Episdoe Guide

Season 2 (1997-1998)

"Threads"

Episode 201
(aired the week of 9/29/1997)
Case # 26-2201

Log line: After a mysterious phone call, electricians disappear in a flash of light.

Synopsis: When three electricians begin work on a building under construction, they discover a mysterious high-tech black box on the wall. While one of them investigates this unusual device, a phone oddly rings in the other room. The shrill ring becomes annoying very quickly, so the female electrician, Frankie, is sent to answer it. A male voice frantically warns her to get out of the building and, as she runs to tell her male co-workers, she sees a blinding light and electrical charge that engulfs her two friends.

The Office of Scientific Investigation (O.S.I.R.) arrives to investigate this peculiar electrical disturbance and to locate the missing electricians. Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon (Barclay Hope) theorizes that the men were "beamed" away by a mysterious entity, along with part of the building. Axon stubbornly investigates an unstable part of the building; when he falls there and gets knocked unconscious the new Case Manager, Matt Praeger (Matt Frewer), saves his life.

Time starts to run out on solving this case as the O.S.I.R. team determines the entire new building is highly unstable. A solid lead comes when they trace the mysterious phone call to Michael Kelly's (Michael Moriarty) base in Halifax. Donner and Axon investigate the elusive Kelly's unlikely connection while Praeger and Chief of Medicine, Dr. Anton Hendricks (Colin Fox), discover that a secret experiment's digital beams may be the key to the missing men.

Thanks to Kelly's guidance, the team is steered to a huge conglomerate that appears to be conducting unsavory experiments that might involve the missing electricians. Then, when the O.S.I.R. discovers an unsettling connection between the incomplete building and the corporation, they face a race against time to save both the structure and the people tied to it.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Kathleen Laskey - Electrician
Bill Tarling - Homeless Man
Tony Nappo - Andre Brock

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: Milan Cheylov

Go Back to Top

"Donor"

Episode 202
(aired the week of 10/6/1997)
Case # 26-3202

Log line: Something that is mutilating farm animals exhibits both human and animal blood traits.

Synopsis: In a small farming community, the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called upon to investigate the strange mutilation of livestock. Under questioning, the townsfolk insist that the animals have been killed by a mountain lion. But Case Manager Matt Praeger thinks that the team's efforts to investigate further are being sabotaged by the local sheriff and the county vet. Praeger grows more and more skeptical about the unexplained mutilations.

The O.S.I.R. finds that each of the slaughtered animals was female and that their reproductive organs have been selectively - almost surgically - removed. When the O.S.I.R.'s Lindsay Donner questions Katlin and Tyler Jessup, the mother and son who first reported the mutilations, she finds they have been scared into silence. The team's unofficial advisor, Michael Kelly, quietly arrives on the scene with a surprising revelation: he provides evidence of a local firm's involvement in a black market human organ harvesting operation and suggests a frightening link to the mutilations. Further investigation uncovers that many of the townspeople, including the uncooperative Katlin Jessup, are employed by GemAgro, an agricultural research company and are likely participants in the suspected genetic engineering conspiracy. The case takes a strange turn when, using a blood sample from the scene of another killing, O.S.I.R. zoologist L.Q. Cooper discovers that whoever or whatever is responsible for the animal mutilations exhibits both human and animal blood traits.

The O.S.I.R. begins to realize that the efforts to conceal the genetic engineering conspiracy reach wider than they suspected. Building on the evidence they've gathered and a smidgen of cooperation from the sheriff, the O.S.I.R. determines that they have, in fact, broken open a full-blown bio-technology conspiracy involving GemAgro. Yet shocking discovery turns into deadly reality when Donner comes face-to-face with one of the terrifying living results. Blending human emotion and an animal's killer instinct, the creature is torn between its desire to end the very experiments that brought it to life, while enjoying the tantalizing game of hunter and hunted...with Donner as the target.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Brenda Bazinet - Katlin Jessup
Matthew Lemche - Tyler Jessup
Bruce Pirrie - Sheriff Ted Olsen
Les Carlson - Dr. Dale Hoff
Yvan Labelle - The creature

Written by: Rick Drew
Directed by: Milan Cheylov

Go Back to Top

"Wish I May"

Episode 203
(aired the week of 10/13/1997)
Case # 36-0203

Log line: Two brothers killed in separate accidents return from the dead.

Synopsis: In a tiny rural town, on the shore of a murky swamp, stand Sheriff Jackson and a local man who has come upon a floating dead body and a wrecked boat. They manage to pull the boat ashore, but, as they attempt to retrieve the body, the swamp begins to boil and churn violently. Beating a hasty retreat from the water, the two men look back to find that the body is gone.

Meanwhile, Lizzie Hamilton has been brewing a mysterious potion in her kitchen. It was the moment that her potion boiled that the swamp went wild and the body - of her 21-year-old son Billy - disappeared. The "undead" Billy's next stop is his mother's home where he is met by the welcoming arms of his little sister Layla and his mother.

Local county doctor Christine Lowrey calls the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) to help her investigate rumors of witchcraft and Billy Hamilton's apparent return from the dead. When the O.S.I.R.'s Lindsay Donner and Dr. Anton Hendricks question the mother and daughter, they learn that her eldest son, Seth died in an unsolved hit-and-run car accident just months before.

Dr. Hendricks focuses his attention on Billy's unusual medical condition. Even though Billy can talk and breathe, his body shows signs of deterioration - like those exhibited by a dead body. In discussing the condition with the team, Hendricks is not himself, his usually even temper flares and he storms out of the room.

Lem jackson, Sheriff Jackson's younger brother, stalks Billy Hamilton and his young sister Layla. It 's obvious that Billy knows too much about something Lem desperately wants to keep secret.

While running some tests on the swamp, Axon's monitors register a strange reading. When he and Hendricks set out to investigate, they are side-tracked by a commotion in the forest. When they reach the scene they find themselves staring down the business end of Lem's shotgun and a dead man - just shot by Lem - sprawled on the fence of Lem's property. When they move closer to identify the trespasser they are all shocked to see the supposedly dead Seth Hamilton looking up at them.

When Hendricks gets Seth onto the examining table for autopsy he is confounded by the state of the man's body; he appears to have been dead and buried for months yet he bears the new gunshot wound from Lem and fresh mud on his boots which suggests recent walking. Complicating matters, Hendricks has malaria, which he has been hiding from Praeger for quite a while, and the local conditions have caused a bad flare-up of symptoms.

In a team meeting, Praeger rallies the team to pick up the slack that Hendricks' odd behavior is creating. Axon reveals a possible reason that Lem is so protective of his land - he found marijuana growing on the property line between Lem's land and the Hamilton's.

When Praeger enters the examination room to speak to Hendricks, he finds him passed out on the floor and the "dead" body of Seth Hamilton missing. Praeger confirms his suspicion that Hendricks is near-delirious with malaria and that other team members, including Dr. Davison, knew about his condition and helped him hide it.

Seth Hamilton returns home to his family and gets a mixed reception. His sister Layla is thrilled to see him and his mother is happy but his brother Billy is disturbed by all of the undead happenings and wants it all to end so he can rest in peace.

Matt Praeger confronts the Sheriff about his knowledge of his brother Lem's illegal pot farm and the possibility that the deaths of the Hamilton boys were not actually accidents but murders driven by Lem's desire to keep his drug operation secret.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team have gathered at the Hamilton house where they hope to find Seth. While the O.S.I.R. are questioning the family, Lem shows up intending to torch their house and eliminate the entire Hamilton family. But Seth Hamilton turns up in the nick of time, and, because the boys are set on returning to the ranks of the dead, Lem seems fated to get more for his visit than he bargained for.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Andrew Tarbett - Billy Hamilton
Donna Goodhand - Lizzie Hamilton
Clinton Walker - Seth Hamilton
Katheryn Long - Layla Hamilton
R.D. Reid - Sheriff Jackson
Jody Racicot - Lem Jackson
Kaya McGregor - Dr. Christine Lowrey

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: John Bell

Go Back to Top

"Communion"

Episode 204
(aired the week of 10/20/1997)
Case # 24-5208

Log line: An alien abduction leaves a man with the power to control living cells.

Synopsis: Scientist Alan Tremblay develops human pheromones for the multi-billion-dollar perfume industry, but his real scientific interests lie in wheat research, which he hopes will put an end to world hunger. When he leaves his lab late one evening, a blinding white light from above washes over him.

Tremblay comes to his senses the next morning. Disoriented. Confused. Lying on the ground next to his car. Helping himself up from the pavement, he is puzzled to see that a patch filled with seedlings and wildflowers has popped up in an otherwise vegetation-free parking lot. The OSIR arrives to investigate several reported UFO sightings in the area. Scanning the lab parking lot for any abnormalities, Axon discovers peculiarly high levels of radiation. The team also notes that the patch of plant growth next to Tremblay's car is in the shape of a human body.

