The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

On Thursday We Leave for Home (1963)

Tim O'Connor: Colonel Sloane

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Quotes 

• Captain Benteen : Now listen to me. I want to tell you some things about the Earth that you haven't heard before. Things that are ugly. Things that are wrong. Things - that cannot be lived with. There is violence on Earth. There are hatreds! And jealousy! Now listen to me, listen to me and listen carefully. The Earth is a place we do not know. The Earth is a place we have never lived in. It is a society we do not belong in. If we leave here, we will die. We will *die*! We'll be committing suicide, if we go back to Earth. We will die of a misery we have never experienced before. Loneliness. Loneliness like animals in a zoo. We do not belong there.

  [points to Col. Sloane] 

  Captain Benteen : We do not belong to his kind. We do not belong *there*. We do not belong *there*.

  Col. Sloane : Captain Benteen! Why don't you let your "children" vote on it?

  Captain Benteen : Only if they know what's waiting for them! Only if they know that the Earth is not a garden. Never was a garden! And it never will be a garden!

  Col. Sloane : [Stepping forward]  Fair enough! Fair enough! Then I'll tell you what Earth is. It's a race of men - struggling for survival. Just as you have survived. And Captain Benteen is quite right when he tells you it isn't a place of all beauty. We may yet have wars. And there still remains prejudice. And I suppose as long as men walk, there'll be angry men, jealous men, unforgiving men. But it has one thing that you don't have. One thing. It lets every man be his own master. There won't be any Captain Benteens down there for you. There won't be anybody to tell you when to eat, and when to sleep, and when to meet. There won't be anyone to tell you when to dance or what to sing or how to play. And instead of the thirst, you may feel hunger. Instead of heat, you may feel cold! But you'll be men and women. You won't be sheep. You won't be a kindergarten. And when you pray to God, his name won't be "Benteen"!

• Col. Sloane : [Sloane shouts in the cavern]  Captain? Benteen?

  [Long pause, no response] 

  Col. Sloane : We know you can hear us. We know you're in here someplace. Come out. Please. Let us talk to you.

  [Long pause, no response] 

  Col. Sloane : We're leaving now, Benteen. We have to take off in five minutes or we'll lose our orbital position. It'll be too late for us.

  [Long pause, no response] 

  Col. Sloane : Benteen, it has to be now.

  Al : Captain, please.

  [Long pause, no response] 

  Al : Please come out!

  Col. Sloane : Benteen, remember this: if we leave without you, there'll be no ships returning here. This is where you'll live from this moment on. And this is where you'll die.

  [Still no response] 

  Col. Sloane : All right, Benteen. As you prefer. Come on, let's go, Baines.

  [Exits] 

  Al : Good-bye... Captain Benteen.

  [Exits]