The Outer Limits (1963) s01e13 Episode Script

( man ) 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 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 Outer Limits.
Man has always longed to know what lies beyond the world we live in .
Explorers have ventured into the deeps and the heights.
Of these explorers some are scientists, some are mystics.
Each is driven by a different purpose.
The thing they share in common is a wish to cross the borderlands that lie beyond .
.
The Outer Limits.
Primaries: one six zero, stroke nine, stroke six.
Polarity: minus five zero degrees.
This equipment won 't stand this.
You'll burn out the wiring.
Let it go.
Make a record of the field intensity.
- lt's still on ! - Shut the switch.
My hand! l can 't move it! No, centre it.
Plus to minus.
Look! My hand! Look at it! Dion ? - Can you hear me? - He's trying to reach you .
He's coming closer.
He's reaching out.
He's trying to make you a sign .
Quick, blow out the candles.
Mr Price, the candles! - What's going on ? - lt's a cloth, rigged up on this black thread.
This woman can 't reach your son , Mr Hartley.
She came in here earlier, cut a slit in the tablecloth and stuffed this under it.
- Get out of my house.
- l did not mean to trick you .
A medium must have the belief of those around her.
l would do anything to increase that belief because out of it comes hidden energy.
- Do you still say you saw my son ? - l described him to you .
His photograph is in there on your desk.
l did not see any picture.
l cannot allow you to speak about Mrs Palmer this way.
l have practised in the field of clairvoyance for 20 years and she has powers beyond your understanding.
Mr Price.
Mrs Palmer.
- l think you'd better go.
- We are going.
l am sorry for you , Mr Hartley.
l know what it is to want to reach a loved one.
l can tell you that Mrs Palmer has helped me.
Wait! Mr Hartley, there is no hope in reaching your son with these people issuing hostility.
Good night, Mr Hartley.
Why? Why did they lie to me? They're no different than anyone else.
- Money.
- They didn 't ask for money.
They wouldn 't.
They'd leave that to someone from the other world.
- My son ? - You'd do anything for him, wouldn 't you? Mr Russel, l should be grateful to you for saving me from a making a fool of myself, but just why have you appointed yourself my spiritual guardian ? You've got a lot of money.
l don 't want you to throw it away on charlatans.
And you know where you think l should throw it? Yes.
ls this another way of your asking for a new research appropriation ? You're the only man we can go to.
You're the chief stockholder and Chairman of the Board of Arrex Electronics and you're not afraid to explore.
- Are you asking me to finance an expedition ? - ln a way, yes.
You've been reaching out.
You want to go beyond the borderlands, into the unknown .
Mr Frazer has been Chief of Research at Arrex Electronics for five years, and l can tell you he is a hard-minded scientist.
l have read reports about Mr Frazer.
And Mrs Frazer is a distinguished mathematician .
Holder of the Rensselaer Chair at the Midland University.
Then you can appreciate how they work together, like the Curies on radium.
- They've made a profound discovery.
- l had very little to do with it.
My husband's a genius.
Mr Frazer, that's quite a compliment.
Are you a genius? Mr Hartley, l'm sure you are well aware of invisible forces at work in the universe, forces that are so simple children play with them, yet so powerful that entire cities draw electrical energy from their depths.
Now , these a ro two ba r mag nots And there is a field of force surrounding them, which is invisible, connecting them.
Yet it does exert an actual influence upon matter.
lt literally reaches out across space.
Turn one around, and the opposite poles repel.
l agree with you , Mr Frazer, a magnet is very mysterious.
Now follow me, sir.
ln our experiments we have discovered that the force surrounding a magnet is really an extension of mass.
How shall l say it? Mass that extends into another dimension .
- l don 't follow you .
- Let me put it this way.
This magnet is really a miniature model of all things.
The Earth, sun , trees, cells.
Everything is shaped by magnetic fields.
And what we have discovered, in this invisible field .
.
is a doorway, a doorway into the fourth dimension .
- A doorway into the fourth dimension ? - Yes.
You make Mrs Palmer sound commonplace.
l can assure you , we're talking cold, professional science.
lt does make Mrs Palmer look as normal as blueberry pie.
But if you've discovered a doorway, why do you need me? lt takes power to open the door, Mr Hartley.
Pure power.
- Financial power.
- Yes, sir.
lt takes a great deal of money to generate the energy in the amounts we need for our purpose.
With all the power in the generators at Arrex we could only open the door a crack.
You have actually opened the door to another dimension ? Yes, s r.