Tremblay is less than helpful when the OSIR questions him about his whereabouts during a UFO sighting the previous night. He recalls going home, but his memories are cloudy: he can't even remember what he had for dinner. Flashbacks - of being aboard an alien ship and of extra-terrestrials giving him an unusual psychic ability to control living cells - begin to come to Tremblay, ruining his ability to concentrate on his work. Tremblay's boss, Ms. Whitney sends him home for some rest.

When the OSIR visit Tremblay at home, they find him on the floor, nearly catatonic. Looking for answers, they subject Tremblay to questioning under standard hypnosis and monitoring. They confirm that he has virtually no access to his memory of the previous night. A look at his computerized brain map also indicates an area that seems "blocked out."

Hendricks suggests a procedure involving the injection of a synthetic neurotransmitter to break down the mental block limiting Tremblay's access to memories of the UFO encounter. It appears to work until Tremblay suffers simultaneous brain hemorrhaging and heart failure. Resuscitation efforts appear doomed to fail. But, suddenly, his heart returns to normal... and, as the OSIR watches the monitor in astonishment, his brain literally undoes the damage from the hemorrhage and heals itself.

After this harrowing experience, Tremblay refuses any more testing, but continues to form a bond of trust with fellow scientist Axon. When they shake hands, the physical contact triggers a mental flash; Tremblay tells Axon he has a dangerous parasite living inside his body. When Hendricks confirms Tremblay's handshake diagnosis via a complex series of tests, Axon is convinced that Tremblay's psychokinetic powers are real.

Tremblay learns that his boss, Ms. Whitney, has fired him rather than allow his spate of problems to further jeopardize the completion of their project. So he uses his newfound powers to physically alter his appearance - to match that of Praeger - in order to get into the lab and confront her.

Tremblay (now looking like Praeger) enters his former lab and comes upon Whitney trashing his beloved experimental wheat specimens. Thinking she's seeing Praeger, Whitney is confused when her former employee erupts in a fit of rage about "his" experiments. When Praeger/Tremblay unmorphs his appearance to reveal his true identity, Whitney - overcome with fear - lunges at him. Grabbing her wrist to protect himself but with his new cell control power unchecked, Tremblay unleashes through touch a massive cellular reconfiguration on Whitney: cancer-like black growths appear on her skin, consuming her to death.

When local police take the real Praeger into custody for Whitney's murder, the OSIR team struggles to uncover the truth and free their colleague. But when all signs lead the OSIR and police to Tremblay, the man - set on learning to control his gift - will stop at nothing to return to the beings that empowered him.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
James Allodi - Alan Tremblay
Suki Kaiser - Ms. Whitney

Written by: Peter Mohan
Directed by: John Bell

Go Back to Top

"Frozen In Time"

Episode 205
(aired the week of 10/27/1997)
Case # 41-7205

Log line: An epidemic leaves its victims in a state of suspended animation.

Synopsis: A strange epidemic, sparked by a bacteria, strikes a Native American reservation: caught in a peculiar kind of suspended animation, the victims inexplicably become stiff and even appear dead. When a park ranger, Benjamin Stokes, and Sister Elizabeth, a local nun, visit the reserve, they are unknowingly infected with the bacteria; returning to the neighboring town, the toxin takes over their bodies and the young ranger is tragically killed when he freezes in front of a speeding truck. Sister Elizabeth is brought in for examination when she suddenly becomes rigid.

Called in to investigate, the Office of Scientific and Investigative Research (O.S.I.R.) forensic pathologist Dr. Claire Davison is intrigued after studying the park ranger's body. She suspects a mutant toxin is affecting the victims' blood. Learning that both victims recently visited the Maum Keshka reservation, Case Manager Matt Praeger and Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner decide to investigate it, enlisting park service driver Carl Pillar to escort them up to the reserve. Upon investigation, they discover an entire dining hall of Native Americans exhibiting the same symptoms as the park ranger and nun. Unprepared for the shocking sight, Pillar panics and tries to flee, but Praeger and Donner force him to stay - realizing that they must quarantine the entire town.

O.S.I.R. Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon, Dr. Anton Hendricks and Dr. Davison quarantine the reserve, hoping to isolate the epidemic. When the doctors complete their examinations, they release Donner and Praeger with clean bills of health - but it is too late for Pillar. While checking out the surroundings, he ate some chicken and became infected. Now realizing that food is the common thread between all of the victims, the team hurries to find a remedy.

A possible key to the cure comes from Praeger's discovery of a young girl named Kaya, frozen in time. She reminds him of his own teenaged daughter, with whom he has a strained relationship. To his surprise, Kaya awakens from her frozen state and describes the legend of the Raven...a powerful spirit said to punish those who commit evil deeds - and that she thinks the Raven cast this epidemic on the villagers because she misbehaved. While Donner tries to reassure Kaya that the widespread sickness is not her fault, she begs to be able to apologize to the Raven. As he accompanies Kaya on the trip, Praeger steps into a bear trap, dangerously severing his femoral artery. The team has to make a difficult choice: rush Praeger to a hospital, with the chance that he bleeds to death en route, or "freeze" him with a dose of the toxin, so they can buy time to get him proper treatment. They choose the unknown path of the bacteria...and then, race against time and death as Dr. Hendricks tries to produce an antidote that will determine the fate of their leader and the entire tribe.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Andrew Moodie - Benjamin Stokes
Tita Griffin - Sister Elizabeth
Alana Brascoupe - Kaya

Written by: Tracey Forbes
Directed by: Giles Walker

Go Back to Top

"Devolution"

Episode 206
(aired the week of 11/3/1997)
Case # 56-7212

Log line: A woman in a stroke-induced coma appears to be growing younger.

Synopsis: Having spent the last 27 years of her life in prison for a botched bank robbery that led to a police murder, Grey Callwood has lost everything, including Mary, her daughter, who was forced to become a ward of the state. Now 60 years old, Grey has been taken from prison to a hospital, where she lies in a stroke-induced coma. Mary, now an adult full of resentment, has signed the donor consent forms authorizing that her mother now be taken off life support, so that her organs can be harvested for transplant.

The only person who cares for Grey is Lucy, an eccentric night-shift nurse who befriended the inmate before the debilitating stroke hit. The night before Grey's last day on life support, Lucy says goodbye to her patient, as a guard waits by the door. As Lucy exits, a blinding light emanates from the room. As the guard bursts in to investigate, a gory, blood-covered figure throws him out into the hall, then makes a quick exit. In a moment, nothing but a charred "husk" remains where Grey Callwood's body had been.

The Office of Scientific and Investigative Research (O.S.I.R.) is brought in to investigate the suspicious crime scene. When Case Manager Matt Praeger attempts to gain insight by questioning Mary, the woman refuses to help. In the meantime, Praeger puts Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner on nurse Lucy's trail, since he suspects her unconventional "Goth" lifestyle may be connected to the incident. Dressed in typical Goth style - tight, black patent leather dress, thigh-high boots, black lipstick and a jet black wig - Donner sneaks into Lucy's hangout, The Pentagram Club and discovers that blood rituals are part of Lucy's unusual after-hours activities. Finding two bags of blood with hospital labels on them, Donner moves Lucy to the top of the suspect list and goes undercover again at the club with Praeger. There, they're shocked to find Grey Callwood alive - but 28 years younger than she was before she "died."

Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon and Dr. Anton Hendricks unearth information that Grey was part of a secret hospital study with an experimental drug called Xaldex, designed to accelerate cell repair in human tissue. In her case, however, it has caused reverse aging, or "devolution." When Praeger confronts hospital administrator Edward Baines about unethical experiments with Xaldex, the Case Manager learns that Grey's daughter actually approved using her mother as a human guinea pig.

Back at the Pentagram Club, Grey has another Episode and devolves to a 21-year-old version of herself. Worried about what further devolutions could do to the woman, the O.S.I.R. rushes her to the hospital, where she's injected with a protein supplement that - they hope - will slow down the reverse-aging process.

Grey's youthful version of herself attempts to reunite with daughter Mary, but is callously rejected. She escapes from the hospital, only to be located by the O.S.I.R. team back at the Pentagram Club. But it is too late to prevent another regression: Praeger and Donner discover that the 21-year-old has now been transformed into a six-year-old. With virtually no other options, Hendricks comes up with a risky possible solution to reversing the devolution. But their potential cure makes two terrifying demands of Mary: donate one of her organs for a radical surgical procedure and, if Grey survives, spend the rest of her life mothering her own mother, in the perpetual form of a six-year-old girl.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Marni Thompson - Grey Callwood
Lisa Ryder - Mary Callwood
Nicole Oliver - Lucy Westenra
Michael J. Reynolds - Edward Baines

Written by: John Dolin
Directed by: Clay Borris

Go Back to Top

"The Warrior"

Episode 207
(aired the week of 11/10/1997)
Case # 37-1211

Log line: Grisly murders link to a statue of an ancient Chinese warrior.

