Wyldspace Episode 2: Planet of War

Synopsis: Starship Wyldspace warps in and sends a boarding party to the planet full of automated war machines and robotic servants.

Written by Wyldspace

Scene 1

[Exterior in space above a desert planet with little water and ice, Pan left] Empty space warps in a ring, [rotate slightly] magnifying the image of a distant stars and an approaching massive space ship. The nose of the ship emerges out of the ring of distorted space.
[under the ship following] It drives forward at a fast pace but is so large that only the first quarter of the space ship has come through in the first few seconds.
[return] The ring of warped space shudders. It starts to collapse.
[Inside] Quick views of worried people <warning klaxxon >
[return outside] Only a quarter of the ship has come through when the warp ring effect ends. Much debris is floating in space behind the nose of the ship with no propulsion.
[wide angle view, In the quartermistress' airlock] The captain walks in showing signs of a migraine headache. The crew of three are assembled alongside the QM. The Stinger space shuttle is standing ready, (not covered in green goo like last episode). The crew salute in various ways. (Most use an index finger to the temple as the standard salute.)
[Head to thigh, canted slightly] The captain points to the planet through the clear airlock window.
[PoV] Everyone salutes happily then runs into the stinger.
[return, and dolly to follow] The captain turns to leave and several worried crewmembers enter meeting her with various questions. Her headache appears to get worse.
[closeup] The QM is sympathetic to her.
[wide view] The stinger slowly rolls forward right through the airlock window which seals behind it.

Scene 2

[Inside the cockpit] Asian lady is in the pilot seat on the left. Young is on the right. Sonic is seated behind them in a gunner/navigator seat.
[exterior - space] The stinger zooms away from the ship toward the planet. The planet looms larger and larger until it fills the view.
[interior] One by one, each crewmember is closely studying his or her displays. She is alarmed at what she sees. She turns to Sonic with a yelp. He turns to look at her. She gestures that something is moving in an arc. He turns back to his display, intently.




He drags icons from a large assortment into this sequence: bullet, motorcycle, sphere, gorilla. He presses a green checkmark button. <high-pitched Bing!> He steps onto a panel marked on the floor and crouches down, ready to sprint.
She and Young turn to look back at him a quick moment. He nods to them.
She goes back to her display and presses an icon with determination.
Sonic falls through the floor panel.
She lifts her finger from the display, revealing the image on the display, a top view silhouette of the stinger with a green dot shooting out from the front. [pan] The dot leaves the stinger and moved toward three red dots that are moving toward the stinger but currently far away.
[exterior] A greenish bullet-shaped torpedo emits from the front of the stinger space shuttle. [turn and follow] It speeds toward the planet and three white missiles rocketing toward it.
[front view] The bullet casing splits and falls away revealing Sonic riding a motorcycle with determination and pride.
[Side angle] He takes one hand off the handlebars and presses a button. <buzz>
[front view] Two small missiles shoot out from the front of the motorcycle drawing a rope or cable behind each.
[distant front view] The small missiles strike the front of the center incoming missile. <Thud> The motorcycle speeds past, missing them. The cables go slack then pull tight and pull the center missile off course.
