Live by The Method, Die by The Method

Eric Stoltz Back to the Future Interview

“— things were difficult on The Set; 

Eric was… It was, uh — It was not easy. 

….He was Doing a very 

Method-Thing, y’know? 

“Everybody Call Me, ‘Marty’, okay? 

Except Lea, who's playin’ My Mom, 

who l'm tryin’ to make-out with, y’know?

…..Off-camera —“

Okay, “Method-Method-Method-Method,

Method — Hot Chick — No-Method….”

— yeah, uh so… Y’know,

he was Doing all that stuff —

….it was a VERY different thing;

a VERY different thing…..

Q. : Like, too serious..?

“Whu — What do you 

want me to say…? I think — 

Uh…. I Think it was BAD, 

and, uh, Y’know — and 

He wasn't Friendly to Me, 

so I don’t Care! 

Stardate: 44474.5

Original Airdate: 4 Feb, 1991

[Ebenezer Scrooge's bedchamber]

(It's Dickens time on The HoloDeck, and Data is playing Scrooge)

MARLEY: You don't believe in me.

DATA: I don't.

MARLEY: What evidence would you have 

of my reality beyond that of your senses?

DATA: I don't know.

MARLEY: Why do you doubt your senses?

DATA: Because -- 

a little thing affects them. 

A slight disorder 

of the stomach 

makes them cheats. 

You may be an undigested bit of beef, 

a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, 

a fragment of an underdone potato --

Why, there's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are. 

Humbug, I tell you. Humbug!

(the ghost roars, and Scrooge cowers)

PICARD: Freeze programme. Very well done, Data. Your performance skills really are improving.

DATA: Your courtesy is appreciated, sir. But I am aware that I do not effectively convey the fear called for in this scene.

PICARD: Well, you've never known fear, Data. 

But as an acute observer of behaviour, 

you should be able to approximate it.

DATA: Sir, that is not an appropriate basis for an effective performance. Not by the standards set by my mentors.

PICARD: Your mentors?

DATA: Yes, sir. I have studied the philosophies of virtually every known acting master. I find myself attracted to Stanislavsky, Adler, Garnav. Proponents of an acting technique known as 'The Method' --

TNG Data as Scrooge (Devil's Due)

[Corridor]

(Patrick Stewart is a Method actor, by the way)

PICARD: Method acting? I'm vaguely familiar with it, but why would you choose such an old-fashioned approach?

DATA: Perhaps because the technique requires an actor to seek his own emotional awareness to understand the character he plays.

PICARD: But surely that's an impossible task for you, Data.

DATA: Sir, I have modified The Method for my own uses. Since I have no emotional awareness to create a performance, I am attempting to use performance to create emotional awareness. I believe if I can learn to duplicate the fear of Ebenezer Scrooge, I will be one step closer to truly understanding Humanity.

RIKER [OC]: Captain Picard, please report to the Bridge.

PICARD: On my way, Number One. Data, the moment you decided to stop imitating other actors and create your own interpretation, you were already one step closer to understanding Humanity.

[Bridge]

RIKER: We've received an emergency transmission from the science station on Ventax-Two, sir.

PICARD: What's the nature of the emergency?

RIKER: Uncertain. The signal was interrupted.

WORF: Contact reestablished with Ventax Two, sir.

RIKER: On screen.

(a very static-laden image)

CLARK [on viewscreen]: I am Doctor Howard Clark, director of the science station here on Ventax Two. Thank you for responding.

PICARD: Worf, can you improve our reception?

WORF: The trouble is at the transmission source, sir.

PICARD: Doctor Clark, we are barely able maintain communication with you. Can you boost the level of your power source?

CLARK [on viewscreen]: I'm afraid not, Captain. It's under attack.

PICARD: Under attack?

CLARK [on viewscreen]: There's a mob outside the door, trying to break into the station. The planet is in chaos. Lootings, fires, mass hysteria. These people are all convinced their world is coming to an end. Tomorrow. Please, we must have your immediate --

Captain's Log, stardate 44474.5. 

We have reached Ventax Two and are attempting to contact the Federation science station, which at last report was under siege by an angry mob.

Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World

"What Happens to People when they are acted-upon by Powerful Ideas from Outside Them?"

