Original subtitles

legislation gets through Congress, this

place closes. My company goes down to

tubes.

There are people these days out gunning

for any industry that supposedly

destroys the ozone layer.

Or so they claim.

It isn't like I didn't warn you about

this place.

As my congressman, I hoped you'd have

the guts to keep those ecoaks off my

back. Maybe I wasted my campaign

contributions on you.

Look, there's technology available to

clean up this plan.

Who's going to pay for it? You

take it easy.

Maybe I can kill the legislation in

committee.

You haven't stopped it yet.

Yeah, but I got a new plan. I'm going to

take a factf finding tour of the swamp.

Then I'm going to report back to the

committee that uh it's not an endangered

area.

Didn't get on it. Either that

legislation gets flushed or your next

campaign does.

What are those environmental wackos

getting so worked up for? It's a swamp

for God's sake. What's the swamp got to

do with anything?

The swamp is my world. It is who I am.

It is what I am. I was once a man. I

know the evil men do.

Do not bring your evil here. I warn you.

Beware the wrath of

Swamp Thing.

I wish you'd called earlier. Congressman

Will's leaving today for a 4-day trip

with some fishermen.

It's been on the books for weeks. Thank

you.

Needless to say, uh, my time is very

tight. Of course, the environmental

issue is of the utmost importance.

Well, I'm afraid there's nothing we can

do.

Well, unless you take him, Tresa, come

on. I mean, you know as much about the

swamp as anyone.

No, I couldn't.

I'd be uh I'd be very grateful.

Tresa, think what it would mean to Alec

to have Uncle Sam get involved and see

what's really going on out here.

If it helps the swamp and the

environment, it's my pleasure. We'll

have to get an early start, though. Uh,

say 7:00 a.m.

Fine. Sooner I can report to my

colleagues in Congress, the better.

See you in the morning.

I'll walk with you, Congressman. I I've

got some questions about the swamp I'd

like to ask you. I got this.

Of all the gin joints in the world, and

Tresa Langford has to come to this one.

Oh, Alan.

Close. It's dress a Kip now.

Really? I used to know someone much like

you.

Maybe she got married. Who's to say? Of

course. If it is the former Miss

Langford, this would be an incredible

coincidence.

Alice, I haven't seen you in years.

I got an assignment for a magazine

article, Mysteries of the Swamp. I'm

Billing Huma as the Bermuda Triangle

with Moss. So, you got any weird stories

for me?

My divorce might count as one.

So much for the Kip explanation. But

then again, Alan, you're probably the

weirdest thing to hit this town in quite

a while.

So, you won't mind having dinner with me

for curiosity's sake.

Last time we went out, you started a

food fight in a four-star restaurant.

You were throwing duck allarrage across

the room.

Duck's got to fly. I got to be me.

Oh, Alan.

So,

all I remember about college are the

parties. Everything else, like classes,

is kind of fuzzy.

You don't remember graduation?

Vaguely.

You were totally butt naked underneath

your graduation gown. You You picked up

your diploma, bent over, and mooned the

audience.

Is that what I did? I thought it was

required when you got a BA degree.

Yeah, right. What I can't believe is how

a complete maniac like you ever got a

job in the real world?

Wasn't easy.

The only time I felt life was worthwhile

is when I went backpacking. So, I wrote

an article about it, sold it to a

magazine. Stories about the environment

were heating up back then. Suddenly, I

was in demand.

I read an article of yours. It was

something about um the future. I'll be

damned if I can remember a word of it.

It was something about um parallel

worlds.

Yeah. There's a theory that future

ecosystems already exist in micro

environments today. It's an idea the

French have played with for years.

Oh, they can keep playing with it. I

didn't understand it then. I'm not sure

I'd understand it now.

Tuning into what was happening to the

environment changed my life. It made me

grow up.

I was a big jerk in college.

If it hadn't been for you taking notes

in the classes I missed and cramming me

for tests, I'd never have graduated.

You're the best pal I had.

Yeah, and you made me laugh. I needed

that back then.

Oh, look. I have an early morning

tomorrow. Oh, a US congressman wants me

to take him on a factf finding tour of

the swamp. Hey, you know, you could turn

him into an ecological expert in no

time. I always avoid exercising

congressman in the morning.

It doesn't take an expert to see that

the swamp is being damaged by

pollutants. It's a very delicate area.

