All language subtitles for The Twilight Zone - s05e15 - The Long Morrow.cc

You unlock this door
with the key of imagination.

Beyond it is another dimension-

a dimension of sound,

a dimension of sight,

a dimension of mind.

You're moving into a land
of both shadow and substance,

of things and ideas.

You've just crossed over
into the twilight zone.

It may be said
with a degree of assurance

that not everything that
meets the eye is as it appears.

The scene you're watching.

This is not a hospital,
not a morgue, not a mausoleum,

not an undertakers' parlor
of the future.

What it is is the belly
of a spaceship.

It is en route to another
planetary system

an incredible distance
from the earth.

This is the crux of our story,
a flight into space.

It is also the story

of the things that might
happen to human beings

who take a step beyond,

unable to anticipate everything
that might await them out there.

I remember things.

It's more than just void,
darkness, unconsciousness.

The mind does work.

There are images, patterns,
things to recollect.

It's not just the long,
deep sleep

that comes
when the fear has left.

The cold is felt,

the slipping away of feeling
is noted and then succumbed to.

The mind functions.

Time is distorted, jumbled,
telescoped, accordioned,

but there is
a sense of time even so,

and i remember things.

I remember the way it began.

I remember the way it was
in the beginning.

Come in, commander stansfield.

Dr. Bixler.

Please be
comfortable.

The figure of
speech, commander.

Be comfortable
in the sense

that there's no need
to stand on ceremony.

But there are
no seats, either.

I've heard much of you, doctor.

I of you, and that's
the reason you're here.

You've been an astronaut
for 11 years.

Is that a question, sir?

It's an
observation.

Should you not have realized it,
you've been the object

of considerable observation
for the past several months.

I've been aware of some, doctor.

When the space agency
put me on my project,

they told me
to keep in mind

the scientific
problems

but also to be aware
of the human factor.

You, commander
stansfield,

are the human factor.

Go on, doctor.

You recognize this,
don't you?

This is our
solar system.

This is the sun

and here is
the earth,

jupiter, venus,
pluto, mars.

And what do we know

about our neighbors, commander?

Mars is a vast, scrubby desert

with an unbreatheable
atmosphere.

Pluto is poisonous
and extremely cold.

The moon is barren,
jupiter, volcanic.

In short, commander,

our neighbors offer us only
they're accessible.

They're
within reach.

Beyond that, they
offer us nothing-

scientific, social,
economic- anything.

They're the mount
everest of space.

Once, they offered us
challenges.

Where is the next
mount everest, doctor?

That's perhaps
the most pertinent question

you've ever asked.

This is
a planetary system

to date seen only

through the lens
of a telescope.

We know nothing
of it

except for there
are six bodies

one of which we
can only assume
is the sun.

It's flaming
and gaseous

and it must provide
heat and light

for these five
bodies here.

It's a small system
like our own.

The planets run

roughly in the same
orbital pattern

as we do around
our own sun.

Does it have a name?

You may call it

stansfield's
mount everest.

That's where i'm going.

When?

In about
six months.

The ship's being
built now.

It's off
the drawing board.

The keel is being laid

but it'll take
only one man,

and that man should
be right there

watching every
rivet, every bolt,

every item
of equipment

going in there.

You are that man, commander.

You will be
sole occupant

and you will be
its pilot.

Doctor, i...

i like this assignment
very much.

That's precisely
why you were chosen.

Of course,
there will be

the usual dangers,
the usual unknowns.

In the past, you've had
meteor showers to contend with.

You've had
the usual calculated risk

of mechanical difficulties,
landing difficulties,

ejection troubles
and the rest of it.

Well, you'll still
have those-

compounded.

We have another factor here.

Another problem.

The distance.

Distance.

This system is perhaps

141 light years
away from us.

That's a rough estimate
but a good one.

The ship is...

the ship will have
interstellar drive

and an antigravity
device.

It'll be the fastest
man-made object

ever conceived,
ever brought to life.

It'll go
70 times faster

than the speed
of light.

But in terms
of the space

you must conquer,

it'll be like an ant

crawling across
the sahara.

In short, commander,

your trip to these
planetary bodies

and back to earth

will take
approximately
40 years.

Commander douglas stansfield,
astronaut,

a man about to embark on one
of history's longest journeys-

40 years out into endless space
and hopefully back again.

This is the beginning,

the first step toward man's
longest leap into the unknown.

