The Outer Limits (1963–1965): Season 2, Episode 14 - Counterweight - full transcript

The great unknown,

limitless heavens crowded
with sparking mysteries,

challenging man's curiosity.

But the heavens
are not oceans.

Man cannot push a boat
into its currents.

And set sail
for the next horizon.

The heavens are the mystery
only science can solve.

As it penetrates
the unknown.

Sir, would you
be seated, please?

Capt. Branson?
All passengers aboard.

Thank you miss
O'Hara, you can close up now.



Yes, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is capt. Harvey Branson,

commander of space
transport, Weblow One.

Welcome aboard.

Estimated time of arrival,

Planet Antheon,
0735 their time.

261 days, 10 hours,
51 minutes from blastoff.

I wish you
a very pleasant journey.

Please fasten
your seatbelts.

There is nothing
wrong with your television set.

Do not attempt
to adjust the picture.

We are controlling
transmission.

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 inner mind to...

Wow!

Just like the real thing!

Couldn't be more frightened
if it were real.

Ladies and gentlemen,
this is capt. Branson again.

You are now traveling at a speed
of 25,000 miles per hour.

You will not hear
the rockets again.

Till we fire the retro rockets
for the Antheon landing.

You have been listening
to the voice of the future.

When interplanetary space
flights will be as commonplace.

As flights from New York
to Los Angeles.

This is a final briefing,

a summation of everything
you already know.

Try to believe it.

Even though you know
there is no planetary station.

That the spacecraft
in which you are now sitting.

Is a design for the space
transport of the future.

And that the space
through which you will fly.

Is the length of a tunnel
built over desert sands.

You have been invited to make
this first experimental flight.

Because of your
special professions.

Through you.

We will determine
whether or not.

People untrained
in space flight.

Can survive the physical
and psychological stress.

Of long confinement
in close quarters,

completely detached
from earth.

Good luck.

Capt. Branson, take over.

You may
unfasten your seatbelts.

I now call your attention
to the glass panel.

To the right
of the control cabin door.

It is the emergency alarm,
sometimes called the panic button.

From now on, it will be your only
contact with project control.

Should you use it,

this flight will be immediately
aborted, that is cancelled,

and you will all, regardless of
who pressed the button or why,

be replaced by other passengers,
disqualifying yourselves.

For passage
on the space transport.

That will make the first
actual flight to Antheon.

Thank you.

Miss O'Hara will open the bar
for a bon voyage drink.

Miss O'Hara?

Hey, what do you know?
They got a bar, too.

Nobody told me
about that!

Yeah, that's one
hardship I'll survive.

Keith Ellis,
Washington times.

Alicia Hendrix, hello.

Oh, the anthropologist.
yes.

I'm absolutely delighted.

I've read all your books,
Dr. Hendrix.

I've read most
of your columns.

Well, that ought to give us
enough to discuss,

to keep arguing
for months to come.

Joe Dix,
construction engineer.

Bridges, highways,
radar stations...

You name it, Joe Dix
will build it.

The tougher
the better.

We better get up to this bar.
My father always said

"you gotta milk the cow
before she runs dry."

Just wanted to make sure
they survived the blastoff.

Something special?

Oh, yes.

I've been,
for 10 years...

The drink, first.

I'm Henry Craif.

The ecologist?

I can't tell you
how happy I am to meet you.

There are
a thousand questions

I want to ask you about
environmental controls.

Now, for example...

Uh, later, mister...

Lint, Michael Lint.

You wouldn't know me, professor.
Uh, botanist, agronomist,

a latecomer
to photosynthesis.

Now then,

this is Alicia Hendrix.

Michael Lint.

Dr. Matthew James?

Yes?

I'm Keith Ellis, I don't
usually intrude on people,

but, uh, under
the circumstances...

Yes.

We're stuck with each other
like blind dates,

as my youngest daughter
would probably say.

We have a long way to go.

Yes.

I'm... I'm sorry. I... I... I
was thinking of my family.

Drink probably
would do me some good.

Dr. James,
Dr. Hendrix.

Dr. Hendrix.
hello.

Professor Craif.

Professor.
hello.

Mr. Lint.

Mr. Lint.

And Mr. Dix.
Joe Dix.

How do you do,
Mr. Dix?

To Antheon.

May we each find
what we're looking for.

Amen.

My plants!