It was dono by a su dde n r eversa o f po anty in an electromagnetic field.
To put it simply, we switched the polarity in a magnetic field from plus to minus, and in the transition something happened.
What? We discovered a new, shall we say, direction .
Width, depth, height and beyond.
- l can 't describe it, only show you .
- Please do.
At 1 1 .
24 last night, lan Frazer reached into a magnetic field just as Eva Frazer reversed polarity.
- l was a witness.
- A witness of what? - Show him, lan .
- Mr Hartley, this is my right hand.
And with this, my left hand, l reached over into the fourth dimension .
( Hartley) Two right hands! ls this another cloth on a thread? Touch it, Mr Sawyer.
See how it joins at the wrist? ls it painful? lt just feels cold, as though it's immersed in ice water.
And there's a tingling sensation , like fine currents of electricity.
Are you sure you weren 't born with this abnormality, Mr Frazer? l'm quite sure.
And it isn 't a skin graft and it is not a trick.
Oh, no, l can see that.
l'm afraid we ruined the electric substation at Arrex.
The power surged for a few seconds and melted the output circuits.
You ask me to help you go further? We need a larger magnetic field and enough power.
- Enough power? - Yes, sir.
Enough power for a person to cross over.
But wouldn 't it kill that person ? - My hand is still alive.
- Are you prepared to risk your life? l can 't think of it that way, Mr Sawyer.
To me, it's an exploration .
l hope to see and feel and live in another world.
Tell me would you expect to see anyone? l don 't know.
l wouldn 't hold out any false hopes of contacting your son .
You could try.
Nobody knows what happens to people after they die.
l certainly can 't say they cross over into another dimension .
- But they might.
- Mr Hartley, l am scientist, not a mystic.
And l can only tell you that the realm beyond life is unknown .
Mr Frazer, Mr Russel, l will place my financial resources at your disposal on one condition : that whatever happens, you will make an earnest endeavour to contact my son .
We need enough power to light the city for one hour.
l have a certain amount of influence with the industries in this district.
Could you take this experiment into the Midland's power plant? We could construct a magnetic cell and the field coils.
Midland's will be perfect.
How soon can you be ready? - Eleven days - Seven .
Seven days.
ln seven days, the Midland power plant will be yours.
l give you my word.
Commissioner, l am not asking you .
l'm telling you .
l want the Midland plant and substation for one hour.
The hospitals can use their auxiliaries.
That is correct.
l want the entire power system for one full hour.
The governor has already agreed.
Thank you , Commissioner.
Up ahead.
Up, up, up.
Be extremely careful of the ceramics.
Come ahead slow.
Come ahead, slowly.
Slowly, not too fast.
Match the bottom legs.
That's it.
That's it.
Match the red dot with the plate on top of the cross bar.
Match the plate.
Hold off.
Settle back now.
Just press up.
Don 't drop it.
- Eva? - What? Oh.
l'll get back to you .
- You haven 't slept, have you? -Neither has lan .
He doesn 't seem to need it.
He needs it, all right.
Just won 't take it.
- Eva.
- Hmm? lf anything happens to him, l mean , anything serious, you know l'll take care of you .
(woman ) Mr Sawyer.
Mrs Palmer What do you want? - To talk business.
- You had your chance and ruined it.
l didn 't ruin it.
They turned on the lights, caught the thread.
You've been paid.
For nothing.
l was ready to do everything you told me to do.
To tell him his son was calling, to buy a plot of land.
Where is it? Freeman and Carlton .
- And who owns that piece of ground? - Be careful.
l am careful, Mr Sawyer.
Careful to collect what is due to me.
Mrs Palmer, l'm Mr Hartley's Executive Director.
l allocate the funds when and where l want.
Then you won 't mind my talking to him? Talk all you like.
lf l say you're a liar, he'll know who to believe.
)on't ce too su ro , M r Sawyer.
Something about the truth gets through to people.
l shall tell him everything you told me to say, step by step.
You'll see.
l wouldn 't give you five cents.
You'd be back every day with your hand out.
- l only need what is due to me.
- Forget it.
lf l were you , l'd leave town .
The police want a licence for sideshows.
Police.
l'll tell them a few things.
Talk all you like.
l'm asking you to talk.
I'm not a sideshow freak, Mr Sawyer.
There's more to it than you think.
- Are you going to put a curse on me? - You have a curse on you .
You want to take over, to run everybody and everything.
You want power, but you're not big enough, so you steal it piece by piece.
But it's tainted, Mr Sawyer.
Tainted and spoiled.
And you'll weaken .
