The Outer Limits (1963) s01e27 Episode Script
Fun and Games
- Come on .
- The food! (boomerang whizzes) Fall! ( man ) There is nothing wrong with your television set.
Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We are controlling transmission .
We will control the horizontal.
We will control the vertical.
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 you see and hear.
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.
There was a moment in time when those who were brilliant and powerful also were playful.
When they took recess from their exhausting and magnificent strides toward glory, they replenished their darker passions with fun and games.
On the planet Earth, such pastimes have been civilised and drained of all but their last few drops of blood.
Nine of diamonds.
Possible.
Eight of clubs.
Nine of clubs.
Three.
Deuces bet.
Bet five.
Call.
l'll see that.
Eights and deuces.
Possible flush.
Pair of treys.
Pair of ladies.
Pair of aces for the dealer.
Two pair, bet.
l'll bet 50.
l'll pass.
Out.
l call.
l'm in .
Down the river.
That ace came off the bottom! (whistle blows) (whistle blows) (banging at door) (siren ) (banging ) ( laughter) Citizens of Onderra, the game will soon begin .
l have selected the male half of a human team from the planet Earth.
Welcome to Onderra, Mr Benson .
Never turn your back on the enemy, Mr Benson .
l thought you'd have learned that grisly fact by now.
Am l dead? You have been electro-ported to a planet called Onderra.
lt is a million , million light years away from your own .
l begin to sense that my judgement has once again been proved infallible.
l could have selected any one of you down there.
Many of you are practised jungle fighters, and most of you are in a perpetual state of panic.
l'll build a female of you .
May l ask you a question , Mr Benson ? You didn 't answer mine.
(chuckles) You are not dead.
Strange, yours is the only race whose members ask first if they are dead.
Are all of you that preoccupied with death? lt's the only game you can 't win .
Why did you go back into the room where the murder occurred? l thought you were looking for a means of escape.
What am l doing here? Why did you go back into that room? lf the cops found me there, they'd know They'd believe you must be innocent.
Very wise move, Mr Benson .
Excuse me.
l believe the moment has come to select your team-mate.
(speech inaudible ) Yes, l believe Miss Laura Hanley will do nicely.
(screams) - Where am l? - Welcome to Onderra, Miss Hanley.
- ls it a dream? - lt's a game, Miss Hanley.
A wonderful, rather terrible game.
Sanctioned by the state of Onderra, of course.
l will explain .
You will serve each other well in this game.
She is still relatively trusting and will reap the rewards of faith.
You , Mr Benson , are the net result of all the spoiling things in your world.
The rewards of evil are yours, even if you yourself are not evil.
You said you'd explain .
When civilised creatures have conquered all that they believe to be worth conquering, then one conquest remains, one elusive conquest: pleasure.
Here on Onderra, we are finished with warring, and plundering is done.
Our citizens enjoy self-respect, peace and affluence.
But a high order of civilisation does not lift the low order of passion , and so such passions must be both appeased and controlled.
We do this by providing the citizens with an unbroken succession of fun and games.
( laughs) Passionate games.
We have selected two teams, each consisting of two players, a male and a female.
You , of course, represent the planet Earth.
Your opponents come from the unnamed planet in the Calco galaxy of which you've no doubt never heard.
l will show them to you .
(squawking ) ( laughs) You will meet in The Arena, which is a small, unpleasant planet that orbits Onderra.
lt is somewhat similar to Earth, which will give you a slight advantage.
But your opponents are not as advanced as you , which will give them an even more important advantage.
- Why? - Why? - Why do you do this? - Like the man said, for kicks.
Ain 't you ever paid to see a couple of guys batter each other to death? No.
Mr Benson makes a pertinent point.
l suppose it is a vaguely valid analogy.
No, it isn 't.
Men aren 't forced to step into the ring.
- Oh, they ain 't, huh? -No, not by a high order of civilisation .
You won 't be forced to participate in this game, Miss Hanley.
Nor will Mr Benson .
The choice is yours.
Of course, if you refuse, your opponents will win by default.
- Win what? - Their lives.
And the lives of everyone else on their planet.
Which is what you will lose.
Only us? Only me and You and him.
- And everyone else on your planet.
