The Discarded, based on the short story by Harlan Ellison, is narrated by Stephen Hawking—yes, the famous professor with the electronic voice. It stars John Hurt, whose character has two heads, and Brian Dennehy, who has a gigantic arm. You may be reminded of a running gag in Mother, in which Albert Brooks plays a fledgling science fiction author who wrote novels of questionable value: “Did you like the character with the big hand?” he’d ask readers.

The discards are a colony of mutants who were quarantined on a space station. Life sucks so bad that many kill themselves in inhumane ways. One day, a ship from Earth makes an unscheduled rendezvous. The visitor, an ambassador from Earth, tells them that after they were discarded, the virus responsible for the mutations evolved following a period of dormancy. Earth’s only hope for a cure lies in the enzymes manufactured by those who were originally infected.

Like one of the stronger episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the quandary is an ethical one, which is why it should come as no surprise that the episode’s director is Jonathon “Riker” Frakes, working with a teleplay written by Josh Olson and Harlan Ellison himself. The climax won’t involve laser weapons or dramatic space battles. It will involve small group politics, blind faith, and diplomacy. Dennehy’s street smart leader of the colony is steeled in his resolve not to trust Earth even though everyone else has turned against him. The audience is given no more information than what we see on the screen. We literally don’t know who’s right.

Some may snicker seeing these actors adorned with heavy prosthetics on a science fictional set, but Hurt and Dennehy take their jobs seriously. This is great acting, period, but for TV it’s phenomenal acting. A lot of seasoned actors would have written this material off as nothing more than a paycheck. Hurt and Dennehy, and in no small part the cast of supporting characters, treat it as if it’s Shakespeare. It’s remarkable how endearing this crew of misfits become in such a short span of time.

The whole production reminds me of the 90s revival of The Outer Limits and it’s brought to you by genre fanatic Mick Garris, the same mind behind Showtime’s Masters of Horror. This is made by fans of science fiction and it shows. One of my favorite hours of TV ever produced.