Wednesday 24 August 2022

The Post-Traumatic SuperHero









“ I was actually able, to look at some of these REALLY Dark, sort of Human Feelings and just  sort of process them through The Work — 

Y’know, Darkseid, Dr. Hurt — 
those were the characters that come out of thinking :

“There are actually people out there who would REALLY want to see you FUCKED-UP, they would CHEER —”

and I didn’t really think they existed before, 
I thought ultimately you could make friends with everyone, and get them to laugh and somehow — 

That doesn’t... 
That doesn’t work like that..... •grins• 

And when we were doing Final Crisis, any Superman : Beyond and Batman : RIP
it was  about that idea, of almost a sort of Post-Traumatic SuperHero — 
The Man Who's Seen it All and Done it All --  
and who's come back and still, 
somewhere in His Soul, he's dragging out this last, 
little iota of Hope....
....and I had to be SHOWN, y’know —

THIS is What it FEELS Like to be on course for The Road to The Absolute Self — Do Ya Wanna Do That, Do You Wanna Go There? Do You Want to Follow This Down...?”

And The Answer that becomes  clear, obviously, is :

Of Course Not — 
You Wanna Have President Superman, 
and Multiple Worlds, and Hope.

Red Lightning





I and My Kind inherited a utopia 
built on Human Suffering. 

Mine is NOT any 
World You Know.

Tuesday 23 August 2022

Bung a Rock at It












[Outside The TARDIS]

The Cosmic Hobo : 
Yes. 


JAMIE
Have you thought up 
some clever plan, Doctor? 


The Cosmic Hobo : 
Yes, Jamie, I believe I have. 

JAMIE
What are you going to do? 


The Cosmic Hobo
Bung a rock at it. 







NARRATOR :
It is now necessary to travel two-million years 
backwards in time, to where 
Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent 
are stranded in the primeval past 
of the utterly insignificant planet Earth. 

They are faced with A Problemin that a spaceship, 
which has apparently travelled 
back in time to rescue them, 
can not materialise until 
they have worked out 
a way of sending a message 
forward in time to summon it. 

This is clearly a terribly convoluted 
temporal paradox of 
mind-mangling complexity. 

Scene 3. Int. Prehistoric Earth 

ARTHUR:
Perhaps we could wave your towel at it. 

FORD:
You know what your trouble is Arthur? 
You’ve got as much grasp of multi-temporal 
causality as a concussed bee. 

ARTHUR:
oh. You don’t think it would work? 

FORD:
No. That ship hovering there is 
only a potential ship, 
the possibility of one. 

ARTHUR:
We could still wave at it. 

FORD:
Yeah, very friendly but 
chronologically inept. 
Listen, we have to send A Message 
forward in time… 

ARTHUR:
Yes…. 

FORD:
…to where that spaceship 
is going to be. 

ARTHUR:
We don’t know where. 

FORD:
No. 

ARTHUR:
We don’t know when

FORD:
No. 

ARTHUR:
And anyway, we haven’t got 
a time machine. 

FORD:
No. 

ARTHUR:
So? 

FORD:
You’re right. 

ARTHUR:
What? 

FORD:
We might just as well wave a towel at it. 

ARTHUR:
Right. [Shouts] Hello!! 

FORD:
[Shouts] Hello!! 

ARTHUR:
[Shouts] Hel-looo!! 

ARTHUR:
[Shouts] Spaceship!! 

FORD:
[Shouts] Over here!! 

FORD:
[Shouts] Just down here!! 

ARTHUR:
[Shouts] Coo-eee!! 

FORD:
[Shouts] Coo-eee!! 

FORD: 
[Shouts] Coo-eee!! 

ARTHUR:
[Shouts] Coo- 

ARTHUR:
Ford! It’s coming down! 
Look it’s coming down to us! 

FORD:
I don’t believe it. 
It’s impossible 

ARTHUR:
But it’s happening. 

FORD:
Hey, I don’t like the look of that. 

ARTHUR:
What? 

FORD:
It’s wobbling. I think it’s gonna crash. 
[Shouts] Fire your retro-rockets, you idiot!! 

[The retro-rockets fire

FORD:
[Shouts] Too hard!! Much too hard!! 
Run Arthur! Run for your life! 
Make for the hill! 

ARTHUR:
What hill? 

FORD:
Well there was a hill there a moment ago. 

ARTHUR:
What that rather nice one with all the daffodils? 

FORD:
Damn the daffodils, the whole hill’s gone! 

ARTHUR:
The ground’s heaving beneath us! 

