On Thursday We Leave for Home
Encyclopedia
"On Thursday We Leave for Home" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone
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V9-Gamma was stranded, and the people had no choice but to begin their own small settlement there. The group's leader, Captain Benteen, has maintained a totalitarian grip upon his group; he believes that this strict discipline prevents them from giving up hope in the harsh, unyielding environment. When a rescue mission from Earth finally arrives, Benteen is at first as jubilant as the others, but then he begins to raise objections to leaving the asteroid behind and tries to persuade the others to stay. Everyone else chooses to return home, but Benteen announces that he will remain behind alone if he must.
On the day the people board the ship, the rescue mission's Colonel Sloane and Benteen's second-in-command, Al Baines, search for Benteen to give him one last chance to change his mind, but he is nowhere to be found. After they give up and leave, Benteen emerges from the top of the cave that had sheltered his people. As the ship prepares for takeoff, Benteen pretends his people are still there. Then, remembering the beauty of Earth, he realizes that he wants to go home. He rushes out screaming for the ship to come back, but it is too late. He is now stranded on V9-Gamma for the rest of his life, completely alone in the barren, lifeless deserts.
The Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone is an American television anthology series created by Rod Serling. Each episode is a mixture of self-contained drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist...
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Synopsis
Thirty years before, in 1991, an expedition to the hellish Desert planetDesert planet
A desert planet is a single-biome planet on which the climate is mostly desert, with little or no natural precipitation. Desert planets are known to exist; Mars is often considered a prime example. Indeed, many terrestrial planets would be considered desert planets by this definition...
V9-Gamma was stranded, and the people had no choice but to begin their own small settlement there. The group's leader, Captain Benteen, has maintained a totalitarian grip upon his group; he believes that this strict discipline prevents them from giving up hope in the harsh, unyielding environment. When a rescue mission from Earth finally arrives, Benteen is at first as jubilant as the others, but then he begins to raise objections to leaving the asteroid behind and tries to persuade the others to stay. Everyone else chooses to return home, but Benteen announces that he will remain behind alone if he must.
On the day the people board the ship, the rescue mission's Colonel Sloane and Benteen's second-in-command, Al Baines, search for Benteen to give him one last chance to change his mind, but he is nowhere to be found. After they give up and leave, Benteen emerges from the top of the cave that had sheltered his people. As the ship prepares for takeoff, Benteen pretends his people are still there. Then, remembering the beauty of Earth, he realizes that he wants to go home. He rushes out screaming for the ship to come back, but it is too late. He is now stranded on V9-Gamma for the rest of his life, completely alone in the barren, lifeless deserts.