[front angle] Sonic slams one hand on a control, the motorcycle morphs into a translucent sphere surrounding Sonic. He is dragged harshly upward.
[wide view] The center missile recovers its course, now well behind the other two. The sphere is yanked toward the missile as the cables tighten and retract until the sphere hits the side of the missile. [zoom in] The sphere contracts into a rough gorilla shape, straddling the missile. Sonic can be seen inside the translucent material not doing too well from all the rapid accelerations. He takes a few breaths heaving his shoulders and then raises his hands and gestures like using a keyboard and touch screen.
[chest view pulling back] A tentacle of material juts out of the gorilla's chest, stretches forward, and forms four fingers which morph into flat-head screwdrivers and descend to a rectangular panel on the side of the missile and unscrew the fasteners at the corners. The screws fly away, followed by the panel itself, striking the gorilla on the way before.bouncing off harmlessly. Sonic in the high-tech gorilla costume shimmies forward and peers into the opening.
[closeup] A computer memory boa rd can be seen inside featuring a large CPU chip in the center with a digital display above it counting down the seconds from 27. Next to the number is a red angry face icon.
[closeup] Sonic inside his mask is afraid.
[interior] She and Young, staring at their displays are equally afraid. They alternate looking out the front windshield and at the displays.
[chest level] Sonic gestures and types in the air, still worried. The tool tentacle wobbles.
[closeup] The screwdrivers shrink away and many tiny wires emerge and stretch to the CPU chip. [camera follows and zooms to see the tiny details] each wire develops a clamp on the end and attaches to each of the electrical connections on the CPU chip. <hasty computer beeps>
[return to missile display] The missile digital display continues to count down to 7, then the red angry face turns into a yellow happy face. <bing>
[closeup] Sonic smiles! Then he fears again and looks up.
[exterior] The other two missiles are approaching the Stinger.
[cockpit] She and Young are frightened, looking forward out the windshield. They turn to each other. Young looks at the center.console and moves his hand.
[closeup] Young's hand approaches a rectangular panel with a red exclamation point on it and flips open the panel revealing a big red button with a yellow frowning face on it.
[return] Young looks at She. She looks at him and nods.
[return] He presses the button. <deep foghorn sound>.
[cockpit] She and Young fall away from each other as the entire shuttle separates into particles.
[Exterior] The two missiles pass through the stinger as it disintegrates into a cloud of sand. Young and She fall away wrapped in sand much like the gorilla costume enveloped Sonic.
[return closeup] Sonic looks down again, not any less afraid.
[closeup] The missile display with the happy face counts down to zero and stops.
[exterior] The two armed missiles now far past the cloud that was the stinger (which is still spreading even thinner) both explode into fireballs in the air. <distant explosion roar>
[exterior] Sonic rides the disarmed missile in a sweeping curve, slowing. Young and She stick to the missile as it brushes them. It continues to turn toward the planet and dips downward toward the origin of the three missiles.
[front] She and Young in their bubble-like space suits walk along the missile with their feet securely sticking to its walls. They sit down behind Sonic as if riding a motorcycle or a witch's broomstick.