AND...

"What Then Happens to Those Powerful Ideas, when They get inside Those People's Heads..?"

 

Adam Curtis interviewed by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode

Simon Mayo & Mark Kermode talk to director Adam Curtis about his new series of documentary films,

 Can't Get You Out Of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World.

"What Happens to People when they are acted-upon by Powerful Ideas from Outside Them?"

A : “I Have a Bad Feeling About This...”

AND...

"What Then Happens to Those Powerful Ideas, when They get inside Those People's Heads..?"

A : The Force Awakens.

Not Exactly a Love Song, Spock....

Star Trek Into Darkness - Uhura and Spock Argue HD]

SPOCK: 

We will arrive at Harrison's location in three minutes.

Captain. it is unlikely that he will come willingly. 

I calculate the odds of him attempting to kill us at 91 .6%.

KIRK: 

Fantastic.

UHURA: 

Good thing you don't care about dying.

SPOCK: 

I am sorry, Lieutenant. 

I could not hear what you said.

UHURA: 

Oh, I didn't say anything. 

Actually, I'd be happy to speak if you're willing to listen to me.

KIRK: 

Guys.

SPOCK: 

Lieutenant, I would prefer to discuss this in private.

UHURA: 

You'd prefer not to discuss this at all, that's —

SPOCK: 

Our current circumstances...

KIRK: 

Are you, are you really gonna do this right now?

UHURA: 

What never seems to require your undivided focus. 

I'm sorry, Captain, just two seconds. Okay, its us. 

At that volcano, you didn't give a thought to us. 

What it would do to me if you died, Spock. 

You didn't feel anything. 

You didn't care. 

And I'm not the only one who's upset with you. 

The Captain is too.

KIRK: 

No. No, no...,

Don't drag •me• into this....

She •is• right, though.

SPOCK: 

Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. 

A sentient being's optimal chance at maximising their utility is a long and prosperous life.

UHURA: 

Great.

KIRK: 

Not exactly a love song, Spock.

SPOCK: 

You misunderstand. 

It is True, I chose not to feel anything upon realising that my own life was ending. 

As Admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. 

Anger. Confusion. 

Loneliness. Fear. 

I had experienced those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. 

Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. 

Nyota, you mistake my choice •not• to feel as a reflection of my not caring. 

Well, I assure you, 

The Truth is precisely The Opposite.

The Power of Fear

Falcone :
You're taller than you look in the tabloids, Mr. Wayne.
No gun? l'm insulted.
You could've just sent a thank-you note.

Millionaire Playboy Bruce Wayne : I didn't come here to thank you.
l came to show you that not everyone in Gotham's afraid of you.
 

Falcone :

Only those who know me, kid.
Look around you.
You'll see two councilmen, a union official,couple off-duty cops... and a judge.


l wouldn't have a second's hesitation of blowing your head off in front of them.


Now, that's power you can't buy.
That's The Power of Fear.

Millionaire Playboy Bruce Wayne :

I'm not afraid of you.
 

Falcone :

Because you think you got nothing to lose.

[ Because he Does Not KNOW Any Better... ]

But you haven't thought it through.

You haven't thought about your lady friend in the DA's office.
 
You haven't thought about your Old Butler. 

Bang!

People from Your World have so much to lose.

Now, you think because your mommy and your daddy got shot, you know about The Ugly Side of Life, but you don't.

You've never tasted desperate.

You're... You're Bruce Wayne,
The Prince of Gotham.

You'd have to go 1000 miles to meet someone who didn't know your name.

So don't come here with your anger, trying to prove something to yourself.

This is a World you'll never understand.
And you always fear...

....what you don't understand.

All right.
Yeah, you got spirit, kid.
l'll give you that.

More than your old man anyway.

In the joint, Chill told me about the night he killed your parents.

He said your father begged for mercy.

Begged.

[ Like a typical Liberal, he most certainly did do that, yes — but what Joe Chill was incapable of comprehending is that Thomas Wayne was not (or rather, not only) pleading for Mercy on behalf of himself  (and his wife, and only son) — but also, for Mercy for  his own murderer... ] 

POWER

HABRIS: 

Lord Aukon himself is here.