You're sickly.
Step by step, you'll weaken and the power will leave you .
Thank you , Mrs Palmer.
That'll be all.
( hum of electricity) OK, l got it.
Mr Frazer.
Well, you like it.
- l guess l owe you an apology, Mr Frazer.
- Oh? What for? l was against this project.
l thought you were going to throw the money around.
But you've kept the costs within reason .
We'll be ready for tests as soon as the breakers are installed.
Mr Frazer, when you go over .
.
you might see something.
You might acquire some information that might be of value.
Of course, any such discovery is the property of the Arrex firm.
lf l discover anything, Mr Sawyer, you'll get your share.
l'm glad we had a chance to talk about this ahead of time.
l wouldn 't want you to go ahead without knowing who's in charge.
- Are you saying you won 't let us use the power? -Not at all.
You give me your word that you'll report anything of any importance to me directly, and you'll have all the power you need.
Yes, sir, Mr Sawyer.
Good.
- What are those? - These are elements.
We're about to test the effect of reversal.
l thought you were using living matter.
- We have to do some preliminary tests.
- You've only got the plant for one hour.
This first test will only take half power at three seconds.
My husband's about to risk his life.
He has a right to be safe.
- Leave them alone.
- Mr Sawyer, Mr Hartley, please.
Go to the safety shield.
We're going to divert over a billion volts.
One fault in the ceramics and we'll get an overload worse than any thunderstorm you've ever seen .
Stand by.
Stand by, please.
All clear.
All clear, please.
(generators powering up ) - Stand by.
- ( Eva ) Generators half.
( Russel) Load one through six zero.
Six zero.
( Eva ) One through six zero.
Six one through one two zero.
One, two zero.
- Six one through one two zero.
- Power reading? Primaries: one seven one, stroke one one, stroke one seven .
Transfer load to magnetic circuit.
What are they doing? Some kind of experiment.
Why are they using so much electricity? Probably turning lead into gold.
Stand by to cut to main breaker.
- Here it comes.
- Tell me when it's at half.
Minus three one degrees.
Polarity.
Polarity reverse! Three, two, one All right, pull 'em out! Let me see.
Seals are reversed.
Temperature's diminished.
We have to examine them under the electron microscope.
- How long will that take? - A few minutes.
Well, how can you tell if they're reversed? We're more interested in stress analysis.
Structural faults, crushing, melting.
Eva, let's get a move on .
l'm holding at half.
- Bring it up two thirds.
Set up phase two.
- Phase two.
- What's that for? - We have to use ordinary objects.
We're testing for mirror images.
Right, left hand, reversal phenomena.
( Eva ) Generator, two thirds.
Mr Sawyer, better clear out of there.
The power increase might cause a flare-up.
Stand by.
Load one through one two zero.
One two zero.
(powering up continues) One through one two zero.
One two zero to red line.
Red line.
( Eva ) One two zero to red line.
- Red line.
- Power reading? Primaries: two seven one, stroke one one, stroke seven .
Polarity: minus three nine degrees.
Bring it in .
- Stand by, breakers.
- Power two thirds.
Zero.
Polarity.
Polarity reverse! - Break it! - Break it! Take 'em out! Look! They're turning those things around somehow.
l'll tell you what they're trying.
Transmigration .
Moving matter.
Probably setting up Mr Hartley for a spirit reading.
That's the way it is.
Kick us out and take our place.
You're right.
Hartley would not be here if they weren 't trying to reach over.
They put up a very good show.
l saw it.
lt turned round.
lt did more than that.
lt reversed polarity and stabilised.
But .
.
did they go into the other dimension ? They had to.
They became negative matter.
Keep going.
The ceramics ought not to lose too much temperature.
How many tests before the big one? One more.
With the scientist's best friend.
And if it lives? l'm next.
( Russel) Stand by.
Bring in from two thirds to three quarters.
(generators powering up ) - Generators in .
- Reading? Primaries: two seven one, stroke one one, stroke, three.
Polarity: minus three four degrees.
Go up six more.
Stand by, breakers.
Bring it in .
Power three quarters.
Polarity: minus one seven degrees.
Power holding? Holding.
Zero.
Polarity.
Polarity reverse! ( lan ) Ten , nine, eight, seven Keep it steady.
Six, five, four Keep it stoady! Centred.
Try to ease down .
Ease it down .
lt'll reassemble we hope.
All right.
Ease it down .
That's it.
One degree at a time.
Centre it.
l said centre it! The primaries will never take the power imbalance.
lt's centring.
lt's holding steady.
