The Outer Limits quotes

[introduction] There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. 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 that you see and hear. We repeat: There is nothing wrong with your television set. 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.

[sign-off] We now return control of your television set to you, until next week at this same time, when the Control Voice will take you to... The Outer Limits.

The secrets of the universe don't mind. They reveal themselves to "nobodies" who care.

[closing narration] The planet Earth is a speck of dust, remote and alone in the void. There are powers in the universe inscrutable and profound. Fear cannot save us. Rage cannot help us. We must see the stranger in a new light -- the light of understanding. And to achieve this, we must begin to understand ourselves, and each other.

[opening narration] Somewhere south of the Mongolian border and north of the Tropic of Cancer, in that part of the world we call the Orient, a slumbering giant has shaken itself to wakefulness. Passed over in most histories as a nation forgotten by time, its close-packed millions in the short span of twenty years have been stirred to a fury by one man: Lee Ching Sung. A benevolent despot in his homeland, Sung stands as an irresponsible threat to peace in the eyes of the rest of the world. William Lyons Selby, candidate for the presidency of the United States -- predicted by every poll, survey and primary to be a certain winner, in the forthcoming election.

[closing narration] To Theodore Pearson, not even so monstrous a crime as the assassination of William Lyons Selby justifies an act of war; because there is no war as we knew it -- only annihilation. A great American has been killed in the service of his country. Now it is the job of those who continue to serve to carry on, guarding our freedom with dignity, and unrelenting vigilance.

[opening narration] Is this the day? Is this the beginning of the end? There is no time to wonder. No time to ask, "Why is it happening? Why is it finally happening?" There is time only for fear, for the piercing pain of panic. Do we pray...or do we merely run now and pray later? Will there be a later...or is this the day?

Now I don't care what reading of history you take. The pattern is always the same. Whenever a bacterium invasion strikes or a fire rages or a wild beast roams the streets. Then and only then do men stop fighting each other and work together to save themselves. A common enemy, a common fear. That is the only answer. If all the men of the Earth are threatened by an enemy from a hostile planet... well, gentlemen, we are going to create that enemy.

[closing narration] Scarecrows and magic and other fatal fears do not bring people closer together. There is no magic substitute for soft caring and hard work, for self-respect and mutual love. If we can learn this from the mistake these frightened men made, then their mistake will not have been merely grotesque. It will have been at least a lesson -- a lesson at last to be learned.

[opening narration] In the course of centuries, Man has devoured the Earth itself. The Machine Age has dried up the seas of oil. Industry has consumed the heartlands of coal. The Atomic Age has plundered the rare elements — uranium, cobalt, plutonium — leaving behind worthless deposits of lead and ashes. Starvation is at hand. Only here, in the void of space, is there a new source of atomic power. Above us, in the debris of the solar system, in the meteorites and asteroids, are the materials needed to drive the reactors. Yet in their distant, silent orbits, these chunks of matter are beyond the reach of man, beyond the reach of human hands, but not beyond the reach of human minds. Driving along a country road in an ordinary car is a modest man: Harold J. Finley, quiet and profound...

You wouldn't hurt anyone even if you could. You're not a violent man. You've never hated anyone, never.

Not to hurt them, no, Vera. But I have this power. It acts whether I want it to or not.

No, Harold, you don't have any power. You've always been quiet. You told me yourself you're too mild, you're too weak.

No more, Vera! I could split this ceiling open if I wanted to! I could crash down these walls. I could splinter this whole block into bricks and rubble.

Harold, you're a little man, a nobody. You don't have any power.

[closing narration] Deep beyond the kindest, gentlest soul may lurk violent thoughts, deadly wishes. Someday, Man will learn to cope with the monsters of the mind. Then, and only then, when the human mind is truly in control of itself, can we begin to utilize the great and hidden powers of the universe.

[opening narration] Where are we going? Life, the timeless, mysterious gift, is still evolving. What wonders, or terrors, does evolution hold in store for us in the next ten thousand years? In a million? In six million? Perhaps the answer lies in this old house in this old and misty valley...

The whole town must be utterly destroyed. An example must be made.

You're wrong.

The human race has a gift, professor. A gift that sets it above all the other creatures that abound upon this earth. The gift of thought, reasoning, understanding. The highly developed brain. But the human race has ceased to develop. It struggles for petty comfort and false security. There is no time for thought. Soon there will be no time for reasoning and man will lose sight of the truth.

Don't be afraid. I came back because I knew you were here.

What have you done.

I was going to destroy everyone. Suddenly, it no longer mattered. I evolved beyond hatred or revenge, or even the desire for power. I feel myself reaching that stage in the dim future of mankind when the mind will cast off the hamperings of the flesh and become all thought and no matter. A vortex of pure intelligence and space. It is the goal of evolution. Man's final destiny is to become what he imagined in the beginning when he first learned the idea of the angels.