mine after my job,

spend the best of my life
like an animal in the dark.

Mrs. Ives.

Take him out
and clean him up, Mrs. Ives.

Would you take your jacket off
and sit down over there?

I need to take
a sample of your blood.

Extend your arm.

When the physical test
is completed,

and if it's successful,
well...

Now...

Make a fist.

Have I passed
the test?

You'll do.

Let's get on
with it, then.

Immediately.

What'll we do, then?

Use of selective
wavelengths,

and I can stimulate the genes
in every cell of your body

so that the superior genes
become much stronger

than the backward ones
and eventually dominate them,

thereby accelerating the inborn
mechanism of evolution

to a fantastically
high speed.

These generators are directed
into this chamber.

They're controlled
by this panel.

This lever encompasses
the entire evolutionary history

of the human race...

Backward to the protozoa,

forward... to what?

Each degree on this dial

represents 10,000 years
of evolution per minute.

You'll be the first man
ever to go forward

into our
biological future.

Still determined
to go through with it?

You're praying that
your experiment

may be a blessing
and not a curse on mankind.

Now you're hoping
you may be forgiven

for what you did
only a few years ago

when you helped to
invent an atomic bomb

that was so powerful,
it could destroy

all the life
on this planet.

It's this sense of guilt

that's made you
bury yourself down here,

trying desperately
to find a way

of making war
impossible.

How do you know that?

It's your dinner tray,

for you and the young man,
professor.

Leave it, Mrs. Ives.
We can't be disturbed now.

As you like, sir.

Don't let it
get cold now, sir.

All right.
Good night, Mrs. Ives.

It would be very unwise
and premature

for her to see you
at this stage.

You didn't tell me
my body would change.

I wasn't prepared
for a physical mutation

in the man of 20,000
years from now.

However, it's understandable,

since we evolved from
the caveman in less time.

Why didn't he change?

Not all species of monkey
evolved into man.

His obviously
lacked that potential.

Your heightened forehead

indicates more currents
in your neuronic synapses

required for
greater intelligence

and telepathic function.

Your eyes have developed
a wider field of vision

and a power of
charged concentration.

Your hand reveals the bud
of a sixth finger,

which suggests
an additional dexterity

will develop in the man
of the dim future.

It is a high price to pay
for power over other men.

Misgivings, professor?

Afraid you maybe gave
power to the wrong man?

What makes you
say that?

You should have realized
by now, Professor Mathers,

that I can
read your mind.

Professor?

Yes, what is it?

Are you all right?

You've not touched
your dinner tray.

It's stood here
all night.

We're too busy to stop.
Take it away, Mrs. Ives.

Very good, sir.

Useless, like the others.

Our intelligence tests
aren't sufficiently developed

to measure your mind
in its advanced state.

What good is intelligence
without knowledge?

I'm hungry to know things.
Learn everything.

Aah!

Fetch me books,

books about everything.

All the books you have!
I want to read them all!

Do you understand?

2 loaves... 2 and 4 pence.
Here you are, love.

Thank you, Mrs. Ives.

Uh, how is Wilhelm
keeping himself?

I ain't seen hide nor hair
of him since he first come.

Something peculiar is going on,
and it can't be good.

Look what the professor
done with that monkey.

It ain't natural.

If you was to tell...

That won't do no good.

One of these days,
I'll get to the bottom of it.

Maybe he'd see me,
please.

Ah, if you don't
believe me, come on.

You have a visitor.

I can't see anyone.

Tell him it's me.

It's miss Kathy
come to see you.

Get away. Don't bother me.

He's right, he is,

not wanting
the likes of me

breaking in
on his studies.

Come on...
Sing, Gert.

It's been years since
I heard your tender voice.

Don't be daft. What have
I got to sing about?

Humph. the funeral dirge
I'd be singing...

For all the lost things.

Speaking of lost things,
where have you been?

Delivering the bread, Gert.

All this time? What do you do
with such a plain-faced liar?

Plained face. I don't say plain faced.

I'd say, um, pudgy.

Aye... maybe even pretty

in a sad way.

Go on, get a move on.

Speak to her gentle, Gert.

She's hurting enough
these days.

That's true, ain't it?

Please, Wilt.

Not seeing handsome hide
nor golden hair

of your precious Wilhelm.

That must be hurting you
real deep.

Oh, leave her be, Wilt. He
isn't a precious anything.

He's busy.
He's very busy

doing very
important work

and trying
to better himself,

trying to make
himself better

than any of us
will ever be.

Ha ha ha ha.
Are we that typical?

The little thing
finally speaks her piece,

and who does she speak it for?

A worthless rotter who can't
even hold down a job

in an honorable profession.

You can laugh at me, but
you can't laugh at him.

He's not to be
laughed at.

Come in, professor.

I'm very grateful
to you.

You've given me the ability
to observe your culture

through the eyes of a man
20,000 years in the future.

Amazing, isn't it?

Things that endure the
ravages of time and taste.

This simple prelude,
for instance.

Bach will quite probably
outlive us all.

Have you always been able
to play this well?

I have never before touched
the keys of a piano.

Playing the piano is only
a matter of mathematics

and, to a certain degree,
of manual dexterity.

Man produces little
that is lasting.

Truly lasting.

It's understandable.

It is?

Fear, conformity,
immorality...

These are heavy burdens,

great drainers
of creative energy.