Synopsis: When O.S.I.R. (Office of Scientific Investigation and Research) Case Manager Matt Praeger and Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner attend an art museum reception, they land in the heart of a twisted murder mystery. The museum's latest acquisition, an ancient Chinese terra cotta warrior, vanished...and the museum's curator, Dr. Jeffrey Tompkins, is found dead. Not to mention headless. His gory slaying prompts O.S.I.R. Director of Operations Frank Elsinger, Tompkkins' friend, to get his team involved in the investigation.

Donner and Praeger return to the crime scene with Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon. Unable to find any firm forensic leads, they heed the advice of mysterious advisor Michael Kelly and enlist the academic genius of Hamilton Darwell: an expert in ancient artifacts, despite the fact that he's blind. After confirming their suspicions that Tompkins was involved in the illegal sale of museum antiquities, Darwell explains that the stolen statue is a likeness of General Tse, the ruthless warrior who fought under China's first emperor.

Under strict orders from Elsinger, the team keeps their investigation under wraps. Unfortunately, the story is leaked by a clever tabloid journalist, Jonathan Tucker. When the team discovers that Tucker is accessing O.S.I.R. case notes to write his stories, they track him down to eliminate this breach in security. Confronted, Tucker shares his theory that the killings are attributable to the vanished warrior statue, which is on the warpath trying to recover its missing head.

Meanwhile, Darwell meets a gruesome demise when he's beheaded in his office. In a macabre twist, the killer cements the link between the two murders by leaving Tompkins' head on Darwell's body. But this time, the team is able to uncover a solid lead: Darwell's voice-activated computer - used to accommodate his blindness - has recorded a complete transcript of the murder.

Praeger seeks the counsel of Michael Kelly for insight on the case and, together, they lay a trap for Victor Sang, the Consul General of China and Tompkins' erstwhile partner-in-crime. Praeger and Donner pose as art buyers in search of rare antiquities and discover that Sang is illegally holding the statue's missing head. But before Donner can contact Tucker with this information, the journalist, too, joins the burgeoning ranks of the recently beheaded.

As Donner and Praeger rendezvous with Sang in the Consulate basement to purchase the statue's head, they are attacked by it - now wearing Tucker's head. The warrior wounds Sang, and a battle ensues. Sang makes a desperate attempt to save himself, Praeger and Donner. It looks like they might live to close the book on this rash of unexplained murders, but, if not, heads might roll.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
David Fox - Hamilton Darwell
Peter Crockett - Jonathan Tucker
Michael Burgess - Dr. Jeffrey Tompkins
Robert Ito - Victor Sang

Written by: Rick Drew
Directed by: Clay Borris

Go Back to Top

"The Grey Men"

Episode 208
(aired the week of 11/17/1997)
Case # 66-9207

Log line: Aliens abduct Praeger and replace him with a clone; Elsinger warns Kelly away from O.S.I.R.

Synopsis: After a UFO is allegedly spotted at an abandoned power plant, the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is assigned to investigate. When Case Manager Matt Praeger slips around a corner to investigate the supposed landing site, he finds the ground scorched in the classic "crop circle" pattern associated with alien aircraft. At that exact moment, Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon and Security Coordinator Ray Donahue hear a strange noise emanating from Praeger's direction...and, suddenly, he's gone.

With the investigation now personal, the team desperately searches for any trace of Praeger's whereabouts. But as the team doubles their efforts to find their friend and leader, Director of Operations Frank Elsinger has another agenda. He pays a not-so-friendly visit to the apartment of Michael Kelly, the mysterious outsider and unofficial advisor to the team, to warn about meddling in O.S.I.R. cases. Kelly recognizes the warning for what it is: a thinly veiled threat.

Back at the power plant, Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner and Chief of Medicine Dr. Anton Hendricks have joined Axon and Donahue to step up the search for Praeger. Axon attempts to track Praeger through his comlink, but when the signal leads them into an abandoned factory building, all they find is an oval-shaped group of metallic disks. Donner questions the two witnesses, or "experiencers," of the initial UFO sighting, but gets little cooperation from them. Donner's instincts tell her something is odd about the two men, a cook and a truck driver. She questions them separately, but their recollections are identical down to the last word.

When Axon finds Praeger near the crop circles, alive and in the fetal position, the team breathes a collective - but possibly premature - sigh of relief. They are unaware that the Praeger in the field is actually a cleverly crafted clone. Meanwhile, the real Praeger is aboard an alien craft being interrogated by "The Grey Man." In order to make the captive feel at ease, The Grey Man delves into Praeger's mind and morphs himself to look like Kelly; he explains how he abducts humans to access their subjective memories for the sake of learning. Caught in the aliens' alternate dimension, Praeger is forced to recall the painful memories surrounding his previous investigation of a horrific plane crash, as he worked around charred bodies. A vile stench and red flags morbidly mark the location of each body part that has been scattered through the crash site.

When both of the experiencers destroy themselves - the cook puts a knife through his own heart while the trucker loses his will to live and simply drops dead - the team becomes increasingly worried about condition of the clone, whom they still believe is Praeger. When Donner notices that it has a pain in his left leg she grows suspicious, since her co-worker had recently injured his right one. On a hunch, she fingerprints it and discovers the print is a mirror image of one in Praeger's file - suggesting their find might be a clone. As confirmation, they fingerprint the deceased cook and trucker and find that they, too, were clones.

Praeger's clone has inherited the original's sense of duty and offers his help in finding him. Together, they discover that the mysterious metallic disks are an inter-dimensional communications apparatus. Using the set-up, the clone successfully contacts the alien craft and gets a response from the real Praeger. Seeing a ray of hope for survival, Praeger now battles The Grey Man through his thoughts, the only weapon he has left. Using extreme mental concentration, Praeger switches places with his clone and returns to his original dimension.

Now safe, Praeger is irked when Elsinger dismisses the report of his amazing experience. Even with Axon's corroboration, Elsinger sweeps it under the rug as a hallucination caused by stress. As Praeger and Axon leave Elsinger's office, Praeger wonders whether Kelly's seemingly-paranoid stories about the corruption and cover-ups within the O.S.I.R. might have some truth. Elsinger, meanwhile, puts on a glove and manipulates one of the alien communication disks. As the leader of the O.S.I.R., is he part of the solution...or part of the problem?

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
David Ferry - Trucker
Paul Boretski - Cook

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: Giles Walker

Go Back to Top

"Man of War"

Episode 209
(aired the week of 11/24/1997)
Case # 26-7210

Log line: After a young soldier vaporizes, military authorities are oddly uncooperative with O.S.I.R. investigators.

Synopsis: He's in the forest, supposedly on patrol...but Army Corporal Del Castor is actually in the midst of a clandestine romantic interlude there. Suddenly, he disappears amid eerie flashes of light in the sky.

Called in by the Parks Service to investigate a series of such events, the O.S.I.R. team comes across their first clue there: a pile of fine white powder. Probing the powder with a stick, Peter Axon reveals a set of Army dogtags belonging to the vanished Corporal. Lindsay Donner notices an odd flow of sap on the trees surrounding the powder, and collects a sample. But, before they can gather any more evidence, a military special forces security patrol creeps up on the team and takes them into custody for trespassing. When the patrol, led by Captain Hastings, brings the O.S.I.R. members back to the military base at gunpoint, it's clear that someone is very protective of whatever the O.S.I.R. was about to discover.

At the base command center, Case Manager Matt Praeger meets Colonel MacLeod, the officer in charge. MacLeod explains that the Parks Service authorized his special forces unit to use the area for military exercises; Praeger and his team were arrested because they were trespassing. Praeger, however, doesn't buy this explanation and, rather than let MacLeod call off the investigation, manages to strike a deal with him: If the O.S.I.R. can continue its investigation into the sightings, MacLeod will have access to O.S.I.R. lab equipment to aid his own internal investigation into Castor's disappearance.

To Donner, Private Kristin Smythe - the woman with Castor when he vanished - admits both the romantic involvement and that she saw something unusual in the sky moments before the occurrence. Meanwhile, Catherine Azzopardi, a psychic viewing consultant to the U.S. Armed Forces during Desert Storm, contacts O.S.I.R. Director of Operations Frank Elsinger with the news that she had a psychic vision of Castor's disappearance. Enlisting the woman's assistance, Elsinger orders Praeger to use her...and, even though doubting her abilities, Praeger grudgingly follows orders and includes Catherine in his search for answers. Back in the lab, Dr. Anton Hendricks determines that Donner's tree resin sample is a highly caustic, acidic compound possibly brought about by a meteor shower - which would also explain the reported flashes of light in the sky. But, if this is the answer, why did the sap disintegrate Castor, while the trees survived unscathed?

As Praeger and Axon continue surveying the area, Hastings tags along to keep an eye on their activities. Sensing something moving in the trees, the O.S.I.R. agents look up to see the sky shimmering oddly - yet Hastings claims he didn't see anything. Now, Praeger and Axon question whether Hastings might be involved somehow in the string of strange occurrences. In fact, Praeger even thinks the military might be using the O.S.I.R. and their state-of-the-art monitoring equipment as a pawn in the testing of a new stealth technology.

