“We’ve come further this time, haven’t we?” -Kate Vernon as Judy, speaking to Alex McArthur as Josh

    No matter what you think of the episode: who you think Josh is, the lesson is the same. Religion has us focusing on miracles, relics, raising our eyes in worship to a relic of a brutal time: a horrific form of execution. Would Jesus have wanted us worshiping the instrument of his demise?
    I think not. So “Shoe of Brian“-ish.
    Wouldn’t Jesus want us to focus on lessons he taught, parables, words he said?
    I know I have written about this before, I probably will write about it again.
    This episode of The Outer Limits that aired aired March 6, 1998, is what all good Sci Fi is: an allegory, a parable… a story meant to teach lessons far beyond the format. Some say, “Disguised,” like what some say about Star Trek. But really it’s not much of a disguise. It’s just that in the guise of SciFi people where who might otherwise reject the message let it slide by because it’s “fiction.” Yet it’s not. That’s how the masters of SciFi like Roddenberry, Heinlein, Asimov, Silverberg, the writers in the second version of Battlestar, Gerrold, Orson Scott Card and so many more get away with it. Good SciFi addresses not only who we could be, but who we were and who we are. Love, love of others, the difference between genders, who we love and love of self. That last one reminds me of the David Gerrold story The Man Who Folded Himself.” A story about self love, introspection, and learning how to be a better human.
    Is Josh an alien? Jesus returned? A danger to all of humanity?
    One can see how all these viewpoints could be.
    He does have powers humans don’t have: despite all tests showing him to be perfectly normal. A tad too perfect. I suppose one might even think he was a flawless android, mimicking humanity.
    After all, aren’t we machines of a sort, biological rather than gears, software…
    Josh, obviously, is so much more than all of that. Cliche’s play a part: the classic Steven Spielberg evil military/government-type who, unfortunately, has led too many to believe that when it comes to government there’s always some big, relentless, conspiracy. That has led to as much evil as government itself.
    To give the writers credit, as they chase Josh after he used his powers to cure a young girl the head military man only considers him a threat except…
    Battlestar‘s Kate Vernon, who plays a relentless reporter named Judy Warren, does learn a lesson, and one hopes others did too. A lesson all believers and non-believers need to learn if they haven’t.
    I won’t spoil the end.
    And everyone has a different take on him, just like the Jews, Catholics, so many different versions of Christianity, Islam
    Josh is an episode everyone should see, even if they usually don’t like Science Fiction. It does what GOOD fiction does: make you think. And, perhaps, if Jesus were to come back he might say to us what Josh says to Judy Warren…

What I am doesn’t matter.
Who you are does.”

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    “Inspection” is a column that has been written by Ken Carman for over 50 years. Inspection is dedicated to looking at odd angles, under all the rocks and into the unseen cracks and crevasses that constitute the issues and philosophical constructs of our day: places few think, or even dare, to venture.
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