Working titles:
God's Country
Semi-Colin
God in the Machine
New Gods for Old
These are scenes from the November 5, 1998 production draft of the script for the episode New Gods for Old written by David Gerrold. These scenes did not make it into the final episode due to time and story considerations.
And where else to begin but at the beginning? Originally the teaser had a bit more detail, and a different take on the character of Diana...while the setting was the same, we were to open up with the Sliders running and Mallory obviously limping...
MAGGIE
Who *are* these guys?
REMBRANDT
We don't wanna know.
DIANA
Yes, I do --
MAGGIE
(to Mallory)
How much longer?
MALLORY
(checks timer)
90 seconds.
REMBRANDT
How's your leg?
MALLORY
*I can make it!*
SFX: RISING NOISES OF PURSUIT. FOOTSTEPS, SHOUTS.
DISTANT VOICE
They went down there!
REMBRANDT
(pushing Mallory)
Come on!
CAMERA MOVES WITH as they run through the village. Rembrandt stays close to Mallory, as if to help him, but Mallory waves him off angrily. He glances back with genuine fear.
IN THE DISTANCE, THEIR PURSUERS are dark figures, hidden in the gloom of night. Brilliant red lights stud the darkness, like the glowing eyes of some demonic beast. SFX: WARBLING GESTAPO-SIREN.
DIANA pauses to look back, frowning.
REMBRANDT
(continuing; passing her)
Come on, Diana!
DIANA
Just a minute -- there's something
very strange about those --
Rembrandt's hand reaches back into frame and yanks her out.
THE PURSUERS: are still indistinct, following them moves with a deliberate pace. They don't have to hurry to catch them.
THE SLIDERS: Rembrandt is pushing Mallory and dragging Diana.
MALLORY
*I don't need your help.* My legs
are fine! See --
He nearly topples into a wall -- and shuts up as Rembrandt lets go of Diana to grab him.
REMBRANDT
It's no sin to lean on someone.
DIANA
-- those lights. Why red?
(to Maggie)
That's the most useless color for
night vision, you know --
MAGGIE (O.S.)
DIANA!
DIANA
I don't think they want to hurt
us --
She is wrong! FX: A SIZZLING RED BEAM CRACKLES THROUGH THE AIR JUST ABOVE HER HEAD, missing her by inches!
DIANA
Hokay --
ANOTHER ANGLE ON THE FLEEING SLIDERS
As Diana passes them all and moves into the lead!
DIANA
Come on, Maggie!!
FX: TWO OR THREE MORE CRACKLING BEAMS FLASH OVER THEIR HEADS!
REVERSE. ON THE PURSUERS. CLOSER.
At this point, Krislov and Jill come up in a scene exactly as we saw in the episode...
...and then back to the Sliders for a moment for more missing dialogue:
BACK TO THE SLIDERS
Looking VERY worried.
REMBRANDT
(genuine exhaustion)
I've had enough of this! I am
ready to go home!
MAGGIE
(ironic)
Where's your sense of adventure,
Remmie?
REMBRANDT
It's out adventuring --
MALLORY
(checking timer)
Just a few seconds more --
(points)
Over there!
They head toward a corner, turn around it into a dark narrow street. And stop suddenly! DOWN AT THE END OF THE STREET -- more red lights!
WIDE ANGLE. A wall of them of redlights stretched across the street.
MED ANGLE. MATCHING. Black troops. Vehicles.
CLOSER ANGLE. MATCHING. The troops raise their rifles.
ON THE SLIDERS.
MALLORY
Okay -- not there. *Here*!
He points the timer, opening an O.S. VORTEX. FX: Rising wind swirls leaves and paper. SFX: VORTEX SOUND begins. Diana looks back. SFX: WARBLING SIREN LOUDER.
THE PURSUERS BEHIND THEM are moving steadily closer.
THE LINE OF TROOPS AHEAD OF THEM are starting to approach.
ON THE SLIDERS.
FX: BEAMS FLASH FROM TWO DIRECTIONS, CRISS-CROSSING IN THE AIR ABOVE THEM.
MAGGIE
This is going to be close --
FX: THE VORTEX FORMS in front of them.
REMBRANDT
(pushes Maggie)
Go!
She goes! She leaps and vanishes.
REMBRANDT
(continuing)
Diana! Go!
She jumps -- and vanishes. FX: MORE BEAMS! CLOSER!
REMBRANDT
(continuing)
*Mallory! Let's go!*
Mallory is rubbing his leg.
