Sunday, 2 November 2025

The Doomsday Device




 DeSadeski:
Continues in Russian. Gradually becomes alarmed, then... Das voydaniya... Rests phone on the table before him.
Muffley:
What... what is it, what?
DeSadeski:
The fools... the mad fools.
Muffley:
What's happened?
DeSadeski:
The Doomsday Machine.
Muffley:
The Doomsday Machine? What is that?
DeSadeski:
A device which will destroy all human and animal life on earth.
Muffley:
All human and animal life?
Cut to: int. Ripper's office. Mandrake is sitting worriedly on a couch. Ripper puts a comforting arm around his shoulder.
Ripper:
through his cigar Mandrake,
Mandrake:
Yes, Jack?
Ripper:
Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake:
Well, no I... I can't say I have, Jack.
Ripper:
Vodka. That's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake:
Well I... I believe that's what they drink, Jack. Yes.
Ripper:
On no account will a commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake:
Oh, ah, yes. I don't quite.. see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper:
Water. That's what I'm getting at. Water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, you realize that.. seventy percent of you is water.
Mandrake:
Uhhh God...
Ripper:
And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake:
Yes. chuckles nervously
Ripper:
You beginning to understand?
Mandrake:
Yes. chuckles. begins laughing/crying quietly
Ripper:
Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?
Mandrake:
Well it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper:
Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake:
Ah, yes, I have heard of that, Jack. Yes.
Ripper:
Well do you now what it is?
Mandrake:
No. No, I don't know what it is. No.
Ripper:
Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
Window in the office is shot through by automatic weapons fire.
Ripper:
Walks to window and shouts Two can play at this game soldier!
more rounds ricochet through the office, cutting down the overhead desk lamp.
Ripper:
That's nice shooting, soldier! Ripper produces a machine gun from a golf bag in his closet. He turns off the lights, then sweeps his desk clear with the gun barrel, placing the gun squarely on the desk. Mandrake! Come here!
Mandrake:
You calling me, Jack?
Ripper:
Just come over here and help me with this belt.
Mandrake:
prone on couch I ah, I haven't had very much experience, you know, with those... sort of machines, Jack. I only ever pressed a button in my old Spitfire.
Ripper:
Mandrake, in the name of Her Majesty and the Continental Congress come here and feed me this belt, boy!
Mandrake:
Jack, I'd love to come. But, what's happened, you see, is the string in my leg's gone.
Ripper:
The what?
Mandrake:
The string. I never told you, but, you see, I've got a gammy leg. Oh dear. Gone. Shot off.
Ripper:
Karate-chops the receiver, cycling the action. Mandrake, come over here. The Red Coats are coming. Come on!
Cut to: int. War Room
DeSadeski:
When it is detonated, it will produce enough lethal radioactive fallout so that within ten months, the surface of the earth will be as dead as the moon!
Turgidson:
Ah, come on DeSadeski, that's ridiculous. Our studies show that even the worst fallout is down to a safe level after two weeks.
DeSadeski:
You've obviously never heard of cobalt thorium G.
Turgidson:
No, what about it?
DeSadeski:
Cobalt thorium G has a radioactive halflife of ninety three years. If you take, say, fifty H-bombs in the hundred megaton range and jacket them with cobalt thorium G, when they are exploded they will produce a doomsday shroud. A lethal cloud of radioactivity which will encircle the earth for ninety three years!
Turgidson:
Ah, what a load of commie bull. I mean, afterall...
Muffley:
I'm afraid I don't understand something, Alexiy. Is the Premier threatening to explode this if our planes carry out their attack?
DeSadeski:
No sir. It is not a thing a sane man would do. The doomsday machine is designed to to trigger itself automatically.
Muffley:
But surely you can disarm it somehow.
DeSadeski:
No. It is designed to explode if any attempt is ever made to untrigger it.
Muffley:
Automatically?
Turgidson:
Ahh.. it's an obvious commie trick, Mr. President. walks backwards towards the big board We're wasting valuable time. falls over backwards and does a somersault, and brings himself back onto his feet Look at the big board! They're getting ready to clobber us!
Muffley:
But this is absolute 
Madness, Ambassador. 
Why should you build such a thing?
DeSadeski:
There are those of us 
who fought against it, 
but in The End 
We could not keep up 
with The Expense involved 
in The Arms-Race,
The Space-Race,
The Space-Race, 
and The Peace-Race --
And at the same time
Our People grumbled
for more nylons and
washing machines. 
Our Doomsday-scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we'd been spending on defense in a single year. But the deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, 
and we were afraid of 
a Doomsday-gap.
Muffley:
This is preposterous
I've never approved 
of anything like that.
DeSadeski:
Our source was The New York Times.
Muffley:
Dr. Strangelove, do we have anything like that in the works?
Stains and Turgidson, who have been listening to Muffley and DeSadeski Stains' station at the round table, slowly turn their heads in search of Strangelove.
Strangelove:
in wheelchair A moment please, Mr. President. stomps one foot on the tile floor, pushes back from the table and begins wheeling towards the discussion between Muffley and DeSadeski. Under the authority granted me as director of weapons research and development, I commissioned last year a study of this project by the Bland corporation. Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent, for reasons which, at this moment, must be all too obvious.
Muffley:
Then you mean it is possible for them to have built such a thing?
Strangelove:
carefully plucks cigarette from his shaking right hand, which is in a black glove Mr. President, the technology required is easily within the means of even the smallest nuclear power. It requires only the will to do so.
Muffley:
But, how is it possible for this thing to be triggered automatically, and at the same time impossible to untrigger?
Strangelove:
Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy... the fear to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision making process which rules out human meddling, the doomsday machine is terrifying. It's simple to understand. And completely credible, and convincing.
Turgidson:
Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines, Stainsy.
Muffley:
But this is fantastic, Strangelove. How can it be triggered automatically?
Strangelove:
Well, it's remarkably simple to do that. When you merely wish to bury bombs, there is no limit to the size. After that they are connected to a gigantic complex of computers. Now then, a specific and clearly defined set of circumstances, under which the bombs are to be exploded, is programmed into a tape memory bank.
Turgidson:
Strangelove. What kind of a name is that? That ain't no kraut name, is it, Stainsy?
Stains:
He changed it when he became A Citizen. 
It used to be Merkwurkdigliebe.
Turgidson:
Hmm. A kraut, by any other name, huh, Stainsy?
Strangelove:
Yes, but The... whole point 
of The Doomsday Machine... 
is lost... if you keep it A Secret! 
Why didn't You 
Tell The World, eh?
DeSadeski:
It was to be announced at The Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises.