- When ? lf you refuse to play the game, l will electro-port you back to Earth, both of you .
Our committee will then select the moment at which, for the enjoyment of our citizens, the planet Earth will be exterminated.
Quick? ln your reading of time, the entire display will take approximately five years.
For us, it will be as a firecracker in a black summer sky.
l may be wrong, but l read you to be one of those ''save humanity'' types.
Do you? So l'm just gonna say goodbye, Miss Miss Miss - What's your name again ? - Laura.
Miss Hanley.
And let the coach here electro-port you some other playmate.
Against the rules.
lf one of you returns to Earth, both of you return .
Five years, long enough to enjoy just about all there is in the world to enjoy.
Like raising a child? l don 't think l'd enjoy that.
My parents always said it was a whole lot of trouble.
- Send me back.
- You won 't change your mind? -No.
- Try to.
At least try to.
You wanna face those monsters in The Arena? You wanna die on some unpleasant planet you never even heard of? What do you owe the human race? Nothing except my own humanity.
l won 't change my mind.
Send us back! To a possible murder charge? You are the prime suspect in that act of violence, you know.
The victim saw to that, Mr Benson .
- Send me back! -No, he'll change his mind.
l will send you both back to that exact moment when your frame of mind made me choose you .
Perhaps he will change his mind, Miss Hanley.
l'll give him the length of one of his days to do so.
lf he ever consciously wishes he were facing this game instead of a more terrifying one on Earth, and if you are still willing to fight for your race, you will both find yourselves right here.
(chuckles) (whistle blows) (whistle blows) (banging ) (siren ) (banging ) ( knocking ) Just a minute.
(siren ) Oh, l heard footsteps before l heard the sirens and the whistles, l mean .
They ran down toward the fire escape.
Keep yo u r door locked, M ss a ways do (footsteps fade ) - Why'd you do that? - Don 't you remember? Laura? You mean it really happened? l didn 't dream it? l was there.
l could have dreamed of you .
l dreamed of strange girls before.
Strangers never dream the same dream.
You can sleep there.
Perhaps by morning l'll change my mind? To be willing to be your playmate up there? Please, Mike.
Change your mind.
We can win .
l know we can win .
l feel it inside me.
l feel it.
A girl once said that to me.
Anice girl.
Like you're nice.
She had the same kind of feeling.
Right before l went into the ring and took the bloodiest beating in fight history.
l almost died.
But l fought it.
l kept picturing them dumping me into some tight grave, and l fought it.
l can 't stand tight places.
l got some kind of a phobia.
Aren 't prison cells pretty tight places? l keep fighting it.
You do not wish to win by default, do you? (snarling ) That is the charm of the primitive.
No spectator, he.
( laughs) l believe Mr Benson will change his mind.
l'm convinced that you will have the battle you're longing for.
(snarls) (Onderra senatto) don't know wpy, but fee t ns de me fee t ( Laura ) Like raising a child? (Onderra senator) Tell us what you're dreaming, Mrs Hanley.
lt's about Mr Hanley, isn 't it? ( Laura ) No.
l can 't stay with you the way you are.
l can 't be married to a child.
l wanna be your wife, Arthur.
Your wife, not your Mom! ( laughs) Mom.
( knocking ) ( knocking ) - Who is it? - lt's Laura.
Please let me in , Mike.
- l had a hard time finding you .
- Well, gee, it breaks me up inside.
Mike, listen .
He gave you Most of those hours are used up.
See the morning paper? - Yes.
- Did they spell my name right? There used to be this one sports writer, he always spelled my name wrong.
lt ain 't easy to spell Benson wrong.
The day l quit the ring, he spelled it right.
Why did you quit? - Want a cigarette? -No, thanks.
That time l nearly got killed, l lost my cockiness.
That's another word for courage, isn 't it? lt might as well be.
A fighter can 't fight without one or the other.
Maybe you haven 't lost it, Mike.
Maybe what you need is one more fight.
A really life and death fight, to show you that You're one of life's little cheerleaders.
What made you call me that? Last night before l went to sleep l kept thinking about what happened to us, that dream that was as real as a nightmare.
l kept wondering, why did he pick you? lunderstand why he picked me.
l'm a born jungle type, and l'm selfish enough and scared enough to give the audience a lot of laughs and maybe a few surprises.
