|
Firefly - "Serenity" Written by: Directed by: |
| Teaser |
|
Over black:
SOLDIER EXT.
SERENITY VALLEY - JUST BEFORE DAWN We fade up
to the dim blue of predawn. We are
close on the face of Sgt MAL REYNOLDS. He is stubbly, cut and parched, as though
he'd been stranded at sea after a terrible battle. SOLDIER He
gradually focuses on the sound of approaching engines, looking up and in the
distance. Rouses himself from his sitting position, starts crawling over to a
soldier lying near him. MAL ZOE sits
herself painfully up, beginning to understand. She looks as bad as Mal --
everyone does, or worse. Off screen, we hear the other soldier again:
SOLDIER
(O.S.) ZOE The SOLDIER
comes into frame. SOLDIER ZOE She is
handing Mal the flare as she says it. MAL Zoe and the
other move out, and we stay on Mal, widening as he makes his way up a small
slope that is littered with soldiers, living and dead and very much in-between.
One of them is sitting and crying. Mal puts a comforting hand to his head as he
passes -- we are pulling back as Mal continues on. As we pull back further, we
see that Mal'se about a foot around on the middle of the door. Zoe reaches in
and snips the wire with pliers. Since there
is no sound in space, all we hear is the labored breathing of three very tense
people. Mal pulls
out a small device, looks almost like electric nosehair clippers, and clamps it
onto the end of the wire. He hits a
switch on the device, and a charge runs through the wire, causing a reaction in
the gel that turns it incredibly acidic -- it starts melting through the metal
in a circle. Mal moves
away from the door, holds onto something near Zoe. ANGLE: THE
GEL as it eats
through the door, further and further... INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING This (as we
will learn in detail later) is the bridge of SERENITY, a small transport ship.
The bridge itself is small and cluttered, more like someone's car than a
pristine futuristic space vessel. In the pilot's seat sits WASH, a slightly
shlumpy, unassuming fellow. He's concentrating intensely. WASH It is at
this point that we realize he's playing with little plastic dinosaurs. He holds
a stegosaurus and a T-rex (or whatever the hell they call 'em these days).
The
dinosaurs look out over his dash/console, toward the window. WASH (cont'd) He makes
them fight. As he does, a light near him flashes red. He stops
fighting, looks, then looks at a sort of radar screen. ANGLE: THE
RADAR SCREEN has got
three other dinosaurs on it. He sweeps them off as a blip appears in the upper
right quadrant, closing fast. WASH (cont'd) FWOOSH! The
circle of door shoots out toward us, as we're back in: INT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING The piece
of door flies across the room, bouncing off the wall right by Jayne -- he
catches it as it's ricochetting. What looks like steam pours out the hole for a
few moments. ZOE MAL He's
floating to the door -- sticks his hand in the hole and shoves, the door slides
aside and Jayne shines a flashlight in there. ANGLE:
INSIDE THE CHAMBER Three
crates, roughly the size of haybales, sit in the dark. MAL
(cont'd) A voice
sounds simultaneously in all three headsets: Wash. WASH (O.S.) MAL WASH MAL JAYNE ZOE MAL INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING WASH He is
flipping switches, we hear engines running down, lights go off - he hits the
com: WASH
(cont'd) INT. ENGINE
ROOM - CONTINUOUS KAYLEE
rolls into frame from underneath a huge engine part, ups and runs to the com.
She is young, zaftig - as cheery as she is sexy. She and her jumpsuit are, as
usual, speckled with grease. WASH She hits
the com -- KAYLEE and keeps
moving, hitting switches -- climbing atop the engine to pull the last lever.
Everything goes pretty damn black. KAYLEE
(cont'd) INT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING Jayne, Zoe
and Mal all hold their positions, tense. MAL INTERCUT WITH:
INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING WASH MAL WASH MAL WASH Mal looks
at the other two. They wait. EXT. SPACE
- CONTINUING And we see
it, in all it's glory: An Alliance Cruiser. Sleek, huge, antiseptic. The
AngloSino flag painted above the name, I.A.V. DORTMUNDER. CAPTAIN
(O.S.) INT.
DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING Hey, it's
big. And clean, and everything a spaceship is supposed to be. The Captain speaks
with an Ensign. They are rigid, formal, their clothes somewhat Trekkian, with a
more militaristic edge to it. They're cops, Army, Ambassadors -- they're the
Man. ENSIGN Now we see
their view: A huge window, in which the twisted wreck of a ship is a tiny speck,
and a computerized window within in which it's magnified, a rotating 3D image.
