Forever Young Posted by Jeysie on March 14, 2001 at the Space Cases Picture Gallery http://sc.alienharmony.com/index.htm jeysie@alienharmony.com Transcript written by Diana (http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Station/7256/) Edited by Jeysie ----------------------------------------------------------------- Initial Credits: Producer: Irene Litinsky Production Designer: Real Proulx Director of Photography: Marc Charlebois Original Music Score: Jeff Fisher Editor: Jean Beaudoin Story by Kristian Ayre Written by: Jerry Colker Director: John Bell ----------------------------------------------------------------- (An outside shot of the ship, with a space probe floating by. We can hear voices from it, arguing. Then we cut to a shot of the Command Post. Harlan, Catalina and Radu are at their posts.) Harlan: Okay, it's ready. Everybody remember what to say? Radu: We've practiced it enough times. Catalina: That looks so intense. Miss Davenport is gonna go crazy - (Miss Davenport enters the room.) Catalina: - when she sees it - Davenport: Catalina, what is going on here? Mr. Band. Just promise me our lives aren't in danger. Harlan: Oh, don't worry. Everybody inside the ship is safe. Davenport: Well, that's a re - who's not inside the ship? (Catalina pulls up an image of Commander Goddard floating unattached in an EVA suit on the screen.) Davenport: It's Commander Goddard. Catalina: It was an accident. Radu: The commander was fixing the airlock. Harlan: And those two flushed him out! Catalina: It was an accident! Davenport: For heaven's sakes, do something! Harlan: We're trying. We've got a tractor beam on him. Radu: But we're not sure how it works. Catalina: And Suzee says if we're not careful, we might accidentally rip the commander into shreds. Davenport: You have got to get him back in this ship! Harlan: Okay, Miss D. If you say so. (He moves a control, and the image explodes. Just then, Commander Goddard comes shooting out of the jump tubes.) Goddard: What's all the commotion? (Miss Davenport screams and faints.) Harlan: A computer simulation of you, blown up in space! (The three kids are laughing as we cut to an outside shot of the Christa, with the probe still following behind.) Goddard: (voice-over) When are you gonna start acting your age? (Cut to back inside. The three kids are standing in a line as Commander Goddard "speaks to them". Miss Davenport sits in the background.) Harlan: It was just a joke! Goddard: A starship is not a toy. What's the matter with you kids? You think it's fun to make someone react like this? (Miss Davenport is dazed, wearing a blanket and holding a mug. As we see her, the kids are trying not to laugh.) Davenport: - could not be put back together again, by all the king's horses, and all the king's men. (looking up) I will be fine, thank you very much. Goddard: You're all confined to quarters until further notice! Harlan: Oh, come on, Commander! Don't you remember what it was like to be a kid? (Goddard glares at him. Harlan stomps over to the tubes and leaves. The other two follow him, and Commander Goddard steps to the central console, out of view of Miss Davenport, snickering. When she notices him, he pretends he was coughing.) Davenport: Excuse me, Commander, are you laughing? Goddard: What, me, laughing? Oh, no. What those kids did - it was definitely something I would have done as a kid. (Miss Davenport throws the blanket she has at him.) Davenport: Oh, honestly! (The space probe teleports to the deck.) Davenport: Good heavens, when are they going to stop these stupid pranks! Goddard: Pranks don't teleport. (He moves toward it, setting the blanket on the helm chair, and she tentatively follows him.) Goddard: It looks like some kinda space probe. (He reaches out to touch it. Miss Davenport grabs his arm.) Davenport: Don't be silly, Commander. (An electrical shock shoots out of the probe and through both of them, and then a gas comes out of the bottom. Both of them start coughing and sink to the ground. Goddard grabs at a control on the helm as he sinks, and an alarm sounds. We hear several voices laughing at once from the probe.) