The Premonition

"The Premonition" is an episode of the television show The Outer Limits. It first aired on 9 January 1965, during the second season. Opening narration On the fabulous spawning grounds of Man's ever-increasing knowledge of science and technology, ancient, half-forgotten legends seemingly have no place. Except one: The legend of the Gordian Knot, a knot so intricate and convoluted that no man could untie it. For there are problems so perplexing that they are seemingly impossible to solve, when Man ventures to the outer limits of his experience... Plot Jim Darcy, the pilot of an X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft, and his wife, Linda, become trapped 10 seconds ahead of their time, enabling them to watch time unfold to catch up with them at the rate of about one second every 30 minutes. In the time left before returning to synch with normal time, they see that their daughter, Janie, is about to be hit by a rolling military truck whose parking brake had not been set. Jim and Linda's inability to move objects in the "real" world prevents them from resetting the truck's parking brake or pulling young Janie out of danger. Their problem is aggravated as they soon learn that at the moment when time "catches up" with them, they must assume the exact positions they had been in five hours earlier, when this whole thing started, or they could remain in that state forever. They meet an unnamed and seemingly malevolent individual (the "Limbo Being") who earlier experienced the same situation, but failed to make it back in time. When it reveals that it could take from them their chances to return to reality Jim and Linda come to see just how grave their situation is: one or both could end up being stuck in this state forever.