And when we are drained
of creative energy,

we do not create.

We procreate,
but we do not create.

I must get some sleep.

Yes, you must.

Your playing
won't disturb me.

Oh, I shall stop
soon, anyway.

Good night, then.

Good night, professor.

I finished these books.

Almost dawn.
Why aren't you asleep?

I no longer have
any need for sleep.

You've continued to evolve.

Your hand.
The sixth finger.

When did it develop?

Sometime during the night.

I was too absorbed in reading
to notice it.

How is it possible?

Must the pupil explain
to the teacher?

It's really quite simple.

You've released
the mechanism of evolution,

which is
a self-generating force.

It's now mutating
under its own impetus.

I am now where man will be

approximately 1 million
years from today.

Why are you laughing?

I am laughing at what is
in your mind, professor.

You think that
I've become a monster.

Need I remind you that
everything is relative?

To me, you look as monstrous
as the missing link.

We must stop this
self-generating process

before it's too late.

You must return to
the chamber immediately.

I'll set the dial backwards,
somewhere nearer to man.

Would you be willing to go back
to an ape, professor?

Who's there?

More books for you.

Set them outside.

Very good, sir.

Ahh!

Wait.

No... please...

She's dead.

Was it... An accident?

Your race is too prejudice

to tolerate any differences
from its own kind.

She saw me
only as a monster.

It was in her mind
to run to the village

and arouse its inhabitants.

They would've come with
their primitive weapons

to obliterate me.

I wanted to stop her.

I stopped her heart.

You feel no remorse?

Would it bring her back?

She was, after all,
a human being...

Same as ourselves.

Same as you, professor.

In relation to me,

she was no more advanced
than a monkey.

She wouldn't have
become civilized

for another
million years.

Heart attack.
Hmmph!

She was strong
as an ox.

If that woman's
heart stopped,

it's because somebody

put the fear
of the devil in her.

And Wilhelm Griffith
is just the one.

Ahem!

Only yesterday,

she said
there was somethin'

"very peculiar"
goin' on up there...

And she was goin' to get
to the bottom of it.

And look at her now.

Poor soul.

Here I am... Tellin'
all of this to you,

when it's
Constable Wicks

I should be
talkin' to.

Come in, Kathy.

It's no longer possible
for me to hide from others.

I've come to warn you.

I know. The constable's
already sent 2 men down here.

Ignorance breeds fear.

Why aren't you
afraid of me?

We're friends,
Wilhelm.

You've always
been kind to me.

Are you still
not afraid of me?

Ooh!

What happened?

I saw him.

What happened to him?

What terrible thing
have you done?

You rotten old man!

Unhh!

Bring him back.

Please, sir...

Bring him back
to me...

The way he was...

My Wilhelm.

Where are
you going?

The whole town must
be utterly destroyed.

An example
must be made.

You're wrong!

The human race
has a gift, professor...

The gift that sets it above
all the other creatures

that abound
upon this planet...

The gift of thought...

Of reasoning,
of understanding.

The highly developed
brain.

But the human race
has ceased to develop.

It struggles
for petty comfort

and false security.

There is no time
for thought.

Soon there will be
no time for reasoning,

and man will lose
sight of the truth.

The whole town must
be utterly destroyed.

An example
must be made.

Stand back.

Are you hurt?

No.

All that is left
of my Wilhelm is...

Is his hatred
of the town.

Your ignorance makes me
ill and angry.

Your savageness...

Must...

End.

What happened?

He was just like
a blinding light!

Then all
of a sudden, well...

But he
didn't hurt me.

It was
just as if he'd

suddenly
changed his mind.

Don't be afraid.

I came back because
I knew you were here.

What've you done?

I was going
to destroy everyone.

And suddenly...

It no longer mattered.

I evolved beyond
hatred or revenge...

Or even the desire
for power.

I could feel myself...

Reaching that... Stage

in the dim future
of mankind...

When the mind
will cast off

the hamperings
of the flesh

and become
all thought...

And no matter...

A vortex...

Of pure intelligence

in space.

It is the goal
of evolution...

Man's...
final destiny

is to become

what he imagined
in the beginning...

When he first
learned the idea

of the angels.

But that is far ahead,

and I'm impatient
to go the whole way.

That is why
I need your help.

My help?

You're the only one
I can trust.

Will you help me
to go forward?

I shall return
to that chamber.

You must
turn this dial

to its furthest
limit...

All the way
into the future...

Into infinity.

You understand?

You're crying.

You mustn't go
any further!

Come back.

Come back to me
the way you were.

Kathy...

It was you who took me
out of the blackness.

It was you
who helped me

to come this far...

To make it
possible.

Won't you help me now...

To achieve the ultimate?

Come, Kathy.

We haven't
much time.

As soon as I enter
the chamber,

push this
to the word "forward"

all the way.

Do you understand?

Not backward.

That's into the past.

And that
operates the door.

Open the door.

Now must I break
the last barrier

between the flesh
and the spirit.

Good-bye, Kathy.

I... can't let you go.

I brought him back.

And he's glad.

He touched me.

An experiment
too soon, too swift.

And yet...

May we not still hope

to discover a method
by which

within one generation
the whole human race

could be rendered
intelligent...

Beyond hatred or revenge
or the desire for power?

Is that not, after all,

the ultimate goal
of evolution?

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...