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Opening Credits: Narration: The Eye of the Future sees them. Five clever space cadets, snuck aboard an alien ship, flung through a weird hole in space, thousands of light-years from the Academy. Yeah, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but will they ever get home? Or are they forever destined to be... Space Cases? Starring: Walter Emmanuel Jones as Harlan Band Jewel Staite as Catalina Kristian Ayre as Radu Rahi Azizi as Bova Paige Christina as Rosie Ianni Anik Matern as Thelma Cary Lawrence as T.J. Davenport and Paul Boretski as Commander Seth Goddard Created by: Bill Mumy and Peter David Guest Starring: Ricky Mabe as Young Goddard Helen Garland as Young Davenport and Serge Houde as Neinstein ----------------------------------------------------------------- (Outside shot. The alarm is still sounding.) Harlan: (voice-over) Did you hear that? An alarm in the compost! Let's go! (Cut inside to the Command Post. The three kids come shooting out of the jump tubes. Catalina spots the probe.) Catalina: What's that? Radu: An alien space probe! (Two younger kids stand up from behind the console. The uniforms they're wearing are obviously too big for them.) Harlan: They don't look like aliens. Goddard: Who are you? What am I doing here? Davenport: What's happened? Where am I? Catalina: Oh, no! You're - Goddard: Seth Goddard. Harlan: If you're Seth Goddard - (pointing) then she must be - Davenport: T.J. Davenport. And it isn't polite to point, thank you very much! Harlan: Whoa, that is definitely Miss Davenport. (Catalina and Radu nod. Outside shot, then cut to the Team Room. Everyone except Bova and Thelma is there.) Catalina: - and then we found ourselves on the other side of the galaxy. We computed it would take seven years, four months, and twenty-two days to get back to the Starcademy. Davenport: Seven years! How did we get here? How will anybody find us? I want to go home! (She starts crying. Rosie goes over to her and puts a hand on her back.) Rosie: It's okay! We'll take care of you. Goddard: But where are the grownups? There has to be grownups. Harlan: Nope, no grownups. Don't need 'em, don't want 'em. Catalina: Nice try, Harlan. But we have to get these two back the way they were. Harlan: No, we don't! We can handle this. Goddard: What do you mean? Radu: Well, uh, you and Miss Davenport - (Harlan frantically waves his hands trying to shush Radu up.) Radu: - are the grownups. Well, you were the grownups, that is, until - something changed you. That alien probe must've - Davenport: Tell us what really happened! (Cut to a shot of the probe, still laughing, then back to the kids.) Radu: That's what really happened. You were the grownups. Goddard: Wait a minute. If we were the grownups, then I must have been - the commander. Harlan: Way to go, Radu. Can't keep anything to yourself! Radu: I kept your computer prank secret, didn't I? Maybe if you hadn't taken the computer off-line this probe couldn't have gotten aboard. Goddard: Oh, so you're the one responsible for all this! Harlan: I'm sorry, Commander, we were just - Wait a minute! (He stands up and gets into Commander Goddard's face.) Harlan: You just keep your pants on, there, short stuff. I'll get us out of this! Goddard: Oh, yeah? If you're so on top of things, what are you doing to help contain that alien probe? (Harlan, Radu and Catalina all look at each other with "uh-oh" looks on their faces. Command Post. The three of them are setting up a power fence around the probe.) Catalina: That should do it. Radu: Nothing can get through a power fence. Harlan: All right, stand back. (at the controls) Power fence on! (The four poles click on and an electrical field forms around the probe. Harlan goes to touch it.) Catalina: Uh, be careful, Harlan. (Harlan goes over and touches the fence. An electrical bolt goes from the fence and up his arm.) Harlan: Ahhh! (He pulls his hand away.) Harlan: Ow! (blowing on his hand) You could have warned me! Catalina: I did! Harlan: Well, at least we know it works. Radu: Very well, too. (Team Room. Rosie is sitting on one of the seats, working on her CompuPad and talking to Catalina. Harlan is standing off to one side with the two "adults".) Rosie: I at least thought I could find something in our own medical database. But this problem's unique. No one's ever been turned back in time before like the commander and Miss Davenport. Catalina: Well, what are we gonna do? Harlan: (walking over to Catalina and Rosie) Wait, wait, wait a minute, wait a minute. Has everyone here gone crazy? We don't have to do anything. Catalina: What are you talking about? Harlan: There's nothing wrong with the situation at all! Cat! You were complaining because you didn't like Miss Davenport ordering you around! Davenport: Well! Of all the nerve! Harlan: And Goddard isn't exactly a fun guy, either. Goddard: Watch it, hot shot! Catalina: What are you saying? (Harlan moves back to stand behind the two "adults".) Harlan: I'm saying - This makes us all equal. (He kisses Miss Davenport on the cheek, and puts Commander Goddard in a headlock.) Harlan: I like 'em better this way, don't you? (laughs) Listen, listen. There's an old custom that Earth kids do when there's no grownups around... (Harlan comes shooting out of the tubes into the galley.) Harlan: FOOD FIGHT! (He immediately gets plastered by several pies. He then dumps a huge