The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits was a remake of the 1960s anthology television series of the same name. It ran for six seasons on Showtime and a seventh on the Sci-Fi Channel. Unlike the original, the remake had episodes connect with one another, usually culminating in a clip show.
Opening
[edit]- Control Voice: There is nothing wrong with your television. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission. We control the horizontal, and the vertical. We can deluge you with a thousand channels, or expand one single image to crystal clarity... and beyond. We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive. 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 deepest inner mind to... The Outer Limits. Please stand by.
Season 1
[edit]The Sandkings [1.01/1.02]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Some of man's greatest achievements have been motivated by a driving need for love and acceptance. What happens when that need for recognition becomes a desire to be revered and then worshiped... like a god?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Increasingly, modern science pursues powers traditionally reserved for the Almighty. But those who encroach upon the province of the gods realize too late that the price for entrance... is destruction.
Valerie 23 [1.03]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Poets argue that you are truly alive if you possess the ability to feel and love. Scientists, on the other hand, choose to define life in terms of proteins and carbon building blocks. But what happens when these two beliefs come crashing together?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The pursuit of technology exists to make human life easier and more pleasurable. But once such forces intrude upon the most intimate parts of our lives, will we then forfeit our very soul?
Blood Brothers [1.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that civilization began when man first became capable of changing his environment. What will happen when man has the ability to change himself, when no human need be cursed by heredity? Will it be the beginning of a glorious new kind of civilization... or the end of everything we know?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] There is an old proverb that says: 'Be careful what you wish for, for it might come true.' And if your wish is for immortality, it is something you'll have to live with...for a very long time.
Second Soul [1.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Contact happened exactly one year ago, and the world changed forever. The line between life and death was blurred, crossed... then totally erased. Not through divine intervention, but another force from the heavens. A force greeted not with rapture... but with fear.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] What if you were to wake up to a different world tomorrow... a world of invaders? Would you raise your voice with the aliens, in a chant of remembrance and regret, bidding farewell to a vanished world? Or would you fight against those who might ultimately help us?
White Light Fever [1.06]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The one certainty of the human experience is death. But what might happen when our effort to prolong the inevitable starts to turn that battle around? Will someone, or something, step in to ensure the final outcome?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] For one man, the battle against death is over. But for the rest of us, the war rages on. At what point does the cost of survival... become too high a price for us to pay?
The Choice [1.07]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is the differences between people that cause conflicts - differences in religion, in race, in beliefs. What wars would be fought if the differences grew between two intelligent species: humans... and those who might ultimately replace us?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The wars of evolution are fought over generations. But sometimes only the fittest survive battles which last the briefest moments. A hundred years from now, a new race may look back and say, "This little girl's stand was a turning point."
Virtual Future [1.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Man has always been fascinated with the concept of going back in time. The question is often asked, "If you could go back, would you do anything differently?" But what if it goes the other way? We never hear the question, "Would you do anything differently, if you could go forward?"
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Time is a river winding steadily through the landscape of tomorrow. There are those who would steal a glimpse around the next bend and those who would fight the current. But the wisest are those who turn their eyes from the waters and seek out a fellow traveler to share in the journey.
Living Hell [1.09]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is a common scientific belief that humans use but a small fraction of the brain. Researchers all over the world try to unlock the secrets hidden in these darkened parts of the mind. But do we really want to unlock some secrets? And how will we deal with the dark discoveries that lie within?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If you were offered the chance to communicate with another person's mind, would you choose to do it, knowing that in return you would have to expose your own deepest and most intimate thoughts?
Corner of the Eye [1.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In a world filled with darkness, Father Anton Jonascu's faith has long been a beacon of light for those in need. But now the good father finds himself at a crossroads, in danger of losing his way.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] From the dawn of time, people have believed that angels walk among us. Some believe that demons are also in our midst. But who's to say exactly what form either will take? They could be your spouse, your boss at work, even the person sitting with you... right now.
Under the Bed [1.11]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said only children are willing to believe in the possible existence of unknown creatures. When these creatures are discovered scientists will classify them by genus, class, order and species. But to children aren't they simply the monsters that they already know?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our world has been mapped, the oceans charted, animals and plants named and indexed... or so we believe. But there are still places grownups forget they've been and it is children who remind us that there are creatures that lurk in the dark and... under the bed.
Dark Matters [1.12]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] For the crew of the transport vessel Nestor, their moment has come. The eternal night of space has vanished and the night to come will be longer, and darker, than they can possibly imagine.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Within the human soul reside mysteries dark and deep; about our frailties, our fears, our shame. Today, or a hundred years from now, the darkest matter will still lie in the human heart.
The Conversion [1.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] For every human act, there is a moment of decision: a single thought, a breath, a heartbeat... after which all possible outcomes narrow to one.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] A second chance. But redemption follows not a change of body, but a change of heart.
