The Twilight Zone (TV Series)

On Thursday We Leave for Home (1963)

James Whitmore: Captain William Benteen

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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"!

• Captain Benteen : [addressing colonists who are no longer there]  Well, my friends - any business to transact today? No business?

  [fondly] 

  Captain Benteen : Jo-Jo. Jo-Jo. Nothing from you today? Don't you want me to tell you about the Earth, Jo-Jo? Don't you want to hear about the rivers and the seas, the blue skies in the night? The stars and the moon? Don't you want to hear about all those things today?

  [outside, the Galaxy 6 begins blasting off] 

  Captain Benteen : There's color on the Earth, Jo-Jo. The change of the seasons. The wind. The wind brings with it the - the smell of the ground. The plants, the seeds, the roots, the flower petals, the sap from the trees. The wind brings with it the smell of the weather. The rain, the mist, the - park...

  [Benteen turns and dashes outside. He looks up as the departing spaceship rises into the sky] 

  Captain Benteen : And the Earth is green, Jo-Jo. Green. The color green.

  [smiles] 

  Captain Benteen : The feeling green. There's something so fresh about it. So alive about it. So living about it.

  [his lip trembles] 

  Captain Benteen : It's the Earth - the...

  [shouts] 

  Captain Benteen : Don't leave me here!

  [rushes forward, arms outstretched] 

  Captain Benteen : Don't leave me behind. Don't leave me here! Please. Please I - I want to go home.

• Al : Isn't living tough enough here we shouldn't have to go by the book? Isn't it hot enough and miserable enough there shouldn't be rules? We shouldn't have to suffer by the numbers? Will somebody please make the simple comment there's more happiness going into that grave? More peace of mind than all the mourners put together. Nothing but anguish here. Captain Benteen, let us live with it our own way. Or let us die from it - in our own way!

  Captain Benteen : [addressing the crowd]  Young Mr. Baines would have us lie down in the sun. Young Mr. Baines would have us give in to death, while there is still life. He'd end the rules. Throw away the regulations. No more standing in line for water. We'll let the strong take away from the weak. And no more food rationing. Let the young steal from the old. And when that ship does arrive, it won't find a society. Just a pack. Not one human being left alive. Only animals.