The Joining (The Outer Limits)

"The Joining"
The Outer Limits episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 13
Directed by	Brad Turner
Written by	Sam Egan
Original air date	April 17, 1998
Guest actors
C. Thomas Howell Amanda Tapping Jim Byrnes Michael Tiernan Jeffrey Jones

"The Joining" is an episode of The Outer Limits television show. It was first broadcast on 17 April 1998, during the fourth season.

Opening narration

Our history abounds with the exploits of heroes who brave overwhelming odds and live to tell the tale. But is there a point at which the determination to survive... comes at too high a price?

Plot

When a transport ship crashed and wiped out the colony on Venus, Capt. Miles Davidow (C. Thomas Howell) was the sole survivor. But, after he's rescued by a team that includes his fiancee, Kate Girard (Amanda Tapping) and Scott Perkins (Jeffrey Jones), it soon becomes clear that Davidow did not escape unscathed. Removed from the high radiation atmosphere of Venus, his body is reacting to the Earth's air like that of a chemotherapy patient. When doctors give him the radiation his body seems to crave, strange things start to happen. Davidow's body begins to spawn duplicate parts: a hand, a torso and more from wounds that miraculously heal. In spite of this, Miles and Kate get married while he's still in isolation, but his time on Venus and the strange creatures he encountered there have had a profound change on Miles. As the mysterious changes continue, it becomes clear that although Davidow did what it took to survive, the price of survival may be exile from everything he knows and loves.

Closing narration

It is nature’s imperative that the differences among us endure. But what if we can no longer distinguish one being from another?

Trivia

• The name of the ship is Highlander, possibly a reference to the series Jim Byrnes also appears in.

External links

• "The Joining" at The Outer Limits official website
• "The Joining (The Outer Limits)" at TV.com
• "The Joining" at IMDb