All right break it! Take him out! - ( Eva ) lt's drifted.
- ( Russel) ls it dead? lt got out of phase somehow.
lt's like a time distortion .
Yes.
lt may be a mirror image.
Some sort of X-ray effect, like glass or - Don 't touch it! - ( Eva ) lt's fading.
What happened? - We're not sure.
- You're still going? l don 't know.
We think it was the instability of the power level.
Living matter is composed of chains of molecules.
The field wasn 't steady enough to keep them sequential.
Your hand.
My hand was subjected to an overload.
We couldn 't measure how high it went.
We're gonna try at full power.
lf the field is steady, it should work.
- Linc, l need the log sheet.
- Right.
lt may have something to do with mass.
Nothing over a certain size can survive it.
- l don 't think so.
- You can 't go without further testing.
- We can 't keep using the plant.
- We'll go to the government.
lt would take months, and they might not let me go.
What about Eva? She knows how l feel.
(generators power up ) - Turn it to full.
-No reserve? l said full.
Start second-tape relay.
- Line in .
- Reading? ( Eva ) Primaries: three three one, stroke one one, stroke one.
Polarity: minus one four degrees.
- Ready, breakers.
- Ready.
( lan ) Bring it in .
Full power.
Polarity: four degrees.
- ls the power holding? - Holding.
Zero.
Polarity.
Reverse ! ( lan ) Ten , nine, eight, seven , six, five, four, three, two, one.
Break it! He's alive.
Don 't let the power decay.
Put him back in .
lf he crosses both ways, we're set.
All right, clear the area.
Generators.
Generators full.
Full power.
Zero.
Polarity.
Reverse ( Eva ) Circulation normal.
Bone structure intact.
No internal injuries.
Any radiation effects? Thank you .
Dr Sung will make the blood and tissue tests.
l'd better get ready.
- lan .
- Yeah? We should test more.
lt's bad science to go without checking every step of the way.
lt's a worse science to miss out on a prime discovery.
- Mr Hartley will give you more time.
- (sighs) Mr Sawyer won 't.
We could find another backer, somebody less eccentric.
Eva, who else would throw away millions on something sight unseen ? - There's got to be a scientific foundation .
- l'm sure there is.
lt would take a year to find them, three to persuade them.
But it faded and drifted, like short wave.
Then we lost the signal.
lt's gone, lan .
And we don 't know where.
We don 't know if it's alive or dead.
We just know that it lost its moorings and slipped away into Three years is too long to wait, even to be safe.
Eva, l've got a feeling.
l can see myself later.
Alive and well.
With you .
l've got to say it, lan .
- l see you lost.
- There's always a risk.
Whether l go now or test it a million times.
You know our topological studies are right.
You worked out the mass structure.
- l could have made an error.
- There is always uncertainty! l'm sorry.
Eva, the odds are with us.
Anyone who goes out beyond the markers takes a risk.
The ocean explorers, the first airmen , the astronauts.
They had time to test.
Dr Sung has a saying: ''lt's better to live two weeks as a tiger than a whole lifetime as a lamb.
'' lan l'm sorry.
l guess l'm just suffering from intuition .
lan .
A clean bill of health.
No radiation effects.
No particle tracks or tissue tears.
No sign of deterioration .
- Good.
Let's go.
- Yeah.
They have no right to take over Mr Hartley.
He's our client.
- We have a right to protect our interests.
- There's nothing we can do about it.
You saw what happened when the power wasn 't on full.
They won 't let that happen again .
There's a way to ease off some power.
You don 't know these machines.
lt's like any other.
You drop something into the wheels, blow o u t a geno rator, they ve got to ose powe r You don 't want to kill anyone.
There's a big difference between being dead and being unaccounted for.
lt's no use, Mr Price.
Even if we wrecked their experiment, Mr Hartley's had a taste of their machines and tricks.
- He won 't listen to us again .
- You can help Mr Hartley.
You and you alone.
Where are you going? To look at those generators.
- You won 't do anything - Mr Hartley needs help.
lt's for his own good.
l don 't know if this UHF radio will work.
Your voice will never carry if the atmosphere is reversing polarity with you .
- lonic disturbance will probably jam it.
- You've got to use it.
We'll probably receive enough electrostatic energy to unscramble.
Not in another dimension .
But during reversal, the computers could read the mirror-image signal and reverse it.
l don 't know.
l don 't know.
lf anything goes wrong, a time drift or distortion , we've got to have communication .
Mr Russel? What are they waiting on ? Connecting some new equipment.