MALLORY
I don't know if I can jump --
REMBRANDT
We're not leaving without you!
Rembrandt pushes him. They leap together. Rembrandt is just a little bit ahead of Mallory. And as Mallory leaps -- A SIZZLNG RED BEAM HITS HIM RIGHT IN THE SMALL OF HIS BACK. FX: RED LIGHTNING CRACKLES ALL OVER HIS BODY as he disappears INTO THE VORTEX.
EXT. NIGHT. A VILLAGE. HIGH ANGLE.
Same village, SAME ANGLE AS BEFORE, but *not* the same world. The posters are gone. Instead, the town shows the evidence of old battles. Some old rubble lies in the streets, there are scorch marks on the walls. Instead of posters, there is old graffiti: "Death to the BIR-man!" "BIR-men DIE!" Although the red lights are nowhere in evidence, the lighting of the town is still meager. There are no people on the streets.
CAMERA LOWERS to street level, as the SLIDERS COME TUMBLING OUT OF THE VORTEX. Maggie, then Diana, Rembrandt, and finally Mallory -- who collapses in a heap on the ground. RED LIGHTNING STILL SPARKLES ACROSS MALLORY'S BODY -- IT FINALLY FLICKERS OUT. The silders react in alarm and rush to Mallory --
DIANA
Mallory!!
REMBRANDT
I should have just picked him up
and carried him. I believed him
when he said he could make it --
The timer has fallen from Mallory's hand. Rembrandt scoops it up and looks at it.
DIANA
(touching his face)
Mallory -- ?
Is Mallory dead? Or just unconscious?
ACT ONE
FADE IN:
EXT. NIGHT. A SHELTERED ALCOVE.
The Sliders have moved Mallory to temporary shelter. Mallory is just coming back to consciousness as Diana slaps his hands.
DIANA
Come on, Mallory! Wake up.
MAGGIE
I'll bet his first words are,
"Where am I?"
MALLORY
(blinking)
Who am I -- ?
Maggie shrugs. Close, but no tobacco cylinder.
REMBRANDT
Who do you think you are?
MALLORY
(shakes head, frowns)
Somebody named -- Mallory Quinn?
I'm not sure --
Maggie and Rembrandt exchange worried glances.
DIANA
You took a pretty bad hit.
MALLORY
(starting to sit up)
I'm fine, I --
(something is wrong)
-- can't move my legs. *I can't
move my legs.*
And the scene continues from there as we saw it...
Until we get to the point where Remmy and Maggie leave out to find a doctor. The original script made us privy to the conversation between Mallory and Diana while the others were gone...
Maggie follows Rembrandt. As they leave:
MALLORY
(calling after)
That's all right. We'll wait for
you. Right here. We won't go
anywhere.
His expression shows how angry and frustrated he is. He folds his arms across his chest and *glowers*.
ANOTHER ANGLE. CLOSE. DIANA AND MALLORY.
DIANA
(after a beat)
I hate it when you do that.
MALLORY
Do what?
DIANA
That thing you do.
(beat)
When you get the way you get.
MALLORY
And I hate it when you treat me
like a cripple. I can take care
of myself.
DIANA
I know that.
MALLORY
Do you? Back there -- on the
world of the BIR men, I was
handling the situation. I was
trying to find out who they were
so suspicious of -- and then you
butted in. Asking questions. And
arguing with the answers.
DIANA
Mallory! That place was a
totalitarian nightmare. Secret
police. Spies. Permits. Passes.
You needed a passport just to go
to the bathroom. They were
suspicious of *everybody*.
MALLORY
See. You just did it again.
DIANA
No matter what we did there, we
would have ended up in trouble,
simply because we were outsiders.
MALLORY
You're still arguing with the
answer.
DIANA
I'm just trying to take care of
you --
MALLORY
See! *That's my point!* I don't
want anyone taking care of me
anymore. I want to do it myself.
DIANA
Well, I'm sorry. Excuse me for
caring!
ANOTHER ANGLE.
Remmie and Maggie return, pushing a wheelchair. Diana and Mallory are pointedly not talking to each other.
At the end of the scene where the scarred Krislov just stated he has no time for stupidity...Maggie had a comment that was cut...
KRISLOV
(muttering)
Idiots...
MAGGIE
(whispering to Diana)
Thank you, Mr. Tact...
KRISLOV
I heard that --
REMBRANDT
(mouths the words)
Let's go.
