Episode
The Outer Limits: Inconstant Moon
Overview
When a lonely physics professor realizes the sun is going to burn out, he knows that he and humanity have only a few hours to live. In that time, Stan resolves to make up for lost years. He courts and proposes to Leslie, a woman he has known for two years but never dated. Leslie, although puzzled, finds herself more and more entranced by Stan until she finds out the reason for Stan's sudden attention. Based on a short story by famed sci-fi writer Larry Niven, this episode brings its characters face to face with both death and their own visions of life - with surprising results.
Details
- Series
- The Outer Limits
- Season
- Season 2
- Episode
- Episode 12
- Air date
- 1996-04-12
- Runtime
- 45 min
Episode context
Inconstant Moon is Episode 12 in Season 2 of The Outer Limits. It aired on 1996-04-12. The runtime is 45 min.
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Episode 11: The Refuge
""What is reality?"" is the question before Raymond Bava after he collapses during a blizzard and awakens in a private refuge run by Sanford Valle. Valle's companions include his son and daughter-in-law, Thomas and Justine, and Gina Beaumont. Ray, drawn to the gentle Gina, recoils from the callous corruption displayed by the all-controlling Valle and the other inhabitants. Then, following a moment of violence, Ray begins to doubt reality when all the characters, including Gina, reverse roles and personalities. When he is suddenly freed from Valle's control, Ray finds he has been locked in a cryogenic-induced nightmare, but one he must return to fulfill his love for Gina.
Episode 13: From Within
A mentally challenged boy named Howie is the last unaffected person in a small town overrun by a strange madness. Miners unearth ancient parasites, in the shape of worms, that attack the brains of their hosts. While the infected townsfolk lose all their inhibitions, Howie must save his sister Sheila, the only person who truly cares for him. Deprived of Sheila's guidance for the first time in his life, Howie struggles to evade his maddened neighbors and destroy the parasites. In the process, he becomes a hero to the whole town.
More episodes from this season
Episode 10: Worlds Apart
Space agency director Nancy MacDonald gets a lesson in the meaning of time and distance with an unexpected signal from astronaut Christopher Lindy. Lindy, the man MacDonald once loved, disappeared on a routine space mission 20 years ago. Oblivious to the time that has passed, Lindy must deal with his present situation; being alone on an unknown planet. MacDonald turns to her husband, marine biologist Greg Tilman, to help Lindy survive attacks by an alien lifeform while she and her staff look for a way to save Lindy before the window of opportunity to save him once again disappears.
Episode 14: The Heist
Embittered after a friend's betrayal cost him his Army career, Lee Taylor helps a self-styled militia major hijack an Army shipment. He reaps a deadly reward. The militia, which includes Lee's brother Calvin, expected a missile shipment. Instead, they find a mysterious, sealed cargo and a lone Army Guard. Under threat of death, Captain Teri Washington refuses to reveal the nature of the cargo but warns it is deadly. The major thinks she is lying until an alien lifeform begins a chilling series of attacks. Discipline crumbles and loyalties are tested as the creature stalks its prey with impersonal efficiency.
Episode 9: Trial by Fire
On the day of Charles Halsey's inauguration as President of the United States, scientists detect a large object heading towards Earth at half the speed of light. Halsey, a peace-loving liberal, is rushed to an underground bunker by the Presidential transition team, a group of aides and military men that share the hawkish bent of the previous administration. As the crisis unfolds, it becomes clear that the object came from an armada of alien ships, which are fast approaching Earth. Contact is made, but the aliens' message is unclear. As the U.S. and the other nuclear powers gear up to defend themselves, Halsey must decide: Are these invaders bent on conquering earth or benevolent explorers reaching out to another civilization?
Episode 15: Afterlife
Linden Stiles struggles to retain his humanity after heis convicted of a murder he didn't commit. When asked to make a frightful choice: accept execution or become the subject of a secret military experiment -- he chooses to live. As the experiment progresses, Stiles fights the dehumanizing influence of injected DNA from an alien lifeform. The attending doctor is troubled by a growing awareness of the inhumanity of the experiment itself, of the men in charge and of her own role. Using his super-human strength, Stiles escapes. Then, hunted by his former compatriots, he faces a decision even more difficult than the one that set him on such a tragic course.
Episode 8: Straight and Narrow
Rusty Dobson has always been a problem child. His single mom decides to send him to the Milgram Academy, an ultra-strict private school that has produced some of the nation's top business and political leaders. What Rusty's mom doesn't know - and what Rusty finds out the hard way - is that Milgram doesn't just build the leaders of tomorrow, it controls them. The academy installs small computer chips in the student's brains, turning them into blindly loyal servants of the academy and The Committee, a shadowy body that controls the project. Thanks to a malfunctioning chip, Rusty has eluded their control so far, but can he escape from this prison of the mind?
Episode 16: The Deprogrammers
With Earth under alien rule and millions dead, the human race has been programmed to slavery. A small band of rebels kidnaps Evan, alien leader Koltok's personal slave. Trent Davis, leader of the rebels, tries to return Evan to his former self through arduous deprogramming sessions. To aid in the process, Evan is reintroduced to his wife Jill. As his sessions progress, Evan learns of the death of his daughter. He agrees to join the rebels and assassinate his former master - with devastating results.
Episode 7: First Anniversary
As he celebrates his first wedding anniversary, Norman Glass thinks he's the luckiest man alive. His wife Ady, whom he met after the tragic death of her first husband, is stunningly beautiful and talented. She loves him more than anyone alive. They have two great friends, Dennis and Barbara, who were arried on the same day and are just as madly in love as Norman and Ady. But suddenly things start to change. First, Dennis leaves Barbara. Then, Norman must struggle with the strange, growing revulsion he feels when he touches, smells, tastes or sees his lovely wife. Norman thinks he's going crazy, but Barbara and Ady know better. Is love blind? Is beauty only skin-deep? Guess again.
Episode 17: Paradise
Dr. Christina Markham and Sheriff Grady Markham live in small town America. Alzheimer's disease is slowly robbing Christina of her mother Helen, who lives in a nursing home along with her long time friend Gerry. When three apparently healthy young women age and die within hours, the Markhams are baffled and frightened. Grady interviews stunned witnesses and Christina seeks medical explanations, hoping to prevent another tragedy. Only after Helen and Gerry vanish is the astonishing answer to the puzzle finally revealed.
Episode 6: Beyond the Veil
After flashbacks of an alien abduction drives him to the brink of suicide, Eddie Wexler finds himself at a mental institute, where Dr. Sherrick is using a controversial technique to treat those who believe they have been abducted by extraterrestrials. Eddie and some of the other patients are suspicious of Sherrick and his methods, which forces patients to re-live their abductions in the memory chamber. Some even think that their abductors have infiltrated the institute. Is this just a paranoid delusion or is there an alien face behind the doctor's mask?
Episode 18: The Light Brigade
Actor Robert Patrick returns for this first-ever THE OUTER LIMITS sequel, a follow-up to last year's 'Quality of Mercy.' On a desperate mission, a young Cadet learns the difference between heroic ideals and the bitter realities of war. The only survivors on a crippled battle cruiser - Earth's last hope for victory and survivors - are the Cadet, the weapons Chief and Major John Skokes, a repatriated prisoner of war. Exposed to fatal doses of radiation when their fleet was wiped out by the aliens, they fight illness and death to launch a preemptive strike. As the awesome responsibility for success descends on him, the Cadet learns that fear is not his only enemy.