Heart's Desire (The Outer Limits)

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“Heart's Desire”

The Outer Limits episode

Episode no.

Season 3
Episode 8

Written by

Alan Brennert

Directed by

Mario Azzopardi

Guest stars

Casper Van Dien as Jake Miller, David Longworth as Alien/Preacher

Production no.

Original airdate

28 February 1997

Episode chronology
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"The Camp"	"Tempests"

List of The Outer Limits episodes

"Heart's Desire" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show (new series). It was first aired on 28 February 1997, during the third season.

1 Opening narration
2 Plot
3 Closing narration
4 External links

[edit] Opening narration

"Those who seek to predict the future... might first look to the past. The past is a mirror -- and those who ignore its sometimes dark reflection, are doomed to repeat it."

[edit] Plot

It is set in the north-west Pacific town of "Heart's Desire" sometime in the late 1800s. In the episode, a visitor from another world takes over the body of a human preacher. He gives four outlaws a special energy power, which they can use to destroy anything they wish as long as they "want it more than anything else."

The first outlaws to be given these powers are two brothers, Jake and Ben Miller. Jake wants to use them to rob people. Later in the episode, the visitor gives the powers to two friends, Frank and JD Kelton who use them to rival the brothers.

Several people are attacked by these four, each of whom is killed. After this, the visitor explains to Jake and a woman who witnessed the violence his reason for coming to earth, and giving them this power.

Jake asks him, "All of these people, dead, for what?" He then shows them that he is an alien, and tells them that he is scouting ahead to see if humans will ever be able to rival his civilization.

"The fate of a world isn't determined by its best examples, but by its worst. It takes a few to destroy the many, especially when even the best of you can be dragged down into the mire. Judging from your example, brother against brother, friend against friend, you people have such a potential for violence, sheer and varnished wickedness, I've got every confidence you'll destroy yourself before you build your first inter-stellar engine. We've got nothing to fear from you."

He then disappears.

[edit] Closing narration

"Will it be those seeking redemption who shall decide the future... or will those driven only by greed and envy shape our destiny? Even a hundred years later, the outcome is still very much in doubt."