Mr. Dix, are
you all right?

Yeah, I'm OK.

Professor Craif?

Yes, I'm fine.

Well, trick number one.

It's certainly
realistic.

I must admit
it scared me.

Me, too.

Man is imaginative,

he reacts to
the unexpected.

Spoken like
an anthropologist.

I call him
a living organism

that reacts
automatically

to any
environmental change

in a desperate effort
to survive.

Spoken like
an ecologist.

Yeah, well, speaking like
a plain old construction man,

I call that a waste
of good champagne.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we've just passed through
a mass of micrometeorites.

Sorry, I didn't have
a chance to warn you.

For your information, we will
be passing the planet Mercury.

Mercury's day is exactly
equal to its year, 88 days.

So one side of the planet
is always in sunlight,

the other always
in darkness.

We will be passing
on the dark side.

Who cares?

I'd call it useful information
if he'd tell us

where there's another
bottle of champagne.

Well, we have
another bottle, sir.

Well, get it out,
what are you waiting for?

It's to be saved
for the end of the trip.

Well, that's
a long way off.

And not too certain.

I think
we'll make it.

Atta girl!

And when we do, I'm going
to throw a real winger.

And when Joe Dix
throws a party, baby,

the booze flows
like the dam is broke.

No limit to the bill,
no questions asked.

Break open
that bottle, cutie.

We'll start celebrating
right now.

Uh...

Can I give you a hand?

No, thank you,
Mr. Dix.

You know, you scientists
constantly amaze me.

You're always in
the wildest places,

living the most
hair-raising adventures,

and yet you go about as though
you were in your own library.

We're like you, Mr. Ellis.

We must see
for ourselves.

Do you sometimes see something
you'd rather not?

Yes.

Sometimes, the truth
is hard to take.

I guess you newspaper guys don't
worry too much about the truth.

Oh, we get used to it.

Except when it
concerns people,

politicians,
and parasites.

Why are you taking the time
to make this trip?

To make a million,
maybe a billion bucks.

On Antheon?

Well, it figures,
I mean, uh...

I mean, that's the wide
open spaces, ain't it?

The wilderness?

All right.

First, you guys
do your explorin',

then comes
a smart businessman.

Picks up the land,
builds the cities,

the airports, the railroads...
Who knows what?

That's me.
I'm first there,

nobody stops me
from taking what I want.

A planet pioneer.

What if there are, um,

Indians?

They go.

You can't let savages stop the
progress of civilization.

Right.

Where's the panic button?

Ain't nobody
gonna press that.

How can you be
so sure?

Look, nobody's
gonna push that button

unless they blow
their top, right?

Nobody's gonna blow their
top unless they're scared.

All right, now everybody
listen to me.

This whole deal, for real,
is just like a movie, see?

Now, you take the hero.

Everybody's out
to kill him.

The bad guys,
the floods, blizzards.

Even in those
kooky horror pictures,

the most awful
looking monsters.

They're all after his blood,
or something, see?

But is the hero
scared? No. Why?

Because he knows
it ain't for real.

All right, in this movie,
we're the heroes.

Me and you.

We know it ain't real.

What have we got to
be scared of, right?

Pop that cork, baby.

I'm gonna make a toast
to all of us heroes.

Tricksters! Tricks!

I've had enough
of this kid's stuff.

Don't let it get
you down, Dix.

Remember, you're
a hero.

Listen, nobody
roughs me up

more than once
and gets away with it.

I'm gonna talk to that
captain what's-his-name?

I'm sorry, sir.

No one's allowed
in there.

Look, baby, I can read,

but my name is Joe Dix,

and signs
don't impress me.

How do you open this?

I'm capt. Branson.

Yeah, I was just
looking for you.

Why?

Look, this ship ain't
going anywhere.

Why does it need a pilot?

Because we're in flight,

even though simulated.

You don't fool me
for a minute.

I know what your job is.

You just sit up there
and push all the buttons

and make all those
kooky things happen,

like that last
little brannigan.

Is that what you wanted
to see me about?

Yeah, and...

Something else.

Look, I'm
a businessman.

I wanna make this trip,

the whole 261 days.

Now, you lay off
the tricks,

I'll make it
worth your while.

You say it, I'll pay it.
How 'bout it?

I have nothing to say
to you, Mr. Dix.