When Hastings beefs up security around the sighting area, Praeger is reluctantly driven to rely more on Catherine's psychic viewing. Putting herself into a trance for an Episode of painful viewing, she manages to draw what she "sees" hovering over the forest: a jellyfish like man-of-war. As Hendricks completes his lab analysis on Donner's resin sample, Hastings pockets the test tube in an attempt to throw off the O.S.I.R.'s findings. But he clumsily touches a drop of the corrosive material and it reacts violently - immediately incinerating him to death.

With the military apparently afraid to reveal any more information about the sightings or deaths of Castor and Hastings, MacLeod gives the O.S.I.R. an hour to finish its work. Then, the officer plans on fire-bombing the entire forest and, in so doing, destroying any proof of top-secret government experimentation. As Praeger and his team race to complete their investigation, the investigator contemplates two jarring possibilities: that Elsinger knew the real truth about the government involvement even before they set out on the mission, and that his supposedly-objective supervisor might have unknown motives in his management of the O.S.I.R.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Terri Hawkes - Catherine Azzopardi
Patrick Mavric - Corporal Del Castor
Jenny Levine - Private Kristin Smythe
Matthew Bennett - Captain Hastings
Richard Fitzpatrick - Colonel Andrew MacLeod

Written by: Deborah Nathan
Directed by: Stephen William

Go Back to Top

"The Damned"

Episode 210
(aired the week of 12/1/1997)
Case # 90-5209

Log line: Unexplained drownings kill family members of a robber baron.

Synopsis: As heirs to the real estate development fortune of their grandfather, Senator Harrison Sheffield, Robert and Jimmy Sheffield seem to have it made. While kicking back at the pool one afternoon, Robert and his brother's wife, Katie, sneak away to take their attraction to each other to the next level. As they slip away, however, Jimmy is violently sucked under by mysteriously churning water. When his body is found, it's discovered he drowned...but also was slashed to death.

Because of the condition of the body, the local coroner can't pinpoint the cause of death and the O.S.I.R. is brought in to shed some light on the situation. O.S.I.R. Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon poses as a pool boy to collect water samples, while Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner masquerades as a potential home buyer to investigate the illicit lovers' involvement in Jimmy's death. While there, Donner overhears an exchange between Robert and an older woman named Bridget Jamieson - a thorn in the side of the brothers, since she's unwilling to sell her home to make way for the property development in which they've staked their fortune. Bridget claims to have had visions of Jimmy's death.

Digging deeper, Case Manager Matt Praeger poses as a magazine writer to get close to the Senator. Sheffield reveals that, at the precise moment of Jimmy's death, an apparition of a soaking wet little girl appeared before him. In the midst of Praeger's interview, the ghost appears again. Pointing furiously at the apparition, the Senator is sure Praeger can see it. But all Praeger sees is water dripping from mid-air and forming a puddle on the floor.

After some tests, the O.S.I.R.'s Dr. Anton Hendricks concludes that the puddle and the water found in Jimmy's lungs both contain a great deal of silt. This odd development drives Hendricks to turns his attention to Bridget, whose visions could be key to solving this case. Talking with her, Bridget has another vision; this time, it's of Katie's death. Simultaneously, Katie - relaxing alone in a hot tub - is violently tossed about by an unseen force and drowns.

After the second unexplained death, the team hurries to dig into the Sheffield's family history and uncover the legacy of the Sheffield Reservoir. While surveying the site, Axon discovers a massive box embedded in the reservoir's floor. On further investigation, the team finds the intact remains of an old Irish farmhouse and the decayed bodies of a family trapped inside when the reservoir was filled.

At Hendricks' urging, Bridget submits to hypnotic analysis and reveals that the apparition the Senator keeps seeing is actually a projection of herself, but as a child. The O.S.I.R. discovers that years ago, the Senator gave orders to barricade the Jamiesons in their home and flood the area in order to eliminate them, along with the obstacles they were throwing up that blocked completion of the Sheffield reservoir project. Based on Bridget's revelation, the O.S.I.R. must explore what seems impossible: that in a poetic display of payback, the Jamiesons are exacting deadly revenge on the Sheffields from beyond their watery grave.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
James B. Douglas - Senator Harrison Sheffield
Charmion King - Bridget Jamieson
Carl Marotte - Robert Sheffield
Andy Velasque - Jimmy Sheffield
Melissa Di Marco - Katie Sheffield

Written by: Toni Di Franco
Directed by: Clay Borris

Go Back to Top

"Hell Week"

Episode 211
(aired the week of 1/26/1998)
Case # 41-6209

Log line: Reunited identical twins have peculiar powers that one does not want to share.

Synopsis: During the first week of Fall semester, Anna Shuter - Dean of Students for a normally-quiet college - calls the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) after undergrad Sean Ellis assaults Jarred MacKeigan, a drunk and belligerent frat boy, using peculiar powers.

Case Manager Matt Praeger and Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon conduct electromagnetic tests on the site of the attack and conclude that Sean is gifted with psychokinesis. In search of witnesses and others who can add more information to their discovery, Praeger and Chief Data Engineer Lindsay Donner question Sean's longtime girlfriend Lee, who was present at the attack, but she's unaware of any psychokinetic powers. While Lee and Donner try to track down Sean, they encounter Alex - Sean's identical twin brother whose existence, until now, was unknown. Determined to study Alex's powers, Axon convinces the young man to submit to some tests. Alex shows tremendous skill and psychokinetic control...but, when Dr. Anton Hendricks brings Sean into the lab, Alex's results zoom off the charts, suggesting that the power depends on the twins' physical proximity.

In the meantime, Axon is offered a teaching job, and he tries to keep the news a secret until he makes the tough decision. But when Praeger finds out about the offer, he confronts his colleague to say that the team would miss him if he were to leave.

Investigating the twins' background, Donner and Hendricks discover they were put up for adoption as newborns, with their birth mother demanding they be given to different families. Following their reunion, Sean and Alex's mutual power continues to gain strength - while Praeger and the team question whether it is safe to keep them together. As the brothers catch up with each other, Alex (who had a poor upbringing) begins to resent Sean's privileged past. When the increasingly-jealous Alex supposedly accidentally loses control of his power during a psychokinetic test and narrowly avoids injuring Sean, the resentment becomes even more evident.

After the twins use their power in a destructive campus prank, Shuter is forced to call the O.S.I.R. again. The situation turns serious when Alex, seeing Jarred threaten Sean's girlfriend, Lee, angrily uses his powers to impale the young man on a jagged drain pipe, landing him in intensive care with a punctured abdomen. Upset, Lee visits Sean in his dorm room for comfort...but, unknowingly, finds Alex instead. Only after they make love does she discover she's been tricked into sleeping with her boyfriend's twin. When Sean learns of Alex's violation of Lee, he goes after his evil brother and a heated battle ensues; as they wrestle, psychokinetic power surges between them. The struggle ends with Alex draining most of his twin's energy and running off, leaving Sean in a weakened state. Then, desperate, Alex kidnaps Lee to further persuade his brother to relinquish the rest of the power. Sean finds Lee held hostage at an abandoned junkyard, with a wrecking crane hanging menacingly above her. A fierce battle results...leading to a tragic death, surprising insight into the twins' power and even more startling news about its legacy.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Rafael Feldman - Sean Ellis
Rafael Feldman - Alex Cleator
A.J. Cook - Lee
Gabriel Hogan - Jarred MacKeigan
Wendy MacDonald - Dean Anna Shuter

Written by: Alex Pugsley
Directed by: Craig Pryce

Go Back to Top

"The Edge"

Episode 212
(aired the week of 2/2/1998)
Case # 35-0213

Log line: Exotic toads are linked to episodes of psychotic behavior.

Synopsis: After the mysterious murder of a police officer and the abduction of his partner, the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) arrives on the scene to investigate. Examining the squad car video of the incident, they are horrified to see the longtime officer, during a routine traffic stop, hand his pistol to the driver of the stopped car...and then see the driver shoot the cop, leaving him to die in the street. The officer's partner, Officer Brian Campbell, rushes to help - only to succumb to a strange force and climb calmly into the shooter's car trunk.

Shortly after, Campbell is found naked on the front steps of a local mental hospital, babbling and incoherent. Attempting to question the officer, O.S.I.R. Case Manager Matt Praeger is unable to get a straightforward account of the events surrounding the murder of his partner. When O.S.I.R. Chief of Medicine Anton Hendricks examines Campbell, it's determined that the man is lost in a hallucination...but the cause is a mystery.

To make a complex case even tougher, Praeger's daughter Dana shows up after running away from her mother's home. Due to the dangerous circumstances at hand, Praeger wants Dana to return home - but the girl stubbornly refuses to leave. Having the young girl around makes Praeger uneasy, but the rest of the team enjoys her presence: she even helps the O.S.I.R.'s Peter Axon identify a large, exotic toad that oddly appears in the police video of the murder.

