"Happy Birthday, Matt Praeger"

Episode 403
(aired the week of 10/9/1999)

Log line: Matt Praeger inadvertently enters an alternate dimension and finds himself a contestant on a surreal game show where he is forced to re-examine his life.

Synopsis: On his birthday, Matt Praeger is the first to arrive at Great Lakes Resort to investigate a haunting reported by resort owner Bert Kay. A mysterious man, dressed in yellow, has been seen wandering the grounds. As Matt is left alone to search the site, a transformation takes place and the sign over the entrance to the grounds changes to read "It's Your Time." Into this alternate dimension, Mia Stone arrives, dressed in yellow, and lures Matt to a strange destination - the set of a television game show called 'It's Your Time.'

Stone sits at a desk and interrogates Matt about his personal life. As odd as he finds her behavior, he plays along - convinced that she's in on an elaborate birthday gag at his expense. But as she relentlessly continues her research, Matt becomes increasingly annoyed and begs her to give up the joke.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team members - Lindsay Donner, Peter Axon and the real Mia - have arrived at the resort to assist Matt in the investigation of the haunting, but Matt is nowhere to be found. The surreal game show begins. The Host (played by Bert Kay) explains that, on his birthday, Matt is being given an opportunity to re-examine his life.

Matt's opponents turns out to be his Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) colleagues - all dressed in yellow. Round One, played against Anton Hendricks, seems to be rigged so that Matt will lose but he demands that he be allowed to compete fair and square. Matt wins the round and, at that moment, he catches a brief glimpse of the mysterious man in yellow. In Round Two, Matt is suspended upside down by a rope around his ankles. Donner appears, and holds up a tarot card to Matt. The picture on the card indicates that he is in limbo - with no real home, failed relationships and no commitments. In this state, Matt must answer one question correctly, or be lowered into a pit of steaming lava. The question is 'What is love?' to which he finally answers 'Love is truth' - but admits that he wouldn't recognize either.

For Round Three, Matt's opponent is Axon. Matt is horrified when he is shown an image of his daughter, Dana, sitting in a boat adrift in a lake with her hands tied to her lap. Matt must find Dana before time runs out; Axon's job is to stop him. Matt suddenly finds himself deep in the woods where, once again, he sees the mysterious man in yellow. This time, he recognizes the man as himself. 'Yellow Matt' motions to Matt to follow him into the woods. Desperate to get to Dana before time runs out, he follows, and finds his daughter with just 30 seconds left.

Meanwhile, Matt's colleagues are extremely concerned about his long absence and sense that he is in trouble. As he faces the many challenges of the game, they have been tracking a signal on their monitors - a cold spot which appears and disappears at various points on the grounds of the resort. Stone finds another cold spot - with a much stronger reading than the original one - right near the entrance to the resort. The team suspects that this new reading may indicate a portal through which Matt has entered into another dimension.

In a special Bonus Round, Matt must choose between himself and Dana - and one of them must die. The O.S.I.R. team senses an overwhelming feeling of helplessness as the portal image changes and shifts - then starts to shrink. They fear that they have lost Matt forever. The portal is gone but the cold spot is still out there - with seemingly no way now to get back to reality. Everything now depends on how Matt faces his most difficult challenge.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - O.S.I.R. Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - O.S.I.R. Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon
Colin Fox - O.S.I.R. Director of Opperations Dr. Anton Hendricks
Joanne Vannicola - O.S.I.R. Parapsychologist Mia Stone
Nancy Anne Sakovich - O.S.I.R. Senior Data Analyst Lindsay Donner

Guest Stars:
Heather Bertram - Dana Praeger
Andrew Kraulis - Joey Adams
Angela Vint - Cheryl Hawkins
Polly Shannon - Moira Stratton
Melee Hutton - Astaroth

Written by: Larry Raskin
Directed by: Luc Chalifour