And when they first entered the Believers compound? Diana had a missing line...
MAGGIE
It looks like the sixties --
(off Rembrandt's look)
-- My mother showed me pictures.
MALLORY
And these people are supposed to
fix my legs?
DIANA
Or your attitude.
And another humorous section was deleted...while Diana and Remmy are talking with the scarred Krislov, they were supposed to be seeming like victims...
KRISLOV
The glow is one big mind. It
lives in all of them at once. It
uses their bodies -- and
eventually their brains.
DIANA
And that's why they all talk like
one person --
REMBRANDT
-- finishing each other's
sentences.
KRISLOV
(nodding)
They don't exist as individuals
any more. Just cells in the
larger community.
REMBRANDT
So, if Mallory drinks this stuff,
he'll turn into --
DIANA
-- one of them.
KRISLOV
Are you sure you didn't drink?
Remmie and Diana exhange a glance.
REMBRANDT
Is there any way to cure this...
infection?
KRISLOV
Not legally.
And from there Krislov goes on to explain about the Dead Man's Light...
Act Two had the most changes...beginning with the conversation between Remmy, Maggie and Diana...
REMBRANDT
No. WE need to talk.
(without *you*)
Mallory nods. And as he turns away, so do all of the other believers. They smile and depart.
MALLORY
I'll wait for you in the tent.
And he leaves too.
ANOTHER ANGLE. REMBRANDT, MAGGIE, DIANA.
Hooboy! What was all *that* about?
REMBRANDT
He's turning into one of them.
MAGGIE
He's a little creepy, isn't he?
DIANA
But a *nice* creepy, isn't he?
(explains)
I mean -- he says what he's really
feeling.
MAGGIE
He did that before. Just not as
... politely.
DIANA
Mallory has always been trying to
prove he's just as good as anyone
else. Now he's at peace with
himself. What's wrong with that?
MAGGIE
What if it's not Mallory. Maybe
it's Quinn trying to come back --
DIANA
Quinn is gone! He's off somewhere
else -- sliding! You need to let
go.
MAGGIE
I don't let go of my friends that
easily --
Before this can go any further --
REMBRANDT
Wait a minute. Both of you.
Maybe it isn't either of them.
DIANA
No. That's Mallory. The *real*
Mallory. We've just never seen him
this happy. Admit it.
MAGGIE
If I didn't know better, yes, I
could almost envy him. Health,
Happiness.
REMBRANDT
(compassionate)
And a true spiritual connection to
others.
DIANA
A real sense of community.
MAGGIE
Peace. Real Peace.
DIANA
You know...it is tempting. I
mean, aren't you curious? Don't
you want to know...?
MAGGIE
But it isn't real.
REMBRANDT
We have to get out of here.
DIANA
Huh --? Why?
REMBRANDT
Because --*this is a slow happy
death*. You want comfort? A grave
is comfortable. Nobody ever
climbs out of one. Life -- *real
life* -- is about being
*un*comfortable.
(intense)
Life is about making a difference.
If it doesn't make a difference,
*why bother*?
(resolved)
We've got to get him and get out
of here. *Now*.
INT. TENT
Mallory is sitting cross-legged on the floor in apparent communion with several other believers. They are all linked through the mass-mind of the glow. FX: THEY SIT IN A POOL OF BRIGHTNESS. Mallory openshis eyes as his friends enter. He watches them impassively.
REMBRANDT
Can we talk to you alone?
THE BRIGHTNESS FADES OUT. The other believers get up and leave. It's a spooky phenomenon. Mallory remains impassive.
DIANA
What were you doing?
MALLORY
Communing with God. Rembrandt,
what's a soul?
REMBRANDT
(taken aback, but --)
Our souls are the core of our
being.
MALLORY
Our souls are tiny pieces of God,
aren't they?
REMBRANDT
Some people believe that. Others
think that the soul is a mirror in
which we catch the reflection of
God --
MALLORY
Either way, God's prescence is
manifest in each of us, right?
REMBRANDT
Not everyone finds God easily.
MALLORY
Because most people don't know
where to look.
REMBRANDT
Do you?
MALLORY
The connection is eternal and
unbreakable.
(taps his heart)
I felt the hand of God -- here.
You don't know what that feels
like.
REMBRANDT
Yes. I do.
MALLORY
Not like this --
MAGGIE
You're arguing with the super-
mind, Remmie. You can't win!
Remmie waves her off.
