Elegy story
In the late 22nd century, astronauts land on an asteroid resembling Earth, but its inhabitants appear motionless. Directed by: Douglas Heyes. Story by: Charles Beaumont.
11 total · 1 choice · 3 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| kill all humans utopia | choice | Mr. Wickwire explained that peace and tranquility could only be achieved by the removal of humans from the picture (why the poor dog was embalmed remains unexplained). |
| android | major | Mr. Wickwire turned out to be a very human-like machine. |
| ironic twist of fate | major | The end narration explained that the men wanted only to be on their ship heading for home; this wish was granted in that they were embalmed and placed in their ship as if heading home eternally. |
| the instinct for violence | major | One gathers from Mr. Wickwire's statements that the moral of the story is that there will be no peace on Earth so long as people are living on it. |
| be careful what you wish for | minor | The men told Mr. Wickwire they wished to be aboard their ship heading for home. Mr. Wickwire then embalmed and placed in their ship as if heading home, for all eternity. |
| habitable asteroid | minor | Three astronauts landed their futuristic rocketship on a habitable asteroid. |
| habitable planet in a binary star system | minor | The astronauts noticed two suns overhead after landing on a habitable asteroid. |
| interstellar space travel | minor | Three astronauts had navigated to a binary star system all the way from Earth. Note that while they claimed to have traveled only 655 million miles, roughly the distance from Earth to Jupiter, they must have been outside the solar system, as they observed two suns in the sky above where they landed. |
| nuclear holocaust | minor | The astronauts spoke of a nuclear war in 1985 that destroyed most of Earth's surface and took humanity 200 years to recover from. |
| speculative spaceship | minor | Three astronauts landed their futuristic rocketship on a habitable asteroid. |