FORD:
That ship’s causing a bloody earthquake. 

ARTHUR:
Look the hill’s come back! 

[Sound of volcano erupting] 

ARTHUR:
It’s erupting! 
It must be on a volcanic fault! 

FORD:
[Shouts] 
Watch outtttttt! 

[Massive volcanic eruption and sounds of destruction, eventually tailing off into echoey silence…

ARTHUR:
Well. We did it. 

FORD:
Yeah. 

ARTHUR:
We flagged down a logically-nonexistent 
spaceship with a towel. 

FORD:
Yeah, great! 

ARTHUR:
Marvelous! 

FORD:
Wonderful! 

ARTHUR:
Terrific! 

FORD:
Tell me Arthur..? 

ARTHUR:
Yes? 

FORD :
This boulder were stuck under… 
how big would you say it was? Roughly.

ARTHUR :
Hmm. About the size of 
Coventry Cathedral. 

FORD :
Do you think we could move it? 
… Ha. Just asking. 
Can you feel my rucksack anywhere? 

ARTHUR :
Ummmmm. Hmm. Here. 

FORD :
Ya see, it’s in these sorts of situations that 
it’s really good to have a guide to help you. 

ARTHUR :
What? 

FORD:
’The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’. 
It tells you what to do in any eventuality. 

ARTHUR:
What, even being stuck in a crack in the ground beneath a giant boulder which you can’t move 
with no hope of rescue? 

FORD :
Yeah. It’ll have something. Watch. 

[The Guide starts up

The BOOK :
What to do if you find yourself stuck 
in a crack in the ground underneath 
a giant boulder you can’t move 
with no hope of rescue
Consider how lucky you are that 
Life has been good to you so far.

Alternatively, if Life hasn’t been good to you so far -
- which, given your current circumstances seems more likely -
-  Consider how lucky you are that it 
won’t be troubling you much longer.

FORD :
It’s time I did something 
about that book.


The Imitation Game (1980)

The Imitation Game - BBC 1980


2079




[Courtroom]


BAILIFF
Before this gracious court now appear these prisoners to answer for the multiple and grievous savageries of their species. 
How plead you, criminal? 


DATA
If I may, Captain? 
Objection, Your Honour -
In The Year 2036
The New United Nations 
declared that no Earth citizen 
could be made to answer for 
the crimes of his race 
or forbears. 


Q.
Objection Denied
This is a court of The Year 2079
by which time more rapid progress 
had caused all United Earth nonsense 
to be abolished. 


Maihar'du













Maihar'du was the Hupyrian servant of former Grand Nagus Zek. Maihar'du had taken a vow of silence and was only permitted to speak to the Nagus. He was very imposing and was not only a servant, but a bodyguard and food taster. He was also the flight control officer to Zek's personal shuttle. He often provided Zek with his favorite drug, Hupyrian beetle snuff. 

He was very concerned when Zek came under the influence of the Prophets and tried to rewrite the Rules of Acquisition. He brought Zek to Quark and Rom to seek their help. For their assistance, Maihar'du presented Quark with an expensive handkerchief and patted him on the head. 

Once Zek appointed Rom as the new Grand Nagus, Maihar'du pulled Brunt away from Rom and forcibly sat him down to the side. After giving nods of well wishes and farewells to Rom, Maihar'du accompanied Zek and Ishka to Zek's retirement on Risa. 

Monday 22 August 2022

CRM-114








In order to guard against surprise nuclear attack, America's Strategic Air Command maintains a large force of B-52 bombers airborne 24 hours a day. Each B-52 can deliver a nuclear bombload of 50 megatons, equal to 16 times the total explosive force of all the bombs and shells used by all the armies in World War Two. Based in America, the Airborne alert force is deployed from the Persian Gulf to the Arctic Ocean, but they have one geographical factor in common: they are all two hours from their targets inside Russia. 

Cut to: int. B-52. Machines spring to life as a transmission arrives.

Goldie:

Major Kong, I know you're gonna think this a crazy but I just got a message from base over the CRM 114. It decodes as Wing Attack plan R. R for Romeo. 

Kong:

Goldie, did you say Wing Attack, plan R? 

Goldie:

Yes Sir, I have. 

Kong:

Goldie, how many times have I told you guys that I don't want no horsin' around on the airplane? 

Goldie:

I'm not horsin' around, sir, that's how it decodes. 

Kong:

Well I've been to one world fair a picnic and a rodeo and that's the stupidest thing I ever heard come over a set of earphones. You sure you got today's code? 

