The Lonely

Description: Season 1, Episode 7

Air Date: November 13, 1959

Plot Summary: A man imprisoned alone on an asteroid is given a robotic companion.

Review: This is one of those episodes that tackled way more than it had time to go into. On top of that, it has too many implications and details that only a simpler time would ignore. Anyway, the story focuses on a man stranded on an asteroid as his own personal prison. It would seem his crime was murder, but we get almost no understanding of the details except he claims it was in self-defense. Considering we are supposed to empathize with the guy, or whatever, it would have helped to know more about the situation. I'm also going to assume that he, and the other prisoners that they briefly mention, are kept in the asteroid belt; if not, then I have no idea what's going on. Now, I understand TZ has always been optimistically visionary in their ideas about the future, but this is pushing it for sure. To think, a future where space travel is so common place that we can have the luxury to dedicate entire asteroids to a single prisoner for arbitrary reasons while still employing further space travel to drop them supplies four times a year. I mean, if we're doing this much for a common criminal, what the hell would society be doing for advancement at this point? And we have perfectly human-looking A.I.s to boot?! Hell, I would have been more interested in seeing this society than what it does with its prisoners. I know they want you to focus on the loneliness of the man, hence the title, but it's hard to overlook the scenario at hand.

After getting a feel for the absurd setup, the captain of the supply ship, who appears to be friends with the main guy, gives him a little present. They stress early on that there are specific departure times for the rockets they travel in which will have relevance later. After the supply crew leaves, the man opens the gift to discover it's a robot that I would say appears more android-like but semantics, right? The robot is in the form of a woman, who I suppose would have been kind of hot at the time, but she looks too much like she would be Trinity's mom. They aren't flat out saying it, but, come on, this is a sexbot and we all know it! Her only function is that of a companion and to ease the loneliness...how else could I read into that? At first the guy acts like a whiny bitch saying she's no different than a car, but his yelling makes her cry and he begins to realize she is "alive." Over time, he claims to love the robot as he explains, in a roundabout way, that her personality complements his...among other things I'm sure. Months are meant to have passed, when the supply crew makes an unexpected visit and explains that the prisoners have all been pardoned; probably because they realized how stupid of an idea this was in the first place. The dilemma is that the rocket must leave now, and they can only carry the man's weight but not the robot. Obviously the man doesn't want to leave her, but, when trying to convince the captain that she's as real as any woman, the captain shoots and "kills" her. Oh gee thanks, ya douche! The episode ends with the man trying to console himself somehow as they leave the asteroid. Uhh, truthfully, I'm not entirely sure what the message was this time around. I think they bit off more than they could chew with this one.

They really needed some focus with this episode. They establish a futuristic scenario without any understanding of it that would have made for a cooler story. At the same time, this is a lot of information to go over in such a short amount of time when you're also trying to do an analysis on loneliness and a debate about what constitutes as "living." In other words, we've got like 3 major themes going on with way too many unanswered questions. I know I'm coming down harsh on the story, but I actually kind of like this episode. It proposes a unique world even if it fails to explain everything. Underneath the rushed plot, I think there was a lot of room for exploration and endless potential was certainly there. Plus, I wouldn't mind being stranded on some asteroid if they gave me a Rikabot!