(Aukon enters and inspects the line.)

AUKON: 

Interesting -

(He goes back to Adric.)

Lord AUKON : 

A mind that shields itself.

 One who pretends to be a dull and stupid peasant, 

but who is different.

ADRIC: 

Who, me?

Lord AUKON : 

You. 

You. 

Come with me.

ADRIC: 

Why?

Lord AUKON : 

Spirit too, I see. 

Excellent.

ADRIC: 

Come with you? 

What's in it for me?

Lord AUKON: 

Wealth.

Power.

Dominion over This World.... 

....and over Many Others. 

EXT. BALCONY - GOETH'S VILLA - NIGHT
 Distant music, Brahms' lullaby, from the Rosner Brothers way down by the women's barracks calming the inhabitants. Up here on the balcony, Schindler and Goeth, the latter so drunk he can barely stand up, stare out over Goeth's dark kingdom.

 SCHINDLER 
They don't fear us because we have the power to kill, they fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily. 

A man commits a crime, he should know better.

We have him killed, we feel pretty good about it.

Or we kill him ourselves and we feel even better. 

 
That's not Power, though, that's Justice. 

That's different than Power. 

 
Power is when we have every justification to kill -- and we don't. 

That's Power.

That's what The Emperors had. 

A man stole something, he's brought in before the emperor, he throws himself down on the floor, he begs for mercy, he knows he's going to die... 

And The Emperor pardons him. 

This worthless man. 

He lets him go. 

That's Power. 

That's Power.
 It seems almost as though this temptation toward restraint, this image Schindler has brush-stroked of the merciful emperor, holds some appeal to Goeth. 

Perhaps, as he stares out over his camp, he imagines himself in the role, wondering what the power Schindler describes might feel like.

 Eventually, he glances over drunkenly, and almost smiles.

 SCHINDLER 
Amon the Good.

 EXT. STABLES - PLASZOW - DAY

 A stable boy works to ready Goeth's horse before he arrives.

 He sticks a bridle into its mouth, throws a riding blanket onto its back, drags out the saddle Schindler bought Goeth.

 Before he can finish, though, Goeth is there. The boy tries to hide his panic; he knows others have been shot for less.
 STABLE BOY 
I'm sorry, sir, I'm almost done.

 GOETH 
Oh, that's all right.

 As Goeth waits, patiently it seems, whistling to himself, the stable boy tries to mask his confusion.
 EXT. PLASZOW - DAY
 Goeth gallops around his great domain holding himself high in the saddle. But everywhere he looks, it seems, he's confronted with stoop-shouldered sloth. He forces himself to smile benevolently.
 INT. GOETH'S VILLA - DAY
 Goeth comes into his bedroom sweating from his ride. A worker with a pail and cloth appears in the bathroom doorway.
 MORE TO THE FLOOR --

 WORKER 
I have to report, sir, I've been unable to remove the stains from your bathtub.

 Goeth steps past him to take a look. The worker is almost shaking, he's so terrified of the violent reprisal he expects to receive.
 GOETH 
What are you using?

 WORKER 
Soap, sir.

 GOETH 
(incredulous) 

Soap? Not lye?

 The worker hasn't a defense for himself. 

Goeth's hand drifts down as if by instinct to the gun in his holster. 

He stares at the worker. 

He so wants to shoot him he can hardly stand it, right here, right in the bathroom, put some more stains on the porcelain. 

He takes a deep breath to calm himself.

 Then gestures grandly.
 
 GOETH 

Go ahead, go on, leave. 

I pardon you.
 The worker hurries out with his pail and cloth. Goeth just stands there for several moments -- trying to feel the power of emperors he's supposed to be feeling. 

But he doesn't feel it. 

All he feels is stupid.

 EXT. GOETH'S VILLA - MOMENTS LATER - DAY

 The worker hurries across the dying lawn outside the villa.

 He dares a glance back, and at that moment, a hand with a gun appears out the bathroom window and fires.

(Habris enters.)

HABRIS: 

My Lord, it is time.

ZARGO: 

How dare you interrupt us!

HABRIS: 

Aukon has seen The Sign. 
The Arising is at hand.

