Original subtitles

- Say I was right.

Admit that I, Jack Tanner, did foretell, did prophesy,

long before you heard from that eyeless instrument.

- Yes, Jack.

You were absolutely right.

But tell me, and tell me sensibly, how you knew,

how even you could foretell that a heavenly body

the size of Earth's moon is approaching our planet.

- Not any moon!

The Earth moon!

That self-same orb whose unforgiving eye

beheld the birth of Caesar!

And no doubt your own.

- Jack.

- When it came to the crunch,

did Caesar believe the soothsayer?

- By heaven, Jack.

You are right.

That is our moon.

The Earth moon.

- Yeah, a bit eaten, but still a gift wrapped in enigma.

- Jack.

There may be people out there, on Moonbase Alpha,

Earthmen from home.

- But mortal!

With we of the eternal breed, there can be no contact.

- Hello out there!

Hello, Alpha.

This is Ultima Thule.

Do you copy?

Men of Alpha, do you hear me?

We have a life here, a long life, that you could share.

A long lane and no turning.

Ultima Thule is a lost paradise.

Come!

Lost!

And with no final end!

The smog is creeping in.

We can talk no more, but come.

Stay away!

Stay away!

- Solid cotton wool.

- The man said smog.

Let's see if communications is still choked.

Paul?

- Commander?

Still no contact?

- We're transmitting continuously, but getting nothing back.

Computer says the weather conditions

on the surface are terrible.

- If we head into the smog, we may lose contact with you.

Keep listening anyway.

- All the time.

- Hey, this can't be too good

for our onboard instruments, either.

- Victor.

- John?

- We may have to rely on our own onboard computer

to put us down close to the original radio signal.

Has the smog affected our instruments?

- Sensors are out completely,

but we've got the original data.

- The last reading on the surface temperature was minus 60.

And that's the heat of the day.

- Some paradise, huh?

Whoa.

Nice touchdown, Computer.

- Could have been rougher.

- Depending on how hard the going is,

about 20 minutes on a due west bearing

ought to bring us to the signal source.

- I suggest we stick close together, but if you do get lost,

the comlock locator beam should bring us back to the ship.

All set?

Be quiet, Jack!

- I am the dog that bays the moon

who sets her cats amongst your pigeons, Doctor.

- Another prophecy?

- Ah, merely an inclination of my ear

in the right direction.

You cannot hear for listening.

- They've come.

They've come!

- You didn't think they'd heed a fool.

- Alphans.

Alphans!

Go home!

Alphans, go home!

- A voice!

I heard it!

- Must be the wind, John!

- No, Helena, I heard it!

I heard it!

- John!

We've arrived!

This is the place those signals came from!

- How can men survive in a place like this?!

Where's Alan?

Alan!

- He was just here!

- No, Victor!

Alan!

Carter!

- Commander!

I just took a look around!

- Don't!

Men of Alpha, do you hear me?!

- Yes, we hear you!

Where are you?!

Men of Alpha!

- Good to know there's somebody around!

- We're not gonna find them!

I say we go back to the ship and let them find us!

Amen to that!

- Helena!

Helena!

Alan!

Helena!

John!

Victor!

Where are you?!

- They've got the beam, John!

They can follow that!

- In these conditions?!

Victor, grab hold of my belt!

Where are you?!

John!

Let's get some rest!

Victor, get up!

- We should've reached the ship long before this!

Get up, Victor!

- This beam's leading us in circles!

- We can't stop, Victor!

Come on!

- No, I gotta, I gotta sleep!

I gotta sleep. - Sleep will kill you, Victor!

You'll freeze!

Come on!

Get up! - All right.

- Get up! - No, sleep.

No, sleep.

- John, it's Helena.

Can you hear me?

I don't know what I'm doing.

I'm not behaving like a doctor.

I'm...

I'm sitting down.

But it's all right.

I don't feel the cold anymore.

I, I'm getting so sleepy.

♪ Smile, smile, smile ♪

♪ As long as you've a lucifer ♪

Second stanza.

♪ Lucifer to light your fag ♪

Helena, get up.

Get up.

Let's go.

- Hello!

Hello!

Earthmen!

Up you get.

Yeah.

Come.

Hello!

Earthmen!

- Hello!

Thank God.

- We've found them!

Come on, hurry!

