The Twilight Zone The Cold Equations (1985–1989) watch online HD

Well, without saying too much, or writing an episode synopsis, I'll try to explain why this episode of The New Twilight Zone was the one that will always stay with me.

I was in my early teens when this show started airing in the late 80's. It was on after episodes of some new werewolf show whose name escapes me... I have almost no memory of any New Twilight Zone episodes other than this one, and another one involving shopping store mannequins. This one stayed with me because of how powerfully it evoked such a variety of emotions. Without going into too much detail, I remember instantly being interested in this episode, as the star/ co-star was the Sergeant from Tour of Duty (Terrence Knox). Anyway, before too long, we're introduced to the other star/ co-star, Christianne Hirt. Needless to say, I fell in love with her in a flash.

The episode itself examines the tough choices Terrence Knox faces when he realises that he's not alone in deep space. Christine Hirt plays her character flawlessly, and both of them made a deep and lasting impression on me, as this was the first time I had ever been exposed to a situation where every choice one makes, will turn out to be the wrong choice. Despite that neither character (Knox/ Hirt) is inherently 'in the wrong' and that neither character is a/ the 'bad guy', both characters find themselves in dire straits, where their lives depend on choices that are both already made for them, and yet have to be made by one or the other of the unlikely duo.

The scenes where Knox and Hirt are examining the cold hard facts that beset their ill-fated voyage, were the first of their kind that I had ever seen, and were acted perfectly. They evoked such powerful feelings of isolation and helplessness in me, in a way that no other movie (or such) had done before. It was the first time I'd been moved to tears by a medium other than real life (with the notable exception of David Bowie's song Space Oddity), and though I may have long since forgotten most of the details of this episode, I can still recall with such clarity, the myriad of emotions that this episode woke up inside me. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see the best that the New Twilight Zone had to offer.

This Twilight Zone tale is a real bummer, extremely depressing. "The Cold Equations" is closer in spirit to the Classic Rod Serling science fiction tales of old, but doesn't exactly end the way you would expect. It concerns a young stowaway (Christianne Hirt, perfectly presenting a sweet teenage girl confronting the horrifying ordeal of death in a manner of hours; those tears and that emotional devastation is real and palpable, a testament to her ability to wring as much pathos out of the story as possible) who hides on board a ship carrying medical supplies and treatment to a planet suffering from a Cholera epidemic. The space vessel's operator, Thomas Bartin (Terence Knox, Children of the Corn II), questions his superior officer about getting her on another ship, but is informed that there are no other transports in the area. Bartin, as hard as it pains him, must tell Marilyn Lee Cross (Hirt) that she will have to be jettisoned from the ship so that he can land it on the planet! We watch as the two try to find some way to save her from being sent to her death in space as that nerve-wracking tension mounts as time begins to run out. The ship can only carry so much weight and any difference will cause catastrophic consequences. As the title says, it comes "down to simple, cold mathematics", the ship and what it can carry are measured carefully which is highly expounded upon by the principles who converse about the "no win situation" they find themselves. Bartin cannot sacrifice himself because the ship has to land. Is Cross' life worth 25 diseased people needing the supplies Bartin is transporting? The episode really establishes the nightmare that can be fate, in this story's particular case, if one makes a hasty decision just to see a brother on another planet, not understanding the calamity that will befall her. Knox effectively conveys the turmoil and frustration that torments him, having to send a poor girl into space or else his mission will be for naught and those waiting on the supplies will die. The screenplay doesn't provide easy answers: one scene has Bartin trying to find extra weight on board the ship that would substitute for Cross, hoping he can jettison metal doors/plates and junk that can be sacrificed, but to no avail. Despite a low budget set depicting a space ship that isn't all that impressive, the story and acting are haunting, I imagine this episode will remain with many who watch it as it will me. Sometimes life doesn't hand us an easy way out.

