Relativity Theory (The Outer Limits)

"Relativity Theory" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It was first broadcast on February 27, 1998, during the fourth season.

Opening narration

Plot

Biologist Teresa Janovitch is a civilian among military men, traveling on the Resource Survey Vehicle Cortez to Tau Ceti Prime in search of minerals for an Earth that has squandered its own. Initial signs indicate that the planet is both uninhabited and rich in mineral resources, which could mean a million dollar payday for both the crew and the company that owns the Cortez. But on the first exploration, the crew is attacked by gigantic and apparently primitive aliens.

After initial casualties, command of the mission technically, by regulations, falls to Janovitch, who favors further investigation and a non-aggressive approach towards the aliens; it may be possible to either reach some accommodation with the aliens or find an area of the planet where they do not live to extract resources. But she is overpowered by her crew, Sgt. Adam Sears, a veteran of pacification missions on Earth, who favors annihilation of the new race, and Corporal Charles Pendelton; the crew are impatient with the idea of negotiating with alien savages after they have been responsible for killing members of their crew, and greedy to claim their reward for finding a planet so rich in resources.

Despite her protests, Sears essentially mutinies against Janovitch and leads a patrol that hunts down and kills the aliens, in the process seizing a golden object that appears to be a religious totem, knowing that his actions will not be held against him if Earth profits from the planet's resources. As he celebrates his slaughter, Janovitch examines his victims and makes a shocking discovery.

Before she can communicate it, a highly advanced alien vessel (far more advanced than the human team's own ship) emerges from a wormhole, with a member of the "primitive" alien race on board. Janovitch angrily reveals that her medical examination of the corpses showed that the "primitive" aliens were juveniles; they did not bear advanced technology with them because they were essentially an alien boy scout team on a camping trip. The "religious" totem was an emergency radio. Having downloaded the location of the homeworld of these bloodthirsty aliens that would murder children from their ship's computer, this "father" then sends a bomb killing the remaining crew.

The closing scene shows the alien ship approaching Earth ready to attack.

Closing narration

External links

• Episode on Hulu
• "Relativity Theory" at the Internet Movie Database