bowl of some weird stuff on Catalina's head, after which he and Commander Goddard give each other a high five. Catalina then turns around and pies Commander Goddard in the face. In the background, Miss Davenport, Bova and Rosie are throwing what looks like colored popcorn at one another. We hear Harlan yell Radu's name, then throw three pies at him. The first one misses, but the second one hits him square in the back of the head, the third on his chest, and Harlan laughs. The next shot is of Harlan running by with Rosie by the shoulders, rubbing something in her face. At the same time, someone is spraying silly string at him. Catalina and Bova are spraying silly string at each other, as well as Harlan and Radu, and Rosie and Commander Goddard. Then Bova dumps a huge bowl of some more weird stuff on Catalina and Miss Davenport brings in some feather pillows, bursting them so feathers are flying everywhere. Thelma comes in and sees this mess. By this point, everyone has abandoned the food and is in the middle of a huge pillow fight with anything they can grab, and right before we cut to the probe, Radu throws a pie at the camera. As we continue to see them on the screen, we see Radu picking up the large square cushions and heaving them at people. All of Neinstein's dialogue in this episode is with a different voice speaking each line.) Neinstein: Frivolity is not productive! Behavior like that should not be tolerated. A simple punishment is necessary to restore order! No! It must be far more than simple. It must be painful. Exceedingly. We should not waste time on specifics. We must act now. He's right! As long as the punishment is severe enough, that's all that matters! Correct! Take notice! Frivolity is not productive! (Galley. The food fight is still going on as Thelma stands in the doorway.) Thelma: Hmm. Frivolity is not productive. (Command Post. As the probe yammers on, a laser emerges from its top and shocks the power fence, disabling it. It then connects to the central control console and starts apparently draining its power. Galley. The first shot we see is Miss Davenport asleep against a cushion. Rosie is lying in the background, and Miss Davenport's head jerks up after someone throws a pillow at her. She looks at Catalina, who shrugs. Bova is seen lying in the background and Radu is in the foreground, the only one sitting at the table. Harlan is lying at his feet.) Radu: Harlan, we can't keep going on like this. Harlan: Hey... we'll rest a while, start all over again. No big deal. Catalina: No, Harlan. He's right. It is a big deal. Everything's out of control. Look. We've trashed the ship. We haven't done any studying, or had any classes. Radu: You know, we haven't even done a routine check of the ship's operating systems. (Thelma enters.) Thelma: Running diagnostics scan... Our course has been reset - as ordered. Harlan: (jumping up) What? What orders? Thelma: The Christa has been turned around, and is locked in a course for the planet Kzanamir. Goddard: What? (The probe's laser now locks on to the other stations and drains their power as well. Galley.) Harlan: (to Goddard) You were the last one at the controls! Goddard: No, you were! (Radu puts his hand on Harlan's shoulder and turns him around. He's holding a compupad.) Radu: This wasn't an accident. Something has taken over the ship! (Everyone looks at each other with worried looks. Cut to the Command Post as the crew enters. They are all covered in gook from the food fight.) Radu: What's happened here? Where's the power fence? (Harlan is in the lead, sees the probe and puts his arm in front of Miss Davenport, immediately behind him, to stop her.) Neinstein: We are Neinstein! We are nine scientists from the planet Kzanamir. We left our home world several centuries ago on a mission of supreme importance, the details of which are none of your concern! Our ship crashed two hundred and ten years ago. Our physical bodies were damaged beyond repair, so we transferred our minds into this probe. We need your ship to get back to our home world of Kzanamir. We anticipate a pleasant journey of approximately seventy years! That's why we age-regressed the adults to children, so they would live long enough to serve as useful crew members for the duration of the trip- Harlan: Hold on a second. Did you say seventy years? Davenport: Now see here, Mr. Neinsteen - Neinstein: NineSTEIN! Davenport: Whatever. The thing is, that we were adults when this started, and you turned us young again. Now when this is over, we'll be old, old, old adults. That's really sort of an imposition, because you see, you're really not giving us - Harlan: What she's trying to say is we had our own plans! Neinstein: Neinstein's plans supercede all others. And there is nothing you can do