CAMILLA: 

The Arising? Leave us.

(Habris leaves.)

ZARGO: 

We must go to him.

CAMILLA: 

We shall resume this later. 

If you need anything, there are guards outside the door. 

Many guards.

The Great 1 :

You took the one, last 
PERFECT Crystal of POWER. 

I searched all Time, and all Space for it....!!!

I MUST have it! 

The Established Dandy : 

No! No, never. 

GREAT ONE [OC]: 

You are PROUD, Little Man. 

I see that I shall have to teach you to have respect! 

Round you go, Doctor. 

DOCTOR: 

No. No! 

No, I will not! 

(Against his will, the Doctor turns left, stepping high, as the Great One laughs.) 

DOCTOR: 

No! No, I will not! No! 

(The Doctor has turned right round and back to where he started.) 

GREAT ONE [OC]: 

Is that FEAR I can feel in your mind...? 

You are not ACCUSTOMED to feeling FRIGHTENED, are you, Doctor? 

You are very WISE to be afraid of ME...!!!. 

Go now. You must hurry back and fetch the crystal. 

I MUST have it, don't you understand? 

I must have it! I must! 

I must! I must! 

Go now. Go! 

Go! Go NOW! 

K'ANPO: 

We are all apt to surrender ourselves to domination. 

Even the strongest of us. 

DOCTOR: 

...Do you mean me? 

K'ANPO: 

Not all spiders sit on the back. 

SARAH: 

Oh, I don't understand. You're not saying they've taken over The Doctor, are you? 

DOCTOR: 

Oh no, Sarah, no. 

No, he's talking about my GREED. 

SARAH: 

Greed? You? 

DOCTOR: 

Yes, my Greed for KNOWLEDGE , for INFORMATION. 

He's saying that all this is basically My Fault. 

If I hadn't taken the crystal in the first place.....

I know who you are now!

K'ANPO: 

You were always a little slow on the uptake, my boy. 

GREAT ONE [OC]: 

Stop! Have you brought the crystal to me? 

DOCTOR: 

Well if I had not, why should I have returned? 

GREAT ONE [OC]: 

Very well. Very well, advance. 

(The Doctor walks around a corner and sees the universes biggest spider.) 

DOCTOR: 

I've brought you the crystal. 

Now why don't you just take it and leave the humans in peace, both here and on Earth? 

GREAT ONE: 

You think I care for the puny plans of my subjects? Earth? 

One paltry planet among millions? 

Give me the crystal. 

I thirst for it! 

I ache for it! 

DOCTOR: 

Well, why is it so important to you? 

GREAT ONE: 

You see this web of crystal above my head? 

It reproduces the pattern of my brain. 

One perfect crystal and it will be complete. 

That is the perfect crystal I need. 

DOCTOR: 

And then? 

GREAT ONE: 

My every thought will resonate within the web, and grow in power until, until, until....!!!

DOCTOR: 

But you've built a positive feedback circuit. You're trying to increase your mental powers to infinity. 

GREAT ONE: 

Exactly! 

I shall be the ruler of the entire universe! 

DOCTOR: 

Now listen to me. Listen. 

I haven't got much time left. 

What you're trying to do is impossible. 

If you complete that circuit, the energy will build up and up until it cannot be contained. 

You will destroy yourself. 

GREAT ONE:

 You waste the little time remaining to you. 

Even now the cave of crystal is destroying the cells of your body. 

I will grant you one last favour. 

You may watch the completion of my triumph before you die! 

(The crystal flies out of the Doctor's hand and becomes the keystone of the web lattice.) 

GREAT ONE: 

I am complete! 

Now I am total power! 

All praise to the Great One! 

DOCTOR: 

Stop. Stop! 

Don't you see what's happened to you? 

GREAT ONE: 

All praise to the Great One! 

All praise to me! Bow down before me, planets! 

Bow down, stars! 

Bow down, all galaxies and worship the Great One! 

The me! The Great, all-powerful me! 

Argh! 

(The giant spider starts to glow red.) 

GREAT ONE: 

I hurt! Help me! 

I am burning! My brain is on fire! 

(The Doctor runs out of the cave.) 

GREAT ONE: 

Help me!

DOCTOR: 

Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer. 