I have no control
over what happens

to this space transport.

My problem
is to keep it flying,

no matter what happens.

So what's in it
for you?

If this trip
is a success,

I'll be on the first space
transport to Antheon,

as astropilot.

I want that, maybe more
than you want those millions.

But money won't buy
the courage you need

to finish this flight.

One hint, captain,
one small hint.

Out of your
own experience,

what do you think is the
greatest danger in space flight,

especially for untrained
people like us?

The greatest danger...

I don't know,
there are so many.

Maybe the worst
are the ones

that we make
for ourselves,

by seeing things
that don't exist

except in our
own imaginations.

Oh, what an act!

How did he put it?

"The worst dangers

are the ones we
make for ourselves."

A very sensitive man.

I don't wonder,

after all these years
of adapting

to so many artificial
environments.

The guy's a phony,

that's what I say.

The joker that's
supposed to raise

all the goose pimples.

You guys are forgetting

that this whole trip
to nowhere is rigged.

I...

What is that?

For lunch today,

you are having
porchettini al gir'arrosto.

In English.

Baby pig barbequed
on a spit.

Oh, delightful.

Fantastic.

Oh, what's that?

Due to space restrictions,

our food is highly
concentrated,

providing sufficient
nourishment,

but little
gustatory pleasure.

Researchers indicated that
extraneous sensory events

such as the suggestion

of various foods
and cooking odors

will alleviate
the monotony

resulting from the constant
and necessary consumption.

Miss O'Hara,
are you telling us

that the porchettini
is in that spray can?

Yes, sir.

Then what's in the tube?

Beef extract,
vegetable extract,

all kinds of vitamins
and minerals,

all highly concentrated.

No seasoning.

None at all.

You are advised
to concentrate

on the smell of the food
rather than the taste.

We have a magnificent
selection of odors,

such as braised
wild duck grand-mere,

coq de bruyere
au vin Rouge,

kidneys bourguignon,

barbecued spare ribs...

Oh, stop.
You're killing me.

May I help you?

They say
it's more amusing

if you make
different designs.

Now, I know
what it feels like

to be a starving artist.

Oh, miss O'Hara,
could you give me

just a little
more gravy?

Right in the face,
please?

Mmm, just a touch
too much garlic.

The space manual warned

about the dangers
of isolation,

confinement,

reduced sensory input,

boredom, depression.

Didn't mention snoring.

1,

2,

3...

I'm a woman.

More woman
than scientist.

Try as I will,

I can't forget it.

I'm getting old.

I'm wasting more...

A few years left to me
on this trip.

More of the last few years...

They were my life,
my world.

What did I do wrong?

Why couldn't I save them?

Why did my world
die in my hands?

I must...

A million.

5 million.

10 million.

Man, it won't ever stop.

I'll be first there.

Nobody better
get in my way.

Not them scientists,

anybody or anything else.

I'm going to own
that planet.

Let go of me.
Get off of me.

Get off of me.
Get off of me.

Dix, take it easy.

Somebody get this
thing off of me.

Stop it!
Stop it! Stop it!

Everybody, take...
easy, easy...

Stop it!
What's going on here?

Somebody tried
to kill me.

No.

One of you.

Which one of you
tried to kill me?

Why should one of us
want to kill you, Mr. Dix?

Perhaps to stop
his infernal snoring.

I don't snore. I never
snored in my life!

There's your enemy,
Mr. Dix.

You must be
out of your mind.

You were fighting with it
when we came in.

That's a lie. Somebody
threw it over my head

and tried to choke me.

Look, doc,

take a look,
it still burns

where somebody put a rope,
or something, around it.

Take a look!

What is it?

Does it still burn?

No. It stopped,
just like that.

What was that?

No.

You probably had
a nightmare

and dreamed
you were choking.

That was no nightmare.

There were marks
on my throat, weren't there?

Well, come on,
weren't there?

Well, yes, there... there were,
but they're gone.

It was obviously
psychosomatic.

Ah, you stay
out of this!

Try to understand, Dix.

You had a nightmare.

It was so vivid
that it left marks

on your neck
for a few seconds.

You, too. All of you,
don't tell me what happened.

You're all
against me anyhow.

Mr. Dix!

I ain't good enough for you.

You think I'm some
kind of a bum

without a fancy education.

You also snore
too much.

Look!

All right, I snore.