Quality of Mercy [1.14]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Men of war have long known that warriors must often abandon those verities they defend. Peace, human kindness, love... for they hold no meaning to the enemy. And so, to win, do we become what we despise... and despise what we become?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In the darkest of hours... in the greatest of battles... we must never forget who, or what, we are.
The New Breed [1.15]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Man has long worked to stave off the disease that can ravage us. But what can happen when the cure grows more fearsome than the disease?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Over millions of years, man has become the very paragon of animals, but we must take care not to alter what nature has taken so long to forge — or risk being burned by the very fires of creation.
The Voyage Home [1.16]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The Book of Job tells us that, "He who discovereth deep things out of darkness, bringeth out to light the shadow of death." Will man's unquenching thirst for discovery, ultimately be his undoing?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The true measure of a hero is when a man lays down his life with the knowledge that those he saves... will never know.
Caught in the Act [1.17]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Humankind has long tried to tame the forces of nature, to harness their power for our needs. But what if the very needs that drive us are the greatest power of all? Will we be able to control ourselves?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The urge to hunt and kill -- the need to mate and multiply -- these are our most primitive human drives. But they pale in comparison to the most powerful human drive of all... the need for love.
The Message [1.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] There is the silence of the oceans and the unending silence of space. There is the welcome silence of serenity and the everlasting silence of death. A cry for help is lost in the shrill noise of the world, but the faintest of whispers, when spoken in silence, can resonate across a universe.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] There is no sound, no voice, no cry in all the world that can be heard... until someone listens.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that God made man in his image, but man fell from grace. Still, man has retained from his humble beginnings the innate desire to create. But how will man's creations fare? Will they attain a measure of the divine? Or will they, too, fall from grace?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Empathy, sacrifice, love. These qualities are not confined to walls of flesh and blood but are found within the deepest, best parts of man's soul... no matter where that soul resides.
If These Walls Could Talk [1.20]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Ghosts. Haunted houses. Many maintain that such concepts have no place in our computerized twentieth century reality. But until man conquers death, one inevitable question will always linger within the recesses of the human mind: What lies beyond?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] What lies beyond? For each of us, the answer awaits at the end of life's journey. Until then, we must live with the ghosts that dwell, not in some musty basement, but within the recesses of the human soul.
Birthright [1.21]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The Roman philosopher Boethius said, "In other living creatures, the ignorance of themselves is nature, but in men it is a vice." Imagine treading into the deep recesses of one's self and finding someone you never knew existed.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] People have long feared invasion by forces from other worlds. If that horror comes to pass, our leaders will stand as our first line of defense... unless, of course, our leaders themselves... are the invaders.
The Voice of Reason [1.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] What is our last line of defense? Is it the military, with all of their power and might? Or is it the courage of a solitary man?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Sleep soundly in the knowledge that the dawn will come. Rest assured that our leaders are watching over us. But beware. For it is only their vigilance that stands between our restful slumber... and the end of the world.
Season 2
[edit]Stitch in Time [2.01]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We all struggle to define ourselves, to live our lives with some sense of balance, with one foot in the past, and the other reaching... for an uncertain future.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our yesterdays are like a string of pearls -- unbroken -- unchanging. But if we could change our past, would that also change who we are?
Resurrection [2.02]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We have always been fascinated with the prospect of renewal. Built into the very fabric of our self-conscious is the desire for resurrection, a rebirth of body and soul... a second chance.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We live. We die. We live again. If we accept the tenuous fragility of our planet and ourselves perhaps we can avoid the necessity of rebirth in the distant future. Perhaps we can begin the second dawning of humankind... today.
Unnatural Selection [2.03]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] What will become of us when we take a hand in our own creation? In trying to create the new man, will we condemn the old?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] What are children but an extension of our own selves... a reflection of who we are and what we want to become?
I Hear You Calling [2.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The search for truth is a noble venture. But what happens when that search becomes so obsessive that we no longer find truth but instead... create it?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Nothing happens by chance. Life has a design all its own. For one person's sacrifice can be another's... salvation.
Mind Over Matter [2.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Man has taught computers to perform complex calculations, to control a factory, or to launch a spaceship, but can we teach computers to enjoy the beauty of a rose, the sound of a symphony, or the love of another human being?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] As we become ever dependent on technology, we may find that a walk down the road paved in circuitry leads us on a path of no return.
Beyond the Veil [2.06]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We do not know or fully comprehend what exists in the reaches past our world. Should we be so quick to dismiss the voices of those who say they've been... beyond the veil?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that madmen and fools are the children of God and yet we seek to confine these children to the outer reaches of society, shut away and ignored. Is it possible that what we dismiss as their mad ravings may, in fact, be... the wisdom of prophets?
First Anniversary [2.07]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] When we look in a mirror we see a reflection of ourselves. But how much more powerful than this is the reflection we see in the eyes of another? Especially in the eyes of one we hold to be more beautiful than ourselves.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We all wear masks, illusions of what we want the world to see. But when we hide our true selves from those we love... what price do we pay for that deception?