CAPTAIN ENSIGN A moment,
and the captain takes off his hat. The ensign follows suit as the Captain hits
the com, his voice booming out around the ship: CAPTAIN The other
men in the ship respond by pulling off their hats and slightly bowing their
heads, a couple looking out at the approaching ghostship. INT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING Mal waits
as through a piece of ripped out wall behind him, the ship, impossibly huge and
dangerously close, passes by. ANGLE:
MAL'S FACE Is set with
grim dislike, as the reflection of the passing ship plays across his faceplate.
He is
silent. So are the others. EXT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING As the
cruiser passes by, leaving the ship behind, all clear... INT.
DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING A MAN
seated at a screen suddenly brow-furrows. MAN CAPTAIN INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING An alarm
sound, lights blink. WASH INT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING MAL They float
to the crates, start dragging them (not hard in zero g). INT. ENGINE
ROOM - CONTINUOUS It's still
pitch black in here. WASH (O.S.) KAYLEE She hits
the switch that gives her light. But in the action, topples off the engine she
was perched on and out of frame. KAYLEE
(cont'd) INT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP/AIRLOCK OF SERENITY - CONTINUING Mal, Zoe
and Jayne all float their crates past the twisted wreckage and into the airlock.
Mal hits the button and the airlock door shuts. Hits another and gravity hits,
the three of them landing on their feet, crates dropping, as air rushes in.
Mal hits
the com. MAL EXT.
BLOWN-OUT SHIP - CONTINUING The Cruiser
is a good ways away as part of the black, twisted shadow begins to disengage
itself, and we see for the first time that Serenity was anchored to the wreck,
hidden almost in her bowels. Serenity is
a small, buglike ship, patched together, rusted in parts -- everything the
Dortmunder is not. And teeny in comparison. It somewhat unfolds itself as it
gets free. INT.
DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING The Captain
is watching on his screen. CAPTAIN INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING Wash is
seated, all business now. WASH INT.
AIRLOCK - CONTINUING Everyone
grabs something, as Jayne pulls off his helmet. JAYNE EXT.
SERENITY - CONTINUING As the ship
turns away from us, the back lights up -- the entire bulbous back end glowing
beneath a metal grid. The ship
fires away from us. INT.
AIRLOCK - CONTINUING Mal hits
the com: MAL WASH (O.S.) EXT. SPACE
- CONTINUING Behind some
little moon, we see a tiny jet-propelled satellite looking thing, beeping out
its distress signal. It's roughly the size of a thermos, and has written on a
piece of tape: "Crybaby #6". INT.
DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING The captain
and ensign are near the screen. The captain's face goes cold with disgust.
MAN ENSIGN CAPTAIN ENSIGN MAN EXT. SPACE
- CONTINUING The crybaby
beeps. INT.
DORTMUNDER BRIDGE - CONTINUING MAN CAPTAIN INT. CARGO
HOLD - CONTINUING The airlock
feeds right into the cargo hold. It's a cavernous space with a great deal of
junk cluttering it. The airlock door opens and Mal and the other two step out,
clearly a bit tense. They all pull off their spacesuits -- tees and undies
underneath. WASH (O.S.) ZOE JAYNE MAL He looks
away, darkness in his gaze. MAL (cont'd) |
| Act One |
|
INT. CARGO
HOLD - LATER A crate is
jimmied open. It is Jayne with the crowbar, Mal who pulls the top off, looking
in. Zoe, Wash and Kaylee are also about. (The three who went out have got pants
on now.) MAL ANGLE: IN
THE CRATE are bars that looks a lot like gold. KAYLEE WASH JAYNE WASH MAL He has a
bar in his hand, is looking at it up close. ZOE Clearly,
there is. But Mal tries to cover -- just a big of tension creeping into his
voice. MAL JAYNE KAYLEE JAYNE KAYLEE As they
talk, Mal approaches Wash, talking over them. MAL WASH MAL WASH MAL ZOE MAL ZOE MAL They head
up the ladder as Mal turns his attention to: MAL
(cont'd) KAYLEE MAL JAYNE KAYLEE JAYNE MAL He smiles
at her, never stopping working. MAL
(cont'd) She grins
and kisses his cheek. KAYLEE INT. UPPER
CORRIDOR/BRIDGE - CONTINUING As Wash and
Zoe crest the ladder and head to their positions, talking. ZOE WASH ZOE WASH ZOE WASH He moves in
on her, wrapping her in his arms. WASH
(cont'd) They're
getting closer, soon to be kissing, yes. ZOE WASH ZOE WASH They're so
close... ZOE Wrong. Wash
shuts his eyes a moment, rests his head on hers, quietly pissed. He breaks
apart. WASH ZOE WASH He lands in
his seat. She still stands. ZOE WASH MAL Instinctively, Zoe's
demeanor changes as Mal enters, her bearing more erect, military. ZOE Wash looks
up at her excitedly, mouth, "good!" and gives the thumbs up. She looks away.
