The Outer Limits (TV Series)

Final Exam (1998)

Peter Stebbings: Seth Todtman

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Quotes 

• Seth Todtman : Oh come on, Martin. Are you trying to tie me up in logical knots like I was some sort of war game computer you can crash with a game of Tic-Tac-Toe?

• Seth Todtman : Just... Just try to understand this... I have a Cold Fusion device wired into a dead-man switch and a timer. The yield of this device is 50 Megatons. If it detonates, it will destroy the entire city... .

• Seth Todtman : Do you know how the first thought of an atomic bomb came into the world?

  Dr. James Martin : No

  Seth Todtman : It was, um, 1939, a group of graduate students working with Robert Oppenheimer sketched a design on their classroom blackboard, not long after that, another junior guy was thinking about this little research report from Paris while he was riding along in his commuter train in Berlin. You see, the french guys had noticed that when they split certain atoms, they got an extra release of neutrons, and there, amid the screech of steel wheels against steel rails, the light flickering across his face, that guy realized that you could not only base a bomb on that sort of chain reaction, but you could also breed your own Uranium to do it. Do you, uh, do you know what I'm saying ?

  Dr. James Martin : That all those people weren't necessarily special, and that it wasn't even based on their own experiments.

  Seth Todtman : Exactly. You see, when a science is ready, people can't help making the discovery, the world is going to end very soon, Doctor Martin.The concepts are so simple, even a child can make a cold fusion bomb.

• Dr. James Martin : When a child is traumatized, they still have choices,some grow up and fight back, they become protectors and try to save other people from the same pain that they've been through, you meet them as social activists, teachers...

  Seth Todtman : And badly dressed therapists? Are you a loner, Martin? Don't have a wife to pick out your clothes for you? Not that I mean to criticize. Some of the very best people at this school said I dressed like a geek, you know, the textbooks claim that humor at a time like this usually means you're screaming inside, I thought the lack of it meant that I was stupid or a madman. What about your next type of victim?

  Dr. James Martin : Well, they're the type who identify with the abusers, and they become pain-givers themselves which is inherently illogical, because that's just another form of surrender to the abusers,it's saying you can't beat them, so you're joining them.

• Seth Todtman : What if i do feel fear? What if i wished i never saw how to build that thing? What difference does it make? It's built, and someone else will build another one very soon.

  Dr. James Martin : We can control the materials needed to build it, we can steer the path of education away from the discovery,

  Seth Todtman : The materials are everywhere, when science is ready to make a discovery, nothing can stop it, almost simultaneously the ideas will occur to lots of people.

  General : Don't let him turn, step up the power,

  Dr. James Martin : Maybe, maybe not, but hope is as intrinsic to the human condition as our thirst for life, i want you to live,I don't care if that's logical, let's put the genie back in the bottle, they'll forget about the deaths today if you make that deal, and the very effort of trying will help cure your fears, come on, admit to yourself what you're feeling

  Seth Todtman : I, uh... Maybe i do feel fear,

• General : Is Jackson close enough? Will he vaporize the cold fusion device or detonate it? Tell me, you're the disposal expert.

  Captain Litvak : I've been through simulations before, but not anything like this.

  General : What do I do? Shoot a man?

  Professor Wylie : It's against everything this country stands for. I didn't do anything wrong. He's crazy. Don't you get it?

  Seth Todtman : Shoot him!

  Captain Litvak : Necessity defence -- justifiable homicide. If the lifeboat's going to sink, you can throw people overboard. If the dam's going to break, You can open the floodgates.

  General : The law isn't that clear.

  Captain Litvak : If Jackson's 100 meters off, that nuclear mine may not work. I'm not saying that because it's our lives.

  Seth Todtman : You owe me this!

  General : Professor Wylie. Our nuclear mine blows or his cold fusion device ignites, it's the same result -- you'll die, we'll all die.

  Professor Wylie : You brought me here against my will. I don't have to die! You brought me!

  General : I'm sorry.

  Professor Wylie : No, you can't do this!

• Seth Todtman : I mean, Haven't you ever wondered why there isn't any intelligent life In the universe?

  Dr. James Martin : Excuse me?

  Seth Todtman : Oh, come on, Martin, all those years listening to the stars and not a peep, No I Love Lucy with two-headed green guys playing both Lucy and Ricky? No radio signals at all, you know why?

  Dr. James Martin : No, I don't

  Seth Todtman : Because they get to this point, where you and I are today, and they discover the energy weapon that any child can build, and then they destroy themselves.

  Dr. James Martin : I can't accept that, I don't believe you can either.

  Seth Todtman : Before this day's over, you will