| You can help A Fifth Dimension by expanding it. Remember to use an in-universe POV for nonfactual data. |
Six Degrees of Freedom is the sixth episode of season one in The Twilight Zone series.
Synopsis[]
A space crew preparing for the first human flight to Mars is faced with a life-altering decision and its consequences.
Plot[]
Opening Narration: "Five voyagers setting sail to a mysterious red light 35,000,000 miles across an empty sea, soaring in the greatest invention ever created by the human spirit to escape a catastrophe made possible by the most destructive regions of the human mind. Individual madness or shared nightmare? The answer lies in their search for safe harbor here in the Twilight Zone."
Act 1
Flight Commander Alexa Brandt, Pilot Casey Donlin, Flight Engineer Rei Tanaka, Flight Surgeon Katherine Langford, and Mission Specialist Jerry Pierson are awaiting launch of their spacecraft the Bradbury, the first human flight to Mars. Their ship is monitored by the onboard computer called TINA. Just before launch a North Korean missile attack has reportedly destroyed several American cities. The crew all agree, except for Tanaka, to launch the ship in order to escape an incoming missile. The crew escape Earth’s atmosphere, establish artificial gravity and begin the 230 day journey to Mars assuming all human life on Earth has died in nuclear war.
Act 2[]
The crew all try to focus on their duties but are distracted by the loss of their loved ones. One night, Commander Brandt catches Tanaka and Donlin having sex. She admonishes them because the ship cannot support any children that could result. In a moment of weakness, Brandt confesses that she may have doomed the crew to a slow suicide. They receive a radio transmission but are devastated to learn that it is nothing but an old television commercial. The crew try to cheer up Brandt with a surprise birthday party complete with a makeshift cake and a rendition of “California Dreamin’”. During the party, Pierson reveals that he has been researching their situation and has concluded that none of what has happened to them is real. At that moment, TINA warns of a dangerously powerful solar flare coming towards them. Pierson maintains that none of it is real and just a test meant to test their crew morale and mental durability.
Act 3[]
The crew desperately try to get Pierson to take his flight seat so the crew can erect the heat shield. He refuses and continues to rant that they are being watched in a “Six Degrees of Freedom” simulation. The crew are finally forced to erect the heat shield without Pierson when he opens the airlock to prove his hypothesis is correct and is killed. Later, the crew finds proof that Pierson was wrong. They mourn their friend but come together as a family. The ship finally arrives and lands on the surface of Mars. The crew open the main porthole that had been sealed for the entire mission and gaze out on a Martian landscape.
Act 4[]
In an unknown location, mysterious alien beings watch the crew’s actions. They discuss how they are impressed that the Humans succeeded in reaching another planet, though it took the destruction of their world to do so. It is also revealed that Pierson is alive, having been saved by the aliens. Pierson smiles as the aliens say that humanity is worthy of salvation and they are ready to make contact.
Closing Narration: "It is said that seeing is believing. The crew of the Bradbury heavy mission to Mars might tell you otherwise. They're about to find out that they couldn't trust their own eyes. But who or what can we trust if not ourselves? The answer lies somewhere between takeoff and landing in the Twilight Zone."
Cast[]
- DeWanda Wise as Alexa Brandt
- Lucinda Dryzek as Katherine Langford
- Jefferson White as Jerry Pierson
- Jessica Williams as Rei Tanaka
- Jonathan Whitesell as Casey Donlin
- Lynnanne Zager as Public Affairs Officer (voice)
- Joyce Kurtz as TINA (voice)
- Dennis Singletary as Superintendent Range Operation (voice)
- James Bannon as Launch Control (voice)
Trivia[]
- The ship's name Bradbury is a reference to the science fiction author Ray Bradbury.
- A model airplane has the name Northern GoldStar Airlines written on it. (Nightmare at 30,000 Feet)
- The spacecraft is made by Whipple. (The Brain Center at Whipple's)
Media[]
Video[]
| v • e The Twilight Zone (2019) episodes | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | "The Comedian" • "Nightmare at 30,000 Feet" • "Replay" • "A Traveler" • "The Wunderkind" • "Six Degrees of Freedom" • "Not All Men" • "Point of Origin" • "The Blue Scorpion" • "Blurryman |
| Season 2 | "Meet in the Middle" • "Downtime" • "The Who of You" • "Ovation" • "Among the Untrodden" • "8" • "A Human Face" • "A Small Town" • "Try, Try" • "You Might Also Like"
|