The Cold Equations (The Twilight Zone)
| "The Cold Equations" | |
|---|---|
| The New Twilight Zone episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 3 Episode 51 |
| Directed by | Martin Lavut |
| Written by |
Alan Brennert Tom Godwin |
| Original air date | January 7, 1989 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Terence Knox: Thomas Barton | |
| Episode chronology | |
"The Cold Equations" is the fifty-first episode and the sixteenth episode of the third season (1988–89) of the television series The Twilight Zone.
Opening narration
| “ | On the frontier, any frontier, there can be little margin for error. Just as the first covered wagons making their way across the American desert had a finite supply of food and water, so too on this even vaster frontier are there laws that must be strictly observed. Thomas Barton has been piloting Emergency Dispatch Ships for five years. He has never been faced with this particular law of the frontier, until now. Thomas Barton is about to discover firsthand that there are limits, even here in the boundless reaches of the Twilight Zone. | ” |
Plot
Thomas Barton is an astronaut who must deliver a vital cargo of vaccine to a plague-stricken colony world. However, a young girl, Marilyn, has stowed away on his vessel with hopes of reuniting with her brother once the vessel reaches the colony world. Now the entire mission is in jeopardy, as her presence on board was not calculated into the flight plan and there will be no way for the pilot to compensate for her added weight.
While she is overwrought about the fact that she cannot make it to see her brother and the ship they are on will crash because of her added weight, they attempt to compensate by jettisoning all possible extra weight. They discover, however, that the extra weight jettisoned is only half of what they need.
Barton suggests that the girl try to contact her brother so they could at least talk before the impending doom. She does finally contact him in time, but only to talk about the fact they cannot meet in person. Barton considers sacrificing himself so the girl can survive, but finds this is impossible since she would not be able to pilot the ship herself. Resigned to her fate, Marilyn enters the airlock and allows herself to be jettisoned into space, leaving Barton to grieve in silence.
Closing narration
| “ | In the darkness, Thomas Barton hurtles toward his destination with the realization that there is room for emotion on the wilder frontiers of the universe. Emotion and memory of a girl who had not known that sometimes it takes a human life to balance the cold equation in the black geometry...of the Twilight Zone. | ” |
Note
Based on the original short story by Tom Godwin, this was made into a longer feature for the SciFi channel starring Billy Campbell and Poppy Montgomery. It was also made into an episode of the radio series X Minus One in 1955.