Need lots of help!

Come on, hurry!

Now, don't worry about me.

See to them. - Are they alive?

Freda, get lots of blankets!

We need furs, blankets, and hot liquid!

Lots of hot liquid and don't remove their garments!

Cover them as they are!

These Earthmen are in serious condition!

Right.

Here's some water.

- Yes, he's fine.

He's responding.

Gonna be fine.

Right again, Jack.

More Earthmen for Ultima Thule.

- Well met in time and space.

Good doctor, revel while you can.

The hour is late, our end is near.

The road to paradise has seized up.

- There, that's it.

Come.

Victor.

- It's all right.

They're safe.

Helena.

Helena.

Helena. - She's all right.

She's fine.

She's all right.

- Where's Carter? Alan Carter?

There were four of us.

He's still out there. - No!

- What? - Believe me, it's impossible.

You'd only sacrifice your own life.

Ted, search for this fourth Alphan

to the limit of your endurance.

- Stan!

Will!

Joe! Come on!

- Come on. You must rest.

Keep warm.

Night has fallen.

Soon, it will be 170 degrees below zero.

We have adapted to these conditions.

- A death on Thule

would be a marvelous thing.

Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh.

It's all right.

You're among friends.

You'll be quite safe here.

Helena.

- John.

You're safe.

Yes.

- Victor?

Alan?

- Victor's fine.

Alan, they're still searching for him.

Oh.

- Helena, the planet is Ultima Thule.

The people are from Earth,

survivors of the Uranus expedition of 1986.

- There were survivors?

- I know it's incredible, but they're here.

Remember Dr. Rowland?

Doctor?

- Yes? - Dr. Russell.

Dr. Cabot Rowland.

- Yes.

- You saved our lives.

- And I am delighted.

- Victor.

Our Alan, can he survive?

- Seven of our party perished on their first night here.

♪ Heighdy, heighdy, misery me, lack-a-day-dee ♪

♪ He sipped no sup and he craved no crumb ♪

♪ As he sighed for the love of a lady ♪

- Stop it, Jack.

Now, come and be introduced in the proper fashion.

Come on.

Dr. Helena Russell, Colonel Jack Tanner,

commander of the Uranus probe.

- Call me Jack, for I am Jack the fool.

The good doctor will hang me in your heads.

I go to hang my hat.

- Jack.

Come on.

- Commander, please sit down.

Mr. Bergman, please.

You need nourishment.

You all do.

And lots of liquid.

Not this way.

- No, Commander, you must eat only your rations as yet.

When we arrived, whatever we ate made us violently sick.

We adapted in time.

But the drink is fine.

It's thoroughly tested.

- How did you arrive here?

- Mm.

The last news we had of the Uranus probe

was Jack Tanner's report that it was breaking up

in a proton storm, and that was, oh, some 14 years ago.

- It is an amazing story.

The ship went out of control,

instruments askew, prayers unanswered.

We traveled at unbelievable speed

to the farthest limit of the then-known universe and beyond.

Yes.

Finally, crash landing here.

Blessed to be alive.

- Amen.

Before it sticks in my throat.

Yes, Ted?

- He hasn't a chance, Doctor.

The cold is more than even we can endure.

- We'll search again by daylight, but I'm sorry.

With our claws, we'll dig him up again.

- Jack. - Poor Jack's so cold.

- You're exhausted, and should sleep.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the future.

But above all, welcome to Ultima Thule.

- Thank you.

Sunrise, Kano?

- Yeah.

It's little more than a technicality on the ice planet.

Smog's still dense.

- We must try again.

We'll transmit at full power.

If they're alive, they must be in the Eagle.

- Surface temperature reached 189 below during the night.

- How can anything live there?

- I'm beginning to doubt that it does.

Even wild geese can't live in conditions like that.

Link up.

Full power.

- Hello, Eagle 1.

Do you hear me?

Eagle 1, if you can hear me, you must lift off immediately.

Icing conditions are worsening.

Come in, Eagle 1.

Alpha calling.

Eagle 1, do you copy?

Report, Eagle 1.

Report your situation.

Do you hear me, Eagle 1?

Do you copy, Eagle...

Eagle 1, this is Alpha.

Come in Eagle 1, do you copy?

Eagle 1, do you copy?

Do you hear me, Eagle 1?