MALLORY
I know something you don't. The
soul is an antenna by which each
one of us receives the radiance of
heaven.
REMBRANDT
Is that what you're feeling?
MALLORY
Wouldn't you like to realize the
power and the grace of such a
blessing for yourself?
REMBRANDT
I know the blessings of God.
Without the glow.
MALLORY
Remmie -- here, in this place,
we've linked a myriad of separate
souls together -- into one greater
being -- so that we may serve as a
much more powerful antenna, and
thereby obtain a far greater and
clear communication with God
than any individual amoung us can
achieve alone.
REMBRANDT
That's what you feel -- so that's
what you *believe*.
MALLORY
(speaking a himself)
I *know* that. And once experienced,
the ecstasy of such profound
knowledge changes one forever.
And you know that. Or you don't
know God.
REMBRANDT
Um...
(after a pause)
That almost makes sense.
MALLORY
(very quietly)
You have to experience it.
MAGGIE
Remmie. He's trying to get you to
drink --
MALLORY
Yes, of course, I am.
REMBRANDT
He is... tempting me.
DIANA
Mallory, we have to go. It's time
to slide.
MALLORY
If I slide, it'll break the
liinkage. I'll lose my connection
with God. I don't want to do that.
(to Diana)
Stay. Join me. Let me show you
the ... joy.
(to Maggie)
I know you seek the shadow of
Quinn inside of me -- if we were
linked, even if only for a moment,
you'd feel how deeply Quinn's soul
is impressed in mine. And you
could put your heart at ease.
(to Rembrandt)
I know you want to go home. But
it's not enough to take the body
home. You have to send the spirit
home as well.
REMBRANDT
Mallory. We can't.
DIANA
Please, come with us.
MAGGIE
Quinn -- ? If I ever meant
anything to you --
Mallory hands the timer to Rembrandt.
MALLORY
You go on without me.
Rembrandt, Maggie, and Diana exchange a look.
REMBRANDT
(hands the timer back)
Set the controls for us -- ?
Mallory nods.
EXT. DAY. THE MEADOW.
A small crowd of believers -- including the ones we have seen before and are most likely to recognize -- come to watch as the Vortex opens. Mallory hands the timer to Rembrandt.
MALLORY
You'll be going to a world where
you can rest and take your ease,
one not too far from here in this
cluster of connected worlds. You
should be safe.
(adds)
But I'd rather you stay. Won't
you reconsider?
Rembrandt and the other sliders look around. The believers -- as friendly-looking as they are -- seem uncomfortably close to him. Perhaps dangerously so. They seem to be echoing Mallory's emotions.
REMBRANDT
We can't stay. You know that.
MALLORY
(nods)
It's your choice.
Mallory goes to each one of them, hugging them in turn.
MALLORY
(continuing)
I wish you could know what you're
giving up. And I wish you could
know how much I love you all --
DIANA
(close to tears)
I love you, Mallory --
She kisses him, then abruptly, she turns and jumps through the Vortex.
MAGGIE
I love you, Quinn! Wherever you
are!
And she kisses him even more ferociously than Diana. And then she leaps after Diana. Mallory turns to Rembrandt.
MALLORY
Remmie -- ?
REMBRANDT
Mallory... I told you this
before. But it bears repeating.
(grabbing him)
*We're not going without you!*
And as he says the last, he scoops up Mallory in a fireman's carry and runs him toward the Vortex.
MALLORY
(panicky)
Put me down!!
ALL THE BELIEVERS
(AD-LIB, Not in
unison!)
REMBRANDT! STOP IT! PUT ME DOWN!
PUT ME DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
They close in on Rembrandt, chasing him. On Rembrandt's shoulder, Mallory starts to FLICKER with HINTS OF GOLD LIGHTNING. THE BELIEVERS come pursuing -- and they start showing SIMILAR FLICKERS. Rembrandt -- carrying Mallory -- LEAPS THROUGH THE VORTEX. A last flicker of GOLD LIGHTNING washes up and down Mallory's body. The believers come charing after -- THE VORTEX SHUTS DOWN -- and ALL THE GOLD FLICKERS DISAPPEAR. The believers suddenly mill about in confusion. Mallory's panic is no longer infecting them. They look at each other, smile, pat each other's shoulders, and return back toward the meadow...
FADE OUT
Did you think people were the only ones affected by the water? In this missing Mallory line from the Cafe discussion, you get a glimpse at just how widespread the light had become on the past earth...
