The Control Voice: We live in an egocentric age, where many of us believe we are the sun in our own universe. But what happens when these illusions collide with reality?
A presidential candidate (Bruce Boxleitner) is warned by a time traveler (C.C.H. Pounder) that he must jump out of his plane before it crashes.
The Control Voice: No idea is so strong it should not be tested by doubt, and no man so powerful that he is infallible.
Decomtropession:
- Batman Gambit: The Time Traveler’s plan to kill Brody depends on him being selfish enough to abandon everyone else on the plane to save himself, and it works.
- Bottle Episode: Almost all of this episode takes place on a plane, making it an Episode on a Plane.
- Casting Gag: In Babylon 5, Bruce Boxleitner played a man who opposed an evil president. Here, he's the evil president.
- Foreshadowing: While being interviewed by a reporter, Brody makes an off-the-record statement that there will be no privacy in the future. This foreshadows that he is the evil future President who has the US citizens constantly monitored.
- I Lied: After Brody jumps out of the plane, the Time Traveler reveals to him that she lied about the plane being in danger and him becoming a great president who would lead humanity into a new age of enlightenment.
- Invisible to Normals: The Time Traveler appears to Senator Wyndom Brody in the form of a Hologram that only he can see and hear as the projection is keyed to his neural signature.
- It's All About Me: Brody has no problem dooming everyone else on the plane to save his own skin.
- Karmic Twist Ending: This episode has a recently-elected senator aboard a plane that's going to crash. A time traveler tells him that he has to open the door and leap out, sacrificing the lives of all on board, so he can live to be elected President and usher in a new enlightenment, or else his opponent would be elected and become a ruthless tyrant. In the end, he jumps out with seconds to spare... whereupon the time traveler tells him that he was destined to become the tyrant, and lets him fall to his death while the plane lands safely.
- Mile-High Club: Senator Wyndom Brody has sex with his mistress Catherine Walsh, a member of his campaign team, on his plane.
- No Name Given: The Time Traveler.
- No Party Given: Senator Wyndom Brody has just won the New Hampshire primary and has replaced Governor Stanton as the frontrunner for his unnamed party's presidential nomination.
- Oppressive States of America: The Time Traveler tells Senator Wyndom Brody that history has been altered and the Age of Enlightenment that he created as President has been replaced by a new timeline in which the US is a police state where people are constantly monitored. In this new timeline, acts of terrorism and riots were widespread throughout the country and a weak President was able to capitalize on the situation by becoming a tyrant. She does not name the President, but Brody is certain that it is Governor Stanton, his opponent for his party's nomination. The Time Traveler convinces Brody that he must save himself and correct the course of history by jumping out of the plane, which will crash on re-entry. She assures him that she will transport him to safety. However, when he does so, the Time Traveler reveals that her true mission was to change history and prevent him from becoming President as his selfishness, egotism and paranoia combined to turn him into the tyrannical President of whom she spoke. She accomplished her mission by appealing to Brody's considerable sense of self-importance and desire to save his own skin. The Time Traveler then allows him to fall to his death. The plane lands safely without him.
- President Evil: A time traveler approaches a presidential candidate and warns him that his loss in the upcoming election will pave the way for one of these. As she continues to win him over, she eventually convinces him that his staff will sabotage his chances of winning, and that he needs to jump from the plane and leave them all to die (she'll protect him with her future-tech). He complies, and she's true to her word. Then she reveals he is the President Evil she spoke of, having gambled that he would be self-centered enough to save his own hide at the expense of everyone else. The plane will be fine, and he's just ensured that his political career is tarnished beyond recovery. Oh, and she didn't really save him. She just created an illusion to tell him the truth before ending the illusion, revealing that he is still falling from the sky and about to splatter on the ground.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: A popular presidential candidate traveling on a plane and seeing an intangible image of a woman claiming to be from a Bad Future where his plane crashed (because of another time traveler's accidental interference), and his corrupt opponent ended up winning. She convinces him to jump out of the plane by claiming that she will use future technology to halt his fall moments before hitting the ground. This appears to happen, but then she explains that she is here to kill him, as he is the one who will become President Evil due to his ego, paranoia, and selfishness. The falling scene repeats, and nobody catches him this time. The plane lands without problems.
- Time Travel Episode
