Episode no. Season 5
Episode 16 Original air date 9 July 1999 | Directed by Brian Giddens | |
Written by Alan Katz,
Naren Shankar | ||
"Déjà Vu" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 9 July 1999, during the fifth season.
Contents
Introduction
A teleportation experiment goes wrong, the wormhole it created expands and engulfs the scientists. Suddenly they're back to the day before, but only one man seems to remember what happened.
Plot
Doctor Mark Crest (Kevin Nealon) is a scientist in charge of a teleportation experiment, overseen by his friend Colonel Lester Glade (Ronny Cox). The initial test goes well at first, but eventually the teleportation field destabilizes, growing out of control as the failsafe mechanism refuses to engage. Dr. Crest attempts to cut power to the device and is electrocuted just as the expanding field overtakes him. Abruptly he finds himself back in the lab, some 18 hours before the test is to be conducted.
Initially, Crest believes the episode to be a form of déjà vu, but when the test proceeds exactly the same way Mark realizes he is stuck in a time loop. Through the iterations he tries to solve the mystery that caused the experiment to go wrong. He believes he has found the problem after discovering an eco-terrorist, Julie (Jennifer Copping), among his workers, but despite stopping her tampering the test fails again.
On the next iteration Crest brings his colleague Doctor Cleo Lazar (Terri Hawkes) through the time loop with him, finding himself several hours closer to the test than before. Mark and Lazar realize the time loop is getting smaller. Aided by Lazar, Mark also realizes that the "saboteur" must be Colonel Glade, suspecting he has modified the device to behave more like a weapon. When Lazar and Crest attempt to stop the next iteration of the test Glade reveals his involvement, stopping their efforts moments before the field overtakes them.
With the time loop down to two hours, Cleo causes a series of software problems to cover Mark while he goes to the test site in an effort to undo Glade's modifications. Glade eventually realizes what is happening and confronts Mark at the test site, shooting him before he can finish undoing the Colonel's alterations. Glade remains next to the bomb, not believing that the failsafes have been disabled until the device activates, enveloping him while leaving Mark untouched.
In the aftermath Mark and Cleo oversee shutting down the project, now deemed a failure. The final scene shows the Colonel stuck in an infinite loop, repeatedly reliving the moment the device detonates and engulfs him.