REMBRANDT
Don't think I wasn't tempted to
join you. I was.
MALLORY
You should have.
(beat)
I was learning how to look out
through the eyes of everyone in
the group -- even the birds and
the animals who were blessed.
Everything. I was going to
achieve a congruence between the
little self and the big Self.
REMBRANDT
But it was time to go.
The rest of that conversation is as we saw it...
Until we get to the part where Mallory suggest they break up...
MALLORY
But maybe we shouldn't slide
together anymore...
MAGGIE
You can't mean that!
DIANA
Mallory! No!
REMBRANDT
If that's what you want --
(beat)
I'm ready to go home. Any time.
REMBRANDT
(continuing)
We have to trust each other. If
we can't do that...well, then we
shouldn't be together.
(beat)
Don't you agree?
Mallory doesn't answer.
REMBRANDT
(continuing)
It's your call, Mallory.
Mallory reaches for his water glass, it slips out of his fingers, and he douses his own lap.
MALLORY
Damn! I gotta dry off --
He exits quickly.
ON THE OTHER SLIDERS
Diana and Maggie are aghast.
DIANA
What are you saying?
MAGGIE
You can't mean it, Remmie!
REMBRANDT
Yes, I do mean it!
Remmie gets up and follows Mallory. The women follow him.
INT. HOTEL ROOM
As they enter, CAMERA FOLLOWS their peripatetic conversation back and forth:
REMBRANDT
Either he gets over it, or --
DIANA
Or what?
MAGGIE
We can't just quit --
In B.G., through an open door, we see Mallory filling a fresh water pitcher. Does he add something to it...?
REMBRANDT
Why not?
REMBRANDT
(continuing)
We're falling apart here. You
tell me, how do we put it back
together?
MAGGIE
I don't know --
DIANA
(flustered)
*You* shouldn't have let him
drink --
MAGGIE
Do you think *you* could have
stopped him? He wanted his legs
back.
DIANA
Well, then maybe we should have
left him there. I don't know.
REMBRANDT
But we didn't leave him.
MAGGIE
Because you were so sure he wasn't
talking to God. What if he was?
REMBRANDT
I don't know.
(beat)
So there it is. None of us knows.
(adds)
But either we find a way to put
ourselves back together or we
can't go on.
(realizing how true this is)
Maybe we should just go home.
Mallory, dressed now, comes out of the bathroom with a full pitcher of water. He fills a glass and takes a drink. Casually, he notices the and fills the water glasses for them on a table in the F.G.
MALLORY
(ironic)
Here, I offer you water. May you
never thirst.
Did you find it odd that Diana would just stand there and let Jill drink the water without knocking it out of her hand? Well, in the original script...Diana was not present. Originally, she does not find Mallory and Jill until after Jill has drank...and that's when the dialogue from Diana was to take place.
And did you wonder how the light was built? Originally, Diana was supposed to be back with Remmy and Maggie when they talked with Krislov about the light. The following lines take place after Krislov hands them the book (the episode cuts to another scene at that point)...
REMBRANDT
Can you duplicate it?
He gives Remmie a look. Is a bear Catholic?
KRISLOV
I'll need a --
He continues grabbing tools and supplies off shelves --
KRISLOV
(continuing)
-- and one of these --
He opens drawers and pulls things out. Batteries, chips, wires...
DIANA
-- and this and this --
He stops to think. Looks around.
KRISLOV
(points)
And that...
REMBRANDT AND MAGGIE exchange a glance.
KRISLOV
(continuing)
Give me an hour, maybe two, and
I'll give you deadman's light.
This should please the other two. But Rembrandt looks even more worried than before.
DIANA
*What?!*
MAGGIE
Remmie..?
REMBRANDT
We just reinvented the BIR-men.
And on that terrifying realization, we:
FADE OUT
And at the beginning of Act Four, Remmy had a missing line of irony...
KRISLOV
Doesn't matter. The shut-down
signal is contagious through the
entire system. Even a partial
exposure will cure.
REMBRANDT
I never had to "cure" someone of
God before...
And once the Sliders were captured by Mallory, Maggie had a missing line...
MALLORY
No matter. We'll renew them. The
blessing is infinite.
DIANA
And what about us?
MAGGIE
Are you going to force us to
drink? The real Quinn would never
do that.
MALLORY
I'm not Quinn.
(beat)
But no, I won't force you to
drink. Blessings are freely
given.
REMBRANDT
Like this morning -- ?
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