Originally aired April 16, 1999
Teleplay by Bill Dial
Story by Marc Scott Zicree
Directed by Jerry O'Connell
Quinn and Maggie are briefly separated from Rembrandt and Colin. Later, Quinn and Maggie fall seriously ill and appear to be dying of old age, and Rembrandt and Colin are forced to rely on a mysterious man claiming to be Quinn and Maggie's son.
Tropes present in the episode:
- Dead Guy Junior: Thomas Mallory is named for his late maternal grandfather, Thomas Beckett.
- Happily Married: Quinn and Maggie in the bubble universe.
- Kid from the Future: Thomas Mallory, the son of Quinn and Maggie from a bubble universe.
- Mexico Called; They Want Texas Back: In this universe, Mexico decides to take back Texas and California (possibly others as well). They get quickly thrown out of Texas, however, since "every Texas citizen owns a gun", but California cities turn into war zones.
- Out of Time, Out of Mind: Quinn and Maggie live out their entire lives as a married couple, then return to the "real" world, no time having passed. They briefly talk about the experience of having just spent an entire lifetime together, but it has no lasting effect on their personalities or their relationship to one another.
- Rapid Aging: Quinn and Maggie are afflicted with this. Fortunately, it gets cured.
- Reset Button: After Quinn and Maggie are reintegrated with their older selves, they, along with Rembrandt and Colin, end up right back where they started at the beginning of the episode.
- Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: Robert Dornan is the Governor of California, which is under siege by troops from the UN and Mexico.
- Time-Shifted Actor:
- Thomas is played as an adult by the late David Dukes, while other actors play Thomas at different points in his life (shown in flashbacks).
- The elderly versions of Quinn and Maggie are played by other actors, George Gaynes and Julie Adams.