Do you copy, Eagle 1?

This is Alpha.

Eagle 1, this is Alpha.

Eagle 1, do you copy?

- Alpha, Alpha, I can hear you.

Come in, Eagle 1, do you copy?

- Paul.

Paul, I can hear you, do you copy?

Paul, do you hear me?

- Perhaps we are just not hearing them.

We are transmitting on interstellar strength,

but they can't.

- Eagle 1, this is Alpha.

Eagle 1, do you copy?

Come in, Eagle 1.

Alpha calling.

Hello, Eagle 1, do you hear me?

- Alpha.

Alpha, in case you can hear me,

I gotta take off out of here before I'm buried.

- Doctor, we must speak to Alpha.

- Yes, I have been trying since dawn.

Smog is too thick.

We'll try again.

Come on.

It's this way.

Hello, Moonbase Alpha.

This is Ultima Thule.

Do you copy?

This is Ultima Thule.

Do you copy?

Perhaps the smog will clear later.

I'll leave someone here calling constantly.

- I don't understand why we can't hear them.

- I have tried everything.

- If you could take me to the Eagle,

perhaps we can make contact from there,

just to let them know we're safe and alive.

- If you can hear me, Alpha,

I'm gonna try and get rid of some of this snow.

Full power.

Come on, you beautiful bird.

Lift off.

Lift off!

- That's Alan, it must be!

He's all right!

Alan!

Alan!

- You beauty.

I made it.

Paul!

Paul, I've made it!

- Alan!

Alan!

- Thank heavens he's safe!

- The moon is only within range of this planet

for five more days!

We have to let Alpha know we're still alive!

- Alpha?

Alpha, do you copy now, Alpha?

Alpha, this is Eagle 1.

Do you copy?

Come in, Alpha. - Yes, Alan, we copy.

Report.

- There's no good news, Paul.

I'm the only one onboard.

We went to the source of that radio signal.

- And? - Nothing.

There's nothing but snow, ice, smog.

- What about the others?

- They must be dead.

We got lost in the smog.

We were separated.

Just by sheer chance, I stumbled back on the ship.

The others never made it back.

- Alan, there's nothing you can do.

Return to base.

- We grew these from seeds salvaged from the spaceship.

- Mm, and you built all this equipment

from salvaged material too, did you?

- Yes.

We went Robinson Crusoe one better.

Um, Thulian salad.

- Ah.

Now, this new Thulian would like to have a taste of that.

Looks delicious.

- In its natural form, it's extremely bitter.

It provides the staple diet

for a species of ox found on the surface.

- You know, we weren't gonna give this

new planet a second look, but you've made it into a really,

very attractive proposition.

- Oh, yes, wonderful.

Science in the belly and salad on the brain.

- Now, this looks interesting, Ted.

Tell me about this.

- Oh!

Toys!

New toys for the professor.

Toys to play with time!

You take care, they'll twist you out of mind!

Take care, huh?!

Go home.

Go home.

Go home to Alpha.

- What does he mean?

- He's right.

You must go back to Alpha.

- Doom sits upon a pinnacle of rock and no birds sing.

- You must not stay here.

There is nothing for you.

We are living people frozen in eternity.

You must go home to Alpha.

- But Alpha isn't home.

It's a barracks,

and a barren rock flying endlessly through space.

We're looking for a real home,

a place to live, to raise children.

- There can be no children here.

- But you asked us to come.

There was a voice, that must have been Dr. Rowland.

- Yes.

- Oh, yes.

The doctor.

But he hasn't told you yet, that here, we live forever,

that we've been here for 880 years,

that we haven't aged since the day we landed,

that we are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow,

and that the price of immortal life is impotence!

No growth!

No future! No end!

Just ever and a day.

This!

- Helena!

Helena!

Alan's all right.

He found the Eagle.

He lifted off.

I've gotta contact... - John, wait.

Wait!

These people say they're immortal,

that they have lived over 800 years.

- I think it's true, John.

I started to ask their computer some simple questions,

but it seems my premises were all wrong.

The year is 2870.

So either they, or we,

must have been through some kind of time warp.

- Commander Koenig, the blight of human life has been death,

the most brilliant minds cut off, progress held back.

We have lived on Thule for 800 years.

We have immortality.