Unbeknownst to the O.S.I.R., Murphy Pomerance, the mentally-challenged janitor of the hospital, keeps a collection of exotic toads as a hobby. As Praeger, Donner and Hendricks prepare to leave the building, Pomerance eagerly offers to help with their investigation. When Praeger dismissively brushes him aside and hospital administrator Robyn Weir chastises him for butting in, the young janitor's fragile psyche is hurt and the impulse for revenge begins to brew within him.

Seeking revenge for her abusive treatment of him, Pomerance kidnaps Weir and uses a chemical compound secreted by his toads to turn her into a hallucinating, psychotic wreck. Oddly, Weir's misfortune is actually the O.S.I.R.'s first break in this case: her mental state is much like that of Officer Campbell the morning after his partner's shooting.

Having exacted his revenge on Weir, Pomerance turns to Praeger. Seeing the Case Manager's daughter Dana walking alone outside the hospital, Pomerance gives her a toad to bring back to the lab. Praeger quickly draws a connection between the hallucinations and the animal...and is anxious to capture Pomerance before his daughter becomes the sick man's next victim.

Overcome with paternal worry, Praeger asks his colleague, Axon, to drive Dana back to her mother's house. Unfortunately, Pomerance gets to her first and - using his hallucinogenic toads - fools the girl into thinking he is the O.S.I.R. investigator.

Coming up with a psychological profile for Pomerance, the O.S.I.R. determines where he is holding Praeger's daughter hostage. There, with Dana's life (and their own) in jeopardy, Praeger and the team must determine what's real and what's a hallucination in an ultimately deadly battle.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Heather Bertram - Dana Praeger
Joel Bissonette - Murphy Pomerance
Laura Press - Dr. Robyn Weir
Ted Whittall - Officer Brian Campbell
Ric Reid - Officer Glenn Gibson

Written by: Tracey Forbes
Directed by: Craig Pryce

Go Back to Top

"Bad Dreams"

Episode 213
(aired the week of 2/9/1998)
Case # 34-0212

Log line: Donner tries to find out why a woman has violent nightmares.

Synopsis: Recovering in her hospital bed from a minor surgery, Carole Sanderson suddenly awakens from a terrifying dream to find her body inexplicably gashed and bleeding. The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called in by the local police to get to the bottom of the strange situation. Under questioning by Case Manager Matt Praeger, a male nurse who witnessed the event denies involvement but swears that no one could have been in the room during the attack except Carole; a comatose patient named Alice Ashley who shares her hospital room and himself.

Under questioning from Chief Data Engineer Lindsay Donner and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Hendricks, Carole explains that she was brutally attacked in her dreams by a masked man wielding a knife. Carole also remembers a woman encircled by a radiant light, but the woman was unable to help her.

Keeping a bedside watch the following night, Donner dozes off. When Carole's dream-state attacker returns, this time Donner experiences the terror of the hospital patient's nightmare as well. Praeger, hearing the commotion, runs in and wakes the screaming women. Shaken from their sleep, both are horrified to find their fingers bloodied and raw from trying to claw their way out of a dungeon in their nightmares.

When they discover that Carole is a former patient at the Seigel Sleep Clinic, the O.S.I.R. have something to go on. Although Praeger has doubts about her stability, he allows Donner to go undercover as a patient at the Clinic to pursue any possible connection. Under observation, the investigator dreams of a tragedy from her past: a college friend stabbed to death while waiting alone in a parking lot for Donner, who showed up late. Then, Donner's disturbing dream takes a horrifying turn as the masked man again turns up. But this time, Donner is prepared and kicks the knife out of her assailant's hand. Awakening, Donner is able to identify the woman encircled by radiant light from Carole's dreams as Alice, the comatose roommate.

The team finds that Alice bears the exact same scars as Donner and Carole...and realize that the two women have been re-living the real-life attack Alice experienced that left her in a coma. Investigating the scene of Alice's attack, Donner draws on her ultra-vivid dream memory to locate the knife that police never found.

Realizing that Donner has the power to end Alice and Carole's nightmares, Praeger puts her back to sleep for a final confrontation with the masked man. If Donner succeeds, she could end the suffering of Alice and Carole. If not? She, too, could be doomed to a nightmare-ridden coma for the rest of her days.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Tonya Lee Williams - Carole Sanderson
Rothaford Gray - Nurse Dan Pullman
Collette Micks - Alice Ashley

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: Stephen Williams

Go Back to Top

"Kiss of the Tiger"

Episode 214
(aired the week of 2/16/1998)
Case # 93-6214

Log line: A Chinese healer helps Praeger fight a pharmaceutical company's blackmail.

Synopsis: After a long journey from China, the famous healer Dr. Chen arrives at Zoe Vancha's bedside to cure her unidentified, life-threatening ailment. As he examines her energy chakras in preparation for a curative session, a gang of men - known as the T'Ang Dragons - enters the hospital room to stop the treatment. In the struggle, Zoe's husband, David, is knocked unconscious. Chen attempts to ward off his assailants by focusing his immense internal energy into a single foot-stomp, resonating with the power of an earthquake. While it momentarily stuns his attackers, Chen is taken captive.

With Zoe's condition deteriorating and Chen gone, David calls on his old friend Matt Praeger, Case Manager of the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.). Praeger opens an official investigation to focus on the odd seismic effect caused by the healer...and to find him. Examining the hospital room, O.S.I.R. Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner finds an earring with a Chinese design rarely sold in North America that might lead her to the T'Ang Dragons. Meanwhile, O.S.I.R. advisor Michael Kelly offers insight about the The Tiger, who is the guardian of the Chi, or collective life force, and can theoretically only practice healing inside China. The T'Ang Dragons are committed to protecting The Tiger and the location of his practice at all costs.

While arrangements are made to send Chen - aka The Tiger - back to China, the healer persuades one of his captors to free him so he can complete his benevolent mission. When spotted by other T'Ang Dragons, Chen again uses his Chi power to create a huge wall of wind, sweeping the pursuers off their feet. When they come around, Chen is gone.

Arriving at the hospital, Chen finds Zoe has died. Her husband is riddled with guilt: the couple had done bio-chemical research for Gershon Pharmaceutical Corp and Zoe's death was due to exposure to a man-made virus created by David. When David tried to quit the project, Lang - an ill-willed pharmaceutical executive - had injected Zoe to compel David to complete both the potion and antidote. Lang also knew David was the only one who could lure Chen to Zoe's rescue and, in turn, to the project. Despondent at the loss of his friend, Praeger tries to close the investigation, but his supervisor, Director of Operations Frank Elsinger, now orders the team to uncover both the truth about Zoe's death and Chen's power.

Although they locate Chen in a Chinatown restaurant, Praeger and Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon can't get answers before the healer is dragged back into hiding. Needing a new bargaining chip for his research, Lang now injects David with the virus in order to lure Chen and his elixirs into the company's clutches. But, as David's condition deteriorates, Chen stealthily slips into his hospital room and heals him; moments later, Chen is gone and David is cured.

Furious that he missed his shot at Chen, Lang kidnaps Donner in order to lure Praeger, David and the antibodies generated by Chen's elixir which David now carries in his blood. In a tense stand-off beside Zoe's grave, David offers himself in exchange for Donner. But suddenly, Dr. Chen materializes to square off against Lang. As bullets fly, Lang's corporate greed goes head to head with the healer's ancient code. Whatever the result, Praeger warily suspects that Elsinger once again has furthered his own mysterious agenda by endangering the lives of the O.S.I.R. team.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Karl Pruner - David Vancha
Hayley Hoffbauer - Zoe Vancha
Peter Kosaka - Dr. Chen "The Tiger"
Russel Yuen - Chung
John Bourgeois - Lang

Written by: Tracey Forbes
Directed by: Craig Pryce

Go Back to Top

"The Haunting"

Episode 215
(aired the week of 2/23/1998)
Case # 604-215

Log line: Hendricks sees images of his wife and daughter at a haunted hotel.

Synopsis: Businessman Nick Tanner gets more action than he'd bargained for when he checks in to the luxurious Ashe Plaza Hotel with Dawn, his call girl companion. In the bathroom of room 1033, Tanner suddenly sees a horrifying spectre...which triggers a fatal heart attack. Looking for her partner, Dawn also sees the phantom and flees in terror.

Hotel owner Harold Ashe enlists the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) to uncover answers before the media starts asking questions and damages his establishment's reputation. As Case Manager Matt Praeger begins the investigation, Ashe reveals that other guests have reported ghost sightings on the tenth floor for months. O.S.I.R. Senior Science Analyst Peter Axon rigs room 1033 with sensors to track the alleged spectre, while Praeger tries to track down Dawn for questioning; meanwhile, Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner finds hotel manager Mitch Galbraith oddly unsympathetic to Tanner's demise and the hotel's predicament.

