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Looking for a specific The Twilight Zone episode (or maybe it was just a dream)
Richard
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have this vague memory of a tv episode or movie but can't seem to nail down what it is or exactly what it was about. Maybe someone here knows what I'm thinking about unless I just made it all up. Please note that any or all details might be misremembered so some creativity is needed to solve the puzzle.
Plot: The story has a Twilight Zone/Planet of the Apes feel to it and the few details I remember about the episode/movie is it ending with one or several astronauts returning to Earth communicating or receiving communication but because of time dilation the information is old/outdated and something horrible has happened to Earth. You never see them land or what happens after they've landed, you just know it's bad and the credits roll. I have read through all episode summaries of the following shows but haven't found anything that really matches up with what I remember. I think the episode or movie was black & white and I watched it before 1997 or at the latest early 2000s.
The Ray Bradbury Theater
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)
If my memory is way off and I filled in the blanks making things up over the years the Twilight Zone episodes The Parallel, Death Ship, or The Long Morrow could be what I saw but it doesn't feel right. Please help me out if you have any idea what I'm talking about.
Plot: The story has a Twilight Zone/Planet of the Apes feel to it and the few details I remember about the episode/movie is it ending with one or several astronauts returning to Earth communicating or receiving communication but because of time dilation the information is old/outdated and something horrible has happened to Earth. You never see them land or what happens after they've landed, you just know it's bad and the credits roll. I have read through all episode summaries of the following shows but haven't found anything that really matches up with what I remember. I think the episode or movie was black & white and I watched it before 1997 or at the latest early 2000s.
The Ray Bradbury Theater
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (1985 TV series)
The Twilight Zone (2002 TV series)
If my memory is way off and I filled in the blanks making things up over the years the Twilight Zone episodes The Parallel, Death Ship, or The Long Morrow could be what I saw but it doesn't feel right. Please help me out if you have any idea what I'm talking about.
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but they're listening to every word I say
I've never watched Doctor Who actively, I guess The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis on repeat doesn't count, but it's not impossible that I've watched an episode not thinking about what it was as a teenager. I guess I will have to read more episode summaries. Thanks!
Edit: Went through all seasons of Doctor Who and it doesn't seem to be it either.
I'm not going to be any help pegging down an answer for where it's from, but that synopsis of the twist definitely sounds familiar, so I don't think you imagined it. Not only does it ring a bell for me personally, but I remember hearing someone on a podcast or let's play describing it once & being like 'oh yeah, what was that from?' at the time.
Might be worth going through https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeDilation in case it's in there. (I know the rules say that tv tropes discussion is strictly speaking banned here but I feel like in this context it's okay)
I'll see if it was ever put to film
edit: I was thinking of 'The Watchers' (a part of The Martian Chronicles), but that wasn't quite right
It was called "The Light Brigade".
I'm gonna go nuts tracking this down.
edit: NM! It was The Silent Towns from The Martian Chronicles.
You went through synopes of every episode? Aren't there like 40 seasons?
but they're listening to every word I say
26 seasons (who says you can't do important things on your work commute?) before they revived it in 2005 but I'm sure I saw it earlier than that.
Doppelgänger sounds cool but I've never seen that so it can't be that either. Sorry for dragging you all along this wild goose chase.
I think there is a Tom Paris centric episode of Voyager where he is talking to a love interest he has only heard on the communicator through a crisis to save her planet only for it to be revealed at the end that she lives in a different timeline and then he is sad, because she has been dead for like 200 years. Think it was voyager. Not sure the episode.
There may have been a similar one on TNG.
I think there was something like this on Farscape too.
Not exactly the same, but the dead romance trope might be a thing that got plugged into the old memory banks. I'll see if I can find any of those.
but they're listening to every word I say
Let's see, that must be one of the episodes I was thinking of. Talking to a guy from the past through a wormhole.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sound_of_Her_Voice_(episode)
This one is closer to what you mentioned. Must have been one of the episodes I was thinking of.
It's a Deep Space Nine episode, but it works in the opposite direction, they are rushing to save someone that they are communicating with only to find out she has been long dead before they even got the message.
but they're listening to every word I say