A Feasibility Study
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"A Feasibility Study" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on April 13, 1964, during the first season. It was remade in 1997 as part of the revived The Outer Limits series with a minor title change: "Feasibility Study".
Opening narration
The Luminoids, inhabitants of the hot, stagnant planet Luminos, suffer from a genetic condition that gradually turns them into immobile, rock-like beings. Desperate for healthy, mobile workers to build their grand visions, they search the universe for slaves. Earth is their chosen target. They begin by teleporting an entire six-block suburban neighborhood—people, homes, and all—to Luminos.
This is their feasibility study, a test to see if humans can be enslaved. The Luminoid rulers reveal their plan to the captured suburbanites, warning that any disobedience means being touched and infected with the same paralyzing disease. Realizing escape is impossible and that even submission risks accidental infection, the humans make a defiant choice. They willfully infect each other with the disease, choosing death over slavery.
This act renders the experiment inconclusive, proving the abduction of the human race infeasible. The Luminoids abandon their plan, leaving the neighborhood lost but humanity safe.
Plot
A six-block suburban area –people and all– is teleported to Luminos. The Luminoids will study the feasibility of enslaving humans because Luminoids suffer from a genetic disease which condemns them to become as immobile as rocks as they age. Eventually, a suburbanite is introduced to the hideous Luminoid rulers, who reveal their plans and that the punishment for disobedience is to be touched by a Luminoid and thereby contract their terrible disease.
The humans realize that they've been trapped with no chance of returning home. They accept that their former lives are over. Even submission to the Luminoids would not prevent inadvertent infection. All that's left is defiance and protecting the rest of humanity back on Earth.
In the final scene, they willfully contract the disease from each other, thus choosing death over slavery, and rendering the Luminoids' experiment inconclusive. The abduction of the human race is proven infeasible, and abandoned.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who directed A Feasibility Study?
A Feasibility Study was directed by Byron Haskin.
Who wrote A Feasibility Study?
A Feasibility Study was written by Joseph Stefano.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: A Feasibility Study (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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