Straight and Narrow [2.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In our relentless pursuit of carrier and worldly possessions, is it we who pay the highest price or is it...our children?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It's said the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It is with the same good intentions that we blindly place our trust in those with power, the architects of our future and all too often... the manipulators of our ultimate fate.
Trial by Fire [2.09]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Is man the center of the Universe made in the image of his God? Or is mankind merely the temporary occupant of an insignificant world about to be extinguished?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] To those who would fail to heed their own words be warned: you never know who's listening.
Worlds Apart [2.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] As technology evolves, the means to communicate with each other become increasingly sophisticated. But will these means ever be sufficient to bridge the gaps between us... or will they only serve to pull us further apart?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The distances between us, so vast and so close, are so easily bridged. Not by what we make... but by what we feel.
The Refuge [2.11]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] A safe place, warm and quiet. A place to rest and recover. When all is said and done, isn't that what we all want? A safe place in someone's home... or someone's heart?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] A poet once wrote, "In dreams begins responsibility." So too, perhaps, with love. Without dreams, without the hope of a better life, a brighter future, it is difficult for love to flourish. And without love... there are no dreams.
Inconstant Moon [2.12]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Perhaps, how we face death is not as important as how we face life. To live each day with hope, with courage and with love... as if it were our last.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Moonlight can drive man to madness and lovers to swoon, but this night, for one last and glorious moment, it shines bright as a grim harbinger of dawn.
From Within [2.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The Bible says, "Judge not, for ye shall be judged." If we look beyond the weaknesses of those among us we call feeble, we may find surprising power buried within.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Mankind puts the strong, the athletic, the genius, on a pedestal. If we treated the less fortunate among us as equals, we would see that they can also become heroes.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] On the long road between cradle and grave, we travel alone. It is not the blind and random circumstances of our birth which determine the quality of our journey. That is decided by the choices made along the way.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Why do we need to belong? Is it for the fellowship of others? Or is it the fear of being left... out in the cold?
- Control Voice: [opening narration] When the machinations of fear collide with man's inventive genius, the result can be both irreversible and terrifying.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Can the true reason we so fear the unknown be that we know ourselves...too well?
The Deprogrammers [2.16]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] At what point does a human being's free will cease to exist? And if we have forfeited our free will... are we still human?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] For centuries philosophers have wrestled with the question, "Is man able to decide his destiny through his own actions or does fate have the final say?"
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that through our children we obtain a kind of immortality. An unending chain of life in which mother and child are forever linked, carrying in turn the burden of humanity.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The love of man and woman, the love of a mother and child. It is only from these places...that miracles can be born.
The Light Brigade [2.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Warriors may be forged in the fires of battle but heroes are discovered in the most unlikely of places.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The greatest horror of war is the fateful transformation of our children into heroes.
Falling Star [2.19]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We are told, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. But in these times when 'celebrity' is the drug of choice, the truly famous will tell you... fifteen minutes is rarely long enough.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In the long view of history, what difference will any of our lives make? The true measure of a life is not how many people know our names when we die... but whether we touch the lives of others.
Out of Body [2.20]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We exist in this time and in this space. But where are we when we dream, before we are born, or after we die? What if we exist in many times and many spaces...now...and forever?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Perhaps at the end of life's journey, another begins. Two hearts, two minds, two souls... one destiny.
Vanishing Act [2.21]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our lives follow a long and winding path through time. But what happens if we're forced off the course of our own destiny?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Life is, at best, an uncertain path. Perhaps, we should be grateful with what we have, for even these riches may disappear along the way.
The Sentence [2.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Crime and punishment... an age-old dilemma. Man has long sought a solution to society's ills. But at what point does the punishment itself... become a crime?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Sometimes it is an easy thing for a man to cry out for retribution until he himself has walked in the footsteps... of those suffering the penalty.
Season 3
[edit]Bits of Love [3.01]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We are now able to create devices that can project themselves in our image -- that can not only look like a human, but talk like one, express pure emotion and... even make mistakes in true human form.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Man and machine. We are reaching the point where it is harder to tell which is which, and to guess which one... will ultimately survive.
Second Thoughts [3.02]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is only human to dream of rising above one's limitations. But what if we had the power to instantly acquire the qualities that we envy in others? Would it bring real fulfillment... or a hunger that can never be filled?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] How easily we scorn what Fate has dealt us and dream of what it has not. Before we cast aside our lots, it would be wise to remember... that dreams have a way of turning into nightmares.
Re-generation [3.03]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Humans appear to be the only animals aware of their own mortality. When death comes, we console ourselves with its inevitability. But when the unthinkable happens, and a child dies before a parent, the natural order is turned upside down... as are the lives left behind.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The will to live is part of our biology. It exists in every cell, in our very DNA. Of course, sheer will can't keep us alive forever. But sometimes, it can give us... a second chance.