Scene 3

[exterior] They ride the missile toward a day-lit city with no lights and no activity.
[front] Sonic looks back at the two behind him. They nod, stand, and dive off the sides of the missile.
[wide view ] Sonic continues to straddle the missile as it nearly touches the ground before swooping up and lightly touching down its aft end on the ground. [zoom in to follow action] Sonic in his gorilla suit slides down to the ground. The suit morphs into a wide base as the missile starts to tip over, then is stabilized and stands upright. Sonic emerges from the base material wearing thin sandals, a kilt with a sash across his chest, and his trademark sonic cup on his headband and ear buds. He adjusts his sash as he walks away from the missile, and the kilt and sash turn from the translucent green to a masculine plaid.
[wide view] Young parachutes down to the ground wearing his trademark oversize roller skate boots and a fundoshi, landing in a park-like area of dry brown plants not far from sonic.
[wide view] She drifts down to the ground, her shoulders held by a large metallic eagle robot, flapping its wings at the last second to provide a gentle landing near Sonic. She and Sonic nod to each other confidently. They both look toward Young.

Scene 4

[Head to knees from behind, pivot around Young] Young already has a pad out and he is staring at the display while aiming it at the various dry plants. His parachute rolls itself and his small plant pots on wheels from an earlier episode morph out from under the parachute. <buzz of tiny rolling wheels> Behind Young, She and Sonic are slowly walking toward him while behind them a large number of vaguely humanoid robots run out of a building and catch up to them.
[Side view of She] She calmly watches Young, then turns to look at Sonic. She startles at what she sees.
[Flip opposite side view of Sonic] Slight cigar held in a robotic hand lunges toward Sonics face. He startles and takes the cigar from the robot with his left hand. He startles again and quickly turns to his right to see a full martini glass with olives is in his right hand. A tray of cookies appears on his left held by another robot hand and he is startled to see it too.
[Flip back] She has a cosmopolitan in one hand and is disturbed to suddenly see a robot presenting her with a tray of sushi. The eagle robot behind her looks quickly from one robot to another off screen but does not attack.
[Head to waist] Young is intently staring at his display pad and occasionally tapping controls. On one side of him a robot with a Tiki mug in one hand and a mojito in the other looks over Young, looks back and forth at its drinks, then hands the mojito to Young who ignores him. On the other side, another robot tries to hand Young a bowl of noodles and a pair of chopsticks, but Young ignores him. The robot steps forward to get Young's attention, but it has to jump back to avoid stepping on something it sees on the ground. <buzz of tiny wheels rolling>
[head and shoulders] She cocks her head and opens her eyes wide in excitement to get someone's attention, then locks her eyes on something off camera right. [pan right] Back of Sonic's head turns to follow her gaze and sees something intriguing.
[PoV] A train of more robots of identical design bring a large table and chairs from the nearby building. With them are two different robots. One appears to be a rectangular box with one tube sticking out of one side close to the top, walking on two barely visible small feet. The other slightly taller one is a cylinder with a dome on top which also walks on two not quite visible small feet. The dome features a black circle within a white circle looking like an eyeball.
[head to knees] She steps back as one of the robots brings her a Victorian chair. [dolly back] Two more set the dining table in front of her.
[head to ground] Young is obviously deep in concentration as the two robots near him set up three folding chairs (one right behind Young) and sit down in two of them, back to back to back. The two robots pull display pads from their chests and concentrate on them intently while sullenly slouching down with a newfound casual disdain for the world, imitating Young.
[head to chair] Sonic is listening to the beeping sounds of the robots around him as if in conversation (repeating Morse code for the letters b, a, n, a, n, a) while he sits in a reclining sofa armchair with his feet up on an ottoman, uncaring whether any robots might be able to see up his kilt.
[head to elbows] She looks suspiciously at the others while sniffing at her drink.
[face, focus on Sonics ear buds] Sonic looks with interest to the far right, <beeps> near right, <heart beat> near left, <heartbeat> and far left. <beeps>
[PoV] He looks at the robot on the left standing next to the table and setting down a bowl of fruit <beeps>, the rectangular robot at the table <heartbeat>, the cylindrical robot sitting on the other side of the table <heartbeat>, and the robot standing next to the table appearing to be undecided about what to do with a bowl of noodles. <beeps>
[closeup] Sonic looks straight ahead and raises his eyebrows once quickly.
[closeup] She questions what he means with interest.

Scene 4

[head to chest] Sonic looks at the rectangular robot on his left and taps his fingertips on his chest like a heartbeat. He looks at the cylindrical robot on his right and makes the same gesture, then looks back at She.
[Head to shoulders] She understands and nods gently.
[head] The cylindrical robot aims its eyeball at Sonic and makes rather feminine beeps.
[Head to arms] Sonic becomes more interested and perks up. He glances at She.
[head to arms] She leans in with interest.
[return] Sonic looks at the cylinder robot with interest, then gestures to She. One hand circles like an area on the ground, the other hand circles another area. A silhouette of a country appears in the air at each spot. He insulates one hand in the middle. An icon of waves appears between them. He raises his fingers and wiggles them. Female and male smiley faces pop up all over each country. He listens. He makes a frowning face. all the icons turn to angry faces. He listens. He gestures his hands moving in ballistic arcs back and forth. Icons of cartoon robots fly like missiles from each country to the other. <machine gun sounds> His face becomes sad and serious. The icons pop out of existence quickly until there are only one female and one male remaining on one side and none on the other. The angry icons turn sad with tears in their eyes. He listens. He looks at She and holds up two fingers to indicate only two survivors, (which ironically is also the symbol "V" for victory and the Peace symbol).
[head to table] She drops her head slightly and looks at nothing with an expression of sorrow.