to stop us! (laughs) Catalina: Have you ever heard a sonic blast? (She blasts, and Neinstein sends an electrical charge into her throat, which blows her back into Harlan's arms.) Neinstein: We are printing out a new set of rules for you to follow. Study them well! (A piece of clear paper prints out of the top of the probe. Team Room. Everyone is still covered in frosting, and reading off their copies of Neinstein's rules.) Harlan: The supreme commander of the ship is Neinstein, and only Neinstein. Anyone who attempts to take over will be zapped? Radu: Students will be required to attend classes taught by Neinstein twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Rosie: All students will be required to meditate three hours a day? Well, maybe it'll be relaxing. Bova: There will be two meals a day with no snacking in between? (He crumples his paper into a ball and tosses it aside.) Catalina: We can't live like this! We have to do something! (Neinstein appears on screen.) Neinstein: You will do nothing without Neinstein's permission! Harlan: Oh, yeah? OK. Let's all do nothing! (Neinstein laughs and the ship rocks violently, throwing everyone off-balance.) [END OF ACT ONE] (commercial break) [BEGINNING OF ACT TWO] (Outside shot of the ship, cutting to the Classroom.) Neinstein: (on screen) When you arrive at planet Kzanamir, you will find the resident gravitational pull to be something like this! (Everyone leans far over in their seats, obviously being pulled to the ground. We see the ship bank in one direction, perhaps in order to produce the severe gravity.) Neinstein: It will take several years before you can walk in this spot. As you can guess, nobody runs on Kzanamir. (As the ship banks in the other direction, Harlan falls out of his seat on to the ground.) Neinstein: The lesson is finished. You will await instructions for your next activity! (Neinstein disappears from the screen.) Harlan: (standing) I can't take any more of this! (Thelma enters.) Thelma: Neinstein says it is time for meditation. We must do as Neinstein says or get zapped. Catalina: Oh, no! He's taken over Thelma! Radu: We can't fight Neinstein without her! Harlan: I don't care. (He heads toward the jumptubes.) Harlan: I'm gonna do something about this right now. (Thelma points her finger toward him, menacingly. It is starting to glow red, as if it's getting ready to fire something at Harlan.) Harlan: OK, I'm gonna meditate. That's what I'm gonna do. See, watch. (He sits down under the jumptube entrance and starts meditating in an exaggerated way. Thelma drops her hand and starts meditating as well. Cut to a shot of the probe. Girls' Bunkroom. Catalina is sleeping, and awakens suddenly as Harlan's hand comes over her mouth. He motions to her to keep quiet as they join the rest of the crew in a huddle.) Radu: Over here. (Cat and Harlan enter the huddle.) Radu: We've all decided. We're not gonna take this any more. Goddard: We figure if we can sneak up on it - Harlan: - we can surprise it. Catalina: Well, we could - if Neinstein wasn't monitoring the jumptubes. Davenport: No, we don't have to turn the jumptubes on. Goddard: Huh? Rosie: I get it! We could crawl. Harlan: Crawl? You want to crawl through the jumptubes? Goddard: Hey, it could work! Harlan: Do you know the way? Does anyone know the way? We sneak up on Ninesteen and then what? Bova: I could shock him. Radu: No, no, I think we need a bigger shock than that. Harlan: If we could pipe up some energy from the engine room, we could blast Neinstein with a protomix overload. Goddard: (starting to pull away) Let's do it! Catalina: Wait! I'm not so sure. Harlan: Well, what does Suzee think? I can't believe I just asked that! Catalina: Well, Suzee thinks it could work - in principle. But we're gonna have to make a direct connection to Neinstein. And we're gonna need a long cable. Radu: I saw a big drum of cable in the cargo bay. We could use that! Harlan: Let's do it. Come on, let's go. (They all leave. Harlan and Catalina in the Engine Room.) Catalina: (talking to the empty air beside her) This should do it, right, Suzee? Good. I'm glad you agree. (Harlan rolls his eyes as she plugs one end of the long cable into the protomix master.) Harlan: Good. Let's go. (He goes back to where Radu is standing next to the jumptube, and first Harlan and then Radu go head-first down the tube. The corridor. Harlan and Radu are stringing the cable along, and we hear a door open. Both of them run to the nearest jumptube and rush down it, just as Thelma walks by. She jumps over the cable on the floor, but doesn't even seem to notice it. Bova and Miss Davenport take the cable through the entrance tube into the Team Room, then right back up the exit tube. Rosie and Commander Goddard stick their heads up out of