Last Supper [3.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Events in our past seem to slip further away with time. But what happens when they circle back and meet us head on... in the present?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Before we allow ourselves to be consumed by our regrets, we should remember the mistakes we make in life are not so important as the lessons we draw from them.
Stream of Consciousness [3.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We quantify our world in order to learn. We break it down into facts, numbers, information. But how far dare we go before we destroy its mystery?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We make tools to extend our abilities, to further our reach, and fulfill our aspirations. But we must never let them define us. For if there is no difference between tool and maker, then who will be left to build the world?
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Every child born is linked in a chain to generations past and future. But what happens when that chain is snapped?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Just as we inherited the Earth of our forefathers, we too will bequeath this world -- so long as there are children to claim the inheritance.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our history is filled with grim reminders of our inhumanity. Armies are crushed, populations ravaged, enemies imprisoned behind walls of stone. But the human spirit is not so easily confined.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Of all the needs which drive us: hunger, thirst, desire... perhaps the most powerful is the simple need to be free.
Heart's Desire [3.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Those who seek to predict the future... might first look to the past. The past is a mirror -- and those who ignore its sometimes dark reflection, are doomed to repeat it.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Will it be those seeking redemption who shall decide the future... or will those driven only by greed and envy shape our destiny? Even a hundred years later, the outcome is still very much in doubt.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] What is freedom but the ability to make choices? Between courage and cowardice, duty and love, or even... heaven and hell? The nature of the choices we make define us as human beings. We choose the world we inhabit.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Each of us creates his own world. We conjure paradises from our hopes, and nightmares born of fear. But what if they are both illusions?
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that emotions are the language of the soul. But what happens when that expression is muted? What becomes of feelings... that have no voice?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Errant computers can be reprogrammed, imperfect machines redesigned... but human beings are another matter.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] The quest to conquer death is as old as man himself. We conjure dark angels, whose untimely arrival we hope to avert with guile and perseverance. But in the end it is inevitably the grave, not hope, which prevails.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we measure how much we value life, solely by our dread of dying, then it may well be that we have no sense of its value... at all.
Double Helix [3.12]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Perhaps we should ask ourselves: will the next leap of science be a step into the future? Or a plunge into the abyss?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The more we learn about the universe around us, the more we realize how little we truly know. But we will only find what wonders await us if no false walls are built around our explorers, and no false restraints applied to the unquenchable human thirst to know it all.
Dead Man's Switch [3.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Young idealists often dream of having the power to save the world. But would that dream become a nightmare if saving the world could also mean destroying it?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our destiny is controlled by the choices we make. Those choices can turn an ordinary man into a king, or reduce him to little more than a pawn. With the fate of the world in your hands... what would you choose?
Music of the Spheres [3.14]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] For years we have searched for the answer to an eternal question: "Are we alone?". As yet, there has been no answer. Or perhaps the answer is only for those with the facility to hear it.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that music is a universal bridge, crossing the barriers of culture, age, and language. Perhaps, eventually, we will learn that it also spans those of time... and space.
The Revelations of Becka Paulson [3.15]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Even in the most innocent of minds, there are still secrets best left unrevealed.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Perhaps the descent into madness... is not a solitary journey, after all.
Bodies of Evidence [3.16]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The search for truth is a uniquely human process, a quest guided by our perception of an event. But what happens to the truth when what we see and what we think we see... are two very different things?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Some say that the truth is only what we persuade others to believe. If so, we should be wary... for truth is easily and often hidden by the arguments of those who are false.
Feasibility Study [3.17]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In a world where change is the rule, we rely on the unyielding constants in life for comfort and security... that the sun will rise, that the earth will turn. But what if we could no longer be certain of anything? To what then would we cling?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] For centuries philosophers and theologians have debated what it means to be human. Perhaps the answer has eluded us because it is so simple. To be human is to choose.
A Special Edition [3.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Sometimes, to uncover that which is hidden, we must first be made to look.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We rely upon others to inform us, but wisdom can never be taught... and we must always decide the truth for ourselves.
Season 4
[edit]Criminal Nature [4.01]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] With every scientific advance we grow closer to unlocking the mysteries of life and creation. But what have we gained if, in the process, we lose our humanity?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The most powerful thing we pass along to our children may not reside in the genes... but in the soul.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Humankind has proven to be unique among lifeforms, distinguished not only by its lofty intelligence, morality and self awareness, but also by a baser side... it is the only creature that kills for sport.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] As machines grow more human, we must be wary that we do not become... less so.
Hearts and Minds [4.03]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In order to survive, a soldier must fight many battles, physical as well as mental. But in the heat of the struggle, reality can sometimes fade, like memory, until only one thing remains certain... the first casualty of war is truth.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Humans kill for love, for revenge, for survival, and even for ideas. Perhaps the capacity to kill then is a very true part of our nature. But within this behavior, defined by fear, must we also be taught to hate?