Is that a reason
for somebody to murder me?

I tell you somebody
tried to murder me!

Don't be afraid,
Mr. Dix.

You said it yourself.

It isn't real.

Is there something
I can do for you, Mr. Dix?

Just believe me.

Dr. James?

May I...

May I come in,
please?

Dr. Hendrix.

Please, uh...

I just want to sit here
for a few minutes.

I feel, uh,

uneasy.

A sedative?

No, no, no.

Just a hand to hold.
I, uh...

I know that sounds
infantile but...

Fear does that to one.

Especially a woman.

Doctor, you're...

You're much too mature
a woman

to need someone
to hold your hand.

You'll go to sleep much faster
if you have a sedative.

No, thank you.
I'll, uh...

I'll try to manage
without it, doctor.

Well, whatever you wish.

Good night.

Good night.

Is this your idea
of a joke?

A joke?

You... you put this
in my bed, didn't you?

What is it?

It's my
daughter's doll.

I've never seen it before.

You're lying.

No, I don't even know
that you have a daughter.

What maniac put this doll
in my bed?

I said what maniac
put this doll in my bed?

It's psychosomatic, doc.

Forget it, man.
Go to bed.

You'd die

just to spite me,
wouldn't you?

You ungrateful monsters.

Well, I'm beginning
to hate you

as much as you hate me.

But I won't let you die.

We've come this far,

we'll go all the way.

She was, uh...

She was holding this
when she died.

Yes.

You've already told us.
Many times.

My wife and my daughter
together. I...

I tried to save them,
but...

I... I didn't know how.

I'm sure you did
everything you could.

Well, I thought so.

But...

I've come to believe
that it was

my ignorance
that killed them.

I must warn you
against depression.

It's caused mostly
by the isolation,

the monotony.

We're coming into
dangerous times now.

Professor,

there's...

There's something
you must believe.

I didn't bring this
aboard with me.

Professor,

how did it get
on my bed?

I don't know.

You do see this,
professor?

You're not just kidding me
to keep me from going insane?

I see it, doctor.

But I can't explain it.

But I like it
like that.

You're not alone
on this ship.

Yeah, you name
me one person...

We're talking about
2 different things...

No, we're not...
We're talking about the same...

Now, let go
of my wrist.

You don't touch
that phonograph.

I said let go
of my wrist.

You want me
to break it?

You belong in
a jungle, you ape!

Save it, gentlemen.

You might, uh,

want to fight over me.

It ain't possible.

What are you
made up for?

A retired lady
anthropologist.

Do they all
finish this way?

Depends.

On what?

On what it
depends on.

Everything depends on
something, especially a woman.

A woman depends
on a man.

And I'm a woman
without a man,

for as long
as I can remember.

So, therefore...

I've nothing to depend on
except myself.

It's not right.

Oh!

I am a woman.

Alicia,

is for woman.

Hendrix,

is for anthropologist.

So I have decided
to become Alicia.

Look at me, Dr. James.

Every other man

is looking at me.

Call miss O'Hara.

You'd never have guessed it,

but I'm really quite
worth looking at.

Why are you looking
at that doll?

You're too old
to be looking at dolls.

Dolls are for children.

Let me have it!

He has reason for loving
that doll, Alicia.

Just as you have reasons
for wanting to be a woman.

But I don't know how.

I must...

Find out before
it's too late.

I never thought
of it until just now,

sitting here with

nothing to do.

Nothing.

I'm strong,

I'm trained,

a disciplined mind...

I must

work to forget the children
I've never had.

You come to my cabin
for a rest.

You're very pretty,
Maggie,

but you're cold
as a robot.

I'm much more woman
than you.

Yes, miss Hendrix.

The dame's sick.

No sicker than
the rest of us.

Speak for yourself,
genius.

Genius?

You're in all the
newspapers, ain't you?

Nobody's supposed to think
until you tell them how.

Don't envy me, Dix.

I never built a house.

You build a house,

you got something
you can be proud of.

Well, words don't build
anything, they...

Just hang in the air
for a minute,

until some other
words come along

and push them out of the way...
They...

Then some other words,

pushing other words...

And, and more
and more and...

No.

What's happened?

Help me get
him to the bed.

Dead.

His face...

He must have
seen something...

Something terrible.

The panic button.

Nobody pushes
that button!

Dix! Dix!