Science has solved
the mechanical details,

and now it's up to
one human being

to breathe life into blueprints
and computers,

to prove once and for all that
man can live half a lifetime

in the total void
of outer space,

40 years alone in the unknown.

This is earth.

Ahead lies a planetary system.

The vast region in between
is the twilight zone.

That was the beginning,

that brief, unemotional,
very matter-of-fact colloquy

between the scientist
and the practitioner-

a small cast of two characters.

And that was the way
it should have been.

But i remember...
i very clearly remember

the entrance
of character number three.

Will communications team b-8,

communications team b-8
report to central control.

Communications team b-8,
central control.

Oh, a friend in need.

Oh, that's my job.

Picking up papers?

I'm the new
morale officer.

I follow people around
who look stricken.

Oh, and do i look
stricken?

Well, you looked
momentarily nonplussed.

I don't believe we've met.

Are you permanently
stationed here?

I'm with the space agency.

And you're...?

Stansfield.

Commander, u.s.n.

Oh...

you're the one.

Should i thank you

or report you
for insubordination?

I've always wanted to meet you.

I've always wanted
to meet you, too.

No, that's true.

I have e.s.p.
And i, uh...

a long time ago
i woke up one morning

and some inner voice told me

that i would meet a girl
with a stricken look

who would drop papers
in corridors.

And did your e.s.p.
Tell you the name?

Mm-hmm, sandra horn.

Oh...

subtle astronaut.

It's been an honor
meeting you.

I, um...

i don't suppose
the space agency

could do without
your services

for a couple of
hours this evening,

just long enough
for dinner.

Well... despite the fact
that i am invaluable

and that the whole
space program

rests on me alone,

i think a two- or
three-hour period

could be carved out.

I'm in the book, commander.

Please phone.

No, i won't call-
i'll pick you up.

I'll be there at 8:00.

Arrivederci, lady
from the space agency.

At 8:00, astronaut.

Arrivederci.

You are 31 years old,
commander.

When you return from this trip,

the earth will have aged
almost half a century.

That's something
to contemplate.

I'll be over
70 years old.

I will have lived

the better part
of my life

out in space
and alone.

You will have lived
the better part of it,

but you will not have aged.

We intend to try something new,

also a risk,

also decidedly
calculated.

Freezing?

An extension of that

but much more
complicated.

It'll be a suspended
animation

in its purest form.

We've developed
a substance

from the lymphoid tissue
of hibernating animals

plus several
vitamin absorbents

and a collection
of drugs.

The earth will have
aged, commander,

but you will not.

You'll be only
a few weeks older

when you return.

Sort of like dying
and coming to life again.

After a fashion.

But coming
to life again

in the sense that

there'll be very
few people here

that you will know
or who will know you.

Life will have
changed, commander.

You'll have to
begin living it

all over again
as a stranger,

as a... well,
as an anachronism,

if you will.

All right, doctor.

When do i begin?

You have begun.

As of this moment

you are very much
committed, commander.

I'm on the payroll,
doctor,

and i just checked in.

Something?

A month from now

you'll be off
to space.

And by the time you
come back down again...

you want to talk
about that now?

Only for the following
absurd reason.

I've known you for exactly
three and a half hours-

that's what
it's been

three and
a half hours-

a long dinner...

and a short dance.

And already...

already...

already what, sandy?

Already...

i feel a sense of... loss.

My life had been space.

It had been missions,
projects and expeditions.

There had been no time
for intrusions

that took the form
of a woman's face,

a voice, a short month of a man
and a woman drawing together,

becoming a part of one another,

reaching tentatively

into that strange
and mysterious pond of love

and then watching the ripples
that came from it.

But now i think
of these things,

now they come to mind,
now in the darkness,

in the cold, the solitude,

the... stillness,
the loneliness.

Now there comes
a feeling of warmth.

Sandy... where are you now,
sandy, across the void?

My dear sandy,

through the millions of miles
of cold, empty space,

through the vastness of
a naked desert of sky and stars,

i love you.

I love you, sandy.

Minus 2-30.

Small, unofficial gesture

from one of
the lesser bureaucrats

of our good,
respectable government.

Unofficial... and very much
apart from protocol.

But i couldn't
let you leave, doug,

not without
saying good-bye.

Not without tell you i...

i loved you very much.

And i shall
sorely miss you.

And that my life-

whatever there is
left of it-

shall be a strangely
meaningless, dull and...

empty thing
without you to share it.

