Stasis (The Outer Limits)

"Stasis"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 9
Directed by	Brian Giddens
Written by	Lawrence Myers
Original air date	14 April 2000
Guest appearance(s)
Sean Patrick Flannery Kristin Lehman Kavan Smith
Episode chronology

"Stasis" is an episode from the sixth season of The Outer Limits. It originally aired on 14 April 2000.

Synopsis

In a future world of scarce resources the world government regulates the population into two working classes (Alphas and Betas) in order to maximize conservation. These two classes rotate in and out of suspended animation for 72-hour periods. But what happens when an Alpha and a Beta fall in love with each other and never see each other face to face except for shift changes?

Opening narration

“

''To sleep perchance to dream. But what happens when the dream is to never sleep again?

”

Plot

More than half a century in the future the forefathers of the Earth government designed the "Stasis Initiative". It was to be a temporary measure to save mankind from dwindling resources by cutting the consumption of said resources in half by dividing the population and rotating the two shifts in and out of suspended animation every 72 hours with a group of "Elite" managers as overseers of the process. Though not ideal, the system works. However civil unrest is becoming rampant. "Stasis Jumpers", workers that refuse to report to their stasis shifts are becoming a problem. A dissatisfaction with the government and the Stasis Initiative is running high and the new initiative to relocate the Alpha workers to a countryside perimeter has provided ample fodder for a growing underground resistance movement that could tear their way of life apart. Behind the daily routine of the Stasis shifts, two workers, Eric and Larissa, have fallen in love. Simple enough but for the fact that Eric is a Beta and Larissa is an Alpha. Their destiny is separated by stretches of time in and out of a stasis pod with the moment that they switch places as the only time they physically ever see each other. As they work their respective shifts, they communicate their love to each other with holographic messages, computer games, and secret messages. Dominic, a former shift worker now an Elite manager, is allowed to forgo the stasis that has constrained many in his society. He is eager to see that the workers have a better future but at the same time he believes in the Stasis Initiative. Even more, it seems he now has an attraction to Larissa. The rule of the Elites is also becoming strained under the stress of ending the Stasis Initiative and the Resistance rebellion. Elites that challenge the rule of authority they currently hold find themselves in contempt and jailed and the underclass of the Alphas and Betas seems destined to serve only as a slave class, to the elite managers, in and out of stasis. With the new initiative to "relocate" the Alpha workers looming on the horizon, Eric makes a startling discovery that could spell disaster not only for his beloved Larissa, but for millions of Alphas. Eric will find his love for one becoming a fight for many.

Closing narration

“

Unless humankind awakens to the need to preserve its future, it may find itself asleep...for eternity.

”

Cast

Sean Patrick Flannery as Eric Waters a Beta worker
Kristin Lehman as Larissa Whitestone an Alpha worker
Kavan Smith as Dominic Langton an Elite
Matthew Walker as Winston the Bookshop owner
Maureen Thomas as Elizabeth
Robert Lewis as Miguel
Brenda Critchlow as Kayla Powers an Elite

Trivia

To reflect the culture of the Stasis Initiative the saying "You only live half a life" was used as a hook in the dialogue of the episode.

External links

Episode on Hulu
"Stasis" at the Internet Movie Database

The Outer Limits episodes

1963 series
(episodes)

Season 1	"The Galaxy Being" "The Hundred Days of the Dragon" "The Architects of Fear" "The Man with the Power" "The Sixth Finger" "The Man Who Was Never Born" "O.B.I.T." "The Human Factor" "Corpus Earthling" "Nightmare" "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" "The Borderland" "Tourist Attraction" "The Zanti Misfits" "The Mice" "Controlled Experiment" "Don't Open Till Doomsday" "ZZZZZ" "The Invisibles" "The Bellero Shield" "The Children of Spider County" "Specimen: Unknown" "Second Chance" "Moonstone" "The Mutant" "The Guests" "Fun and Games" "The Special One" "A Feasibility Study" "Production and Decay of Strange Particles" "The Chameleon" "The Forms of Things Unknown"

Season 2	"Soldier" "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" "Behold, Eck!" "Expanding Human" "Demon with a Glass Hand" "Cry of Silence" "The Invisible Enemy" "Wolf 359" "I, Robot" "The Inheritors" "Keeper of the Purple Twilight" "The Duplicate Man" "Counterweight" "The Brain of Colonel Barham" "The Premonition" "The Probe"

1995 series
(episodes)

Season 1	"The Sandkings" "Corner of the Eye" "Under the Bed" "Dark Matters" "The Conversion" "Quality of Mercy" "The New Breed" "The Voyage Home" "Caught in the Act" "The Message" "I, Robot" "If These Walls Could Talk" "Birthright" "The Voice of Reason"

Season 2	"Stitch in Time" "Resurrection" "Unnatural Selection" "I Hear You Calling" "Mind Over Matter" "Beyond the Veil" "First Anniversary" "Straight and Narrow" "Trial by Fire" "Worlds Apart" "The Refuge" "Inconstant Moon" "From Within" "The Heist" "Afterlife" "The Deprogrammers" "Paradise" "The Light Brigade" "Falling Star" "Out of Body" "Vanishing Act" "The Sentence"

Season 3	"Bits of Love" "Second Thoughts" "Re-Generation" "Last Supper" "Stream of Consciousness" "Dark Rain" "The Camp" "Heart's Desire" "Tempests" "Awakening" "New Lease" "Double Helix" "Dead Man's Switch" "Music of the Spheres" "The Revelations of Becka Paulson" "Bodies of Evidence" "Feasibility Study" "A Special Edition"

Season 4	"Criminal Nature" "The Hunt" "Hearts and Minds" "In Another Life" "In the Zone" "Relativity Theory" "Josh" "Rite of Passage" "Glyphic" "Identity Crisis" "The Vaccine" "Fear Itself" "The Joining" "To Tell the Truth" "Mary 25" "Final Exam" "Lithia" "Monster" "Sarcophagus" "Nightmare" "Promised Land" "Balance of Nature" "The Origin of Species" "Phobos Rising" "Black Box" "In Our Own Image"

Season 5	"Alien Radio" "Donor" "Small Friends" "The Grell" "The Other Side" "Joyride" "The Human Operators" "Blank Slate" "What Will The Neighbors Think" "The Shroud" "Ripper" "Tribunal" "Summit" "Descent" "The Haven" "Deja Vu" "The Inheritors" "Essence of Life" "Stranded" "Fathers and Sons" "Star Crossed" "Better Luck Next Time"

Season 6	"Judgment Day" "The Gun" "Skin Deep" "Manifest Destiny" "Breaking Point" "The Beholder" "Seeds of Destruction" "Simon Says" "Stasis" "Down to Earth" "Glitch" "Decompression" "Abaddon" "The Grid" "Gettysburg" "Nest" "Final Appeal"

Season 7	"Family Values" "Patient Zero" "A New Life" "The Surrogate" "The Vessel" "Mona Lisa" "Replica" "Think Like a Dinosaur" "Worlds Within" "In the Blood" "Flower Child" "Abduction" "Lion's Den" "The Tipping Point" "The Human Factor" "Human Trials"

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