I have tried to analyze the difference

between what we are now and what we once were on Earth.

For in that difference lies the secret to eternal life.

Now, with that secret uncovered, we shall leave Thule.

There'll be no end, only better and better beginnings.

Nothing will hold us back.

We shall find paradise.

So far, my experiments have been unsuccessful.

- In what way?

- Because I have needed a mortal subject,

but now I have you.

You are the mortals I have so long needed

to make the comparison.

I need your help.

Come, let me show you the substance of this dream.

- And ladies and gentlemen,

who'll make the first bid

for Dr. Rowland's magic elixir, huh?

Do I hear one million souls?!

Two?! - Jack!

- Alphans are not all fools.

- Commander!

There!

Phoenix rising from the ashes of the Uranus probe.

When we have the secret of eternal life

and when this ship is complete, then we shall be free.

We shall not be dependent

on your lumbering and uncontrollable moon.

We shall travel wherever and whenever we please.

- Yes. - Extraordinary.

- But this.

But this is mere technology.

I want you to join me, now, in this last experiment.

Then, together we'll step forward

into the greatest scientific adventure

in the whole history of man.

Unencumbered by death, we shall leap from planet to planet,

from solar system to solar system, from galaxy to galaxy.

We shall be as gods in the universe.

- Gods?

- Gods.

Come, there is so much to tell you.

There are some questions we gotta proceed with.

Commander.

- I see a hungry mind.

I'll feed it on wormwood and gall.

The revered results of 800 years of experimentation.

- Revered?

- Our honored living dead, yes.

Dr. Rowland and his faithful followers

never forget their gratitude to these,

our friends of bygone days

who've given their all for science.

We take care of them, feed them, bathe them.

They need nothing more.

The ultimate welfare where want is dead.

- It's ghastly, unbelievable.

- Well, don't whisper.

Shout!

No one can hear you.

This is death on Ultima Thule.

We cannot die, but we can live on,

perhaps forever, in complete mindlessness.

- Why haven't you tried to stop him?

- We're scientists.

We all wanted to know the answer to the ultimate question.

As commander of the probe,

I submitted myself to the first experiment.

But I was luckier than them.

I walked out of here.

- You were here?

- For a long time, yeah.

Then I regained what we wittily call my mind.

The rational doctor deplores its erraticism,

but he envies my new psychic ability.

- Right now, you're as sane as I am.

- It comes and goes.

It comes and goes.

Right now,

the doctor is preparing his final great experiment.

Commander!

Quickly!

Stop!

- Stop the experiment!

Destroy the equipment!

- Stop it!

Stop it, you fools!

- Destroy everything!

Destroy everything!

Alpha, Alpha!

- No, will you stop it?!

Help me!

Help me stop him! - No!

- Hold her, hold her! - Leave me alone!

- Hold it! That's enough!

Commander Koenig, I hold you responsible.

Victor.

Do you know what might have happened to you?

- Dr. Rowland described the experiment

as a development of epsilon ray analysis.

But did he tell you why?!

- I accepted his assurance that I would be in no danger.

- It is perfectly safe.

- Listen to me, Victor.

There are dissidents here, and with good reason.

There's a cave, a kind of living graveyard with victims,

vegetables who sacrificed their minds to science!

- And we have sacrificed enough.

We have the secret of eternal life.

Must we also seek to understand it?

- You may already be adapting to Thule.

I saw no reason to involve you

in the mistakes and arguments of the past.

I, myself, have resolved them.

I've learned enough to guarantee, at least to myself,

the success of this final experiment.

- John, I can and do accept Dr. Rowland's medical judgment,

just as you often have to accept

my medical judgment on Alpha.

- Helena, listen... - When we have the secret

of eternal life, then we shall concentrate

on restoring the minds of the revered ones.

And then we shall complete our spaceship.

Then, we shall take our prize

to the peoples of the universe,

and build our new world

in which death shall have no dominion.

- Hallelujah!

- John, don't forget we are talking

about the conquest of death,

the greatest medical challenge conceivable.

- Everything mankind has ever desired.

- Except humanity.

- Paul, as soon as we get into the smog,

you won't hear us, but keep talking.

Put us down as close as you can to the original fix.

- On top of it.

- Next to it.

Bob, switch on the infrared de-icing circuits.

- Auxiliary de-icers on and functioning.

