Need Help Finding TV Show Episode/Short Story

[MadMatt]

OK - I have been trying to find this dang thing for hours now and can't figure it out. I need your help Ron & Fez Buddays!!!

I am trying to figure out a Sci-Fi Anthology TV Show Episode that I think was based on a short story, but I can't find it anywhere and I have used every search subject I can think of. It was on in the late 80's or 90's. I tried searching through Outer Limits episodes, but couldn't find the right one.

Here is the plot: This weird box inexplicably shows up in an "average" guy's apartment. He finds out it somehow grants wishes, so he gets anything he asks for. Shortly after he starts wishing for things, a "dimensional doorway" briefly appears and an alien attempts to warn the guy about something, but the guy is greedy and ignores the partially delivered warning.

After wishing for just about every creature comfort he can think of, the guy wishes for Immortality. Just after that, the box transports the guy to a mining facility/industrial labor camp on some alien planet. The alien appears again and you find out that the box that appeared in the guy's apartment was a trick: it is essentially a galactic "credit card" and the guy's bill just came due. Since he obviously can't pay them back, they force him to work off his debt by hard labor. The kicker is, he gets to keep immortality "for free" because he will be working for eons to pay back his debt.

If any of you folks know the show, short story title, or author I would really appreciate the info. This has been driving me crazy all day!

[FANDICK]

OK - I have been trying to find this dang thing for hours now and can't figure it out. I need your help Ron & Fez Buddays!!!

I am trying to figure out a Sci-Fi Anthology TV Show Episode that I think was based on a short story, but I can't find it anywhere and I have used every search subject I can think of. It was on in the late 80's or 90's. I tried searching through Outer Limits episodes, but couldn't find the right one.

Here is the plot: This weird box inexplicably shows up in an "average" guy's apartment. He finds out it somehow grants wishes, so he gets anything he asks for. Shortly after he starts wishing for things, a "dimensional doorway" briefly appears and an alien attempts to warn the guy about something, but the guy is greedy and ignores the partially delivered warning.

After wishing for just about every creature comfort he can think of, the guy wishes for Immortality. Just after that, the box transports the guy to a mining facility/industrial labor camp on some alien planet. The alien appears again and you find out that the box that appeared in the guy's apartment was a trick: it is essentially a galactic "credit card" and the guy's bill just came due. Since he obviously can't pay them back, they force him to work off his debt by hard labor. The kicker is, he gets to keep immortality "for free" because he will be working for eons to pay back his debt.

If any of you folks know the show, short story title, or author I would really appreciate the info. This has been driving me crazy all day!

Never heard of it, but that's a kick ass idea/story.

Btw, does he at some point call customer service about the galactic CC and get an "alien" he can't understand?

Just wondering.

:drunk:

[Chigworthy]

Sounds similar to that New Twilight Zone bit about the miserable couple who get the button box from the door-to-door salescreep. Same moral at least.

http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/theboxfirstlook.jpg

[OGC]

Thanks for ruining it for me. I watched the first half of that episode last night and was gonna finish it tonight but I guess there is no reason to now.

Just for that, I'm not gonna tell you what show it was.

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6683/tongueen5.jpg

[MadMatt]

I finally freakin' found it!!!

Well, I found the short story at least - I still don't know what the TV show was.

The story is “Something for Nothing” by Robert Sheckley. I even found the entire story published on a webpage; Here is the link (http://www.vb-tech.co.za/ebooks/Sheckley%20Robert%20-%20Something%20For%20Nothing%20-%20SF.txt?PHPSESSID=85e3952d803fd623f7877ded28aa94 f5) for anybody interested.

My summary kind of blows the story, but it is still a really good read.

If anybody can figure out or remember what TV show/series adapted the story, I would still really like to find it.

Thanks everybody! :thumbup: