The Discarded (25 Aug. 2007)

Based on a short story by seven-time Hugo Award winner, three-time Nebula Award winner and Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Harlan Ellison ("A Boy and His Dog," "Star Trek"). Story of ... See full summary »

Director:

Jonathan Frakes

Writers:

Harlan Ellison (teleplay), Josh Olson (teleplay),

Stars:

Stephen Hawking, John Hurt, Brian Dennehy

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Stephen Hawking	...	Himself - Host (as Professor Stephen Hawking)
John Hurt	...	Samswope
Brian Dennehy	...	Bedzyk
James Denton	...	Barney Curran
Gina Chiarelli	...	Annie
Lori Ann Triolo	...	Harmony Teet (as Lori Triolo)
Donny James Lucas	...	Steve (as Donny Lucas)
Vicky Lambert	...	Frenchy
Alex Zahara	...	Bucky
Leanne Adachi	...	Sharon
Jason Diablo	...	Smiler
Brian Dobson	...	Samswope 2 (voice)
Barbara Kottmeier	...	Sis
Harlan Ellison	...	Nate
Ken Kramer	...	Schmool

Storyline

Based on a short story by seven-time Hugo Award winner, three-time Nebula Award winner and Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Harlan Ellison ("A Boy and His Dog," "Star Trek"). Story of despised minorities forever adrift in the darkness of outer space. As a last resort born out of their loneliness and despair they are forced to make an ominous pact with those responsible for their plight, in the hope that they will finally be offered refuge at home on Earth.

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Plot Keywords:

mutant | mutation | two headed person | space travel | impalement | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

25 August 2007 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Reunion Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Bedzyk asks Annie whether she ever wondered why she was 'discarded,' she answers in a few pregnant lines. At first, Annie says, "It's that thing about Malthus." Here she refers to Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), whose famous Malthusian equation argues that an exponentially increasing human population on Earth will preclude any possibility of a state of happiness or utopia for humans.

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Quotes

Bedzyk: Let me see if I can guess, Mr. Sanhedrin Earth neighbor. You want us to move our little load of misfits off L5 orbit or 'we'll blast your asses away.'
Barney Curran: Oh, no, no, no, it's not that at all! In fact, I don't think any of us down there have any idea how hard it's been for you all.
Bedzyk: Without the lubricant, huh? Just spit it out.

User Reviews

Awful ...

Sorry to say, but this movie is very bad. The dialog is empty, the characters unlikeable and after an extremely slow pace, a mediocre point is made.

The story is basically about a ship full of mutated humans who have been outcast by society. Eventually, they receive a special envoy from Earth with an unexpected message.

The basic problem is that this whole movie could have been summarized into a sentence and making a 1 hour movie out of it added nothing. What you essentially get is some effectively gross-looking characters with dialog that is so boring you want to blow their ship up every 5 minutes.

The director, Jonathon Frakes, is a bright fellow but not a very good director. That coupled with a simplistic script (and possibly other limitations) lead to this bad result. Brian Dennehy and John Hurt are well-established character actors so it's hard to believe that this is their fault.

If you recorded this on a TIVO-like device, don't fast forward through it. Delete it.