ROSE:

 If it all goes through her, she must be a genius. 

DOCTOR: 

Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much. Her head'd blow up. 

The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets. 

ROSE: 

So, what about all these people round the edge? 

DOCTOR: 

They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels. 

Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. 

Now that's what I call power. 

EDITOR: 

I started without you. 

This is fascinating. 

Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. 

Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two, you don't exist. 

Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. 

How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint? 

ROSE: 

Suki. Suki! Hello? 

Can you hear me? Suki? 

What have you done to her? 

DOCTOR: 

I think she's dead. 

ROSE: 

She's working. 

DOCTOR: 

They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets. 

EDITOR: 

Oh! You're full of information. But it's only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you're no one. It's so rare not to know something. Who are you? 

DOCTOR: 

It doesn't matter, because we're off. 

Nice to meet you. Come on. 

(Suki grabs Rose's arm. Two other zombies grab the Doctor.) 

EDITOR: Tell me who you are. 

DOCTOR: Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I. 

EDITOR: Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise. 

DOCTOR: And who's that? 

EDITOR: 

It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live. 

(Growl, snarl.) 

EDITOR: 

Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client. 

(Who we finally see is a giant lump hanging from the ceiling, with a very nasty set of teeth in a mouth on the end of a pseudopod.) 

ROSE: What is that? 

DOCTOR: You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five? 

EDITOR: That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by it's broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max. 

(Down on Floor 139 Adam avoids Cathica as she goes to take another look at the schematic that the Doctor called up. Then she goes to the lift and punches in the code for Floor 500. 

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose have been placed in hefty sets of manacles.) 

EDITOR: Create a climate of fear and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilise an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote. 

ROSE: So all the people on Earth are like, slaves. 

EDITOR: Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved? 

DOCTOR: Yes. 

EDITOR: Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes? 

DOCTOR: Yes. 

EDITOR: You're no fun. 

DOCTOR: Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am. 

EDITOR: Oh, he's tough, isn't he. But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit. 

ROSE: You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must have noticed. 

EDITOR: From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it. 

(Cathica arrives on Floor 500. Adam goes to the broadcast room on 139.) 

EDITOR: Then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual, when of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing. 

(The Doctor and Rose spot Cathica behind the Editor's back.) 

ROSE: What about you? You're not a Jagrabelly 

DOCTOR: Jagrafess. 

ROSE: Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human. 

EDITOR: Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well. 

ROSE: But you couldn't have done this all on your own. 

EDITOR: No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself. 

DOCTOR: No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span? 

EDITOR: Three thousand years. 

DOCTOR: That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system.

[Adam's home]

(Adam settles in the broadcast chair and opens his portal, then phones home.) 

ADAM [OC]: It's me again. Don't wipe this message. It's just going to sound like white noise, but save it because I can

[Newsroom]

ADAM: Translate it, okay? Three, two, one and spike. 

(Information beams into Adam.)

[Floor 500]

EDITOR: But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you? 

(The Editor snaps his fingers and energy surges through the manacles. Back in the now, the little dog watches energy encircling the telephone answering machine.) 

DOCTOR: Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler. We're nothing, we're just wandering. 

EDITOR: Tell me who you are! 

DOCTOR: I just said! 

EDITOR: Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly 

(He stops. The Jagrafess growls.) 

EDITOR: Time Lord. 

DOCTOR: What? 

EDITOR: Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girl from long ago 

DOCTOR: You don't know what you're talking about. 

EDITOR: Time travel.

[Newsroom]

(Adam screams as information is sucked out of his brain.) 

ADAM: Help!

[Floor 500]

DOCTOR: Someone's been telling you lies. 

EDITOR: Young master Adam Mitchell? 

(The Editor calls up the holo-monitor showing Adam in the broadcast chair.) 

ROSE: Oh, my God. His head! 

DOCTOR: What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything. 

EDITOR: And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T A R D I S. Tardis. 

DOCTOR: Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first. 

EDITOR: Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key. 

(The Tardis key rises from Adam's pocket.) 

DOCTOR: You and your boyfriends! 

EDITOR: Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing. 

DOCTOR: And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold. 

(The Jagrafess snarls, and Cathica leaves.)