A soldier wrongly convicted of murder is given a choice: to be the subject of a dangerous experiment with alien DNA, or the death penalty.
Opening narration[]
| "When the machinations of fear collide with man's inventive genius, the result can be both irreversible and terrifying." |
Plot[]
Sergeant Stiles is a man wrongly convicted of murdering eleven people. He is offered a choice between execution and cooperating in an experiment. His religious beliefs don't allow him to choose execution, which would amount to suicide, so he is forced into participating in a genetic experiment to splice his genes with extraterrestrial DNA that was found in a spacecraft that was destroyed by the military in order to find out more about these aliens and, in the eventual case of any conflict, fight them in the future.
As a result, Stiles gradually changes into what appears to be a horrific monster with enhanced senses and mental capacities. When his transformation is complete, he flees from his captors. However, it's revealed that his captors actually allowed him to escape without telling him that so that they may hunt him down with a fighting unit and kill him as part of such an eventual fight, speculating that he would play along with it in order to stay alive and free.
However, in the end, they only want to hunt him down and kill him because of his alien appearance, ignoring the fact that, despite the changes, he is still Stiles, who refuses to fight because he realises what is going on. When the end comes near for Stiles and they cruelly want to kill him as a way to find out how much he will resist before he dies in the name of such a fight, they still ignore that he is Stiles and not an alien. The tables then turn at the last moment as suddenly aliens resembling the mutated Stiles appear and neutralize the hunters, while also looking with scorn at them. After that, they go to Stiles, who they respect, and invite him to come with them. He accepts with relief and the aliens and Stiles then beam away, leaving his pursuers behind.
The government unit then realizes in full that they had been tested right from the start by the aliens, who allowed the destruction of the ship and the placement of DNA inside it as part of a plan to find out how they would react to their presence and that they had utterly failed the test regarding their reaction towards them. The one responsible for everything, Maculhaney, is then disowned for his actions by Dr. Kersaw, who objected to the hunt, realized the truth first and who then takes over the unit.
Closing narration[]
| "Can the true reason we so fear the unknown be that we know ourselves...too well?" |
Notes[]
- The technology tied directly to the biological signature of its originating race is remarkably similar to one of the central concepts of the 2009 film District 9.
- The shot of the helicopter arriving at the base was reused in "Final Exam". Coincidentally, Garvin Cross also appeared in that episode. One of the exterior shots of the base was also used as the USAS debriefing center in "The Vessel".
- This episode is included on The Outer Limits: Aliens Among Us Collection DVD set.
- Archive footage from this episode was presented as a security recording on the exposé program The Whole Truth in the clip show "A Special Edition".
- This is the only episode written by John F. Whelpley.
Cast[]
- Clancy Brown as Sergeant Linden Styles
- Barbara Garrick as Dr. Ellen Kersaw
- Duncan Fraser as General Post
- Alan Rachins as Maculhaney
- Sean Allan as Priest
- Robin Mossley as Doctor
- Mig Macario as Lab Tech (as Michael Andaluz)
- Richard Leacock as Taylor
- Garvin Cross as Hawkes
- Terry Howson as Alien
- Kevin Conway as the Control Voice (voice)