In the midst of the investigation, Praeger is taken aback when Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anton Hendricks matter-of-factly notes he's taking time off - until the other team members explain that Hendricks always observes the October 16 anniversary of the disappearance of his wife and daughter. Twelve years earlier, the Hendricks family was involved in a freak car crash that left absolutely no sign of the two women. Hendricks still clings to the hope that they are alive in some parallel existence, and the hotel case is amplifying his desire to reconnect with them.

When another guest is haunted by the spectre, Ashe puts pressure on the O.S.I.R. team to close the case - fast. Learning that Ashe's former business partner, Perry Fischer, died under suspicious circumstances in that same room four months earlier, Donner suspects the hotel owner might have more involvement in the case than he's admitting. She finds that after the partners had a contractual dispute, Ashe retained sole ownership of the hotel while Fischer and his family were left broke except for a yearly payment and permanent occupancy of one room in the hotel: 1033. Ashe's possible motivation comes to light when the O.S.I.R. learns the partner's death ended Ashe's obligation to pay Fischer's annual stipend.

The whole team comes running when Axon's ghost monitors go haywire, then find 1033 ransacked and the equipment trashed. Axon and Praeger do a thorough sweep of the room in search of any clues - as they do, the bathroom door locks behind Praeger and Axon disappears while investigating the closet.

Searching for Axon, Hendricks and Praeger see ghostly images of Hendricks' wife and daughter at the far end of a hallway. As Hendricks runs towards them, they suddenly vanish - leaving in their place an open elevator shaft. Praeger, leaping into action, grabs his colleague seconds before the doctor plummets to his death. Fearing for his team's safety, Praeger checks out the hotel security cameras and discovers that they've been tampered with. With this lead, it appears that the real reason behind the hotel haunting begins to make sense. But, as they O.S.I.R. move in closer and closer to the truth, they must determine whether they've experienced a haunting, a hoax...or both.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
David McIlwraith - Harold Ashe
Ron Payne - Nick Tanner
Lorry Ayers - Dawn
Ted Simonett - Mitch Galbraith
Michael Rawley - Perry Fischer

Written by: Rick Drew
Directed by: John Bell

Go Back to Top

"The Night of the Setting Sun"

Episode 216
(aired the week of 3/2/1998)
Case # 93-8216

Log line: The Schulman family drinks human blood to remain just as they were in 1919.

Synopsis: Feeding a black market for endangered animals, Vickers - an underground dealer - learns the location of a flock of pigeons believed to be extinct for more than 70 years. After she nabs one of the birds from a dilapidated inner-city factory, Vickers makes it over the wall to safety, but her partner Franco is detained by an unseen presence. Learning of Vickers' plan to sell the rare specimen, Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) zoologist L.Q. Cooper buys it. Discovering its origin, Cooper and O.S.I.R. Case Manager Matt Praeger travel to the factory in search of additional birds although their escort there, factory owner Derek Stephenson, barely makes it out of his car before he collapses and dies. O.S.I.R. pathologist Dr. Claire Davison lists Spanish Influenza as cause of death - an ultra-contagious virus vanished for more than 70 years.

Worried she might have become infected during the autopsy, Davison quarantines herself and advises the other O.S.I.R. members to remain in isolation in the factory until a vaccine is developed. Senior Analyst Lindsay Donner, the only one not exposed to possible infection, takes over the legwork in the investigation. Her first order of business: background information on the Stephenson family and their company. She learns Derek was the last surviving member and that the factory still houses a small furniture manufacturing operation. Investigating its grounds, the O.S.I.R. comes across cousins Jonas, Elena and 12-year-old Sophie Schulman; they live on the premises with a few other relatives and hand-craft furniture in exchange for room and board. Curious about the strange, old-fashioned way the Schulmans dress, speak and behave, Cooper learns from Sophie that they moved into the factory 90 years ago.

After running a battery of environmental tests, Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon and Chief of Medicine Dr. Anton Hendricks suspect that the high concentration of magnetic ore in the ground has altered the Schulmans' physiology, triggering their surprising longevity. Via blood samples, Hendricks also determines that although the Schulmans are virus carriers, they also carry antibodies that make them immune. Further examination reveals that the family members have an unusual enzyme requiring them to ingest abnormal amounts of iron from raw meat and fresh blood in order to stay alive.

Unable to resist the aggressive flirtation of demurely-attractive Elena Schulman, Axon embraces her but is discovered by cousin Jonas. Jonas insists his family leave the complex, fearing that their lifestyle is endangered by their recent outside contact.

In the meantime, Praeger and Cooper discover Franco, the bird thief who never made it over the wall, tied up in a storage locker. The terrified young tough claims the Schulmans have been drinking his blood for sustenance. Alarmed by Franco's revelation, the O.S.I.R. team gathers together for safety. As Jonas readies his family to leave, Elena kisses Axon goodbye. Secretly wielding a knife, her penchant for fresh blood pushes her to violence. In a split-second, the moment turns from romantic to deadly. Can the O.S.I.R. save their colleague? And do they let the Schulmans loose in a modern, unprotected world?

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Peter Blais - Zoologist L.Q. Cooper
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Katherine Ashby - Vickers
Jason Jazrawry - Franco
Lubomir Myktiuk - Jonas Schulman
Susannah Hoffman - Elena Schulman
Allison Pill - Sophie Schulman

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: E. Jane Thompson

Go Back to Top

"The Labyrinth"

Episode 217
(aired the week of 4/13/1998)
Case # 30-9217

Log line: Traces of ectoplasm and a hair ornament are found on a city worker killed in an underground tunnel.

Synopsis: Two city maintenance workers - Ben Maxwell and Niko Andonovski - investigating a local blackout in an underground tunnel system experience a spectacular, unusual blast of light; then, only Andonovski emerges alive. Summoned to determined what killed Maxwell, the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.)'s Case Manager Matt Praeger and Pathologist Dr. Claire Davison see the worker's body splattered with a gooey orange-brown substance and find a woman's hair elastic with yellow baubles lodged in his throat. Meanwhile, questioned by Senior Data Analyst Lindsay Donner, Andonovski swears he saw a half-man, half-bull creature slay his partner.

Deciding the maze-like subterranean tunnel system holds clues, Praeger runs into resistance from Tom Johnson, a resentful city supervisor miffed that the O.S.I.R. investigation has prolonged the blackout. Probing the labyrinth, Praeger, Donner and team Zoologist L.Q. Cooper split up. Donner happens upon Johnson lurking in a tunnel...and both are overcome by a strange, bright light barreling towards them. In its wake, Donner feels lucky to be alive and firmly rules out Johnson as a possible suspect - since she's sharing space with his lifeless body, which is mauled, suffocated and burned to death by the otherworldly light, while his throat is clogged by yet another yellow hair elastic.

Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon reports that the residue found on the bodies is a combination of blood and ectoplasm - the material left behind after cross-dimensional contact. Skeptical with these results, Praeger focuses instead on the tangible evidence. Dr. Anton Hendricks concludes that the retrieved blood sample is so rare that it can be traced to exactly one living person: a currently-jailed young drug addict named Karen Russel. Visiting Russel in prison, Donner and Security Coordinator Ray Donahue are curious to find she is wearing a hair elastic identical to the ones in the throats of the dead men.

Making a sweep of the tunnels, Praeger and Axon learn that the sighted Minotaur-like creature is, in fact, a homeless man named Jesse and some unlikely props. Jesse, however, claims the strange light responsible for the two murders is the restless spirit of a baby, which Axon and Praeger doubt - until, horrified, they're shown the corpse of a baby the vagrant found there. As the team awaits the infant's autopsy results, Axon and Donahue question Russel's boyfriend, Gary, who ultimately admits the infant died as a result of the couple's drug-addled parental neglect...by choking to death after one of Karen's hair elastics fell into his crib. At the prison, Russel further reveals that the couple hid the tiny, lifeless body in a storm drain.

Tying together the bizarre elements of their investigation, the O.S.I.R. begins to accept that the murderous light in the tunnel might be the spirit of Karen's baby in search of its mother. Now, the team must enlist the young woman to venture into the tunnels - and, in so doing, risk her own life - to put the malevolent spirit to rest.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Peter Blais - Zoologist L.Q. Cooper
Peter MacNeill - Security Coordinator Ray Donahue
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Cameron Graham - Ben Maxwell
Gerry Medicino - Niko Andonovski
Roland Rothchild - Tom Johnson
Karyn Dwyer - Karen Russel
Gordon Michael Woolvet - Gary

Written by: Christiane Schull
Directed by: Ron Oliver

Go Back to Top

"Pentimento"

Episode 218
(aired the week of 4/20/1998)
Case # 72-1219

Log line: A seductive demon feeds on Praeger's negativity.