Exile










The Cosmic Hobo
They'll forget Me, won't they?

TIME LORD 3: Not entirely
They will be returned to a time
just before they went away with you.

They will remember their 
first adventure with youbut 
nothing more. But come along. 
Your Fate has been decided.

[The Wheel in Space]

(The Doctor watches on The Trial chamber 
view-screen as a confused Zoe walks down a corridor.)

TANYA: Oh, Zoe. 
Zoe, are you alright?

ZOE: Oh, yes --

TANYA: Are The Doctor and Jamie gone?

ZOE: Yes, I've just seen them off.

[ This is doubley-weird, given that ZoĆ« was a stowaway — so They’ve not only removed all Her Memories, They’ve gone into Her Head and altered her motivations and desires at the same time, since surely her curiosity and desire to run away from her Day Job on The Wheel and see The Universe would necessarily have preceded her decision of whether to stow away aboard The TARDIS by hiding in an old sea-chest in the console room, or, not  — They have deleted that desire and curiosity, along with her memories. ]

TANYA: Well, 
We'd better get Back to Work, you know. 
There's a lot to be done if we're going to 
get The Wheel back to normal --

Are you sure you're all right?

ZOE: Oh, yes. I thought 
I'd forgotten something important, but it's nothing.

TANYA: Right, come along then.

ZOE: All right, I'm coming.

[Trial chamber]

(On The Screen, Zoe looks back then the image fades.)

The Cosmic Hobo
She'll be alright, won't she?

TIME LORD: Of course.

The Cosmic Hobo : What about Jamie?

TIME LORD 3: Look.

[Culloden Moor]

(Pipes are skirling as a Redcoat aims his musket
at Jamie's back. He turns and drops just as the soldier fires.
)

JAMIE: Try to murder a McCrimmon, 
wid ye? Well, I'll show you! Creag an Tuire!