Goldie:

Yes sir, it is. 

Kong:

Ah, there's just gotta be something wrong. Wait just a second, I'm comin' back. 

Kong examines the decoded message and the code book.

Kong:

Maybe you better get a confirmation from base. 

Goldie:

Yes sir. 

Bombardier:

Major Kong, is it possible that this is some kind of loyalty test. You know, give the go code and then recall to see who would actually go? 

Kong:

Ain't nobody ever got the go code yet. And old Ripper wouldn't be giving us plan R unless them Russkies had already clobbered Washington and alot of other towns with a sneak attack. 

Bombardier:

Yes sir. 

Goldie:

Major Kong, message from base confirmed. 

Kong:

Well boys, I reckon this is it : nuclear combat, toe to toe with the Russkies. 

Kong climbs back into the cockpit. Soundtrack: Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Kong:

Now look boys, I ain't much of a hand at makin' speeches. But I got a pretty fair idea that something doggoned important's going on back there. And I got a fair idea of the kind of personal emotions that some of you fella's may be thinking. Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human beings if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelings about nuclear combat. But I want you to remember one thing, the folks back home is a countin' on ya, and by golly we ain't about to let 'em down. Tell you somethin' else. This thing turns out to be half as important is I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for every last one of you, regardless of your race, color, or your creed. Now, let's get this thing on the hump. We got some flying to do.

HH







TURING & ALEXANDER (quietly)
"Heil Hitler."

Turns out that's the only German 
you need to know to, uh 
-- Break Enigma.




Alan Turing :
What... What if... 
What if Christopher doesn't have to search 
through ALL of the settings?
 
What if he only has to search through ones 
that produce words we already KNOW 
will be in The Message? 

JOAN
Repeated Words; 
PREDICTABLE Words. 

Alan Turing :
Exactly. 

JOAN
Look, look, like this one :
"0600 hours. 
Weather Today is clear. 
Rain in The Evening. 
Heil Hitler." 

Well, that's it. 
Exactly. 

They send a weather report every day at 6:00 a.m. 

So that's - 

That's Three Words we KNOW 
will be in EVERY 6:00 a.m. message -- 
"Weather," obviously, a-and... 

"Heil" bloody "Hitler". 
Heil bloody Hitler. (laughs) 

(pants) 
Here's the 6:00 message from this morning. 

TURING: 
Hugh, the, uh, the right-hand letter wheel, set them to... 
I know, I know. "Weather" and "Hitler." 
Peter, John, run voltages through those letters, 
through the back scramblers.

PETER
So we'll use the loops? 

TURING
Yes. Joan, what was the last 6:00 a.m. message? 
L... 
L... 
H... 


TURING: 
H... 
W... 

TURING: 
W... 

JOAN: 
A... -A... 
-Q. -Q. 
Done. 
Come on. Come on, Christopher. 
Oh, my God. 
Wh-What happened? 
-Did it work? -Alan? 
ALEXANDER: Alan! Alan! 
I need a new message. 
The latest intercept. 
(softly): Thank You. 
O... T... 
-JOAN: Ready? -Yes. 
-M... -M... 
-Y... -Y... 
-M... S... -M... S... 
-A... I... -A... I... 
-C... -C... 
-T... -T... 
-R... -R... 
-I... -I... 
-S... O... -S... O... 
-A... -A... 
-Y... R... I... -Y... R... 
-TURING: I. -(Joan panting) 
"KMS Jaguar is auf punkt... 
"is directed to 53 degrees 24 minutes north 
and auf punkt one... degree west." 


TURING & ALEXANDER (quietly): 
"Heil Hitler."
Turns out that's the only German 
you need to know to, uh -- Break Enigma. 

Yes! 
Oh! 
-JOAN: M... -TURING: M... 
-A... -A... 
-Y... -Y... 
-I... -I... 
-T... -T... 
-R... -R... 
-O... -O... T... 
-T... A... -A... 
-H... -H... 
-Q... -Q... 

TURING: 
U... -U... 
-R. -R. 

HUGH ALEXANDER
My God, You Did It. 
You just Defeated Nazism 
with a crossword puzzle. 

Cairncross, The Soviet Spy :
There are FIVE People in The WORLD 
who know The Position 
of EVERY Ship in The Atlantic. 

They're ALL in This Room.

Sunday 21 August 2022

Roberts

 








BOB :
 Rest, Highness. 

The Princess Bride :
I know Who You Are
Your Cruelty reveals everything. 
You're The Dread Pirate Roberts. Admit it. 