Synopsis: It appeared a fail-proof plan for success: art agent and gallery owner Victor Masaryk discovers Nathaniel Aznar in a mental hospital and grooms him into a rising star with a much-anticipated gallery opening. But the event ends in mayhem when Roy Clifton, a wealthy art connoisseur, is found there, savagely murdered. The almost unhuman gruesome condition of Clifton's corpse brings out the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) to investigate. Case Manager Matt Praeger and Chief Data Analyst Lindsay Donner know they have their work cut out for them when they first view the body hanging from the gallery ceiling, clothing oddly shredded and eyes ground into their sockets.

While O.S.I.R. Pathologist Dr. Claire Davison autopsies Clifton, Donner visits Aznar's loft to question him...but, instead, finds Masaryk, who offers no help. Back at the gallery, Praeger questions Masaryk's assistant, Holly, who recalls seeing a mysterious dark shadow there that night; he also meets Ava Mignan, who introduces herself as Aznar's international representative (and who sparks romantic interest in Praeger). After the Case Manager's departure that evening, Holly searches for the source of a menacing growl coming from the gallery's shadows. But the growl finds her first, making her the second victim of a brutal mauling.

In a revealing turn of events during his questioning of Aznar, Dr. Anton Hendricks learns that the artist, as a child, accidentally killed his younger brother. Meanwhile, Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon turns up another paranormal clue: beneath the beautiful landscapes in Aznar's paintings lie demonic figures painted in Aznar's own blood.

When Donner and Axon learn Ava is an imposter - after neither Aznar nor Masaryk has heard of her - they confront Praeger with their discovery. But the usually cool-tempered and logical Case Manager defends the object of his affections and, instead, lashes out at colleagues for implying she might have some link to the murders. Later, checking Aznar's loft, Security Coordinator Ray Donahue finds Masaryk there, wounded but alive, dangling from the ceiling; he also finds the artist in the basement, disoriented and covered in blood. Although claiming no recollection of an attack, Aznar jumps to the top of the O.S.I.R.'s suspect list.

When Praeger tries to confront Ava about the concerns of his investigators, he's instead distracted by her seductive advances. But when he introduces the attractive Ava to his daughter Dana, the young girl only sees a ghastly creature with black holes for eyes and a monster-like mouth. Blind to what his daughter sees, Praeger doesn't comprehend why the girl runs away scared...and Ava's bizarre power stops him from chasing after her.

Continuing to dig into Aznar's art, Donner and Axon discover Ava's name in every one of the paintings. Their suspicions reach a new level when Dana bursts into the mobile lab and retells her frightening encounter with Ava - might the self-described art representative be, instead, a demon spirit? With Praeger its new target? Deciding that Aznar is their only hope, the O.S.I.R. executes a dramatic plan to save their leader. If it works, Ava will be nothing but a bad memory...if not, it's Praeger who will live only in their minds.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Peter Blais - Zoologist L.Q. Cooper
Peter MacNeill - Security Coordinator Ray Donahue
Sean Sullivan - Nathaniel Aznar
Peter Millard - Victor Masaryk
Gerry Salsberg - Roy Clifton

Written by: Sarah Dodd
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali

Go Back to Top

"Frozen Faith"

Episode 219
(aired the week of 4/27/1998)
Case # 72-1219

Log line: The archangel of death possesses Dr. Anton Hendricks.

Synopsis: The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called in to investigate a home where the living room has become a cavern of ice. The owner of the home, Mrs. Cynthia Bruna, is strangely calm when the team discovers that her grandson Henry has been frozen into a chair in the odd room. Dr. Anton Hendricks, amazed the boy is still alive, rushes Henry upstairs and into a warm bath. While Hendricks defrosts Henry, Chief Data Analyst Lindsay Donner learns from Mrs. Bruna that the temperature in the house began to drop the day her husband (Henry's grandfather) died two weeks earlier.

As Hendricks revives Henry in the warm water, the boy speaks to him in a deep, inhuman voice and a frigid blast of air penetrates the room. Henry then grabs Hendricks and kisses him on the forehead, sending the Doctor into a trance-like state and, apparently, passing on whatever had possessed him.

In the mobile lab, Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon's tests confirm the presence of ectoplasmic residue in the house, suggesting a possible haunting. Ever the skeptic, Case Manager Matt Praeger has doubts about Axon's haunted house conclusion and orders the team to conduct further interviews to get to the bottom of the mystery. Hendricks interviews Henry who can't remember anything about his near death experience in the frozen room. Then, when Hendricks opens his mouth to speak, his usual voice and intended words are replaced by guttural German. Henry bolts from the interview area after recognizing this strange voice as that of his dead grandfather.

The team gets suspicious that something might be seriously wrong with Hendricks when he starts behaving strangely towards them. Then, they know they're in for an interesting ride as he grows more and more unprofessional and unpredictable and, finally, wanders off without any indication of his destination or mention of his plans to return.

As Praeger readies the team to search for Hendricks, he learns that the deceased Mr. Bruna was being blackmailed by a character named Martin Stossel to conceal his dark past as a Nazi. But Hendricks is already on Stossel's trail and gets to him first. As if he was possessed, Hendricks viciously tries to drown Stossel. Terrified, Stossel looks into his attacker's eyes and sees the spirit of Mr. Bruna.

The next morning, Hendricks wakes up in a homeless shelter, disoriented and with no memory of the previous night's events. Finally getting a grip on himself, he goes to a church in a desperate attempt to fight the force that's controlling him. The priest there takes him in and, based on Hendricks' story, determines that an exorcism might be called for.

When the O.S.I.R. team tracks Hendricks to the church, the priest tells Praeger that, in order to conduct an exorcism on their possibly demonically possessed friend, he needs to know the name of the spirit that is involved. Praeger, suspicious of religion and all non-scientific constructs, continues to pursue other reasons for Hendrick's strange behavior.

When Donner and Axon track down Stossel, they learn that Mr. Bruna was really Gunter Hoffner - a World War II era Nazi who drowned hundreds of Jews while pretending to baptize them in a river. In light of this latest religious connection, Praeger visits the church to ask the priest for guidance and discovers that Hendricks has fled from the church. Accepting that Hendricks may actually be possessed and that, if he is, his only hope is exorcism of the demon within, Praeger returns to the Bruna home where he intends to find and confront the demon.

During the ensuing battle, Praeger struggles mightily with the demon and with his own spiritual skepticism. With exorcism the only hope for Hendricks to make it through this crisis, the super-scientific leader of the O.S.I.R. team must hand over his usual analytical control to the spiritual domain. Could Praeger's sudden willingness to accept the unscientific ritual of exorcism in order to save his colleague actually aid the demon spirit's further existence?

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Patrick Thomas - Henry Bruna
Helen Hughes - Mrs. Cynthia Bruna
Joe Botond - Mr. Bruna
James Mainprize - Priest
Heather Bertram - Dana

Written by: Matt Frewer
Directed by: Ron Oliver

Go Back to Top

"Map To The Stars"

Episode 220
(aired the week of 5/4/1998)
Case # 42-0202

Log line: After traditional tactics fail, Praeger enlists a psychic to help investigate an alien abduction.

Synopsis: When Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) Case Manager Matt Praeger crosses paths with his old friend Michael Kelly, something on Kelly's computer screen piques Praeger's interest. The message EXPERIMENT STATUS...INITIATED blinks ominously across a page of information on one Juan Mendoza.

Meanwhile, miles away - in a clearly, but inexplicably, related incident - Mendoza is injured in a chemical plant explosion and rushed to an ambulance. Inside, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) restrain the panicked Mendoza who stares in shock as one of the EMTs removes his hazmat hood to reveal the head of an alien.

When Mendoza returns home from the hospital a schizophrenic mess, the O.S.I.R. leap into action. When Praeger questions Mendoza about his ordeal he complains of intense headaches and claims the "aliens" performed surgery on him. Praeger and Donner aren't sure what to make of Mendoza's claims as he mumbles about strange voices in his head telling him to "Find the Second."

Donner and Praeger visit the chemical plant, and learn from the Fire Marshall and EMTs that there was nothing unusual about Mendoza's rescue. Hitting this investigative dead end, Praeger turns to sometime O.S.I.R. advisor Michael Kelly to reveal the connection between Kelly and Mendoza. But Praeger gains no ground in the search for clues as the ever-paranoid Kelly rigorously denies any involvement.

When the team reconvenes at the Mendoza residence, they find Juan has scrolled strange symbols on the walls and extracted one of his own teeth. Chief Science Analyst Peter Axon knows he's onto something when he finds an implanted microchip in the molar. Further investigation reveals three additional implants in Mendoza's mouth, which, together, emit an odd energy pulse.

Now paying some mind to Mendoza's claim of abduction and involuntary surgery, the team makes another trip to the chemical plant. Finding the Fire Marshall and EMTs murdered execution-style, Praeger then grabs a glimpse of a mysterious man with a goatee on the premises. But the mystery man slips away before Praeger can question him.

Elsewhere, O.S.I.R. Director of Operations Frank Elsinger warns Michael Kelly to stay away from the investigation.

