FADE IN: (TEASER)
1 THE WORLD (STOCK)
2 STYLIZED BATTLEFIELD—ESTABLISHING—LONG HIGH SHOT—NIGHT
A nightmare landscape seen in chioroscuro—shadows and light. Illuminated from moment to moment by a spiderwork tracery of light beams across the black sky. Nothing moves on this battlefield, though the sounds of warfare—the sizzling of the beams, the distant crackle of explosions—comes through dimly. Camera comes down toward a dark figure hunched over in a shallow foxhole as:
NARRATOR (V.O.): Night comes too soon on the battlefield. For some men it comes permanently, their eyes never open to the light of day. But for this man, fighting this war, there is never total darkness; and the spidery beams of light in the sky are the descendants of the modern laser beam. Heat rays that sear through tungsten-steel and flesh as though they were cheesecloth.
CAMERA STOPS ON CLOSEUP of the soldier. He wears an odd helmet equipped with antenna and night-vision glasses and padded earpieces that deaden sound. We see his heavy cape that he has pulled around himself as protection against the cold. The metal harness over his chest from which hangs a wicked-looking, strangely-constructed rifle. He pulls a cigarette from a metal tin and, holding it like a kitchen match, he scratches the end of the cigarette on the side of the pack. It ignites as camera moves into extreme closeup and we see his face clearly, the pattern of radiation burns that mars one side of his handsomely brutal face. He smokes, waiting, as: NARRATOR (V.O.) (continuing): And this soldier must go against those weapons. His name is Qarlo, (pronounced) Kwahr-lo) and he is a foot-soldier, the ultimate infantryman. Trained from birth by the state. He has never known love, or closeness, or warmth…he is geared for only one purpose: to kill The Enemy.
During narration camera moves around Qarlo, showing us his almost bovine calm, as he waits. Abruptly, there is the sound of a tinny voice on filter and an electrical buzzing, both in his helmet. Qarlo’s free hand presses to the ear piece as the voice repeats in his ear.
HELMET VOICE (FILTER) (urgent): Attack! Kill!! Attack! Kill! Attack! Kill…
The cigarette drops from Qarlo’s mouth, unnoticed, as his eyes seem to re-focus.
NARRATOR (V.O.):…and the Enemy waits for him.
3 CLOSE SHOT—THE ENEMY IN IDENTICAL FOXHOLE
4 CLOSE SHOT—QARLO
He leaps out of the foxhole, rifle at the ready, and sprints forward, charging into the dark.
5 THE BATTLEFIELD
Empty save for Qarlo running full-out from the right-hand side of the frame toward center of the frame; suddenly, the enemy running at top speed from the left-hand side of the frame toward center. Two broken-field attackers charging dead-on for each other, destined to meet at some central point in the middle of the frame, illuminated by the heat rays that now seem to have increased in number.
6 MED. LONG SHOT—QARLO AND ENEMY AGAINST BLACK PROFILE
As they near each other, still separated by empty space, each man lifts his rifle to fire. As we angle on the men, two thick laser beams spear down directly out of the sky, one from either side, and zero down, directly on Qarlo and his enemy. They are instantly bathed in a coruscating aurora of flickering light that sizzles and pops. There is an insane electrical, like a thousand arc lights burning out all at once.
7 CLOSEUP—QARLO
Arms flung up as though being crucified, still gripping the strange rifle in one hand, he screams soundlessly, writhing, twisting, tormented, in the flickering eerie light-bath.
8 CLOSEUP—THE ENEMY
As the same happens to him, he contorts, huddles, tries to wring himself free from the insane forces that grip him.
9 TWO SHOT—QARLO AND THE ENEMY
The two men twisting, they suddenly vanish! They snap out of existence like two balloons popping. They are gone. The battlefield is empty and dark once more, and we abruptly
10 SPECIAL PROCESS SHOTS
of reversed images against a grey background, flickering indistinct, warped, indicating dimensions and times being traversed, strange polarities and effects spinning eternity for us, a weird melange of special effects with no pattern.
NOTES FOR REFERENCE TO THE PRECEDING ACTION
11 EXT. BUSINESS INTERSECTION OF CITY STREET—DAY
CAMERA ANGLE establishes one of the corners. On the sidewalk near the curb an old man is selling newspapers. O.s., we hear the sporadic blasts of a pneumatic drill in the street. Around the corner, a short distance from the newspaper man (but not in view of him), a police car is parked at the curb. One policeman is using a police call box in the street; the other policeman is seated in the car. There are several passers-by.
12 MED. SHOT—NEWSSTAND AND OLD MAN
Just as the newspaper man is using his knife to cut open a bundle of papers, Qarlo suddenly winks into existence at a point in front of the building about five feet behind the old man. He is, at this point, unseen by either the newspaper man or any of the pedestrians.
13 CLOSE SHOT—QARLO
looks about him, strangely disoriented, and wild-eyed at the sudden change of scene. We hold on this unusual setting for a moment and then