But you Why did he pick you to be my partner? But then l figured it out.
- You did? - He had you pegged right.
You're the cheerleader type.
Every guy oughta have one.
How can a guy quit or stop to cry or bleed when there's a pretty girl yelling at you like you're a bum but she thinks she can make you a hero? Mike You wanna know what us fighters think about you cheerleaders? You're scared of getting into the arena and screaming from the kicks and the blows.
We think you make us feel guilty so you can go on feeling innocent.
lt must be nice not to get in there and lose.
When the team loses, the cheerleader loses too.
Yeah, but it doesn 't hurt the same way.
You can always get another guy to cheer for.
Me, win or lose, l'm stuck with me.
( knocking ) Benson ? l'd like to talk to you .
Will you open the door? The fire escape's covered, Benson .
( laughs) l can 't.
l can 't.
l spend an hour in the cage .
.
and l'd die, l'd just die.
l'd die, l'd die.
(detective ) Benson , open up! (banging ) l'd rather be any place than the cage, please.
You will recall my saying that if you ever consciously wished you were facing this game instead of the more terrifying one on Earth, you would find yourselves right here.
( laughs) Your opponents are already on the planet we call The Arena.
They're waiting.
Good luck, Miss Hanley, Mr Benson .
May the best team win .
( laughs) (Onderra senator) As l told you , the unpleasant planet we call The Arena is somewhat similar to the planet Earth.
l should have added, of course, Earth as it was more than a million years ago.
Since you are natural creatures of Earth, you will have certain atmospheric advantages over your opponents, however.
For example, you require constant oxygen .
They come from a planet where oxygen is supplied only intermittently and will be burdened by the overdose they will receive in The Arena.
But your opponents do have their advantages.
You'll see they are truly primitive.
They know nothing of modern weaponry.
They have not yet conceived explosives or any of the mad mechanical magics you on Earth so deeply depend upon .
They have to be invented.
( laughs) Laura, did you tell the police about me? -No.
- Yeah, well, somebody did.
The man who was shot.
l told you l'd seen the morning papers.
- You said he was dead.
- He died on the way to the hospital.
Before he died, he named you as his murderer.
For a lousy 1 0,000 bucks.
l was supposed to throw a fight once.
When the time come, l couldn 't.
My bas c decency cost him m $1 0 ,000 He said he'd make me pay for it some way.
Don 't you believe that? Yes.
Mike.
- Mike, will we win ? - l wonder where they are.
Mike, will we? Win ? - By a knockout.
-No, Mr Benson .
A knockout will not suffice.
The fight must be to the death.
Can l strangle them or do you want blood? Or is it all right if l just get close enough to use this? - Fire it, Mr Benson .
-No, Mike.
Don 't waste the bullets.
No bullets will be wasted, Miss Hanley.
Go on , Mr Benson .
Fire it.
(Onderra senator laughs) The rules of the game, Mr Benson .
Advantages must be evenly distributed.
And since your opponents are not yet blessed with modern weaponry, l simply couldn 't allow your gun to be of any use to you .
However, it was unfair of me to allow you to make your position known .
l suggest you move on as quickly as possible.
- Come on .
- The food! (boomerang whizzes) Fall! - Wait here.
- We shouldn 't separate, not even for a moment.
Stay here.
(gasps) That does something to the odds.
We shouldn 't stay here.
One of us could have an accident.
Maybo t was Do you think he killed her? She could have fallen in while they were crossing that thing, but l don 't think so.
Why would he kill her? He'd know it would do something to the odds.
Sure, he knows.
l think l do too now.
He said the food would last three days or six days.
Three days if two of us ate it, six days if one us had it all to himself.
The odds are in his favour.
He doesn 't even have to fight us now.
He just digs in and waits someplace for us to eat ourselves to death.
No, thank you .
Something strange just hit me.
lt might lt might have to happen .
lt just might have to happen .
What? l might have to die up here.
That never occurred to you before? Yes, yes, but very distantly.
As if only my mind were thinking it.
Now l'm thinking it all over.
My My hands and my eyes, all through me.
The cheerleader needs a cheerleader.
Mike, you couldn 't kill me, could you? - l doubt it.
- But you don 't like me.