It's a very odd
thing, sandy,

when i get back,
when i...

touch this earth again,

i know the first
thought i'll have,

i know... the first thing
that i'll want to see,

i know... the first...

thing that i'll
want to touch.

I'll be the...

little old lady
in the lace shawl.

The one waving
the "welcome home" sign.

So look for me.

Will you, doug?

...two, one, zero.

One, two, three, four and five.

I move now,
i streak across the sky,

i leave an earth behind

that changes
beyond my closed eyes.

From a warm place
of leaves and trees

to a cold orb
hanging in a dark sky

and growing smaller
and smaller and smaller.

And time passes.

It inexorably passes.

And i can do nothing about it.

General walters?

Space contact, sir.

A craft spiraling in.

All right,
let's hear the report.

It's expedition called
stansfield's mount everest.

Commanded by douglas stansfield.

The date of departure?

This one's
one of the old jobs, sir.

Departure, december 31, 1987.

"Old" is putting it mildly.

All right, check it out
in your report.

Let me know.

This one's one of the pioneers.

Been in space 40 years.

First voice communication
we've had.

It's been tracked on radar

but his communications
must have malfunctioned

a few hours
after he left the atmosphere.

Now, here's a funny one.

How's that, sir?

Well, there's an insertion

from a man named bixler.

He was one of the project people
years and years ago as i recall.

He must have been in charge
of the stansfield mission.

It says we're to contact
a girl name sandra horn.

Who?

A miss sandra horn,

a friend of
commander stansfield.

Where would we find her, sir?

An old lady's home?

No, you'll find her
in a hibernation room.

You'll find her a young woman
of 26 years of age.

I hope you find her alive.

General walters.

Miss horn.

You're looking
very well indeed.

You look fine.

Sounds idiotic,
doesn't it

but what do you say to somebody
who's been asleep for 40 years?

I was told commander
stansfield...

yes, his ship landed
six hours ago.

I asked to see you.

What about him?

In good health.

Naturally... very tired.

I want to see him.

I must see him.

You shall see him
in just a moment.

I... i had to
speak to you first.

I'll try to make this
as brief as possible.

Commander stansfield suffered
a communications failure.

It probably occurred

within the first 12 hours
after his departure.

There was only
sporadic contact made

during the entire flight
both there and back.

He reached the other
solar system.

Yes, he reached it.

He landed, he took off,
he returned.

He found no life.

But we found that 20 years ago.

That's one of the ironies
of progress, miss horn.

Could have saved the trip.

Could have saved him...
his anguish

his anguish being
the following:

Unknown to us here on earth,

to my predecessors
and to theirs,

because of the lack
of communication,

commander stansfield arbitrarily
removed himself from hibernation

six months after leaving earth.

He did this
because...

i know why.

Oh, god help me.

I know why.

Over 40 years, miss horn.

40 years in the cockpit
of a ship.

40 years.

His loneliness must have been...

something brand-new
in the human experience.

I wish to heaven

he could have returned
to you just as he left,

but... as it is, he...

doug...

you remember me... don't you?

Remember you?

I've spent...

i've spent 40 years
remembering you, sandy.

Painting a picture
inside my head.

Listening
to your voice.

Thinking about your touch.

I've spent...

40 years surviving
for you, sandy.

Oh, doug...

it can still be that way.

The way you are...

the way i am.

It doesn't make
any difference.

Oh, it makes
a difference, sandy.

It's 40 years' difference.

That's too much difference.

You're...
still beautiful.

Very beautiful.

No, you go away now, sandy.

Please go, hmm?

Stansfield...

you are really
quite an incredible man.

It may be the one distinction
in my entire life

that i knew you...

that i knew
a man

who put such
a premium on love.

Truly...

truly quite a distinction,
stansfield.

Mmm.

Commander douglas stansfield,

one of the forgotten pioneers
of the space age,

he's been pushed aside
by the flow of progress

and the passage of years

and the ferocious travesty
of fate.

Tonight's tale
of the ionosphere and irony

delivered from
the twilight zone.

And now, mr. Serling.

Next time out on
the twilight zone

an unusual little item
from the pen of jerry mcneely

based on a story by henry slesar
and called, intriguingly enough,

"the self-improvement
of salvadore ross."

This one poses the question,

"if you don't like what you are,
how do you go about changing?"

Don gordon portrays a man
who really goes the route

when it comes
to some basic changing

and the results
are most unexpected.