Script by Arthur Wyatt, © Arthur Wyatt 2002
Page 1:
Panel 1: A darkened room, resembling NASA mission control. Taking up one wall of the room is an enormous screen, currently blank. The rest of the room is in shadow and we see only outlines of objects.
Caption: THE CONTROL BUNKER, SOMEWHERE DEEP UNDERGROUND…
Voice (no tail): GIVE ME VISUAL.
Panel 2: The screen now shows a menacing looking spaceship like object, floating in Earth orbit. However you draw it, the mean and pointy looking end is aimed directly at the Earth.
Voice (no tail): GIVE ME SOUND.
Panel 3: Large panel. The big screen fills almost all of the panel. A female astronaut, Jane Leonard, floats in front of it. Her spacesuit is a mildly futurist version of what would be available today. The insignia on her suit read "E.U. SPACE COMMAND"
Jane: ...NOT A SPACESHIP, AS WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT. IT'S AN X-RAY LASER THE SIZE OF AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER.
Title: EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT
Credits
Page 2:
Panel 1: Jane is floating in front of the Laser, its closer that before and we are seeing from a different angle. Mashed against one side of it are the remains of the International Space Station.
Jane: WE'RE THEORISING THAT IT HAD SOME KIND OF ADVANCED STEALTH TECHNOLOGY, THAT'S WHY WE'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
(link) LOOKS LIKE THE STEALTH WAS DAMAGED WHEN THE I.S.S. CRASHED INTO IT.
Panel 2: Jane floats towards an opening in the side of the Laser. We now see she is being followed by a tiny floating robot camera.
Jane: AND NO, BEFORE YOU ASK, THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO WAY THIS IS SOVIET ERA TECHNOLOGY. THIS THING MAY NOT BE FROM AROUND HERE AT ALL.
Panel 3: Jane enters a large inner chamber within the laser. Another astronaut, Mack, waves a greeting to her. He's hunched in front of a laptop which is connected via a random looking selection of wires to an alien looking control panel.
Jane: WHAT'S THE STATUS, MACK?
Mack: IT'S GOING BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. IN FACT I'D SAY I'M ONLY A KEYSTROKE AWAY FROM DECRYPTING TELEMETRY ON THIS BABY!
Panel 4: Close up of Mack striking the return key
Panel 5: Jane and Mack look surprised as the lights darken and everything starts vibrating. If it doesn't look too dumb draw vibration lines around them to show that they are being shaken.
SFX (ascending): VRRRM-M-MM-MMM-MMMM
Mack: OOPS
Page 3:
Panel 1: Close up on Jane as she receives a radio message through her headset.
Radio voice (no tail): JANE, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?
Panel 2: Large panel. Against the dark background of space and the curve of the Earth we see several move lasers appear, all facing inwards towards the Earth.
Radio voice (no tail): FIFTY MORE OF THOSE THINGS JUST APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!
Panel 3: Jane and Mack, inside, bracing themselves against walls and equipment. The laser is moving around and they are trying not to be thrown about too much.
Mack: JUDGING FROM THE VIBRATION, I'D SAY WE'VE TRIGGERED SOME KIND OF FIRING SEQUENCE.
Jane: Um, WHAT HAPPENS IF THESE THINGS FIRE?
Mack: EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT.
Jane: IN ENGLISH?
Panel 4: Macks face, underlit by the laptop, with an expression of grave concern.
Mack: MASSIVE DAMAGE TO THE EARTHS SURFACE, PROBABLY CUTTING OWN TO A CRUSTAL LAYER, AND CORRESPONDING DAMAGE TO THE TMOSPHERE AS DEBRIS IS THROWN UP.
(link) THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT, BASICALLY
Page 4:
Panel 1: Mack grabs some tools and starts randomly jabbing them into the alien circuitry behind a control panel.
Mack: THE INTERFACE IS NO GOOD. I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ACCESS THE UNDERLYING SYSTEMS DIRECTLY.
Panel 2: Mack is splicing together two bits of wire. There's a relieved smile on his face. Over his shoulder we can see Jane, who is looking at a circular display on the wall.