- lf l killed everybody l didn 't like - l'm serious! What do you want me to say, l don 't like you? l don 't like your type.
-No, here l'm something personal.
- What do you want? - He killed her.
- And? And he'll outlast you .
He's got twice as much food as we do.
We can stretch this.
Half today, half tomorrow.
(Onderra senator laughs) Half a loaf a day is not enough.
l told you it was absolutely vital.
You can 't survive on half its properties.
Did you think we wouldn 't have taken into account the human capacity for self-denial? - Mike.
- Shut up.
- Why are you so afraid? - Of what? l'm afraid of a lot of things.
You chose this to spending .
.
maybe spending a few hours in a prison cell.
Why? Something happened to me when l was a kid.
- lt scarred me for life.
- lt must have.
Or else you wouldn 't talk about it in that tone of voice.
Oh, so you're a psychiatrist, too, huh? As well as being a cheerleader and a missionary and a saver of humanity? - l'm a lot of things.
- l can 't stand a girl who's not a lot of things.
- What happened when you were a kid? - l went to the zoo.
l went to the zoo.
When the teacher's back was turned, one of the other kids punched me right in the face, knocked me out.
When l came to, the first thing l saw was bars.
They were just playing, you see.
They dragged me into this empty cage and locked me in there.
Only they didn 't lock me in , but l felt locked in .
l didn 't even taste the blood in my mouth.
l only tasted the terror boiling in my stomach, and l tried to yell.
l tried to yell for my mom, but l couldn 't.
And l tried to see if anybody was around to get me outta that cage.
Then l heard the voice of the teacher yelling.
She said, ''Get in there and get him out!'' So they did.
They got me out.
But you know what l think sometimes? l think they never got me out.
(Onderra senator laughs) This is very amusing.
You see what she did, citizens? She couldn 't get him to kill her, so she's run off and left him her share of the food.
(Onderra senator laughs) She'll starve herself so that he (Onderra senator laughs) Watch closely, citizens.
lt's going to get even more amusing.
( Mike ) Laura! Laura! Laura! (crack ) (boomerang whizzes) (Onderra senator) l can 't let you kill her just yet.
She hasn 't begun to suffer.
Miss Hanley, wasn 't it our understanding that you and Mr Benson were a team? You've run away again , haven 't you? Why have you run away from him, Miss Hanley? So that he can eat all the food? Or so that he can do all the fighting? Your heart is a bottomless box of virtuous motives, isn 't it? Whatever you do, you do it for someone else's good, don 't you? Your husband didn 't want you to mother him, Miss Hanley.
He wanted you to help him! lt hurts to admit that you're afraid you can 't help someone, doesn 't it? Yes, it hurts.
lt hurts.
l could help you get back to Mr Benson .
But it wouldn 't be fair, would it? People have to help themselves, don 't they, Miss Hanley? (Onderra senator laughs) All right.
Go ahead.
Mike! (boomerang whizzes) Mike! Mike Mike Mike, help.
Help me! Mike! (rustling ) Mike Mike Mom! Laura! Kill him! Don 't let him win ! You'll fall! No! No! l can hold on ! (boomerang whizzes) (creature shrieks) (Onderra senator laughs) l'm sorry, Mike.
l knew you'd fall.
And you knew it too, didn 't you? Mike.
(Onderra senator) He can 't hear you .
- Who won ? - You're still alive, aren 't you? Don 't throw me any garlands.
Your victor is in there.
l couldn 't have killed it if Mike hadn 't looked at me like that.
Well, what's the difference who saves the human race? The dull fact is it's been saved.
lt does matter.
When someone dies, it must matter.
(Onderra senator laughs) He isn 't dead.
His opponent died first.
Survivors need survive only a split moment to be considered survivors.
Rule of the game, which incidentally is ended now, Mrs Hanley.
Mike's back on Earth and if the police catch him, he'll wish he were dead.
They'll catch him, but they won 't hold him.
They know the dying man was merely having his fun and games.
Our fun is over.
Will you forgive me if? Wait.
Will l have to remember all this? Only those memories which might be helpful to you and perhaps to your marriage.
Forgive me if l seem abrupt, but l really must get busy.
lt isn 't easy to keep devising new fun and games.