Scene 5

[PoV] Something walks around an obstacle to see the congregation of Young (who is now sitting on the folding chair), She, Sonic, and the robots. <more harsh and alarming computerized beeping>
[head to waist] A more menacing design of robot with two machine guns holstered has just turned a corner and is scanning the area.
[PoV] It zooms in on Young, highlighting him. The kanji symbol for Kill appears next to him in harsh red flashing calligraphy. <harsh alarm buzz> One of the sullen robots sitting with Young gets up, pulls its chair over and sits down, matching Young's pose exactly and blocking any view of him. The flashing symbol and alarm stop. [pan to the right] She is highlighted and another Kill symbol flashes. Her metallic robot eagle notices and starts to walk toward the camera. [pan right] An upkilt view of Sonic is highlighted, and the alarm and kill symbol appear again.
[head to waist] The menacing robot draws both machine guns and fires. [Head to abdomen] The robot eagle spreads one wing eclipsing She. [pan right] Oblivious Sonic's sash quickly unfurls, stretches, and spins past the camera to the right. <sound of a vinyl record slowing to a stop> [turn right, extreme slow motion] The killer robot shoots three large shining bullets from each gun toward camera. <slow gunfire> [pan left] The three bullets headed toward Sonic hit spots on the flailing sash which break holes into the sash but deflect the bullets downward to the ground.
[head and wing] Three bullets hit the eagle's wing and stop, <thud sounds> flattened before falling down to the ground. The eagle drops its wing and walks forward angrily off camera. Behind it, She angrily gestures with one hand reaching forward, forming a fist, raising up, and spreading her five fingers.
[Head and chest] Now barechested Sonic turns his head to see the problem and leaps out of his seat.
[low side view] <machine guns firing> The rectangular robot tips over toward the killer robot revealing that it was just a box concealing an alien creature looking like a small youthful muscular nude human man with short spiky hair, large round ears and large round eyes, bushy sideburns that run down to his shoulders, bushy underarm hair that runs down the sides of his body to his knees, no external genitalia, and bushy body hair on the backs of his hands and tops of his feet. He leaps under the table and tips the table over toward the killer robot as a barricade, peeking over the top. The cylindrical robot lifts and tips over the other direction revealing that underneath it was hiding an alien creature looking like a youthful muscular human woman with short spiky hair, large round ears, and large round eyes, wearing a tiara and what appears to be a tight fitting colorful space suit. She ducks behind the barricade just as the male glances back at her.
[Head to knees from below] She is amazed to see the two aliens. She glances back toward the killer robot.
[wide angle] Sonic (who appears to no longer have clothing) spins his sash and kilt wildly whipping toward the killer robot, deflecting every bullet from one of the machine guns down to the ground. The eagle walks right into the other stream of gunfire catching the bullets and allowing them to fall harmlessly to the ground. As Sonic continues to twirl the sash, the eagle spreads its wings, hops onto the robot and flaps them both upward off screen. A second robot comes around the corner and steps into the place of the first one. As it draws both guns, a third killer robot approaches behind it. The first killer robot slams down onto the second robot before it fires a shot as if dropped from a tremendous height. They both sprawl twisted at painful angles on the ground as the third robot watches. The eagle lands and runs toward She. Sonic turns to her, holding his sash at waist level as it drifts down no longer fluttering.
[return] She places a finger and thumb to her mouth. <loud whistle> She waves everyone to follow and runs away.
[low table view] The two aliens watch her gesture, glance at each other, and leap to follow. The female stands on her tiptoes and leans forward and propels forward barely touching the ground. <hiss of compressed gas escaping> The male runs on all fours like a primate.
[Head to knees] Young looks up from his display, stands, panics, and skates away, followed by his plant.pots on wheels which now each contain a poor dry plant. At the same time, one of the sullen robots looks up, hands its display pad over its shoulder to the other without looking, and charges from its seat toward the killer robots. The remaining robot follows Young's plant pot robots.
[waist to ground] The third killer robot, without drawing weapons, reaches down and picks up the other two mangled robots by the neck. The two spring to life and each aims its two machine guns and start to fire again. The sullen robot lands straddling the face of the third killer robot. It alternately strikes the two mangled robots in the head with its fists and repeatedly head-butts the third. <clang, clang, clang> [dolly around 180° and slowly rise] The guns are mostly missing and firing wildly. She leads the escape toward the missile where Sonic landed it. Young quickly catches up and takes the lead, with his trail of plant pots. The sullen robot is slower than Young but keeps pace with She and the two aliens with their very different modes of locomotion. Sonic and the eagle take up the rear, shielding against the few bullets that do aim the right direction. The other helpful robots walk calmly back to their homes ignoring the violence. The table falls over.
[base of the missile, slowly zooming out] Young arrives first and climbs the transluscent base material until he can hug the rocket with his arms and legs. His plant pots drive up and disappear into the base material. She arrives, turns back to count heads, then leads the two aliens to sit behind Young. They all start to very slowly sink into the translucent base material. The sullen robot follows suit with Sonic right behind him, shielded by the eagle.
[reverse view] In the distance, the killer robots are mostly impotent with the attacking sullen robot pounding on them. <rocket launch>

