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Dr. Nobel
Dr. Nobel
Air date August 22, 2006
Written by Dan E. Fesman & Harry Victor
Directed by Jeff Woolnough
Episode guide
Preceded by
"Invincible"
Followed by
"Blink"
Cast | Transcript
Wiki wide
Season 1
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12
Season 2

"Dr. Nobel" is the sixth episode of the first season of Eureka.

Synopsis[]

Carter must help an aging scientist recover his memory in time to stop a doomsday device from destroying the world.

Plot[]

Nathan Stark tells Dr. Fargo that he is giving him a new position. He takes Fargo down to Section Four and presents him with an "office", which is really just an old, dusty storage room from the 1970s, evidenced by the lava lamp found on a desk. When Fargo and Spencer move a bookshelf, they discover a console, which Fargo mistakes for a stereo. After various attempts to turn it on, they both realize that the console has two keyholes. Spencer remembers that he just saw two keys in a desk they had previously moved, which they use in an attempt to activate the console. After a few seconds of silence a siren sounds.

Sheriff Jack Carter is seen on the street giving a citizen a ticket for a traffic infraction when suddenly a missile-like object breaks through the ground beneath him. He sees others around town, but Stark tells him that they are actually "silo-like" objects. Henry adds that these silos are capable of launching ion beams that Carter interprets as "death rays". It achieves this by shooting the beam at a mirror on the Moon, placed there during the first Moon landing, and reflecting it back to Earth. After searching through some old documents, they discover that the weapon is the brainchild of Dr. Irvin Thatcher (Antony Holland), a brilliant scientist during the Cold War who formulated the idea of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD). Dr. Thatcher is still alive and residing at the Eureka center for retired geniuses.

Carter goes to the senior center where Zoë is performing community service, and finds Dr. Thatcher. However, they soon discover that Dr. Thatcher is not exactly in his right mind, saying things like "Lefty tighty, righty loosey" (which actually turns out to be how the wiring panel is opened to the launch control panel). He then utters "Charlie, Tango, Lima", followed by "Wait, Charlie never tangoed in Lima". Obviously confused, Carter and Allison Blake return Dr. Thatcher home, while Henry and Stark attempt to cut some wires. This only reduces the time until the weapon fires from 20 hours to 7 hours.

Using an experimental mind probe device, Carter discovers that Dr. Thatcher's illness was caused by a mental breakdown when Dr. Thatcher was passed over for the Nobel Prize. Struck with an idea, Carter "borrows" Stark's Nobel Prize and stages an holographic Nobel Prize Ceremony in Dr. Thatcher's honor. With his psyche and confidence restored, Dr. Thatcher assembles his old team and manages to override the weapon. Unfortunately, because Henry cut the "blue wire", the deadman switch is activated and the weapon continues to count down.

Thinking quickly, Carter jumps into his Jeep and rams the weapon, knocking the laser out of alignment and causing it to miss the Moon. The Earth is saved from World War III, with the only loss being NASA's unlucky space probe Zephyr, orbiting Jupiter.

Memorable Quotes[]

Dr. Thatcher: Charlie...Tango...Lima...............No, Charlie never tangoed in Lima.


Carter: This ion beam thingy, that is what, exactly?

Henry: Irradiated uranium isotopes.

Fargo: Oh God!

Carter: Oh death ray. Why didn't you just say "death ray"?


Henry: I searched your entire database and there's not one single record of silos or irradiated isotopes or ionosphere particles.

Carter: Did you try "death ray"?


Dr. Irving Thatcher: If you want sex, reverse the hex.

Stark: Sheriff, at any point when you picked him up, the car ride, the long walk down here, happen to notice this guy's not all there?

Carter: Yeah, there may have been signs.


Carter: [Reading memorial plaque on wall while strapped into an experimental chair] "In memory of Skippy."

Allison: Oh, he was everyone's favorite test chimp.

Carter': Did he die on this thing!?

Allison: No! The autopsy was inconclusive.

Notes[]

  • When Zoe is brought to the seniors' rec center, the diegetic music is an upbeat techno version of the Eureka theme.
  • This is one of the few times, when Fargo is relocated there, that Section Four is either seen or mentioned in the series.
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