(crushed glass) ( man ) 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 food! (boomerang whizzes) Fall! ( man ) There is nothing wrong with your television set.
Do not attempt to adjust the picture.
We are controlling transmission .
We will control the horizontal.
We will control the vertical.
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 you see and hear.
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.
There was a moment in time when those who were brilliant and powerful also were playful.
When they took recess from their exhausting and magnificent strides toward glory, they replenished their darker passions with fun and games.
On the planet Earth, such pastimes have been civilised and drained of all but their last few drops of blood.
Nine of diamonds.
Possible.
Eight of clubs.
Nine of clubs.
Three.
Deuces bet.
Bet five.
Call.
l'll see that.
Eights and deuces.
Possible flush.
Pair of treys.
Pair of ladies.
Pair of aces for the dealer.
Two pair, bet.
l'll bet 50.
l'll pass.
Out.
l call.
l'm in .
Down the river.
That ace came off the bottom! (whistle blows) (whistle blows) (banging at door) (siren ) (banging ) ( laughter) Citizens of Onderra, the game will soon begin .
l have selected the male half of a human team from the planet Earth.
Welcome to Onderra, Mr Benson .
Never turn your back on the enemy, Mr Benson .
l thought you'd have learned that grisly fact by now.
Am l dead? You have been electro-ported to a planet called Onderra.
lt is a million , million light years away from your own .
l begin to sense that my judgement has once again been proved infallible.
l could have selected any one of you down there.
Many of you are practised jungle fighters, and most of you are in a perpetual state of panic.
l'll build a female of you .
May l ask you a question , Mr Benson ? You didn 't answer mine.
(chuckles) You are not dead.
Strange, yours is the only race whose members ask first if they are dead.
Are all of you that preoccupied with death? lt's the only game you can 't win .
Why did you go back into the room where the murder occurred? l thought you were looking for a means of escape.
What am l doing here? Why did you go back into that room? lf the cops found me there, they'd know They'd believe you must be innocent.
Very wise move, Mr Benson .
Excuse me.
l believe the moment has come to select your team-mate.
(speech inaudible ) Yes, l believe Miss Laura Hanley will do nicely.
(screams) - Where am l? - Welcome to Onderra, Miss Hanley.
- ls it a dream? - lt's a game, Miss Hanley.
A wonderful, rather terrible game.
Sanctioned by the state of Onderra, of course.
l will explain .
You will serve each other well in this game.
She is still relatively trusting and will reap the rewards of faith.
You , Mr Benson , are the net result of all the spoiling things in your world.
The rewards of evil are yours, even if you yourself are not evil.
You said you'd explain .
When civilised creatures have conquered all that they believe to be worth conquering, then one conquest remains, one elusive conquest: pleasure.
Here on Onderra, we are finished with warring, and plundering is done.
Our citizens enjoy self-respect, peace and affluence.
But a high order of civilisation does not lift the low order of passion , and so such passions must be both appeased and controlled.
We do this by providing the citizens with an unbroken succession of fun and games.
( laughs) Passionate games.
We have selected two teams, each consisting of two players, a male and a female.
You , of course, represent the planet Earth.
Your opponents come from the unnamed planet in the Calco galaxy of which you've no doubt never heard.
l will show them to you .
(squawking ) ( laughs) You will meet in The Arena, which is a small, unpleasant planet that orbits Onderra.
lt is somewhat similar to Earth, which will give you a slight advantage.
But your opponents are not as advanced as you , which will give them an even more important advantage.
- Why? - Why? - Why do you do this? - Like the man said, for kicks.
Ain 't you ever paid to see a couple of guys batter each other to death? No.
Mr Benson makes a pertinent point.
l suppose it is a vaguely valid analogy.
No, it isn 't.
Men aren 't forced to step into the ring.
- Oh, they ain 't, huh? -No, not by a high order of civilisation .
You won 't be forced to participate in this game, Miss Hanley.
Nor will Mr Benson .
The choice is yours.
Of course, if you refuse, your opponents will win by default.
- Win what? - Their lives.
And the lives of everyone else on their planet.
Which is what you will lose.
Only us? Only me and You and him.
- And everyone else on your planet.
- When ? lf you refuse to play the game, l will electro-port you back to Earth, both of you .