Back at the Mendoza home, Juan breaks out of his trance and is drawn to the television. As Senator Jill Bradbury delivers a political speech on live television, she suddenly starts drawing symbols similar to Mendoza's and then cries, "I need to find the Third!"

With his traditional investigative tactics exhausted, and against Elsinger's wishes, Praeger calls in psychic Catherine Azzopardi for a possible lead. She directs the team to Joe Hempworth, a local homeless man.

Praeger leaves Mendoza and Bradbury with Kelly while the O.S.I.R. continue the search for "the third" piece of the puzzle. When the team arrives at Hempworth's shanty near an abandoned warehouse, they find the man scribbling the same symbols as Mendoza and Bradbury. But before they can figure out what he has to do with their investigation, the goateed stranger appears and creates a diversion that allows Hempworth to disappear. When Praeger and his team return to Kelly's apartment, they find him unconscious and Mendoza and Bradbury missing.

With an investigative breakthrough, Axon is able to interpret the odd symbols Mendoza and the others were drawing and turn the team's attention to an impending solar eclipse and a nearby meeting place. At the moment the eclipse hits, a brilliant light flashes. Praeger and the team are momentarily blinded by the light and, when the light returns to normal, they find themselves staring at what might be a clue in a web of alien activity that, somehow, involves Michael Kelly.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
David McNally - Juan Mendoza
Scott Wickware - Fire Marshall Stevens
Markus Parilo - goateed man
Ferne Downey - Jill Bradbury
Terri Hawkes - Catherine Azzopardi

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: John Bell

Go Back to Top

"The Endangered"

Episode 221
(aired the week of 5/11/1998)
Case # 10-4723

Log line: A Yeti attacks mountain climbers; Kelly thinks Praeger is paranoid.

Synopsis: The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) is called in by the local police after a hiker's mauled body is found by Grant MacKenzie, a seasoned trail guide and big game hunter leading two hikers on a weekend wilderness retreat.

As the O.S.I.R. team begins their investigation, Zoologist L.Q. Cooper recovers a clump of long stringy fur from a tree branch near the attack site. The length and texture of the specimen immediately rule out the possibility that the man was killed by a grizzly bear. Additionally, Cooper finds tracks leading from the body into a nearby creek, suggesting sophisticated animal behavior. Interviewing the two hikers who are cloistered in a cabin while the O.S.I.R. investigate, Senior Data Analyst Lindsay Donner learns they were too far from the incident to lend any clues.

Case Manager Matt Praeger works furiously to solve this case, but is interrupted by his unstable friend Michael Kelly who insists that Praeger meet him to discuss urgent business. Praeger puts Kelly off for the time being. Meanwhile, Senior Science Analyst Peter Axon probes the area with Cooper in search of more clues to the attacker's whereabouts. While on patrol, they notice a rancid smell and then manage to videotape a humanoid creature as it skulks through the woods. The two investigators run into MacKenzie just in time to prevent him from shooting the beast. Realizing MacKenzie is determined to kill it for his own fame and fortune, they suggest teaming up to trap the creature - which might be the fabled Yeti - for scientific study.

As the search continues, Kelly persists in harassing Praeger to meet with him. Dr. Anton Hendricks warns Praeger that Kelly's behavior appears to be mentally unstable. Meanwhile, the two hikers, tired of being cooped up, make a run for the city - but they get lost and their escape takes a grisly turn.

Finding that the hikers are missing, the O.S.I.R. organizes a search party. Meanwhile, concerned that Kelly's meddling with Praeger is affecting the investigation, Axon breaks rank and calls O.S.I.R. Director of Operations Frank Elsinger who sternly warns Praeger to cut off all contact with Kelly.

Still on the hunt, MacKenzie's quest to capture the beast reaches a fever pitch. As the O.S.I.R. intervenes for the sake of science, their investigation takes a fatally unpredictable turn. In the final analysis, the fury of the beast hits the O.S.I.R. very close to home and it remains to be seen whether Praeger can, in good conscience, put this particular investigation to rest.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter Blais - L.Q. Cooper
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Terry Harford - Grant MacKenzie
Andrew Miller - Scott Benson

Written by: Will Dixon
Directed by: Rick Drew

Go Back to Top

"The Egress"

Episode 222
(aired the week of 5/18/1998)
Case # 10-2964

Log line: A portal may be a path to the afterlife; closed cases reopen; dead clients live.

Synopsis: Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) Chief Analyst Peter Axon receives an emergency call for help from his old MIT colleague, Dr. Leon Schraft, warning that, "This is the big one." Axon and O.S.I.R. Security Coordinator Ray Donahue respond immediately to the call. But when they arrive at Dr. Schraft's secret research facility, he's nowhere to be found. And, based on the condition of the facility, it looks as if someone has beaten the O.S.I.R. to the scene and made off with what would have been key evidence.

Searching the facility, the investigators find an imposing metal and stone archway replete with flashing lights, warning tape and computer circuit boards. When Donahue moves across a line painted on the floor for a closer look at the fascinating structure, it fires up and begins to hum and shake violently. Grabbing his colleague and pulling him back to safety, Axon realizes that this is unlike anything he's ever seen.

Case Manager Matt Praeger arrives at the investigation site, but there's still no sign of Dr. Schraft. Leading Praeger to the mysterious Arch, Axon is mesmerized by the sound emanating from the structure. As he absently walks towards the structure it again begins to stir, Praeger yanks him back and cautions him to stay behind the yellow line.

Returning to the mobile lab, Praeger watches a video disc he received from his recently slain friend and advisor, Michael Kelly. On the disc, Kelly ominously warns Praeger that certain O.S.I.R. operatives are working without moral or ethical accountability while searching for the paranormal phenomenon they call "the big one."

Going on to draw uncanny parallels between P.T. Barnum's Dime Museum freak show exhibit and a series of recent O.S.I.R. investigations, Kelly leads up to Barnum's famous last exhibit - The Egress (or exit). Joined in the screening room by Senior Data Analyst Lindsay Donner, Praeger seems to have bought into Kelly's story. Convinced that the odd archway is the "Big One" and an "Egress," he realizes how palpably close to the edge this case might take him and his team.

Standing on opposite sides of the arch, Praeger and Axon perform an experiment where Axon attempts to throw a baseball through the center of the Arch. But, on its way through, the ball is engulfed by the swirling center and never reaches the other side.

As Axon moves towards the structure to try to comprehend this latest oddity, a man shouts at him to stop. The man, an intern on the research project (played by actor Corey Haim), then leads the O.S.I.R. team to a gruesome discovery - half of a dead body.

O.S.I.R. Pathologist Dr. Claire Davison and Dr. Anton Hendricks examine the decomposed remains of the body. The intern goes on to explain that a group of scientists were drawn into the Arch and that this man was half consumed before being pulled from the Arch. Then, when the intern ran to get help, he found the research office being ransacked by a group of men who systematically removed all off the research information and equipment related to the Arch experiment.

The team's ongoing search of the research facility is marked by further tragedy. Intrigued by the afterworld, Dr. Anton Hendricks is lured into the mass of the arch by the voices of his late wife and daughter. Getting too close to the center, he suddenly disappears inside. Shaken by the loss of Hendricks, Praeger sternly interrogates the research intern who yields a few new leads. Praeger heads to the mobile lab and bursts into the office of O.S.I.R. Director of Operations, Dr. Frank Elsinger. Elsinger confirms Praeger's suspicion that the research facility and the arch were both O.S.I.R. operations from the start.

Elsinger goes on to reveal that Praeger and his team were assigned to the case specifically in to uncover any leads on the team of O.S.I.R. scientists that disappeared into the arch. Then, when he learns that Schraft is still alive and in custody, Praeger demands to be taken to the missing scientist. At first, Schraft stonewalls Praeger, but once Praeger reveals that his team has a communication link to Hendricks inside the Arch, Schraft warms up and the two men discuss using this to rescue Hendricks and to further the research into the arch.

When information on the case reaches the press, Praeger is convinced there's an information leak inside the O.S.I.R. Praeger quickly (and wrongly) assumes it is Axon and confronts him. Then, Donner shocks Praeger as she reveals that she is the leak and admits her motivation came from a desire to expose Elsinger's questionable ethical activity. The surprises keep coming as individuals believed dead turn up alive and cases already closed seem ripe for reopening. By the close of this cliffhanger we're not sure who lives, who dies and who still works for the O.S.I.R.?

With so many questions unanswered, the first Episode of season three is shaping up to be a Big One....

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Peter MacNeill - Ray Donahue
Nigel Bennett - Frank Elsinger
Peter Blais - L.Q. Cooper
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly
Daniel Kash - Dr. Leon Schraft
Corey Haim - Intern
Soo Garay - Dr. Claire Davison
Neil Foster - Bram Page

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: John Bell

Go Back to Top

[Home] [Search] [Legal] [Site Map]

Created and owned by Psichick1
© Copyright 2000 - 2005