Scene 6

[far above] The missile is airborne again, leaving the city. [pull up while allowing missile to zoom in] All are straddling the missile like a witch's broomstick. Young is in the front "seat" now, and Sonic in the back. All are confident, held down by the translucent material on their laps and enjoying the breeze. <engine begins to sputter> Everyone slowly loses their confidence and turns to look at the back of the missile, except Young who looks at his display pad. [zoom toward the display pad]
[closeup] The display pad shows a fuel gage reading Empty.
[Head to knees] Young looks ahead, then back to the pad and prepares to tap the pad with a finger. Bits of debris in the air begin to fly past him. <engine stops entirely >
[closeup pad] There is a large red button labeled, "PANIC". Young's finger presses it. <beep>
[Side view] Worried people look back and forth at each other as the debris in the air gets thicker. Suddenly She realizes what the debris is and grabs a handful of it.
[closeup] In her hand, the tiny squares and triangles of debris attach themselves together.
[closeup] She is happy!
[wide angle] The missile loses momentum and starts to pitch downward as the cloud of debris closes in on it. The missile falls out of the condensing cloud with no passengers as the cloud begins to resemble the stinger space shuttle. It starts to fall and tumble as well.
[interior] The occupants are floating inside the stinger, still quite distressed. The potted plants are nowhere to be seen. [zoom in] She pushes Young toward Sonic and falls out of view. [pan left] Sonic grabs Young (who is staring at the distant cockpit) and throws the lighter man forward, causing himself to spin out of control and drift backward.
[exterior] The stinger tumbles well behind the tumbling missile toward the desert planet.
[cockpit] Young pulls himself into the pilot seat and presses a button. <engines start>
[exterior] The engines of the stinger light up. <rumble>
[interior] everyone falls to the floor and slides toward the back.
[cockpit] Young pulls back on one control and twists another.
[exterior from above] As the missile appears to crash on the planet's surface, the stinger rises slowly and pitches level.
[interior] Gravity appears to return to normal. People climb off of each other and head toward the front. The male alien and female alien are mostly concerned about each other's well-being.
[Side view cockpit] As She slips into the copilot seat, Young is alarmed by what he sees on his display. He facepalms, defeated. She sees something alarming on her display. She angrily closes her eyes and places a palm on her forehead, shaking her head slightly in disagreement. Sonic arrives now in his kilt again. He sees something alarming on her display and leans in. Sonic facepalms as Young and She begin to look up again.

Scene 7

[Exterior from above] Three missiles zoom toward the Stinger from the planet below.
[return] She has an idea, raising her hand with one finger and waving it to the others. They turn to her with their full attention.
[closeup] She gestures across her eyes, then holds her two fists together pressing her thumbs back and forth like controlling a game.
[PoV] Sonic and Young nod in agreement to her. Sonic leaves for his navigator seat as Young starts pressing controls.
[interior] Sonic shouts at the aliens and their robot, <shout, mumble> and leaps into his seat. [pull back] The others grab a seat quickly and appear to be surprised to find that they stick to the seats.
[exterior] <engines surge> The Stinger suddenly pitches upward and accelerates upward off screen. Moments later the missiles follow.
[side closeup] Young turns to look at She and nods. An opaque visor slides over his eyes.
[side closeup] She turns to Young and nods. A similar visor slides over her eyes.
[Side view head to chest] Sonic dons a pair of sunglasses which morph into a visor similar to the other's.
[Head to waist] The two aliens look from Sonic to each other quizzically.
[exterior wide] The Stinger rockets away from the planet, but the missiles are gaining.
[exterior close] On the surface of the Stinger a thin shell grows out from the hull. It takes the shape of Young with his large roller skate boots, but it is monochromatic bit for black lines at the edges of the various facets. It looks around. Another shell is formed in the shape of the gorilla-like suit Sonic wore earlier. Then a third one grows, looking like the robotic eagle She had. They look back and forth at each other then turn to look at the distant missiles.
[rear view] The missiles are still far off, but closing in. Young rolls to the end of the Stinger and jumps off, the gorilla runs, the eagle flaps its wings, and all skydive through the air [zoom forward] and aim themselves at the three missiles. They strike each on the nose cone. Three massive explosions fill the sky. <rumble>
[cockpit] Young and She hold on tight and grit their teeth as turbulence shakes the shuttle.
[face] Sonic smiles and removes his visor, happy at the result. <cheers> montage of happy faces of each person.
[exterior] <cheers continue> The Stinger now out in space approaches the mother ship which is now fully present but still has repair tugs buzzing around the area that had been severed off earlier.
End === Notes: Need more details of the Asian lady and a better name than She. I plan to have these new aliens become crewmembers for future planetary investigations.

Themes

Technology does not protect people from their own flaws.

Plot type

Episode

Parent Plot

Wyldspace