An indifferent corporate world has taken the place of government. The world is filled with unhappy people who scramble to make money for the evil bosses. We find ourselves on a commercial ship, looking for space junk to bring back. In the process, a floating coffin comes into view. Because it is made of valuable metal, it is brought on board. As luck would have it, the greedy crew quickly opens it an finds a man (played by Corbin Bernsen) who is in this coffin because he had become recognized as one responsible for the murders of billions. What transpires is that murders begin to be committed on board. What we don't know is whether the Bernsen character (Nygard) or another one of the crew is responsible. Nygard quickly gains control of the ship. But several clues tell us that he can't have been responsible for all the carnage. As a matter of fact, he insists that he had become the scapegoat for the mega-corporation and the his actions were forced on him. It's another of those depressing, claustrophobic nightmares on board a ship that seems to have delighted the writers of The Outer Limits.
4 Reviews
Who is the traitor?
sonnyschlaegel14 February 2007
Warning: Spoilers
It's the 23rd century. The spaceship Pequod encounters a small ship that the computer of the Pequod identifies as the coffin of a reportedly dangerous sect leader. But when the crew open it, they find he isn't dead but only in stasis. After he has been revived, he makes it clear that he wants to return to Earth. And it seems he has an ally on board...
This story has some plot twists that I liked. There's a lot of suspense because you don't know who the traitor is. Plus it's not really clear at first if the sect leader is really a bad guy, or a good guy, or something in between. But the plot is not very original. It's somewhat similar to John Carpenter's 'The Thing', which also stars Keith David. (In both stories there's a crew at an outpost they can't leave. In 'The Thing' they don't know who's infected by the Thing; suspicion and tension ensue. In this story there's tension because they don't know who the traitor is; the source of the danger is different, but the basic situation is similar. Plus in both stories someone or something is in stasis first and then revived (the Thing lay frozen in the ice of the Antarctic.)) And I think there's a little plot hole; I really don't understand why they didn't kill the sect leader in the first place (back on Earth) - he's said to be dangerous - instead of putting him in a stasis. But as I have already said above, there are some good plot twists in my opinion, plus I think the actors don't disappoint, so I have given this episode seven points.
Edit / addition: There's another similarity that I didn't notice at first: the idea of a charismatic and possibly dangerous rebel leader being revived and trying to seize control of a spaceship is reminiscent of the 'Star Trek: The Original Series'-episode 'Space Seed'. In that episode, the character Khan tries to seize control of the Enterprise.
This story has some plot twists that I liked. There's a lot of suspense because you don't know who the traitor is. Plus it's not really clear at first if the sect leader is really a bad guy, or a good guy, or something in between. But the plot is not very original. It's somewhat similar to John Carpenter's 'The Thing', which also stars Keith David. (In both stories there's a crew at an outpost they can't leave. In 'The Thing' they don't know who's infected by the Thing; suspicion and tension ensue. In this story there's tension because they don't know who the traitor is; the source of the danger is different, but the basic situation is similar. Plus in both stories someone or something is in stasis first and then revived (the Thing lay frozen in the ice of the Antarctic.)) And I think there's a little plot hole; I really don't understand why they didn't kill the sect leader in the first place (back on Earth) - he's said to be dangerous - instead of putting him in a stasis. But as I have already said above, there are some good plot twists in my opinion, plus I think the actors don't disappoint, so I have given this episode seven points.
Edit / addition: There's another similarity that I didn't notice at first: the idea of a charismatic and possibly dangerous rebel leader being revived and trying to seize control of a spaceship is reminiscent of the 'Star Trek: The Original Series'-episode 'Space Seed'. In that episode, the character Khan tries to seize control of the Enterprise.
A vague mystery without a message
ryan-czech6 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The setup for this episode is great, a charismatic rebel leader awoken from stasis and a ship full of bickering, direction-less individuals with excessive personal problems topped off with a company-man representative no doubt holding secrets about the real nature of the cult leader's past and a perfect outlet for the frustrated crew.
The episode itself however is a mess. The dialogue is jumpy and confusing, character motivation and reasoning is completely opaque and worst of all there's no point to much of the dialogue, characters perform their parts in the story for no audience-discernible reason. Throughout the episode characters reference events or situations of the utmost gravity that drives all of the action and progression of the plot yet the audience is never privy to these situations of life and death.
The eventual traitor of the episode (who's identity is broad-casted clearly about a quarter of the way into the episode) and the rebel leader himself complain that the crew of the spaceship are not listening and not being reasonable and so must be killed so the much more important work back on Earth can be undertaken by the rebel leader. The problem is that they never even try to convince the starship crew with anything but vague moral platitudes and never even reference a conflict or issue back on Earth that is so important that they must be killed over it. It's incredibly hard to sympathize with the rebel leader character despite the fact that we are obviously supposed to side with him over 'the company'.
Atrocious writing and plot construction kill this story before it even has a chance. Even a solid performance by Keith David can't save this vacuous time-killing episode.
The episode itself however is a mess. The dialogue is jumpy and confusing, character motivation and reasoning is completely opaque and worst of all there's no point to much of the dialogue, characters perform their parts in the story for no audience-discernible reason. Throughout the episode characters reference events or situations of the utmost gravity that drives all of the action and progression of the plot yet the audience is never privy to these situations of life and death.
The eventual traitor of the episode (who's identity is broad-casted clearly about a quarter of the way into the episode) and the rebel leader himself complain that the crew of the spaceship are not listening and not being reasonable and so must be killed so the much more important work back on Earth can be undertaken by the rebel leader. The problem is that they never even try to convince the starship crew with anything but vague moral platitudes and never even reference a conflict or issue back on Earth that is so important that they must be killed over it. It's incredibly hard to sympathize with the rebel leader character despite the fact that we are obviously supposed to side with him over 'the company'.
Atrocious writing and plot construction kill this story before it even has a chance. Even a solid performance by Keith David can't save this vacuous time-killing episode.
Very well done. Almost gave it a 10/10.
jcarchambeau7 December 2020
Very well done. Almost gave it a 10/10. Keith David was probably selected for this role because of his role in the Thing (1984). The episode brings about the same paranoid atmosphere that you get from the Alien franchise, ST:TOS Space Seed and ST: The Wrath of Khan and The Thing.
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