Well, I believe that responsible

industry is no threat to mother nature,

and nothing I've seen today convinces me

that any permanent damage is being done.

Wouldn't that take a long-term study to

determine?

Nah, there have been too many studies

done already. him and all this baloo

about the ozone layer. I mean, some

studies flat out contradict each other.

All depends on who you want to believe.

You don't have to tell me which side

you're on.

Alan, where

I'm taking over the tour.

Alan, for God's sakes.

You know this area as well as anyone,

Tresa, you can make it back to Huma by

yourself.

What are you going to do?

Send you to school.

Oh, Alan, if this is some kind of a

joke, it's not a very funny one.

I stopped joking a long time ago. Just

about the same time I found out places

like this were being wiped out while fat

cats sat on their thumbs.

Let's go.

Come on,

Presser.

Alec, I've been looking for you. I was

taking Congressman Newton on a research

tour and he was kidnapped.

And you escaped?

Not exactly. kidnappers is an old friend

of mine, Alan Harris. He's gone off the

deep end.

Harris? I've been watching him. I

thought he was doing research for a

magazine article.

You've heard of him?

He has a thorough understanding of

science and an immense respect for

nature.

But to kidnap a congressman doesn't

sound like Allan.

We need to find his camp.

I can't go any further.

All right, take a break.

Look, Harris, whatever it is you want, I

can arrange it. Just please let me go.

Look, kidnapping a US congressman is

insane.

Tell me something. Is kidnapping more

insane than contaminating our planet's

air and water or making thousands of

plant and animal species extinct.

I don't know, but kidnapping is against

the law.

There's something in the swamp that

doesn't give a damn about your law. It's

following nature's law and it is scaring

the hell out of me. You have no idea

what your industrial pals are doing

around here.

Less than a mile from here, I've made a

fantastic discovery. An alternative

ecosystem. One that has been damaged by

ultraviolet radiation because the ozone

layer is so thin.

You cut out the gibberish.

I'm finding evidence of mutated

organisms, new strains of bacteria.

Do you know what kind of diseases

bacterial mutations might create? And if

the ozone layer breaks down much

further, it's only going to get worse.

See, because of people like you, life on

Earth might be wiped out.

Oh,

God.

Cover your eyes or the light will blind

you.

What happened to them?

Burnouts. They're here to die.

Take them.

They must be judged.

He wouldn't wander off in the swamp all

night. He has to know better than that.

He may know more than you realize.

I'm certain that local industry has

depleted the ozone layer, causing the

future ecosystems I've discovered in the

swamp. Now that I found this gateway to

the future, my next move is to go

through.

He actually thinks he can step into the

future. Is that nuts or what?

In the swamp, anything is possible.

Treser, I am living proof of that.

Outsiders.

Where did they come from?

Look at their skin. They don't have the

sickness yet. I'm a US Congressman. I

demand that you do.

There is no more United States. No

president or Congress.

All of them dead.

This guy's lonier than you are. Shut up,

Newton. You might learn something. I

won't shut up. Where are we? I demand

answers.

It's impossible. I stayed there last

night.

No, not last night. A long time ago.

What's today's date?

2031.

2031? That's impossible.

What's the matter, Congressman? Your

election campaign said you were the man

for the future, didn't it?

Over there. footprint showing where

Allen and Congressman Newton entered the

clearing, but none showing which way

they left. They just vanished.

So Allan found a way into the future and

took Congressman Newton with him. That's

what you're saying.

So where are they now? Can they ever

return?

Perhaps if we can change the conditions

that created the accelerated future

ecosystem, we might be able to bring

them back.

Uh change the present and the future

they're in.

Will cease to exist and they'll be

forced back to the original timeline.

Great. So what? We just changed the

world.

Not the entire world. Just the local

industry that he wrote about that

damaged the swamp and created the future

that Allen and Newton may have found.

Local industry like the chemical plant.

Congressman Newton talked about killing

legislation that involved the new

chemical plant.

This is incredible. These people need

medical attention.

There's no cure for what they have.

Don't you get it? They're being attacked

by mutant strains of bacteria that

didn't exist in our time.

I mean, I could catch this, but we've

got to get out of here.

We can't, Congressman. This is the

future. You can't escape destiny.