- Jack, when Rowland begged us to come, it was your voice,

your voice telling us to stay away.

- It had little effect, though you heard it well enough.

Strange, don't you think,

that now they are so close

your people should suffer your loss in silence?

- What do you mean?

- It's an ill wind that carries the stink of fish.

- Come on, Jack, there's more in that mind of yours

than meets the ears.

- One thing's straight,

I am Thule's fool.

- Well, it looks as if your psychic fears

were founded in hard fact.

Hello, Alpha.

This is Koenig.

Do you read me?

Do you read me?

- Commander!

Come in, Commander!

- Paul, we're alive.

Are you receiving me?

There is life here.

People, people from Earth.

- Earthmen?

- Alan, I hope you're hearing this.

- You tell him we'll be right there.

- All this, and live forever?

When do we move in, Commander?

- Alan, I wish it was as simple as that,

but there are Thulians who'd rather move to Alpha

than face eternity here on Thule...

- They must be crazy!

- Commander, we must call Alpha.

They're waiting for news.

- Commander, they went off their heads

when they heard that you were okay.

What are they gonna do when they hear

that we can all live here forever?

- Alan.

I feel we shouldn't stay here at all.

- John.

We may be on the threshold of a new step

in the evolution of man.

Thulians and Alphans may be the forerunners

of a new race of humans as different from ourselves

as we are from cavemen ancestors!

- Or we could be staring down a blind alley, Victor!

- Commander, I just don't see what you got against it.

- I should have thought that it was a matter

of individual choice.

All of you could come.

For those of you who prefer mortality,

and the off chance of bumping into a pleasant planet,

can stay on Alpha if they choose.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- That's reasonable, John.

- A democratic choice.

It sounds fair enough to me.

- No. - Oh, John, you surely...

- Alpha cannot function

without a great many trained men to operate it.

Therefore, freedom of choice is out of the question.

Either all of us come, or all of us stay.

Now, I'm not prepared to make that decision.

Therefore, I suggest a vote, a majority decision.

As commander, I'll accept it.

- Oh, that's fair enough. - Well, that's certainly

a workable solution as far as I'm concerned.

♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪

♪ Glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ - All right, Jack, come on.

That's enough. Come on.

Get off, Doctor.

- Yes, Commander, a fair decision.

The only fair decision.

But first, the Alphans must be given all the facts,

and they must hear what living on Thule will mean to them.

And then they will vote.

- All right.

I'll agree to that.

- Good.

Then I shall go to them.

I shall tell them about our way of life here, eternal life,

lives of challenge and dedication,

lives of service to the highest purpose of all.

Yes.

They will hear me.

They shall not fail me.

- Wait a minute!

The Alphans have the right to know the whole truth.

They must be told everything about life on Thule.

I shall go with you.

- No!

No.

No!

You shan't go!

And nor should you.

By all disheveled, wondering stars, I tell you!

Death has dominion.

- Alan, take Dr. Rowland to the Eagle.

Thank you.

- If you'll permit me, I'll speak on your behalf.

I'll state your case fairly, yours and Jack's.

- Oh, thank you.

- Jack, I need your help.

Come with me, Jack.

There's something you know.

Jack, this is no place for you.

You can't hide it in here.

Your mind's too sharp.

Jack, if I win my case, I'll not see you again.

- You will win.

- Tell me what you know.

Then, it's goodbye.

- Thule is a jealous woman.

She will never let us go.

Never!

- Leaving gravitational pull and switching to automatic.

- As I recollect human nature,

we shall soon be returning with a full complement.

Alphans and Thulians will walk together into the future.

And what a future!

- Alan, like to be able to count on you for support.

- Most times, you know you can do that.

But this time...

Commander, I just don't see your problem.

Death has dominion.

Well, Commander, not to be outdone,

we here on Thule have also cast our votes,

if the outcome is of interest to mere mortals.

- Jack, what have you decided?

- We have abandoned our search

for the secret of eternal life.

Instead, we've turned our minds and resources

to the problems of restoring the revered ones.

- Jack, wherever we are,

the future of Thule will haunt us to the end.

We pray for your success.

Goodbye!

- Goodbye. - Goodbye.

- Bye! - Bye.

- Bye. - Bye!

- Is it death that gives meaning to life in the end?

If there is an end.