In Another Life [4.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Do we have the power to shape our lives or are we predestined to be who we are? If our fate is but one amongst many, then whose life, if anyone's, is real?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If our lives are indeed the sum total of the choices we've made, then we cannot change who we are. But with every new choice we're given, we can change who we're going to be.
In the Zone [4.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Evolution is guided by the principle of survival of the fittest. For the human animal, the urge to compete is ingrained in our spirit. But in some arenas the rules are not clear and victory may well be an illusion.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] For the human race life is a ceaseless competition for power, for fame, even love. But when the desire for victory is reduced to winning at any cost, then we can only guarantee our defeat.
Relativity Theory [4.06]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] When we have conquered interstellar space, what will we gain? A new perspective on ourselves or only a wider scope for our arrogance?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Cultural relativity. It doesn't need to be a complicated theory. Indeed, it can be as simple, and as deadly, as a two-edged sword.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] They say seeing is believing. But the true question is... what do you believe you've seen?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Throughout history, the search for faith has led man to look to the stars and the heavens for answers. But only by looking into ourselves may we truly find it.
Rite of Passage [4.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Throughout history man has been driven to seek out his origins to determine whether he's the result of a divine plan or merely the sum of all his yesterdays. But what happens if, at the end of his search, he should discover he's neither?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Every life is a destination unknown, a journey of tragedies and triumphs that ultimately allows us to discover not only our world, but more importantly, ourselves.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Human beings naturally fear that which is unknown or different. But unless we strive to conquer those fears, they may exact a price far greater than we can bear.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said the human capacity for language is the quality which separates us from all other species on Earth. Perhaps it is also the same quality which can link us to those beyond... but only if we are willing to listen.
Identity Crisis [4.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Since our earliest beginnings, we have always believed in some form of transcendence. But when we finally discover how to transcend our own biological bodies, what exactly will we gain... and what will we leave behind?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] A great philosopher once said, "The endeavor to persist in its own being is the essence of the individual thing." But when the day comes that the mind and body can be separated... what will happen to the soul?
The Vaccine [4.11]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Along with futures we dare not imagine... come choices we dare not make.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Though survival of the fittest is the cornerstone of evolution, perhaps... the meek shall inherit the earth after all.
Fear Itself [4.12]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Experience teaches that of all the emotions, fear stands alone in its power to move us or to capture us in its grip... forever.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In a world of terrors there is nothing more fearsome than the unknown. Especially when what is unknown... is ourselves.
The Joining [4.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our history abounds with the exploits of heroes who brave overwhelming odds and live to tell the tale. But is there a point at which the determination to survive... comes at too high a price?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is nature's imperative that the differences among us endure. But what if we can no longer distinguish one being from another?
To Tell the Truth [4.14]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It has been said that for the truth to exist it takes two people... one to speak it and another to hear it.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Mankind will be forever doomed to destruction, if we continue to ask for the truth but then... refuse to listen.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our children need protecting from much more than physical harm. Just as threatening to the fragile child are the dangers of the mind... and the dangers of the heart.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Let us hope that no technology will ever exist that can replace human warmth and compassion. For when such a technology does exist, will we cease to be human?
Final Exam [4.16]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. But what of the man who possesses too much knowledge?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If knowledge is power and power corrupts... how will humankind ever survive?
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Evolution teaches that the failure of a species to adapt will result in extinction. But could an entire gender fall victim to the same immutable loss?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The differences between men and women have been debated among philosophers since recorded history began. If indeed males are, by their nature, the aggressor, it is this quality that may one day be their undoing.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It was once written: "To thine own self, be true". But how do we know who we really are?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Every man must confront the monster within himself... if he is ever to find peace... without.
Sarcophagus [4.19]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Humans are driven to explore their history, to rediscover forgotten lives and times. For deep down we have always known that our past... is often prologue.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] They say what you send around comes around. Perhaps, that is true, even if it sometimes takes... a thousand years.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] While some prisoners of war show bravery beyond the call of duty, others succumb to an enemy often more formidable than the one which captured them.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In our efforts to plumb the depths of our psychological endurance we may do more than drive ourselves to the breaking point... we may destroy the very world we're seeking to protect.
Promised Land [4.21]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our most powerful instinct is self-preservation. But what happens when fear and mistrust twist that drive into a force more destructive than any outside enemy?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is one of the great mysteries of existence how the smallest drop of understanding can cleanse a sea of mistrust and hate.
Balance of Nature [4.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is perhaps the central paradox of our existence... to be alive is to be aware of our mortality. Life is, by definition, a terminal disease.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Philosophers and poets concur on one fundamental truth... love will find a way, it's just a matter of time.
The Origin of Species [4.23]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Throughout the ages humans have looked to the heavens and wondered, 'Where did we come from, and where are we going?' But will we find those answers in the stars, or in ourselves?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Will we be wise enough to learn?