SFX (descending): MMM-MM-M-MRRMVVV
Mack: HA! DONE IT! ALL SYSTEMS SHUT DOWN! I JUST SAVED THE HUMAN RACE.
Jane: GREAT. AND THIS LIGHT HERE, THE ONE WHICH LOOKS LIKE A COUNTDOWN, THAT WOULD BE WHAT, EXACTLY?
Panel 3: Mack looks at the circular display. Since the last panel a segment of it has disappeared.
Mack: OH...
Panel 4: Mack is frantically scrabbling around, pulling circuit boards out of the alien machines. Jane is in the background. If the display can be seen it's lost another segment.
Mack: OH... OH... OH....
Jane: WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING ME?
Panel 5: Mack wrenching out a large chunk of wires and machinery from the control panel.
Mack: IT'S NOT A SYSTEM SHUTDOWN, IT'S A SELF DESTRUCT.
(link) HANG ON, I THINK I'VE GOT IT-
Panel 6: Large panel. A huge explosion in space.
Page 5:
Panel 1: This panel is filled entirely with static.
Radio voice (no tail): JANE, MACK? ARE YOU THERE?
Panel 2: We pull out from the static filled screen to show that we're back in the underground bunker.
Radio voice (no tail): WE'VE LOST SIGNAL, PLEASE RESPOND...
Panel 3: Pull out from the screen even more. Amongst the shadowy shapes of the Bunker looms a silhouetted figure, which speaks.
Shadowy figure: AT LAST. AFTER 65 MILLION YEARS, SLEEPING IN DARKNESS WHILE THE MACHINES OF OUR OPPRESSORS KEPT WATCH, READY TO DESTROY US SHOULD WE EVER SHOW OURSELVES...
Panel 4: Large panel. Finally we see the shadowy figure. It's a T-Rex dinosaur. It has the odd cybernetic extension poking out of its skin to suggest its a slightly more evolved than you would expect, but its still recognisably a T-Rex.
T-Rex: PREPARE THE DRILLS! IT'S TIME TO RETURN TO THE SURFACE!
END
Panel 1: A darkened room, resembling NASA mission control. Taking up one wall of the room is an enormous screen, currently blank. The rest of the room is in shadow and we see only outlines of objects.
Caption: THE CONTROL BUNKER, SOMEWHERE DEEP UNDERGROUND…
Voice (no tail): GIVE ME VISUAL.
Panel 2: The screen now shows a menacing looking spaceship like object, floating in Earth orbit. However you draw it, the mean and pointy looking end is aimed directly at the Earth.
Voice (no tail): GIVE ME SOUND.
Panel 3: Large panel. The big screen fills almost all of the panel. A female astronaut, Jane Leonard, floats in front of it. Her spacesuit is a mildly futurist version of what would be available today. The insignia on her suit read "E.U. SPACE COMMAND"
Jane: ...NOT A SPACESHIP, AS WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT. IT'S AN X-RAY LASER THE SIZE OF AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER.
Title: EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT
Credits
Page 2:
Panel 1: Jane is floating in front of the Laser, its closer that before and we are seeing from a different angle. Mashed against one side of it are the remains of the International Space Station.
Jane: WE'RE THEORISING THAT IT HAD SOME KIND OF ADVANCED STEALTH TECHNOLOGY, THAT'S WHY WE'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
(link) LOOKS LIKE THE STEALTH WAS DAMAGED WHEN THE I.S.S. CRASHED INTO IT.
Panel 2: Jane floats towards an opening in the side of the Laser. We now see she is being followed by a tiny floating robot camera.
Jane: AND NO, BEFORE YOU ASK, THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO WAY THIS IS SOVIET ERA TECHNOLOGY. THIS THING MAY NOT BE FROM AROUND HERE AT ALL.
Panel 3: Jane enters a large inner chamber within the laser. Another astronaut, Mack, waves a greeting to her. He's hunched in front of a laptop which is connected via a random looking selection of wires to an alien looking control panel.
Jane: WHAT'S THE STATUS, MACK?
Mack: IT'S GOING BETTER THAN I EXPECTED. IN FACT I'D SAY I'M ONLY A KEYSTROKE AWAY FROM DECRYPTING TELEMETRY ON THIS BABY!