MAL WASH ZOE MAL INT.
INARA'S CHAMBER - NIGHT We are
close on INARA's face. She is being made love to by an eager, inexperienced but
quite pleasingly shaped young man. She is beneath him, drawing him to his climax
with languorous intensity. His face buried in her neck. INARA He
tightens, relaxes, becomes still. She runs her hand through is hair and he pulls
from her neck, looks at her with sweaty insecurity. She smiles, a worldly,
almost motherly sweetness in her expression. He rests his head on her breast,
still breathing hard. INARA
(cont'd) INT. SAME -
LATER They are
seated on cushions, close to each other with their legs entwined, sipping tea
from small cups. She has a robe on. INARA THE YOUNG MAN INARA THE YOUNG MAN There is
but half truth in her reply, and a hint of weariness. INARA THE YOUNG MAN INARA THE YOUNG MAN INARA He looks
down at his cup a moment. THE YOUNG MAN She smiles
that knowing smile again, just a tinge of sadness in it. He doesn't continue.
INT. SAME -
LATER He is
dressed and exiting, his manner slightly more diffident. THE YOUNG MAN INARA THE YOUNG
MAN The smile
vanishes from her face. He looks guilty, then ducks out of the chamber, shutting
the door behind him. She takes a
moment, then hits a button by the door, locking it and sealing it. She moves
across the room and pulls aside a tapestry that conceals the cockpit of what we
now see to be a small shuttle. Gets in the pilot's seat and hits a switch (and
continues hitting them as she talks). INARA WASH
(O.S.) INARA WASH
(O.S.) INARA She punches
a few buttons, rides the joystick, and the cockpit begins to shake slightly as
we CUT TO: EXT. CITY -
DAY The outside
of the shuttle, which rises slowly into the air. As it does we see it is perched
atop a skyscraper in a fairly big and ritzy city. It flies off. EXT. DOCKS
- DAY We see
Serenity as she touches down at the Eavesdown docks. It's a bustling bazaar,
ships lined up next to each other, each one advertising passage or selling
goods. The place is filled with People of all races, modes and languages. It's
chaos; trade, theft and outright violence all happening amidst the jumble of
humanity. This
district is clearly poorer than the gleaming city in the distance, and every
ship parked looks at tad haphazard -- though Serenity does seem particularly
small and ratty next to the ships it docks between. The airlock
opens, the ramp coming down and our gang piling out. MAL Kaylee
moves to a computerized placard in front of their 'parking space', starts
entering data. We arm up to see It reads: DESTINATION: and that BOROS appears
below that. The rest in filled in thus: CAPACITY:
TWELVE DEPARTURE
TIME: 1500 KAYLEE MAL KAYLEE MAL Zoe, Jayne
and Mal start off. WASH ZOE He watches
her move through the crowd. EXT.
EAVESDOWN DOCKS - DAY We're in
the middle of the hubbub. We see a sign that advertises: Good DOGS! Arm down to
see a pen of scrawny, listless dogs of various breeds. Arm further down to see a
griddle, with some suspicious looking cuts of meat sizzling on it. A man works
the griddle. We see,
Passing through frame, Shepherd BOOK. He's about sixty, weathered and worldly,
with a quiet kindness in his eyes. Farmer stock, not a trace of bullshit and a
workingman's hands. He drags a few boxes and suitcases on a sort of wheeled
papoose, carries another suitcase in his hand. His clothes are plain and
instantly identify him as some kind of protestant minister. As he moves on,
looking about him, he is approached by MAN, who's in his face a bit.
MAN BOOK MAN #2 BOOK The guy
just looks at him like he's crazy, let's him move on past the next barker, MAN
#2. The guy is fancy, with people gathered around -- his ship is clearly high
class. MAN #2 Book moves
on. Comes to the third dock in the row. It's Serenity's, Kaylee sits outside it
in a lawn chair. He looks at it, never stopping, 'til Kaylee says, smiling:
KAYLEE BOOK KAYLEE She's
completely innocuous. It's hard not to be charmed by her. He does stop, gives
the ship a look-over. ANGLE: THE
BRIDGE sticking out above them, SERENITY painted on the side. BOOK KAYLEE BOOK KAYLEE Book looks
over at the fancy ship he just passed, clearly agreeing. BOOK KAYLEE Now she
pretty much thinks he's the cool fool too. There is a moment between them.