BOB :
With pride. 
What can I do for you? 

The Princess Bride :
You can die slowly,
cut into a thousand pieces.

BOB :
 Hardly complimentary, Your Highness. 
Why loose your venom on me? 

The Princess Bride :
You killed My Love.

BOB :
It's possible. I kill a lot of people. 
Who was this love of yours? 
Another prince like this one? 
Ugly, rich and scabby? 

The Princess Bride :
No, a farm boy. Poor
Poor and perfect
With eyes like the sea 
after a storm. 

On the high seas Your Ship attackedand 
The Dread Pirate Roberts 
never takes prisoners. 

BOB :
I can't afford to make exceptions. 
I mean, once word leaks out that 
A Pirate has gone soft, 
people begin to disobey you, 
and then it's nothing but work, 
work, work, all the time. 

The Princess Bride :
You mock my pain! 

BOB :
Life is Pain, Highness. 
Anyone who says differently 
is selling something. 

I remember this farm boy of yours, I think. 
This would be what? Five years ago? 
Does it bother you to hear? 

The Princess Bride :
Nothing you can say 
will upset me. 

BOB :
He died well. That should please you. 
No bribe attempts or blubbering. 
He simply said, "Please.
Please, I need to live." 
It was the "please
that caught My Memory. 
I asked him what was 
so important for him. 
"True Love," he replied. 

And then he spoke of a girl 
of surpassing Beauty... 
and Faithfulness. 
I can only assume 
he meant you.

You should bless me for destroying him 
before he found out what you really are. 

The Princess Bride :
And what am I? 

BOB :
Faithfulness he talked of, madam. 
Your enduring faithfulness
Now tell me truly. 
When you found out he was gone, 
did you get engaged to your prince 
that same hour, or did you wait 
a whole week out of 
respect for The Dead? 

The Princess Bride :
You mocked me once. 
Never do it again! 
I died that day! 
You can die, too, for all I care! 

As you wish! 

The Princess Bride :
Oh, my sweet Westley! 
What have I done? 


They've disappeared. 
He must have seen us closing in. 
Which might account for his panicking into error. 
Unless I'm wrong, 
and I'm never wrong, 
they are headed dead 
into the Fire Swamp. 

The Princess Bride :
Can you move at all? 

BOB :
Move? 

The Princess Bride :
You're alive. 

BOB :
If you want, I can fly. 
I told you I would always 
come for you. 
Why didn't you wait for me? 

The Princess Bride :
Well, you were dead

BOB :
Death cannot stop True Love. 
All it can do is delay it for a while. 

The Princess Bride :
I will never doubt again. 

BOB :
There will never be a need. 

Oh, no, no, please. 

What is it? What's the matter? 

They're kissing again. 
Do we have to hear the kissing part? 

Someday, you may 
not mind so much. 

Skip on to the Fire Swamp. 
That sounded good. 

You're sick. I'll humor you. 
So, now, where were we here? 

Oh, okay. "Westley and Buttercup 
raced along the ravine floor." 


BOB :
Your pig fiancé is too late. 
A few more steps 
and we'll be safe in the Fire Swamp. 

The Princess Bride :
We'll never survive. 

BOB :
Nonsense. You're only 
saying that because 
no one ever has

The Princess Bride :
It's not that bad. 
I'm not saying I'd like 
to build a summer home here, 
but the trees are actually 
quite lovely. 


BOB :
Well, now, that was an adventure. 
Singed a bit, were you? 

The Princess Bride :
You? 

BOB :
Well, one thing I will say, 
The Fire Swamp certainly does 
keep you on your toes. 

This will all soon be 
but a happy memory, 
because Roberts' Ship, 
'Revenge', 
is anchored at the far end, and 
I, as you know, 
am Roberts. 

The Princess Bride :
But how is that possible, since 
he's been marauding 20 years, 
and you only left me 
five years ago? 


BOB :
I, myself, am often surprised 
at Life's little quirks. 

See, what I told you before about 
saying "please" was True. 
It intrigued Roberts, as did 
my description of your beauty. 

Finally Roberts decided something. 
He said, "All right, Westley. 
I've never had A Valet. 
You can try it for tonight. 
I'll most likely kill you 
in the morning." 

Three years, he said that. 
"Good night, Westley. 
Good work. Sleep well.
 I'll most likely 
kill you in the morning." 

It was a fine time for me. 
I was learning to fence, to fight, 
anything anyone would teach me. 

And Roberts and I eventually 
became friends. 