(Jamie charges the Redcoat, swinging his sword while the man 
tries to reload. The soldier wisely gives up and flees.)

[ Yeah, They’ve dropped him back in his own time and country of origin with no memory of leaving or how he got there, and They’ve dropped him back Home as an amnesiac in the middle of a GENOCIDE — that’s why he left with The Doctor, Ben and Polly in the first place : it WASN’T Safe, particularly for any Highland Clansman wearing Tartan. ]

[Trial chamber]

TIME LORD
They will both continue their 
lives as if nothing had happened.

The Cosmic Hobo
Yes, very efficient. Now then, 
— what about me?

TIME LORD
We have accepted Your Plea 
that there is Evil in The Universe 
that must be fought, and that You 
still have a part to play in that battle.

The Cosmic Hobo
What? You mean that 
You're going to let me go free..?

TIME LORD: .....NOT entirely. 
We have noted your particular interest in the planet Earth
The frequency of your visits must have given you special
knowledge of that world and its problems.

The Cosmic Hobo
Yes, I suppose that's True -- 
Earth seems more vulnerable than others, yes.

TIME LORD: For that reason 
You will be sent back to that planet.

The Cosmic Hobo
....Oh, good.

TIME LORD: -- In exile.

The Cosmic Hobo : In exile?

TIME LORD
You will be sent to Earth in the 20th century, and 
will remain there for as long as We deem proper
and for that period The Secret of the TARDIS 
will be taken from you.

The Cosmic Hobo
But you, you can't condemn me 
to exile on one primitive planet in 
one century in time! Besides, 
I'm known on the Earth — It might 
be very awkward for me…

TIME LORD: 
Your appearance has changed before
it will change again, and That is part 
of The Sentence —

The Cosmic Hobo
You can't just change 
what I look like without consulting me!

TIME LORD
You will have an opportunity 
to choose your appearance.

The Cosmic Hobo
Oh, well, that's not so bad. 
But I warn you, I'm very particular.

TIME LORD
Here is your first choice —

(A man with a big bushy beard, followed by other sketches.)

The Cosmic Hobo
…..Oh he's too old
….Well, he's too fat, isn't he. 
…….No, he's too thin
……That one's too young
……Oh now, that won't do at all. 
It's ridiculous.

TIME LORD
You're wasting Time, Doctor.

The Cosmic Hobo
It's not my fault, is it? 
Is this the best you can do? 
I've never seen such an incredible bunch!


TIME LORD
Since you refuse to Take The Decision, 
The Decision will be taken for you.

The Cosmic Hobo
No, no, no, I never said that. But I maintain 
I have The Right to decide what I look like! 

It could be very important on the Earth —
People on Earth attach a very 
great deal of importance….

(The Doctor's face is beginning to twist and change.)

The Cosmic Hobo
Ah, what's happening?

(We are treated to multiple images 
of Patrick gurning as they circle around.)

The Cosmic Hobo
What's hap... what's happened?

TIME LORD
The Time has come for You 
to change your appearance, 
Doctor, and begin your exile — 

The Cosmic Hobo
Is this some sort of joke
No, I refuse to be treated in. 
What are you doing?
(The Doctor's face disappears.)

The Cosmic Hobo
No! Stop, you're making me giddy
No, you can't do this to me! 
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Saturday, 1 November 2025

Serious Organised Crime







Tucson Pathologist :

You know, this is pretty unusual

Federal Agents in the middle of the night shift.


Sierra :

It's a high-priority case.

This thing hit The System

and bells went off all over The FBI,

from Quantico to the tiny telephone

in Hoover's casket.


Tucson Pathologist :

So, it's a signature you're looking at?


Sierra :

Yeah. Someone's getting slash happy.


Tucson Pathologist :

All homeless guys?


Sierra : (smells him)

Clearly not.


Homeless people smell primarily

like human excretions, sweat, urine.


This guy...

This guys smells like garbage

over a layer of clean skin.

Not even old garbage, either.

He smells like yesterday's 

breakfast, not last week's.


…..I think I'll take over from here.

Friday, 31 October 2025

Buried Alive










CLARA: Where are we?

The Chin : Catacombs.

CLARA: I hate catacombs. So, 
How come I met Your Dead Wife?