KAYLEE
(cont'd) BOOK KAYLEE BOOK KAYLEE BOOK He
approaches her, with a small wooden box. Shows her the contents. She goes a
little bit wide-eyed, eying the contents lustfully. KAYLEE BOOK INT.
UNDERGROUND 'OFFICE' - DAY This is
BADGER'S place. It's not too large, and kind of dingy. The ceiling has what
looks like subway grates over it -- we can hear the traffic above, and every now
and then the bright white of a flying vehicle pours through the grate. On one
side are stairs leading up to ground level and a door beside, at the other end
an oversized, beat up desk and a way into the back through a curtain.
Badger is a
petty thug with pretensions to Kingpinery: He has bad facial hair, bad teeth, a
crushed derby and he wears a woolly three piece and tie, though he has only a
wifebeater beneath. We find him
in the room with three thugs in the corners. A fourth, an old man, is holding
the arm of a clearly frightened but slightly hopeful young woman. Badger
inspects her. BADGER She gives
him a big smile. He pulls her lip up, the other one down. BADGER
(cont'd) She looks
apprehensively pleased as she is shuttled behind the curtain. As she is, yet
another thug leads Mal, Zoe and Jayne down the stairs. Badger doesn't look at
them, heading for his desk. BADGER
(cont'd) MAL Everybody
tenses as Badger turns. BADGER MAL A beat. A
mean little smile from Badger. BADGER MAL Badger
site, Briefly holds up what appears to be digital paper: A clear, pliable piece
of plastic with words and images running across it, constantly changing.
BADGER MAL As he
speaks he sticks an apple on a rusty old peeler, slowly turns it. BADGER Zoe looks
at Mal - -that's what he didn't say when he examined the bars. BADGER
(cont'd) MAL BADGER ZOE BADGER JAYNE Mal shoots
Jayne a look that shuts him right up. Mal steps
forward and Badger rises -- hands go to guns, but Mal is reasonable of tone.
MAL As he
talks, two more girls are hustled in. They are nudged, and both smile at Badger.
BADGER He makes a
face, reconsidering -- BADGER
(cont'd) The girl is
pushed through the curtain after the first one. Badger calls after them:
BADGER
(cont'd) MAL BADGER MAL BADGER Long beat.
Mal is inches from starting a firefight -- Jayne is less than inches. Zoe merely
waits to back Mal's play. But Mal
turns to go. As he's leaving, he says: MAL BADGER They are
about gone when Badger stops Mal with: BADGER
(cont'd) Mal says
nothing, exits. Badger smiles, starts eating the apple peel. EXT.
EAVESDOWN DOCKS - LATER We are now
following Mal, Zoe and Jayne back to the ship. JAYNE MAL JAYNE MAL ZOE MAL ZOE MAL JAYNE MAL JAYNE ZOE MAL ZOE JAYNE MAL Zoe
realizes what that means to Mal. They have reached Serenity by now -- Mal is
looking at it as he speaks. Zoe stops him. ZOE MAL'S POV:
still looking Serenity, he sees Kaylee welcoming another passenger, introducing
himself as: DOBSON He
stumbles, nearly dropping his luggage -- he's just a bit bumbly and sweet. Over
this we hear: MAL He is
standing by the airlock ramp as he says it, looking at: ANGLE: A
BOX. Being loaded on by Wash on a dolly/truck is, among a few other things, a
clearly special, futuristic-looking dark blue box with many dials and readouts.
The box
clears frame to reveal SIMON, a young, clearly affluent man. He wears a dark
suit and round glasses. He seems to be looking directly at Mal, then glances
over to the box. SIMON KAYLEE Both men
size each other up, neither particularly anxious to make conversation.
SIMON MAL ANGLE: IN
THE CARGO BAY We see Zoe
talking to Wash, giving him the bad news. INT. BRIDGE
- DAY Wash is
prepping her for take off, sees a signal, flips a switch. WASH INARA (O.S.) WASH INARA
(O.S.) EXT.
SERENITY - CONTINUING As Inara's
flying shuttle locks onto a side of the still-parked ship. INT.
