431 – Doomwatch – The Islanders

The lives of poor, downtrodden South Pacific Islanders are crushed under the heels of isolation, politics, disease, pollution and injustice…  all while Quist and the Doomwatch team watch. Ben and Eugene discuss The Islanders. Episode Synopsis:  John Ridge is fingerprinting a group of bucolic, but slightly inbred-looking people.  They feel he’s treating them like criminals and they start trashing the place.  Outside, a man, Isaac, sees the disturbance and calls Dr. Quist. When Quist arrives, the police are there and things are calmed down, a bit.  Ridge with his super-spy training probably wouldn’t have been overpowered by the mob if he hadn’t been sick with the flu. [expand title=”More…” swaptitle=”Less” tag=”strong”] Quist has a bit of a townhall session with the people, explaining to them what they already know, but the audience needs to understand.  This is a compound, filled with displaced South Pacific islanders from the island of Saint Simon, which was evacuated due to a massive earthquake that rendered the island unsafe. As a population of people that have been isolated from 150, they present Doomwatch with a fascinating opportunity to study the genetic differences they may exhibit having been cut off for so long.  They trust Quist.  He and his people are the only ones that have advocated for them.  But they’ve been in England six months and the way of life is alien to them.  They having no homes to call their own, nothing to do and feel they are not suited for the world they find themselves in.  The leader of the group, Thomas, wants to return to the island. Thomas’ son is Isaac and he has decided that he needs to find a way to integrate into their new world.  He interviews for a job at a tea cake factory in London. Quist goes to the Ministry to find out what can be done for the islanders.  It’s bad news all around.  Doomwatch is forbidden from conducting any further tests on the islanders before the press get wind that they’ve been using them as Guinea Pigs.  Further, the official explains to Quist that, despite the appears of being self-sufficient, the island has been increasingly farmed out and the fish supply is dwindling.  For many years, the UK has been supplementing them with materials and food from Fiji.  Now that Fiji is independent, there is no more lifeline for them and the island cannot support them. Even more, now that the Chinese have nuclear weapons, Saint Simon is a prime location for an early-warning base. In short, the islanders and UK citizens and are free to do whatever they want, but they cannot return to the island. Isaac gets a job, but it’s clear he was hired because the boss thinks he can exploit the hard-working, but naive islanders.  Also, he can get some good publicity by “helping out” by giving them jobs. Thomas comes down ill with the flu and is rushed to hospital.  Other start coming down with the flu, too.   Isaac’s mother is convinced that living in England and having no purpose in life is what’s killing Thomas., but the doctor assures them he just has the flu. Back at Isaac’s job, the boss is genuinely impressed with him, and is thinking of putting Isaac on a management training program.  This is interrupted by news that Thomas is seriously worse.  Arriving at the hospital just in time for Thomas to tell him to “take my people home” and die.  The islanders are suspicious, but Quist and the doctor are adamant, they’re not keeping anything from them. That is, until the doctor discovers that Thomas died because of a liver problem.  Some condition that he had previously but was worsened to the point of fatality by the flu.  Others will die, too. Quist informs the Ministry and discovers a survey is going to the island.  Quist tags along and takes Isaac, too.  While the science team does a general survey, Quist studies environmental factors.  He finds something. Back in England, they put the pieces together.  During WWI, an American ship, the Arizona Star, was sunk by a U-Boat 100 miles west of Saint Simon.  The Arizona Star was carrying a cargo of mercury, in containers that, under the best of conditions would break down in 50 years.  That mercury is now contaminating the ocean and the fish that the islanders have been eating all their lives.  The birds that eat the fish, poop on the farmlands and contaminate them, too.  The island has been killing the inhabitants slowly for years. Just one problem, the islanders most definitely want to go home now, and the ministry, trying to be nice have agreed to let them vote on the matter. Quist must now put his arguments before the community and try to convince them to stay.   They thought they were living in isolation from the rest of the world, but the world isn’t as small as it once was. His warnings fall on deaf ears and they return to the island. As a farewell gift, Isaac gave him his family bible – on original from when they left England 150 years ago.  Inside the inscription tells of their thoughts on the world back then. “We leave behind us an England of low wages and high prices; one law for the rich and another for the poor; a land of smoking factories, prisons, workhouses and mines where children slave ten hours a day. We set sail to find a land where we can live and work as one man, where there will be no rich or poor; where there will be no idlers and all can exist by the sweat of their brow.” Always the downer, Ridge shows Quist a newspaper headline.  The Chinese have launched an ICBM and a South Pacific early warning system is being planned. [/expand]