Panel 4: Close up of Mack striking the return key
Panel 5: Jane and Mack look surprised as the lights darken and everything starts vibrating. If it doesn't look too dumb draw vibration lines around them to show that they are being shaken.
SFX (ascending): VRRRM-M-MM-MMM-MMMM
Mack: OOPS
Page 3:
Panel 1: Close up on Jane as she receives a radio message through her headset.
Radio voice (no tail): JANE, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON UP THERE?
Panel 2: Large panel. Against the dark background of space and the curve of the Earth we see several move lasers appear, all facing inwards towards the Earth.
Radio voice (no tail): FIFTY MORE OF THOSE THINGS JUST APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!
Panel 3: Jane and Mack, inside, bracing themselves against walls and equipment. The laser is moving around and they are trying not to be thrown about too much.
Mack: JUDGING FROM THE VIBRATION, I'D SAY WE'VE TRIGGERED SOME KIND OF FIRING SEQUENCE.
Jane: Um, WHAT HAPPENS IF THESE THINGS FIRE?
Mack: EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT.
Jane: IN ENGLISH?
Panel 4: Macks face, underlit by the laptop, with an expression of grave concern.
Mack: MASSIVE DAMAGE TO THE EARTHS SURFACE, PROBABLY CUTTING OWN TO A CRUSTAL LAYER, AND CORRESPONDING DAMAGE TO THE TMOSPHERE AS DEBRIS IS THROWN UP.
(link) THE END OF LIFE AS WE KNOW IT, BASICALLY
Page 4:
Panel 1: Mack grabs some tools and starts randomly jabbing them into the alien circuitry behind a control panel.
Mack: THE INTERFACE IS NO GOOD. I'M GOING TO HAVE TO ACCESS THE UNDERLYING SYSTEMS DIRECTLY.
Panel 2: Mack is splicing together two bits of wire. There's a relieved smile on his face. Over his shoulder we can see Jane, who is looking at a circular display on the wall.
SFX (descending): MMM-MM-M-MRRMVVV
Mack: HA! DONE IT! ALL SYSTEMS SHUT DOWN! I JUST SAVED THE HUMAN RACE.
Jane: GREAT. AND THIS LIGHT HERE, THE ONE WHICH LOOKS LIKE A COUNTDOWN, THAT WOULD BE WHAT, EXACTLY?
Panel 3: Mack looks at the circular display. Since the last panel a segment of it has disappeared.
Mack: OH...
Panel 4: Mack is frantically scrabbling around, pulling circuit boards out of the alien machines. Jane is in the background. If the display can be seen it's lost another segment.
Mack: OH... OH... OH....
Jane: WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING ME?
Panel 5: Mack wrenching out a large chunk of wires and machinery from the control panel.
Mack: IT'S NOT A SYSTEM SHUTDOWN, IT'S A SELF DESTRUCT.
(link) HANG ON, I THINK I'VE GOT IT-
Panel 6: Large panel. A huge explosion in space.
Page 5:
Panel 1: This panel is filled entirely with static.
Radio voice (no tail): JANE, MACK? ARE YOU THERE?
Panel 2: We pull out from the static filled screen to show that we're back in the underground bunker.
Radio voice (no tail): WE'VE LOST SIGNAL, PLEASE RESPOND...
Panel 3: Pull out from the screen even more. Amongst the shadowy shapes of the Bunker looms a silhouetted figure, which speaks.
Shadowy figure: AT LAST. AFTER 65 MILLION YEARS, SLEEPING IN DARKNESS WHILE THE MACHINES OF OUR OPPRESSORS KEPT WATCH, READY TO DESTROY US SHOULD WE EVER SHOW OURSELVES...
Panel 4: Large panel. Finally we see the shadowy figure. It's a T-Rex dinosaur. It has the odd cybernetic extension poking out of its skin to suggest its a slightly more evolved than you would expect, but its still recognisably a T-Rex.
T-Rex: PREPARE THE DRILLS! IT'S TIME TO RETURN TO THE SURFACE!
END