Print a string in as few distinct characters as possible The task is simple: print The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog using as few distinct characters in your source code as possible.
print &quot;The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog&quot; has a score of 29 characters, as all 26 lowercase letters appear at least once, as well as an uppercase T, spaces, and quote characters. I'm sure you can get more creative than that, though!
In the event of a tie, the shorter answer will be accepted.
Lua, 8 distinct characters

load"load\"load\\\"load\\\\\\\"load\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0
\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\5\55\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\
50\\05\05505\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55
\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\5\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\05\\\\05\\5\50\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05
\0550\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\5\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\
\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\55\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\05505\\\\\\5\55\\5\55\\\\\\\\\
\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\5\55\\\\\\\\5\\\\5\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\5\55\\5\50o\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\5\55\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\5
0\\05\0550\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05
\0550\50o\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\0500\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\0
5\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\\\5\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\5
0\\05\55\55\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50
\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0555\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05
\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50o\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\5\
\\\5\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\
\\0\\5\50\\5\55\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\5\\5\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\5\50\\\\\\\
\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\0550\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\5
5\50la\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\50\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50\\\\\\5\50\\5
\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\05\\\\0\\5\50\\05\55\50do\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\0\\5\50\
\05\0550\\\\\\\\5\\\\\\5\50\\5\55\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\"\\\"\\\"\\\"\"\"\""""


All newline characters must be removed from this code to get single line of length 1998.
Lua 5.2 required  



How arbitrary Lua program could be written using only 8 characters load"\05  

Having chars 05\, it is possible to write string literal for any string consisting of chars 0257\.  Indeed, "\\" means backslash, "2" == "\50"  and "7" == "\55" ("\ddd" in Lua means char with decimal code ddd).
Having chars 0257\, it is possible to write string literal for any string consisting of chars 024579\ (as "4" == "\52" and "9" == "\57")
On the next step chars 01245679\ will become available.
One more step is required to get all decimal digits.  

Lua has function load which treats a string as Lua code and converts it to a function.
E.g., load("print\"Hello\"")() prints Hello.
It could be written without parentheses: load"print\"Hello\"""" (last two quotes mean empty string which is passed as optional parameter to the function).
Any Lua program could be converted to reduced alphabet within at most 5 steps.
Example:  If our program consists of single digit 9, then only two steps are required:
step 0:  9
step 1:  load"\57"""
step 2:  load"load\"\\5\55\"\"\""""