Christianne Hirt plays a stowaway on board a rescue mission space craft heading towards an infected planet. The pilot of the craft, Terrence Knox (of "Tour of Duty" fame), discovers her existence too late to send her back. The crux of the issue at hand is that because of the exact weight of the medical supplies, Ms. Hirt's presence (and extra weight on the space ship) is jeopardizing the entire rescue mission. Knox is faced with a life and death situation. Either he jettisons Hirt off the craft and to certain death, or he turns the craft around and allows the men and women on the infected planet to perish. To add to the dilemma, Hirt's brother is on the imperiled planet. He was the reason she stowed away on the craft to begin with. Knox's agonizing decision is the only way out. But what will he do? The agonizing decision that Knox has to make is very reminiscent of the subject matter of the original series. This episode would make Rod Serling proud and was certainly as good as any of the earlier stories. It is a classic.

Based upon Tom Godwin's classic sci-fi story, this episode may very well be the best of the entire 1980s series, rivaling "Paladin of the Lost Hour," "The Road Less Travelled," and "The Toys of Caliban." The captain of a spaceship carrying emergency supplies to a remote outpost discovers he has a stowaway -- a young woman desiring to see her brother on the outpost. The only problem is the ship only has enough fuel to carry the captain and the supplies....

Alan Brennert's screenplay is superb -- economical with its dialogue, with little or no extraneous exposition, spoken by fully-fleshed characters, and skillfully using the narrowing time window to ramp up the suspense. The plot moves crisply and logically, and without pretense, working off the natural human stakes created by the situation. The performances are equal to these stakes: Christianne Hirt is excellent as the stowaway, moving through the various stages of realization of her doomed situation -- her final conversation with her brother is heartbreaking; Terence Knox is equally strong as the steadfast captain, wrestling with the demands of his mission versus the individual life he's loath to take. Martin Lavut's direction effectively uses the claustrophobic atmosphere to enhance the intimacy between the two leads, and avoids the temptation to jazz up the story.

What's left is what the story requires -- an unfortunate situation with no real fault, which has only one workable solution. The definition of tragedy, portrayed realistically and devastatingly.

***SPOILERS*** The time is 2060 A.D and Sgt. Thomas Bartin,Terrance Knox,is on his way with an emergency supply of medicine for the American colony on the asteroid Woden. Without that medicine getting there on time the entire colony will be wiped out by an meningitis like disease that ravaging it.

It's then that Sgt.Bartin sees,on his computer panel, that his spacecraft is some 100 pounds top heavy! If that extra, or dead, weight is not jettisoned off the spacecraft he'll never make it to Woden on time to save it American colonists. In fact he'll end up lost in space with him not having enough fuel to get to any American Space Station and end up, when his food supply is exhausted, dead! Checking what's on the ship Sgt. Bartin is surprised to find that the exert weight that's holding the craft from reaching Woden is a young stowaway Marilyn Cross, Christianne Hirt!

Marilyn is desperately trying to see her brother Garry, Bradly Hope, an engineer on Woden whom she hasn't seen in five years. Not realizing the limitations of space travel,in fuel food and water supplies on the spacecraft, Marilyn has now put herself in the situation of being sacrificed, by being jettisoned off the spacecraft into outer space, in order to save the American colonists on Woden including her brother Garry!

***SPOILER*** Faced with the cold hard facts of the circumstances he finds himself in Sgt. Bartin is forced to do what even Marilyn knows to be the right thing. But he'll have to live the rest of his life grieving over what he's done! Even though it was the only option he had on that spacecraft reaching Woden and saving the people, with the medical aid that he was carrying, on time!

When a young woman stows away on a unique spaceship which is designed to be nearly 100 percent efficient. By this woman being on board, she throws everything off. After jettisoning her weight in extraneous material, it's still not enough. She can't pilot the ship which is carrying a serum to save a large group of people. The point is that she needs to be thrown off the ship into space. The Zone could have taken the cheap way out with a dream sequence or a test being performed by higher authorities. What the do instead is to play this out, sad as it may be, leaving the pilot to live with what he has done (even though he had not choice). It must have been hard to present this episode. I would imagine there was some reaction to it.