Monday, June 05, 2006
breath of god
I know it's not in fashion, but I do miss writing like this, from Harry Kleiner's final draft of Fantastic Voyage; note that Michaels is played by the incomparable Donald Pleasance:
CEREBRAL LIGHTS
A dazzling display of flashing lights fills the screen. Then as the CAMERA PANS DOWN slowly, we see a high wall of complex circuitry, in which the tiny lights glow on and off rapidly. Finally, as the CAMERA NEARS the bottom, it reveals:
EXT. PROTEUS - IN CRANIAL FJORD
The sub seems a mere speck as it cruises through a chasm formed by two walls of similar circuitry and electronic pyrotechnics. There is a sense of order despite the complexity.
INT. PROTEUS
Grant has joined Cora and Duval at the bow. The three are deeply impressed and moved by what they see. Michaels remains at the chart. As they look on:
DUVAL
(softly)
"Yet all the suns that light the Corridors of the Universe shine dim, Before the blazing of a Single Thought -- "
GRANT
"Proclaiming in incandescent glory the myriad Mind of Man..."
Cora looks at Grant in rather surprised awareness of this other side of him.
MICHAELS
Very poetic, gentlemen. You seem to see a great deal out there. Let me know when we pass the Soul.
Duval turns from the bow windows to face Michaels with the answer:
DUVAL
(quietly)
The Soul? The finite mind cannot comprehend Infinity. And the Soul which comes from God is Infinite.
MICHAELS
Take a close look at your Soul, and your Infinity, and your God out there and you'll find it's nothing but a combination of atoms, molecules and certain chemicals involving proteins --
DUVAL
You left something out.
MICHAELS
What's that?
DUVAL
(flatly)
The Breath of God...
I miss that sense of wonder in my sci-fi. Plus, that's just fun writing. I get a big smile on my face whenever I see a header like "EXT. PROTEUS - IN CRANIAL FJORD".