INARA'S SHUTTLE - CONTINUING As she
feels the lurch of lock. She doesn't leave the pilot's seat. INT. BRIDGE
- CONTINUING Wash turns,
calls back: WASH He is
talking to Zoe, who moves to the INT. CARGO
BAY/AIRLOCK - CONTINUING And calls
down to Mal, who is stowing cargo with Jayne: ZOE He turns to
the airlock: MAL EXT.
AIRLOCK - CONTINUING Kaylee
looks around once... KAYLEE ANGLE:
SIMON As he
passes his box, looking at it, looking coldly at Mal. EXT.
PERSEPHONE - DAY As Serenity
shoots away from the atmosphere and into the black of space. |
| Act Two |
|
EXT. SPACE -
LATER Serenity
moves silently through. It is a tiny light in the black of space. INT.
PASSENGER'S SECTION/DINING ROOM - LATER We see
Dobson hurriedly coming up the stairs from the passenger section to the upstairs
dining area as Mal has already begun addressing the other two passengers. Zoe
and Kaylee are up there as well. MAL KAYLEE MAL BOOK KAYLEE MAL SIMON MAL BOOK SIMON MAL ZOE MAL SIMON These two
clearly already don't trust each other. Book watches the both of them, sensing
the dynamic. DOBSON ZOE DOBSON The tension
is broken -- people smile at Dobson's disarming relief. MAL He smiles:
the bland, cold smile of a liar. INT. CARGO
BAY - LATER People are
getting the luggage they need. Dobson is spilling clothes out of his case --
he's a perpetual bumbler. Simon is also placing things into an elegant little
valise -- all while eyeing his special blue box. Book places
something wrapped in tissue into a wooden box, hands it to Kaylee, who beams at
him. ANGLE: THE
SECOND SHUTTLE HATCH opens,
showing Inara's shuttle. She steps out of it, in a simple but elegant dress. The
hatch opens onto a catwalk that runs above the space in an 'X', the opposite
side being the entrance to the first shuttle. She descends stairs as the group
notices her. MAL Book looks
up -- and Inara does indeed look the part of a lady of state. MAL KAYLEE INARA There is a
sweetness between those two. Not so much with Mal, whom Inara approaches.
MAL INARA BOOK Mal laughs.
Inara glowers at him. BOOK (cont'd) KAYLEE INARA MAL Book's
clearly a little thrown. And disapproving. KAYLEE MAL INARA MAL BOOK INARA MAL INARA Inara and
Kaylee head out together. KAYLEE INARA INT. DINING
ROOM - CONTINUING Kaylee has
made her way up with the box, lays it on the counter. Quietly excited, she opens
it, looks in. A beat, then she pulls out a strawberry. It's just as red and
luscious as it could be. She smells it, slowly puts it in her mouth, eyes
closing. Watching her savor it is not an entirely unsensual experience.
She
swallows it. Smiles, broad and bright. INT. DINING
ROOM - LATER We see a
sparse but none-the-less inviting spread - Book and Kaylee have made a salad of
tomatoes, and grilled up some root vegetables along with the pasta and
protein/starch mush that is the usual diet of space travellers. To us, not much.
To this crowd, a banquet. People are
gathering, sitting, helping themselves to things -- everybody's moving and
talking over each other and everyone's there save Wash and Inara. ZOE BOOK SIMON ZOE BOOK DOBSON He does,
after taking several slices. People settle. BOOK MAL A beat --
Mal has broken the mood. He starts eating, others follow. Book lowers his head a
moment, as do Kaylee, Dobson, and Jayne, then they eat as well. SIMON MAL DOBSON JAYNE DOBSON ZOE MAL SIMON KAYLEE SIMON MAL KAYLEE SIMON KAYLEE BOOK KAYLEE JAYNE Kaylee,
visibly humiliated, looks down. MAL JAYNE MAL A beat, and
Jayne goes, grabbing a bunch of food as he does. Everyone is silent a moment.
SIMON MAL SIMON Mal stares
a moment. MAL INT.
INARA'S CHAMBER - LATER Inara is
kneeling, robe pooled at her waist. She is sponging off -- the only kind of
bathing you'll find on this ship. A knock on the hatch. INARA Book
enters. She is facing mostly away from his, but she sees it's him. She continues
to bathe herself, running the sponge over her breasts, more in defiance than
seduction. BOOK INARA She pulls
her robe up, in no great hurry, as she turns to him. INARA (cont'd) BOOK INARA BOOK INARA BOOK INARA Book's face
clouds. BOOK INARA BOOK INARA BOOK A beat, as
she shifts, trying to figure him out... INARA BOOK A beat, a
she laughs. He smiles disarmingly. BOOK
(cont'd) INARA BOOK INARA |