Our committee will then select the moment at which, for the enjoyment of our citizens, the planet Earth will be exterminated.
Quick? ln your reading of time, the entire display will take approximately five years.
For us, it will be as a firecracker in a black summer sky.
l may be wrong, but l read you to be one of those ''save humanity'' types.
Do you? So l'm just gonna say goodbye, Miss Miss Miss - What's your name again ? - Laura.
Miss Hanley.
And let the coach here electro-port you some other playmate.
Against the rules.
lf one of you returns to Earth, both of you return .
Five years, long enough to enjoy just about all there is in the world to enjoy.
Like raising a child? l don 't think l'd enjoy that.
My parents always said it was a whole lot of trouble.
- Send me back.
- You won 't change your mind? -No.
- Try to.
At least try to.
You wanna face those monsters in The Arena? You wanna die on some unpleasant planet you never even heard of? What do you owe the human race? Nothing except my own humanity.
l won 't change my mind.
Send us back! To a possible murder charge? You are the prime suspect in that act of violence, you know.
The victim saw to that, Mr Benson .
- Send me back! -No, he'll change his mind.
l will send you both back to that exact moment when your frame of mind made me choose you .
Perhaps he will change his mind, Miss Hanley.
l'll give him the length of one of his days to do so.
lf he ever consciously wishes he were facing this game instead of a more terrifying one on Earth, and if you are still willing to fight for your race, you will both find yourselves right here.
(chuckles) (whistle blows) (whistle blows) (banging ) (siren ) (banging ) ( knocking ) Just a minute.
(siren ) Oh, l heard footsteps before l heard the sirens and the whistles, l mean .
They ran down toward the fire escape.
Keep yo u r door locked, M ss a ways do (footsteps fade ) - Why'd you do that? - Don 't you remember? Laura? You mean it really happened? l didn 't dream it? l was there.
l could have dreamed of you .
l dreamed of strange girls before.
Strangers never dream the same dream.
You can sleep there.
Perhaps by morning l'll change my mind? To be willing to be your playmate up there? Please, Mike.
Change your mind.
We can win .
l know we can win .
l feel it inside me.
l feel it.
A girl once said that to me.
Anice girl.
Like you're nice.
She had the same kind of feeling.
Right before l went into the ring and took the bloodiest beating in fight history.
l almost died.
But l fought it.
l kept picturing them dumping me into some tight grave, and l fought it.
l can 't stand tight places.
l got some kind of a phobia.
Aren 't prison cells pretty tight places? l keep fighting it.
You do not wish to win by default, do you? (snarling ) That is the charm of the primitive.
No spectator, he.
( laughs) l believe Mr Benson will change his mind.
l'm convinced that you will have the battle you're longing for.
(snarls) (Onderra senatto) don't know wpy, but fee t ns de me fee t ( Laura ) Like raising a child? (Onderra senator) Tell us what you're dreaming, Mrs Hanley.
lt's about Mr Hanley, isn 't it? ( Laura ) No.
l can 't stay with you the way you are.
l can 't be married to a child.
l wanna be your wife, Arthur.
Your wife, not your Mom! ( laughs) Mom.
( knocking ) ( knocking ) - Who is it? - lt's Laura.
Please let me in , Mike.
- l had a hard time finding you .
- Well, gee, it breaks me up inside.
Mike, listen .
He gave you Most of those hours are used up.
See the morning paper? - Yes.
- Did they spell my name right? There used to be this one sports writer, he always spelled my name wrong.
lt ain 't easy to spell Benson wrong.
The day l quit the ring, he spelled it right.
Why did you quit? - Want a cigarette? -No, thanks.
That time l nearly got killed, l lost my cockiness.
That's another word for courage, isn 't it? lt might as well be.
A fighter can 't fight without one or the other.
Maybe you haven 't lost it, Mike.
Maybe what you need is one more fight.
A really life and death fight, to show you that You're one of life's little cheerleaders.
What made you call me that? Last night before l went to sleep l kept thinking about what happened to us, that dream that was as real as a nightmare.
l kept wondering, why did he pick you? lunderstand why he picked me.
l'm a born jungle type, and l'm selfish enough and scared enough to give the audience a lot of laughs and maybe a few surprises.