Phobos Rising [4.24]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] How far will mankind have to go before we realize that the only antidote to self-annihilation... is trust?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If mankind is to survive we must trust one another... and that trust begins in the human heart.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that conduct on the battlefield is the ultimate measure of a man. But often the enemy we are most afraid to face is much closer... to home.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Wars can be won or lost but in the battle waged inside a man's soul, only love can heal the wounds.
In Our Own Image [4.26]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is nature's way that life expands to fill any vacuum. But when human minds become circuits and human flesh becomes steel, what will that new life reveal?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we teach our children by example, then we only have ourselves to blame for whom they become.
Season 5
[edit]Alien Radio [5.1]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The skeptic's world is a secure one, built on unshakeable truths. But what happens when its foundation begins to crumble?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we mock that which we do not understand, we may learn too late that the penalty for such arrogance... is annihilation.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] In an age of medical miracles, who shall live and who shall die may be less a matter of chance... than a matter of choice.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our inexorable march toward death defines our lives, giving meaning to our every waking moment. But how will it change us when our fate is taken out of God's hands... and placed in our own?
Small Friends [5.3]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The longing for redemption can express itself in many forms and sometimes, indeed, the greatest obstacle we face is found within our own conscience.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that our lives are measured by what we leave behind. But for rich man and poor, the most valuable legacy of all... is love.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] We denounce the bigotry of the past, secure in our own enlightenment. But if we were to encounter a race totally unlike our own... would we remain so pure of heart?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] With each new generation, hopes for a brighter future are rekindled. But until we shrug off the shackles of hatred, we will remain prisoners of our own ignorance.
The Other Side [5.5]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] For all our medical advances, the human brain remains vast and largely uncharted. What revelations lie ahead for those who would explore this undiscovered country and what unknown dangers will they encounter on their journey?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our greatest achievements do more than heal the sick and give strength to the weak, they also lead us from the darkness to a place of hope and light.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] The burden of solitude is a mighty one... be it a lone voice echoing in the dark... or the cry of humanity in a desolate universe.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our lives are defined by our choices: paths taken, worlds explored. But once we commit, we can never go back and choose again... or can we?
The Human Operators [5.7]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] When is something truly alive? When it shows an ability to think or an instinct to survive or... when it becomes afraid to die?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Whether forged from metal or born of flesh, one simple need connects every form of life... the unquenchable thirst for freedom.
Blank Slate [5.8]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Do our memories define our identity? If we are merely the sum of our experiences, what do we become if those experiences are lost?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The same qualities that make each of us unique can also prevent us from changing who we are, even if it might be... a change for the better.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] How well can we ever know our neighbors? Perhaps we might better ask, how well do we want to?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that our relationships deepen as secrets give way to truth. It may be, however, that there are some stones better left unturned.
The Shroud [5.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Man's empirical pursuit of science has often been at odds with his need for religious faith. But what happens when these two beliefs... collide?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In Man's unending pursuit of salvation, the distractions of his science or his religion may be the very thing keeping him from his creator.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Even in the darkest corners of despair there are glimmers of light we call truth. But what if it is a light to which the rest of the world is blind?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The universe is a labyrinth so vast and mysterious that those who choose to plumb its depths may wind up lost... forever.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. But what dangers await those who cannot forget the past, those obsessed with reliving it?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The wounds of war run deep, cutting across generations. But there is always the hope of healing, so long as there are souls among us whose hearts are more full of love... than hate.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Buried deep within the heart of every conflict lies a territory known as common ground. But how do we summon the courage to seek out its borders?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Only with the realization that, what we share with our enemy is greater than what divides us, can peace ever be won.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] What makes us human? Is it our basic instincts or our noble aspirations? Are we slaves to our genetics or masters of our fate?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Perhaps we can never fully escape the animals we once were, but with our minds and our hearts, we can always fight to remain human.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] As we cocoon ourselves in the comforts that our expanding technology affords, are we insulating ourselves from the very things that make us human?
- George: There's always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets in the future.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our survival as a species depends more on our trust of one another, than of the machines on which we increasingly rely.
- Control Voice: [opening and closing narration] We exist in time, moving forever forward through the moments of our lives — moments which, once experienced, can never be relived... or can they?
The Inheritors [5.17]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] From the time our earliest ancestors looked to the stars we have wondered what secrets they held. But will we be ready when those answers are disclosed?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is our nature to fear a dark purpose in that which we do not understand. But true evil may lie more in ignorance than in suspicion.
Essence of Life [5.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Man creates laws to maintain the order of his world. But what happens when the laws of man defy the laws of nature?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The power of human emotion can neither be controlled by laws we create nor confined by the will we impose.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] The longing for adventure and discovery burns in the heart of every child. But no drive is stronger than a child's need for a parent's love.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] It is said that love and truth walk hand in hand. But if the need is great enough, can we learn to love a lie?
Fathers and Sons [5.20]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In a world where youth is valued more than wisdom... what will become of our elders?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The greatest lesson one generation can bestow upon the next... is that reverence for the past ensures the future.