The Chin : Oh well, You know How It Is 
when You lose someone Close to You :

I sort of made A Back-up.




(River takes back Her Screwdriver 
and leaves him to process -- )

Perfect-10 : Know what's interesting about 
My Screwdriver? VERY hard to interfere with.
Practically NOTHING's strong enough. Well, 
some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. 

So there is a VERY strong Signal 
coming from somewhere, and it WASN'T 
there BEFORE -- So what's new

What's changed? COME ON! 
What's new? What's different?

DAVE 2.0
I dunno. Nothing. 
It's getting Dark?

Perfect-10 : ...it's A Screwdriver; 
It WORKS in The Dark. (Looks up)

Moonrise -- Tell Me 
about The Moon : What's There?

LUX: It's Not-Real. 
It was built as part 
of The Library -- 

It's just A Doctor-Moon.

Perfect-10
What's A Doctor-Moon?

LUX : A Virus-checker --
It Supports and Maintains 
The Main Computer at 
The Core of The Planet.

Perfect-10 : Well, 
still active -- It's signalling

Look -- Someone somewhere 
in This Library is ALIVE and 
communicating with The Moon. Or, 
possibly Alive and drying their hair. 

No, The Signal is definitely 
coming from The Moon. 

I'm blocking it, but it's 
trying to break through --

(An image of Donna appears.)

RIVER: Doctor!

Perfect-10 : Donna!

(Donna disappears again.)

RIVER: That was her
That was your friend! 
Can you get her back? 
What WAS that?

Perfect-10 : Hold on, hold on, hold on. 
I'm trying to find The Wavelength. 
Argh, I'm being blocked.

ANITA: Professor?

RIVER: Just a moment.

ANITA
It's important
I have two shadows.

Eidetiker



LECTER: 
 ....You know, I'd always 
suspected as much --
You are an Eidetiker

FBI Special Agent
WILL GRAHAM
(laughs ruefully, shaking his head)
I'm not psychic, Doctor. 

LECTER: 
No, This is Different -- More akin 
to Artistic Imagination. 

You can assume the emotional 
Point of View of others... 
even those that might 
scare or sicken you.

It's a Troubling gift, I should think.
How I'd love to get You on My Couch. 


FBI Special Agent
WILL GRAHAM : 
Something still doesn't 
make sense to me.....

You're the best forensic psychiatrist I know... 
and somehow, in all our time together... 
this possibilitnever occurred to you. 

LECTER: 
I am Only Human, Will --
Perhaps I made A Mistake. 


FBI Special Agent
WILL GRAHAM : 
You don't strike me as a man 
who makes very many mistakes

LECTER: 
Now I'm sorry to think I might no 
longer enjoy your full confidence. 


FBI Special Agent
WILL GRAHAM : 
No, I didn't say that -- 

........I don't know 
what I'm saying. 

I'm very, very tired. 
I almost had it. 

LECTER: 
It'll come to you -- Why don't you 
come back in the morning? 

I'll clear some time on my schedule 
and then we can get started 
in revising our profile. 
Sound good?

FBI Special Agent
WILL GRAHAM : 
Yeah. 

LECTER: 
Rest here, and I'll 
get your coat. 
Won't be a tick. 

(Slow instrumental music) 
(Suspenseful instrumental music) 
(Climactic instrumental music) 
(Book slams shut) 

(Lecter hisses) 

LECTER: 
Don't Move. 

You're in Shock now. 
I don't want you 
to feel any pain. 

In a moment you'll begin to be light-headed. 
Then drowsy. 

Don't resist. It's so gentle.
Like slipping into a warm bath. 

(Will gasps in pain) 

LECTER: 
I regret it came to this, Will. 
But every game must have its ending. 

(Eerie instrumental music) 

LECTER: 
Remarkable Boy. 
I do admire 
Your Courage. 

I Think I'll Eat 
Your Heart. 



(Lecter gasps) 


Wednesday, 29 October 2025

Tuesday, 28 October 2025

The Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation

J. Frank Parnell :
J. Frank Parnell.

Otto :
Ott, Ott...

J. Frank Parnell :
You ever feel as if your mind 
had started to erode?

Otto :
….No.

J. Frank Parnell :
Ever been to Utah?

Otto :
Sir. I represent The Helping Hand
Acceptance Corporation.

