Dead Man's Switch

"Dead Man's Switch" is an episode of The Outer Limits (new series). It first aired on 4 April 1997, during the third season. Ben Conklin, a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, is given the assignment of spending one year in a bunker 11,000 feet beneath Alaska. After arriving at the bunker, Ben is told by General James Eiger that the Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a fleet of alien ships heading towards Earth. Fearing the worst, the... more

"Dead Man's Switch" is an episode of The Outer Limits (new series). It first aired on 4 April 1997, during the third season. Ben Conklin, a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, is given the assignment of spending one year in a bunker 11,000 feet beneath Alaska. After arriving at the bunker, Ben is told by General James Eiger that the Hubble Space Telescope has photographed a fleet of alien ships heading towards Earth. Fearing the worst, the world's chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons stockpiles were linked to create a single doomsday weapon. Five people, including Ben, are placed in five bunkers around the world (United States, Russia, China, South Africa, and Australia), with the mission of controlling the activation of a final revenge weapon should the aliens turn out to be hostile and take over. An alarm sounds randomly, and at least one of the bunker occupants must hit a dead man's switch to disarm it. The switch is designed so that the operator's handprint and retina... less