But you Why did he pick you to be my partner? But then l figured it out.
- You did? - He had you pegged right.
You're the cheerleader type.
Every guy oughta have one.
How can a guy quit or stop to cry or bleed when there's a pretty girl yelling at you like you're a bum but she thinks she can make you a hero? Mike You wanna know what us fighters think about you cheerleaders? You're scared of getting into the arena and screaming from the kicks and the blows.
We think you make us feel guilty so you can go on feeling innocent.
lt must be nice not to get in there and lose.
When the team loses, the cheerleader loses too.
Yeah, but it doesn 't hurt the same way.
You can always get another guy to cheer for.
Me, win or lose, l'm stuck with me.
( knocking ) Benson ? l'd like to talk to you .
Will you open the door? The fire escape's covered, Benson .
( laughs) l can 't.
l can 't.
l spend an hour in the cage .
.
and l'd die, l'd just die.
l'd die, l'd die.
(detective ) Benson , open up! (banging ) l'd rather be any place than the cage, please.
You will recall my saying that if you ever consciously wished you were facing this game instead of the more terrifying one on Earth, you would find yourselves right here.
( laughs) Your opponents are already on the planet we call The Arena.
They're waiting.
Good luck, Miss Hanley, Mr Benson .
May the best team win .
( laughs) (Onderra senator) As l told you , the unpleasant planet we call The Arena is somewhat similar to the planet Earth.
l should have added, of course, Earth as it was more than a million years ago.
Since you are natural creatures of Earth, you will have certain atmospheric advantages over your opponents, however.
For example, you require constant oxygen .
They come from a planet where oxygen is supplied only intermittently and will be burdened by the overdose they will receive in The Arena.
But your opponents do have their advantages.
You'll see they are truly primitive.
They know nothing of modern weaponry.
They have not yet conceived explosives or any of the mad mechanical magics you on Earth so deeply depend upon .
They have to be invented.
( laughs) Laura, did you tell the police about me? -No.
- Yeah, well, somebody did.
The man who was shot.
l told you l'd seen the morning papers.
- You said he was dead.
- He died on the way to the hospital.
Before he died, he named you as his murderer.
For a lousy 1 0,000 bucks.
l was supposed to throw a fight once.
When the time come, l couldn 't.
My bas c decency cost him m $1 0 ,000 He said he'd make me pay for it some way.
Don 't you believe that? Yes.
Mike.
- Mike, will we win ? - l wonder where they are.
Mike, will we? Win ? - By a knockout.
-No, Mr Benson .
A knockout will not suffice.
The fight must be to the death.
Can l strangle them or do you want blood? Or is it all right if l just get close enough to use this? - Fire it, Mr Benson .
-No, Mike.
Don 't waste the bullets.
No bullets will be wasted, Miss Hanley.
Go on , Mr Benson .
Fire it.
(Onderra senator laughs) The rules of the game, Mr Benson .
Advantages must be evenly distributed.
And since your opponents are not yet blessed with modern weaponry, l simply couldn 't allow your gun to be of any use to you .
However, it was unfair of me to allow you to make your position known .
l suggest you move on as quickly as possible.
- Come on .
- The food! (boomerang whizzes) Fall! - Wait here.
- We shouldn 't separate, not even for a moment.
Stay here.
(gasps) That does something to the odds.
We shouldn 't stay here.
One of us could have an accident.
Maybo t was Do you think he killed her? She could have fallen in while they were crossing that thing, but l don 't think so.
Why would he kill her? He'd know it would do something to the odds.
Sure, he knows.
l think l do too now.
He said the food would last three days or six days.
Three days if two of us ate it, six days if one us had it all to himself.
The odds are in his favour.
He doesn 't even have to fight us now.
He just digs in and waits someplace for us to eat ourselves to death.
No, thank you .
Something strange just hit me.
lt might lt might have to happen .
lt just might have to happen .
What? l might have to die up here.
That never occurred to you before? Yes, yes, but very distantly.
As if only my mind were thinking it.
Now l'm thinking it all over.
My My hands and my eyes, all through me.
The cheerleader needs a cheerleader.
Mike, you couldn 't kill me, could you? - l doubt it.
- But you don 't like me.