J. Frank Parnell :
Radiation, yes indeed.

You hear the 
most outrageous 
lies about it.

Half-baked goggle-boxed do-gooders
telling everybody it's bad for you.

Pernicious nonsense.

Everybody could stand a hundred 
chest X-rays a year.
They ought to have them too.

When They cancelled The Project 
it almost did me in.

One day my mind was
literally bursting.

The next day nothing.
Swept away...

But I'll show them.
……I had A Lobotomy 
in the end.

Otto :
Lobotomy?
Isn't that for loonies?

J. Frank Parnell :
Not at all.

A friend of mine had one.
Designer of The Neutron Bomb.

Ever hear of The Neutron Bomb?
Destroys peopleLeaves 
buildings standing.

It fits in a suitcase.

It's so small no one knows
it's there until blammo.

Eyes melt, skin explodes,
everybody dead.

It's so immoral, working on
the thing can drive you mad.

That's What Happened to
this friend of mine.

So he had A Lobotomy.
Now he's well again.

Otto :
What kind of car does your...
does your friend drive?

J. Frank Parnell :
Chevy Malibu.

Otto :
This is really a nice old car.
Why don't you let me drive?

J. Frank Parnell :
What do you mean?

Otto :
Well, I don't know. I mean... 
Don't you feel funny?

J. Frank Parnell :
Why should I feel funny?

The two hemispheres are
fundamentally at odds.
Hemisphere/Hemisphere

You know it's strange.
I do feel funny...

Ah...

Monday, 27 October 2025

BLOCKED




Clyde 2.0 : 
That is one of only two existing vials of 
our most promising new memory drug.
The other vial is missing.

I don't need just one Active 
on this. I need An Army.

DeWitt
I've already rearranged The Schedule.
The boots are as good as on the ground.

Topher :
If this is about Foxtrot speaking Mandarin 
instead of Cantonese, it was a very simple...

DeWitt
Topher. This is...

Topher :
Clive Ambrose.
Co-chairman of The Rossum Corporation,
third richest man in the country,
nominated for a Nobel Prize.
I might throw up.
…..That's a compliment.

DeWitt
Something really bad happened.
There's been an incident at Fremont College.

Clyde 2.0 : 
Owen Johnson — He was a grad student
at one of our premiere labs. But not anymore.

Owen ingested a psychotropic modification
of a phenethylamine compound.

Topher
One of the memory drugs Rossum's got in R&D?

Clyde 2.0
N-7316. It breaks down natural inhibitions in 
the hippocampus in order to awaken sleeping parts 
of The Brain. We're still in the experimental stage.

Phase one of N-7316 
manifests like a recreational narcotic.
Giddiness, light hallucinations.
Munchies.

Phase two apparently manifests as 
a complete loss of Impulse-control.

Topher :
Could be phases, could be a little
thing I'd like to call body chemistry.
We're all our own little cesspools of
hormones, enzymes, chemical reactions.

It's the same as any drug.
Heroin, cocaine, caffeine,
how your body reacts depends on 
a multitude of indefinable factors.

You snort Horse once, don't like it,
you go back to your organic tea,
have a nice life; I do it once, whoo,
I'm doing two bags a day for 20 years.

One toot for you, adios, amigo.
That's what's so exciting about drugs.

....Not that I'd know.
We do biweekly drug tests.
Just pure scientific observations.

De Witt :
How did The Drug find its way into 
the general campus population?

Clyde 2.0 : 
We don't know. 
Maybe Owen was selling it.
Maybe he or someone else put it in 
the soda machine in the dining hall.

One vial is enough to take 
out the entire student body.

Topher :
No antidote floating around, I'm guessing.

Clyde 2.0 : 
Right now the best we can do is sedation.
We're hoping you can help us do better.

While you work on An Antidote, 
a team of Actives will secure The Campus
and try to locate the missing vial.

Topher :
Oh, right. They'd be immune.

Clyde 2.0 : 
How did you know that?

Topher :
All right, this baby attacks The Inhibitors 
in the hippocampus to break down
the repressed memory blocks, right?

Actives don't have them.
Stuff would bounce right off.

Clyde 2.0 : 
Think You can Help Us, Mr. Brink?

Topher :
Well, I can't hurt.
Probably.