Star Crossed [5.21]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Some men lose themselves in war... others find themselves.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] True sacrifice is not what we surrender, but what we ultimately gain.
Better Luck Next Time [5.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Is violence born in the heart... or in the mind? If we must kill to protect ourselves, what will that do to our souls?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In the struggle between life and death, sometimes survival is not the only way to win.
Season 6
[edit]Judgment Day [6.01]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In the face of violent crime, the thin line between justice and vengeance can grow ever thinner. But what happens when society becomes as violent as the criminals it seeks to contain?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] To those who would corrupt the search for truth... be warned. The sword of justice cuts both ways.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] From muskets to sixguns to assault weapons, the pages of our history run red with blood. But which came first, the violent impulse or the weapon which answers its call?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The path to our own destruction may lie less in the weapons we conceive... than the violence in our hearts.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that man is created in God's image. But what happens when we alter that image? Is our reflection the only thing that changes?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In an age when we are led to believe that we can be anything we want to be, what most eludes us is simply... being ourselves.
Manifest Destiny [6.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Human history is marked by our desire to expand our boundaries. But what happens when our reach exceeds our grasp?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Ultimately, our survival may depend less on our ability to overcome our enemies than the weakness of our own character.
Breaking Point [6.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Nothing in our world is more unyielding than the inexorable march of time. But what will happen when man finds a way to manipulate that awesome force?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We have always struggled to control our destiny. But even when we think we've succeeded, fate may have the final word.
The Beholder [6.06]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that what we behold with our eyes is merely the surface of reality. But if we could see beneath that facade, what would lie within?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Of all the gifts his Maker has bestowed upon man, none is more precious than his ability to love another.
Seeds of Destruction [6.07]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Who we are and what we will become are determined by our actions. But are those actions planting the seeds of our salvation... or destruction?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Let us always remember, as we sow... so shall we reap.
Simon Says [6.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] There is no greater tragedy for a parent than the loss of a child. But when does grief become obsession?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] When we endeavor to fill a terrible void, sometimes the void can consume us.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] To sleep, perchance to dream. But what happens when the dream is to never sleep again?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Unless humankind awakens to the need to preserve its future, it may one day find itself asleep... for eternity.
Down to Earth [6.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In an age of doubt, there is nothing more powerful than the need to seek answers. But what happens when the cloak is lifted and those answers... suddenly revealed?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Sometimes, the best way to hide the truth is to keep it in plain sight.
Inner Child [6.11]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Within each of us there is an internal voice that tempers our actions. But what happens when that inner self overwhelms the face we show the world?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Without darkness there would be no light. Without error, no sure path to the truth. In a world where absolutes reign, what may be most important is finding the balance.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Humanity defines itself by the capacity to think and feel. But what happens when a machine attains the same abilities?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we choose to give birth to a thinking machine, we must be prepared for the day when our progeny will demand independence.
Decompression [6.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We live in an egocentric age, where many of us believe we are the sun in our own universe. But what happens when these illusions collide with reality?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] No idea is so strong it should not be tested by doubt, and no man so powerful that he is infallible.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Who among us does not think he knows evil when he sees it? But are such distinctions really so black and white or is morality simply a matter of perspective?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Powerful ideas do not die with those who gave them birth, so long as the seeds of those ideas are planted in their followers.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] Technology is designed to serve us, to ease our burdens. But will our machines become so sophisticated that it is we who do the serving?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] When the human mind is made obselete by advancing technology, the soul may not be far behind.
Revival [6.16]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Faith is the bedrock of our religious beliefs. But what happens when that foundation is shaken to its core?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Blind faith can lead us toward the light... or plunge us into eternal darkness.
Gettysburg [6.17]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that great conflicts are not settled by words but by iron and blood. But what if we could revisit those decisions? Would we still surrender to violence?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Despite everything we do, we may never free ourselves from the bonds of fate.
Something About Harry [6.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] From the time we are children we are taught to mistrust strangers. But are we always as wary as we encourage them to be?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] As long as an enemy is judged solely by his appearance, his victory is assured.
Zig Zag [6.19]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] As we surrender more authority to our ever more capable technology, what will happen when that technology goes awry?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In the end, it may be our certainty that we are infallible which will prove our downfall.
Nest [6.20]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Physical scars are evidence of a wound long since healed. But what about the wounds we can't see? What is left behind when there is trauma to the soul?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The suffering we conceal and the sorrow we hide may only be fully understood by those who share a common pain.
Final Appeal [6.21/6.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] What will become of a world that outlaws the very tools it has always looked to for solutions?
- Control Voice: [middle narration] How is the world to survive once technology makes possible the day when one man holds our fate in his hands?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we fail to be vigilant, we may find that the same miracles which define our greatness as a species will one day spell our doom.
Season 7
[edit]Family Values [7.01]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] In society, where devotion to one's family is frequently sacrificed on the alter of ambition... can the things we sacrifice ever be regained?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Before allowing a machine to take over a part of your life, make sure that you know the true price you will be paying.