- lf l killed everybody l didn 't like - l'm serious! What do you want me to say, l don 't like you? l don 't like your type.
-No, here l'm something personal.
- What do you want? - He killed her.
- And? And he'll outlast you .
He's got twice as much food as we do.
We can stretch this.
Half today, half tomorrow.
(Onderra senator laughs) Half a loaf a day is not enough.
l told you it was absolutely vital.
You can 't survive on half its properties.
Did you think we wouldn 't have taken into account the human capacity for self-denial? - Mike.
- Shut up.
- Why are you so afraid? - Of what? l'm afraid of a lot of things.
You chose this to spending .
.
maybe spending a few hours in a prison cell.
Why? Something happened to me when l was a kid.
- lt scarred me for life.
- lt must have.
Or else you wouldn 't talk about it in that tone of voice.
Oh, so you're a psychiatrist, too, huh? As well as being a cheerleader and a missionary and a saver of humanity? - l'm a lot of things.
- l can 't stand a girl who's not a lot of things.
- What happened when you were a kid? - l went to the zoo.
l went to the zoo.
When the teacher's back was turned, one of the other kids punched me right in the face, knocked me out.
When l came to, the first thing l saw was bars.
They were just playing, you see.
They dragged me into this empty cage and locked me in there.
Only they didn 't lock me in , but l felt locked in .
l didn 't even taste the blood in my mouth.
l only tasted the terror boiling in my stomach, and l tried to yell.
l tried to yell for my mom, but l couldn 't.
And l tried to see if anybody was around to get me outta that cage.
Then l heard the voice of the teacher yelling.
She said, ''Get in there and get him out!'' So they did.
They got me out.
But you know what l think sometimes? l think they never got me out.
(Onderra senator laughs) This is very amusing.
You see what she did, citizens? She couldn 't get him to kill her, so she's run off and left him her share of the food.
(Onderra senator laughs) She'll starve herself so that he (Onderra senator laughs) Watch closely, citizens.
lt's going to get even more amusing.
( Mike ) Laura! Laura! Laura! (crack ) (boomerang whizzes) (Onderra senator) l can 't let you kill her just yet.
She hasn 't begun to suffer.
Miss Hanley, wasn 't it our understanding that you and Mr Benson were a team? You've run away again , haven 't you? Why have you run away from him, Miss Hanley? So that he can eat all the food? Or so that he can do all the fighting? Your heart is a bottomless box of virtuous motives, isn 't it? Whatever you do, you do it for someone else's good, don 't you? Your husband didn 't want you to mother him, Miss Hanley.
He wanted you to help him! lt hurts to admit that you're afraid you can 't help someone, doesn 't it? Yes, it hurts.
lt hurts.
l could help you get back to Mr Benson .
But it wouldn 't be fair, would it? People have to help themselves, don 't they, Miss Hanley? (Onderra senator laughs) All right.
Go ahead.
Mike! (boomerang whizzes) Mike! Mike Mike Mike, help.
Help me! Mike! (rustling ) Mike Mike Mom! Laura! Kill him! Don 't let him win ! You'll fall! No! No! l can hold on ! (boomerang whizzes) (creature shrieks) (Onderra senator laughs) l'm sorry, Mike.
l knew you'd fall.
And you knew it too, didn 't you? Mike.
(Onderra senator) He can 't hear you .
- Who won ? - You're still alive, aren 't you? Don 't throw me any garlands.
Your victor is in there.
l couldn 't have killed it if Mike hadn 't looked at me like that.
Well, what's the difference who saves the human race? The dull fact is it's been saved.
lt does matter.
When someone dies, it must matter.
(Onderra senator laughs) He isn 't dead.
His opponent died first.
Survivors need survive only a split moment to be considered survivors.
Rule of the game, which incidentally is ended now, Mrs Hanley.
Mike's back on Earth and if the police catch him, he'll wish he were dead.
They'll catch him, but they won 't hold him.
They know the dying man was merely having his fun and games.
Our fun is over.
Will you forgive me if? Wait.
Will l have to remember all this? Only those memories which might be helpful to you and perhaps to your marriage.
Forgive me if l seem abrupt, but l really must get busy.
lt isn 't easy to keep devising new fun and games.
(crushed glass) ( man ) 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.