Another Earth

I saw this image when I was a kid.

The photograph of Jupiter

taken by NASA's Voyager.

Beautiful,

but nothing special

until shown in rapid succession.

Suddenly Jupiter was alive,

breathing.

I was hypnotized.

I was 17 when I got

my acceptance letter to MIT.

- One, two, three, MIT!

- Okay. Wait...

I felt like anything was possible.

I don't want to eat

the apple of cynicism.

And it was.

- # Flava #

- # Flava #

- # Flava #

- # Flava #

Yo, what's up, baby?

It's your boy Flava... F-L-A-V-A.

That's your dude

with the big mouth! Yo!

I don't know if you heard the news,

but the scientists say...

they just discovered

another planet super close to us...

with the conditions

that could support life?

Really? Well, now it's visible

up in the night sky.

They say if you look just east

of the North Star, you'll see it.

It's a little blue spot.

I want all you lovers out there

to make a wish...

on a tiny blue star...

as I play this hot joint for you

right now.

It's your boy Flava!

That's easy.

What rhymes with..."honey"?

"Bunny."

He's like,

"All right, enough with it!"

What rhymes...

Let's do some animals.

- You wanna give him some animals?

- Yeah.

- What rhymes with...

- "Lion"?

Oh, my gosh.

- "Pion."

- A pion.

A small puma of the high Himalayas.

Did we figure out

what this guy's name is?

- Bob.

- Bob the robot.

He looks to me like a Bob.

Go ahead.

Feel her.

She's in there, all right.

I hope so.

What rhymes with...

"light"?

- "Light"?

- Oh, that's a good one.

And by all appearances, the, uh, planet...

seems to be a mirror to our own,

from the continental structures

to the oceans.

Even their cities are our cities.

And where are we in terms of communication?

That's exactly my point.

If this planet is sustaining

intelligent life...

of comparable

levels to our own...

That's a very significant point.

So far we have nothing.

We have a jumble of radio signals,

the strongest of which

are military radars.

But even those radio signals are not

something we can parse out and understand.

We don't

even know it really exists.

It could be some

cosmic mirror of sorts.

You've written

extensively about that...

as the most likely explanation for why it's

identical to our own planet.

This planet exists.

It has mass and it has

a clearly detectable orbit.

It's even having radio signals.

So did you have a crew

on the inside?

Do you have any tattoos?

- Jeffrey!

- I'm just taking.

You hear about that guy who's having

the contest to go to the other Earth?

I mean, it's so stupid.

They're gonna get sucked

into a black star and die.

Hmm.

Is it good to be home?

Yeah.

You know,

if you need anything...

Oh. Towels.

Night.

Good night, Mom.

Three, two, one.

Booster ignition, and liftoff.

This will be

a trip like no other.

We will give those that travel with us

a unique and life-changing experience.

Travel to Earth Two.

Now booking.

I was thinking I would like

to do something with my hands.

You know, maybe...

maybe outdoors, maybe not.

Come on. I mean, you could

do something with your hands,

but you have

such a great mind.

I don't wanna really be around too

many people or do too much talking.

All right.

Well, there's a maintenance position

open at West Haven High School.

Just imagine that you're asleep

and then you wake.

You're not sure where you are.

You're not sure

if anyone else is around.

What would you probably do first?

You likely would look around

and say, "Hello?

Hello?"

You're attempting to find,

"Am I alone?"

We here on Earth

would like to know.

Me and Rob got into this huge,

stupid fight last night.

Really? About what?

I don't know. We were hanging

out, and he just started fighting...

- Hey.

- Oh, hi.

- What are you guys doing?

- Um, skipping Chemistry.

- Really?

- Yeah.

Guess who just texted me.

- Who?

- Kyle.

Is he gonna pick us up?

Yo! It's the winter solstice.

That's right.

The shortest day of the year,

which means it will also be

the longest night of the year.

So take advantage.

You know what I'm talking about.

Also, today marks the anniversary of the

discovery of Earth Two a few years back.

Can you remember

what you were doing that night?

I know I remember.

I met this girl from Bridgeport...

that had a thing for the Flava!

That's right, baby.

You know how we do.

Baby, if you're still out there,

boo, holler at your boy.

Flava, F-L-A-V-A. Yeah.

Not only do I got a big mouth,

I got a... Uh.

You know my number.

Call me. Mmm.

...company that's

underwriting civilian travel to Earth Two.

Keith, with all the risks...

and all the unknowns,

why are you doing this?

I don't think governments

should dictate exploration.

And I don't think we should

automatically ban average citizens...

from being the first to see

this new world.

When early explorers first

set out west across the Atlantic,

most people thought

the world was flat.

Most people thought

if you sailed far enough west,

you would drop off a plane

into nothing.

These vessels sailing out

into the unknown...

they weren't carrying noblemen

or aristocrats, artists, merchants.

They were crewed by people

living on the edge of life...

the madmen, orphans,

ex-convicts, outcasts...

like myself.

As a felon, I'm an unlikely

candidate for most things.

But perhaps not for this.

Perhaps I am the most likely.

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