Patient Zero [7.02]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Can the fate of mankind hinge on a single act or are we helpless to change our destiny?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The answers to mankind's future problems can be found within, so long as there are those among us willing to make the sacrifice.
A New Life [7.03]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Religious devotion can lead people away from temptation and evil. But is the path as clear if that devotion is blind?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] When you blindly give up your free will to a higher authority, be sure you are not also giving up control of your ultimate destiny.
The Surrogate [7.04]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The beauty of motherhood and the miracle of new life connects us to our humanity... or does it?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The birth of a new life can be awesome and miraculous, unless it is at the expense of the human race itself.
The Vessel [7.05]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said that those who survive a brush with death see the world anew. But what if that second chance became a second life?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Few of us have the opportunity to truly begin again... to redress the flaws that tarnish our souls. But only when we remake ourselves can we remake the world.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] When we are able to instill a machine with human emotions, will we then instill it with a soul?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] When our machines are smart enough to be as destructive as a human, perhaps they will also love like one as well.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] God is said to have reached into the firmament and made humankind in his own image. But whose image will be mirrored when we gain the same awesome power?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The desire to be an individual is one of humankind's deepest longings, surpassed only by the will to survive.
Think Like a Dinosaur [7.08]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We believe that human advancement should be attained at almost any cost, but what if the ultimate payment is one's soul?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] As we pursue technological advancement, we should be careful not to abandon our humanity in the process.
Alien Shop [7.09]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The desire to barter and acquire is as deep as any part of human nature. But what happens to values when one barters with a being whose nature is not human at all?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The pursuit of material things is ultimately pointless if one loses the things that are truly valuable to the human spirit.
Worlds Within [7.10]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Tragedy touches many lives, seemingly without reason. But is there a hidden purpose that lies beneath our apparently random fates?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Despite our ever more sophisticated technology, sometimes an open mind and a caring heart are more important tools to fathom our reality -- all the way from its deepest inner reaches to its most distinct outer limits.
In the Blood [7.11]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Are we affected only by our outward experience or are there other worlds that affect us? Hidden worlds -- that exist in the heart and in the blood?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We are shaped by our experiences, both within and without, present and past... and we pass those experiences on in our blood, giving birth to new generations and sometimes... new worlds.
Flower Child [7.12]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Has humankind risen to the top of the evolutionary ladder because of its monogamous nature... or in spite of it?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Commitment and loyalty are not stuffy issues of the past, but are enduring qualities that raise us above creatures that procreate without compassion or disgression.
Free Spirit [7.13]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Heartfelt regret can sometimes serve as compensation for past misdeeds. But what happens when dark secrets resurface unexpectedly, to claim their due?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we are unwilling to heed our conscience, our worst moral judgements will inevitably come back to haunt us.
Mindreacher [7.14]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] The human mind has been compared to a house -- its rooms filled with memories, ideas and dreams. Rooms which remain essentially locked and inaccessible. But what if we could make a master key?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] If we are going to delve into the true secrets of the human soul, we must be prepared to deal with the demons that reside there.
Time to Time [7.15]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said the moving finger of fate, having written, is indelible. But what if destiny's trail could be erased and etched anew?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] As our scientific knowledge expands so do the borders of our explorations, ultimately moving beyond the bounds of three dimensions.
- Control Voice: [opening narration] When a heart has been turned cold by anger and grief, can patterns of destructive behavior be averted or are they predestined?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In an ever more complex and dangerous world, vigilance and guidance is needed for those most vulnerable to its cruelties... our children.
Rule of Law [7.17]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] As humanity spreads to the stars, we will take with us our values and our laws. But how will those laws and moral judgements apply to creatures and cultures alien to our own?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Only by cutting through the darkness of ignorance and prejudice can we achieve true justice.
Lion's Den [7.18]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] Our desire to exceed our own limitations can be a positive drive for self-improvement... or a siren calling us to self-destruction.
- Control Voice: [closing narration] The values we instill in our children are those within ourselves. We should make sure they are the values we want them to live by... and die by.
The Tipping Point [7.19]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] When we awaken an intellect within our machines, will we enter a new enlightened age or a much darker one?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] In trying to create machines that think, we should take care that we don't end up creating a new race that will supplant our own.
Dark Child [7.20]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] They say you are the sum of your experiences. But what happens when an event from your past prevents you from defining your future?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Fear can be a powerful and driving emotion but it is no match for the love between mother and child.
The Human Factor [7.21]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] We believe ourselves to be an essentially noble race. But would that same assessment be made from a truly objective view?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] We have the capacity for great good or great evil. The path of our future is ours to decide.
Human Trials [7.22]
[edit]- Control Voice: [opening narration] It is said we are judged, not by our words, but by our deeds. And yet, how many of us are ready to stand up to such scrutiny?
- Control Voice: [closing narration] Our choices define us and sometimes... doom us.