Ugh!

I'm the hero, see?

You people are out
to drive me into the ground.

You want to kill me.

I'm not scared, see?

Because I know
it's not real.

It's not real!

So,

nobody touches
that button,

nobody.

Not as long as I'm alive.

I'll kill you.

Dix, be reasonable.

We must get out of here.

We're caught
in something beyond...

Get away from the
panic button, Mr. Dix.

No!

I don't want
to kill you.

That's the only way
you're going to get to it.

We'll all die if we
don't get out of here.

Oh, in god's name,
what kind of madman

planned this
insane experiment?

Oh, no,
not madmen.

Scientists. Men of
experience, reputation.

Sadists and murderers.

No. No, they didn't
expect death.

They didn't know
about this horror.

Look, look, I'll show you
what was planned.

Everything.

This is a remote
control unit,

and with it I can...

Show me.

Turn on the lights!

Dix, what are
you doing?

Now we play it
my way.

Move over there.

Now, how come you knew
about all this?

I was one of those who
planned this experiment.

I came along
to control it.

Then what are you
scared of?

The things that
have happened

that we hadn't
planned on.

What things?

The doll.

I got choked first,

did you plan that?

No, no, but it might
have been a... a nightmare.

What else?

The oxygen failure.

It's happened before.

It's too dangerous
for untrained people.

And Lint?
What about Lint?

We're scientists.

We don't believe
in monsters.

Even now?

Why do you suppose

I want to press
the panic button.

I don't know anymore.

I'm trapped by something
beyond my knowledge,

even my understanding.

Who is it that's
attacking us?

Perhaps we're
attacking them.

Perhaps they're only defending
themselves against us.

I'm with you, professor.

I don't believe
in monsters.

I say you rigged this whole
thing for reasons of your own.

I think maybe you got
paid off by somebody

waiting with the 2nd gang.

You're a sick man.

But it is rigged,
ain't it?

There's a whole mess
of buttons

he ain't pushed yet.

How do I know this
ain't another trick?

We are finished
with tricks, Mr. Dix.

We have come to the moment
of reality.

Who?

What are you?

I come from
planet Antheon.

Are you always
like that?

I am whatever I wish
to be seen as, by you.

It's some kind of a monster.

You make your own
monsters, Mr. Dix.

That's why we have
no more Patience with you.

Why did you
wait so long?

We are not
of the planet earth.

We do not
enjoy killing.

We kill only when
there is no other solution.

I'm a newspaper man.

I deal in fact,
not fantasy.

Now fantasy
has become fact.

I don't know how
to write this story.

Begin with the fact
of 6 people.

Who thought
only of themselves.

I got a right
to make a buck!

By trying to destroy.

Whatever stands
in your way.

Are we strong enough
to destroy you?

You are children who still
believe in monsters.

Are you alive?

Alive or not,

Dr. James,
you do not know.

You are a frightened man
reaching for a panic button,

as you did
when your family died.

I don't believe it.

We made this ugly thing.

To fit the limits
of your own imaginations.

Was it you who told me
I was getting old?

You told it to yourself.

I was only reading
your deepest thoughts.

The rest was your own doing.

You see, we are
a simple people.

Give us half a chance,

and we'll destroy ourselves.

Why do you want
to do it for us?

Because you'll destroy us,
too, if we let you.

You do not know us.

We have never
hurt you,

and yet you come
to attack, to conquer.

We will not allow this.

What if we came
to you as friends?

Ready to build
instead of destroy.

To share knowledge
for knowledge, love for love.

Would you
welcome us then?

If such a time ever comes.

Then let us go back
to where we came from.

So we can learn
what we must learn.

My plants are all dead.

10 years of work,
wasted.

I thought you said
he was dead.

He was according
to my definitions.

We've gone beyond
your definitions.

Beyond the definitions any of
us have ever known before.

Will you
please explain?

Later, when we get back
where we belong.

Meanwhile,
your plants are dead,

and you have no reason
for continuing this trip.

Press the panic button.

You sure?

Press the panic button,
Mr. Lint.

No. I got a billion dollars
riding on this trip!

Nobody...

Panic button pressed.

Passengers returned.

One side always
in the sunlight.

The other always
in darkness.

The known
and the unknown.

Frightening to each other only
when they are both unknown.

And misunderstood.

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...

The outer limits.