Simon Says (The Outer Limits)

"Simon Says"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no. Season 6
Episode 8
Directed by Helen Shaver
Written by Scott Peters
Original air date 10 March 2000
Guest actors

Joel Grey
Tammy Pentecost
Riley DeMeyer
Cathy Weseluck
Mikela J. Mikael
Hiro Kanagawa
Rice Honeywell

"Simon Says" is an episode from the sixth season of The Outer Limits. It originally aired on 10 March 2000.

Synopsis

A man who lost his wife and his son in a car accident several years ago has built a robot which has his son's memories.

Opening narration

“ There is no greater tragedy for a parent than the loss of a child. But when does grief become obsession? ”

Plot

Gideon Banks, an electronic engineer, twenty years ago lost his wife Liz and son Simon in a horrific car accident. At that period of time he was working at the so-called Neural Archiving Project — NAP for short. This technology was developed to create smart computers by transferring human engrams into computers.

The company eventually gave up on the technology, but Gideon didn't. After years of quietly perfecting it, he built at home a small robot, using parts he stole from Concorde Robotics, where he now works. Zoe, Gideon's niece, discovers Gideon's secret, that the robot contains actual neural engrams from Gideon's dead son Simon, which Gideon has integrated into the robot in hopes of re-creating his son. And now, the robot actually has memories of the real Simon.

Zoe becomes worried not only about Gideon but also about the robot that sounds and acts a lot like her little cousin used to. And she begins to realize that Simon may not have been the lovable little angel that everyone believed he was.

"Simon" becomes more and more demanding, putting pressure on Gideon, who could lose his job. When he asks Zoe to "babysit," the robot attacks and almost kills her. "Simon" admits that "he" was responsible for the car accident: when Liz refused to take Simon to the toy store, Simon angrily grabbed the steering wheel, causing the fatal crash.

Gideon's boss finds out about the robot, and claims that since it was built from company equipment, it belongs to the company. When he tries to forcibly take "Simon" away, Gideon becomes enraged and clubs the man on the head, killing him. Realizing what he's done, Gideon ushers Zoe out, assuring her that he'll remedy the situation. Soon afterwards, Zoe hears a gunshot and rushes back in, only to discover that Gideon has copied his own mind into another robot before committing suicide. Zoe can only look on in horrified silence as the two robots chat like father and son.

Closing narration

“ When we endeavor to fill a terrible void, sometimes the void can consume us. ”

Nominations and Awards

Cast

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Awards for «The Outer Limits» (1995-2002)

External links