Communication .
Excuse me.
- Mr Frazer.
- Yes? When you cross, you're to call my son 's name, Dion .
Dion .
No less than three times.
He was killed when he was 17.
He may be disfigured.
He was crushed in his car late at night.
l gave you my word.
l'll look.
- But you mustn 't expect anything.
- But l do, Mr Frazer.
l feel it.
l feel l shall reach my son .
l'll do my best.
- Good luck.
- Thank you .
What are you going to do? lf this drops down in there, it'll cause a short circuit.
- lt's wrong, Mr Price.
- There are dozens of other generators.
The loss of one will only lessen the power a few degrees.
- lt might be enough to kill him.
- Generator failure is not unusual.
What if he crosses over and reaches the other world? You may be tampering with something very important.
He's the one who's tampering.
Your way is the right way, Mrs Palmer.
They're setting up a way to communicate with you? - We're not sure it'll transmit, but we can try.
- You understand our agreement? lf you see anything of any value, you're to report it to me and me only.
lf you use this means of communication , you're to keep your messages general.
M r Sawyer - l'll remember.
- Good luck.
- Shield.
- Check one.
- Mic one.
- Two.
- Coat one.
- Three.
- Coat two.
- Four.
- UHF.
- Five.
- Headset.
- Six.
Linc, if anything goes off the track, please , ta ke ca ro o f va Nothing's going off the track.
lan , can you hear me? Yes, l can hear you .
You are loud and clear.
The computers are patched in to track you .
Eva, l know Stand by.
Generators up to full.
(generators powering up ) - Generators at full.
- Are they lined in ? - Lined in .
- Reading? Primaries: three three one, stroke one one, stroke one.
Polarity: minus one two.
- Ready, breakers.
- Ready, breakers.
lf you lose my voice, take your own count on the second reversal.
Ready to go.
Here we go.
Bring in magnetic circuit.
- lt's holding? - Holding.
Zero.
Polarity.
Reverse ! Can you hear me? - l'm falling! - Six seconds, six seconds.
l can 't see! Don 't do it! - Breakers! - ( Linc) No! Power's failing! - Cut it off! - Build it up again ! - l can 't! - Breakers! lan , can you hear me? Can you hear me? ( lan ) Eva! - Eva! - l hear you ! l can 't hear you ! l can 't hear you ! Eva! Eva! l'm here.
l hear you .
l hear you .
( lan ) l can see you .
ln a different time.
But l can 't hear you .
Don 't try to touch me.
hero s some k nd o f ove hap o f waves Eva! - Three generators are out.
- How long to get them going? We're tying into the substation at Oxnard.
He can 't hear me, but he can see me.
You fade in and out.
l'm afraid l'll lose contact.
There's another landscape, superimposed.
l can 't tell if it's another planet, whether you're in another time.
Everything is transparent.
l'm not in either place.
Eva! Eva! l feel as though l'm falling! Don 't move! Eva! l'm drifting! There's a wind blowing! The clouds are tearing up! Eva! My time set's going.
Please Everything is reversed.
l see you .
lt's a temporal drift.
Eva! l'm going to reach forward out of the field, try and reverse my left hand! Eva! Touch me! Hold on to my hand.
lt can help keep me centred in the field! - l'm drifting! - l'm here! see a crato ha nd snow ! l'm drifting.
Eva! l'm falling! lan ! l won 't let you go! lan ! Dion ! Dion ! - Dion ! - He's calling your son .
- ( lan ) Dion ! - Dion ! -No answer.
lt's gone dead.
- He's there.
l know he's there! Go and tell him to keep on trying.
Tell Dr Sung to work the control bars.
- l'll tell him what to do! - Dr Sung, come over here! - Take over her station .
- Connect the red switches.
One one through nine.
Hold on to ten .
Power full.
(generators powering up ) Power at full.
Polarity: minus four degrees.
Take it past the red line.
- We'll black out the city.
- Black it out! Take it past the red line.
Cut in the last one! -Now the master switch! - Zero.
Polarity.
Reverse ! He's there.
l know.
Dion ! l know he's there.
Dion ! Dion ! ( Sawyer) Mr Hartley, come back.
Dion ! Where did he go? To find his son .
Eva Eva! l'm back.
- l'm back.
- Yes, darling, you're back.
Safe! ( man ) There are worlds beyond and worlds within which the explorer must explore.
But one power seems to transcend space and time, life and death.
lt is a human power which holds us safe and together when all other forces combine to tear us apart.
We call it the power of love.
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 .
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The Outer Limits.