I wrote hundreds of articles, published

them all over the world. I begged. I

pleaded. The whole damn planet was dying

and nobody would do anything to stop it.

Fools. Idiots. Why'd you let it happen?

You could have done something about it,

but you stood by and did nothing.

The elders have been asked to decide the

fate of two outsiders. The facts are

these. We have no food for outsiders. We

have no skins for outsiders.

We have no need for outsiders.

Before they make judgment, will anyone

speak for these men?

It was a plague, wasn't there?

It was a plague of the skin. Am I

correct? Large pestules, decaying skin.

eventual death.

That's what happened to the burnouts,

isn't it? You took them out to die.

The ozone layer was destroyed.

The world was bombarded by ultraviolet

rays.

Cancers developed,

deadly melanomas.

You started wearing animal skins to

protect yourselves from the sun,

but you couldn't protect yourselves from

the bacteria

that mutated in the swamp water,

creating diseases no one had ever heard

of or imagined. The plague swept across

the land as God's hand might cast a

shadow from the sun,

touching every living creature

on Earth.

Every human being, young, old,

male, female alike,

knew that soon they would perish.

As death stalked the families,

prayers were said,

tears fell.

Nothing could stop the plague.

But the ultimate damnation

came from our own desire,

not of nature.

Now, do you see

it's you, isn't it? Will Kip

once,

but I haven't been for a very long time.

Since you know what happened,

you must also realize the elders have no

choice in their decisions.

We cannot let you go.

You might bring other outsiders back

with you.

The sentence for outsiders is

death.

No, let me go.

This plant is a disaster waiting to

happen.

I don't believe this. It's a nightmare

or a hoax of some sort.

Come on, Newton. It's just extinction.

Or is that just something that happens

to other species?

You want a chance to live just like

everything else that was alive on this

planet, human or not.

Self-righteous to the very end, aren't

you?

Martyr enjoys dying for his cause.

Oh, I mind dying. I mine very much.

It's just I've had longer to adjust to

the idea than you.

You remember that environmental

demonstration about 5 years ago?

One that stopped barges from hauling

toxic waste on the Mississippi River.

Figures. Well,

I joined the demonstrators

and tried to cut a toll line.

A member of the Tugs crew

opened barrels of waste and poured them

on us.

A few months later, I started getting

headaches,

blurry vision, dizzy spells, and then I

found out I wasn't the only one.

Four of our group had already died.

Looks like I'm next.

I'm sorry.

You'd be sorry for all the lives you

could have saved if you hadn't helped

create the hell we're in now. You could

have made a difference, Congressman, but

you did nothing.

It's time.

I don't want to die.

The scent of chemicals is overpowering.

I feel weak.

But the plant doesn't have a permit to

operate yet.

That hasn't stopped them. They've

started up illegally.

Uncertain pollution from this created

the future Allan found.

Then this is what we have to change to

get them back.

The temperature's dropping.

55°

53.

You can't do this.

Stop them, Harris.

Poetic justice. Appreciate it while you

can. You helped destroy the environment.

Now it repays the debt.

42. Marty

Alex.

39°.

I didn't know things were going to turn

out like this. I'm sorry.

I'm really sorry.

32 freezing.

Alan. Alan, are you all right?

Yeah, fine. You won't believe what

happened. We're alive.

What the

What's that?

It's a friend, congressman.

A friend?

You saved your life.

I can't believe you, Newton, after all

you've just been through. How can you be

surprised by anything?

What happened to your hand?

I uh

It's a souvenir.

Remind me where I've been.

Tresa, it was fantastic. The article

that I wrote about future ecosystems, I

was right. We were in Huma in the year

2031.

It was worse than anything I'd ever

imagined.

I still don't understand it. How did we

get back?

We shut down the chemical plant you

allowed to operate illegally. That was

the source of the future of your

experience.

When I get back to Washington, I'll see

to it it shut down for good.

You can't believe the suffering that

those people went through.

Nice people,

families. Your legislation will only

postpone it. Newton, more has to be

done. We have got to do more.

Tresa,

you have to help the swamp. No matter

what happens to me.

Of course I will. Nothing's going to

happen to you. You're safe now, Alan.

Mankind must learn that nature cannot be

ignored. Our future doesn't start

tomorrow. It begins today.

Choose wisely.

Heat.

Heat.

Heat. Heat.