And Then it Happened.

The Princess Bride :
What? Go on. 

BOB :
Roberts had grown so rich 
he wanted to retireso 
he took me to his cabin...  
and told me A Secret.
 
"I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts," he said. 

"My Name is Ryan
I inherited The Ship 
from the previous 
Dread Pirate Roberts,
just as you will 
inherit it from me.

The Man I inherited it from 
was not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either.
His Name was 
'Cummerbund'. 

The real Roberts has 
been retired 15 years 
and living like 
A King in Patagonia." 

Thank You. Then he explained 
The Name was the important thing 
for inspiring the necessary fear. 

You see, no one would surrender 
to the Dread Pirate Westley. 

So, we sailed ashore, took on
an entirely new crew, and he 
stayed aboard for a while, as First Mate, 
all the time calling me 'Roberts'. 
Once The Crew believed, he left The Ship, 
and I have been Roberts ever since. 

Except, now that we're together, 
I shall retire and hand The Name 
over to someone else. 

Is everything clear to you?

A Small Play

 







Cairncross, The Soviet Spy :
What's the matter? 

Alan Turing :
Wh- What if... 
Wh- What if I don't fancy being... 
with Joan i-in that way? 

Cairncross, The Soviet Spy :
...because You're a Homosexual? 
...I suspected

Alan Turing :
Well, should - 
Should I tell her that I've had... 
Affairs with Men? 

Cairncross, The Soviet Spy :
You know, in my... 
admittedly limited experience, 
Women tend to be a bit touchy about 
accidentally marrying homosexuals. 
Perhaps not spreading this information 
about might be in Your Best Interest. 

Alan Turing :
I Care for Her, 
I Truly Do. I...  I-I... 
I just don't know if 
I can, um... Pretend

Cairncross, 
The Soviet Spy :
You CAN'T tell anyone, Alan. 
It's illegal
And Denniston is looking for 
any excuse he can 
to put you away. 

Alan Turing :
I know. 

Cairncross, 
The Soviet Spy :
This HAS to stay A Secret. 

*****


The Judge :
Cup of tea? 

Alan Turing :
No, thank you. 

The Judge :
Mr. Turing, can I 
tell you A Secret? 

Alan Turing :
I'm quite good with those. 

The Judge :
I'm here to help you. 

Alan Turing :
Oh, clearly. 

The Judge :
....Can Machines Think

Alan Turing :
Oh, so you've read some 
of my published works? 

The Judge :
What makes you say that

Alan Turing :
Well, because I'm sitting 
in a police station, accused of 
entreating a young man 
to touch my penis and 
You just asked Me if 
Machines can Think.
 

The Judge :
Well, can they…? 
Could Machines ever Think 
as Human Beings do? 
Most people say not

The Judge :
You're not most people. 

Alan Turing :
Well, The Problem is,
You're... Asking a 
Stupid Question. 

The Judge :
I am? 

Alan Turing :
Of course Machines... 
can't Think as people do. 
A Machine is different... from a person
Hence, they Think differently. 
The Interesting Question is
just because something, uh, 
Thinks differently from You, 
Does that mean it's Not Thinking?
 
Well, we allow for Humans to have 
such divergences from one another. 

You like Strawberries
I hate Ice-Skating
You... Cry at Sad Films
I... am Allergic to Pollen

What is The Point of -
of Different Tastes, Different... 
Preferences, if not to say that 
Our Brains Work Differently
that We Think Differently? 
And if We can Say That 
about One Another, then 
Why can't We Say The Same Thing 
for Brains... built of 
Copper and Wire, Steel? 

The Judge :
And that's... 
This big paper you wrote? 
What's it called? 

Alan Turing :
(exhales
"The Imitation Game." 

The Judge :
Right, that's... 
That's what it's about? 

Alan Turing :
Would you like to Play

The Judge :
Play? 

Alan Turing :
It's A Game. 
A Test, of Sorts. 
For determining whether something is a...
A Machine or A Human Being.
 
The Judge :
How Do I Play? 

Alan Turing :
Well, There's A Judge and A Subject, and... 
The Judge asks Questions, and, 
depending on The Subject's Answers
determines Who He is Talking with... 
WHAT He is Talking with
and, um... All you have to do is 
Ask Me a Question

The Judge :
What Did You Do 
During The War?
 

Alan Turing :
I Worked in a Radio Factory.

The Judge :
What Did You REALLY Do 
During The War? 

Alan Turing :
(laughs softly
Are You Paying Attention