an entrance tube, and crawl out into the Girls' Bunkroom. Rosie slides open the bottom panel of the door, and both of them duck under it, taking the cable along with them. Back to Miss Davenport and Bova as they finish threading the cable through the exit tube, then crawl up themselves. Harlan and Commander Goddard come out into the corridor. Davenport is standing there.) Goddard: This plan's taking too long. It's not gonna work. Harlan: And I suppose you've got a better one. Goddard: That's right. You send me out the airlock, and when Neinsteen pulls - Harlan: - stein. Goddard: Whatever. When the probe pulls me back in, I'll pretend to be unconscious. And when his guard is down, zap him with a laser stick. Harlan: Hey! The airlock is not a toy. It's dangerous out there! You're gonna get yourself killed, and the rest of us in a whole lot of trouble. Goddard: Okay, genius. What if you can't short-circuit you-know-who? Davenport: Well, the shock will certainly distract Neinstein. Maybe that's when we can disengage him from the ship's computer. Goddard: And which one of us is that fast at the computer? Huh? Huh? No one. Davenport: I am. (Goddard rolls his eyes. Harlan grins, nods his head towards Miss Davenport, and goes to leave through the exit tube. Command Post. Thelma is entering, with Miss Davenport, Bova, and Rosie.) Thelma: There is a delegation here to see Neinstein. Neinstein: What is it now? You know we don't like children in our command post! Davenport: We've come to talk to you about your nine commandments. (Outside shot, then cut to Boys' Bunkroom. Commander Goddard is in there alone.) Goddard: This is gonna work great. (Using a CompuPad, he brings an EVA suit down from the ceiling.) Goddard: Okay, Mr. Nine-thing, get ready for Seth Goddard! Commander Seth Goddard. STARDOG. (Command Post.) Davenport: We can handle commandments one, five, and seven. Just for two, three, and eight - I mean, honestly! Neinstein: Enough! Your constant nattering is driving us crazy! By coming here, that alone deserves punishment. And by annoying us, the punishment will be greater still! Davenport: (in a quavering voice that belies her words) Uh, I'm not afraid of you! Neinstein: That will change, NOW! (Harlan and Radu come shooting out of the jump tubes, with the end of the cable, and run towards Neinstein.) Harlan: I gotcha! (He and Radu get pulled back as the cable turns out to be too short. They try frantically to pull the cable a few inches further, so that it will reach Neinstein, but it is not budging.) Harlan: Whoa! Uh-oh! Neinstein: You fools. You're going to be sorry you did this. Very sorry. Very, very sorry! (An image of Commander Goddard appears on the screen.) Neinstein: What is he doing? (While the probe's back is turned, Radu and Harlan re-double their efforts, but still can't get the cable to reach. Bova runs to help them, using himself as a conductor between the cable and the probe, but he can't reach it, either.) Davenport: It's all your fault! You drive him to try something insane with your inhuman rules! (The image explodes, and she screams. The next second, Commander Goddard comes shooting out of the jumptubes with a conductor rod.) Goddard: Bova! Catch! (He tosses the rod to Bova, who catches it and touches it to the probe.) Bova: Tag! You're it! (There is electricity flowing directly to the probe now, through Bova.) Neinstein: You've made a miscalculation. You're not causing us to short-circuit! You're just giving us more power! Whoa, that feels funny! (Engine room.) Catalina: (to the empty air) More power? You're right, Suzee. The hyperdrive is our only chance. (turning to the engine controls) Okay, Mr. Nine-face. Eat this. Hyperdrive power! (She pushes down the crystal that activates the hyperdrive. Back to the Command Post. As the electricity increases, Bova starts to shake. The probe continues laughing - no weakness can be detected. Miss Davenport runs to the scanning station and works quickly. As the electric charge stops, the probe has fallen silent and dark.) Harlan: It worked! Davenport: I did it! Neinstein's disengaged from our computer! Goddard: Way to go, T.J.! (An older, bald man's face slides out from behind the probe's closed surfaces, and the crew looks at it in horror.) Neinstein: (speaking with only one voice now) My goodness! I guess I do owe you people an apology. And my deepest thanks. (Immediately, we see the entire crew relax, as they realize he means them no more harm.) Neinstein: For ages, we have floated through space, an assortment of personalities, angry, bitter, resentful of our fate. (We see Thelma going back to normal as well.) Neinstein: Unable to reach our true potential, since we were unable to function as a group. Bova: We can sure relate to that. (Everyone laughs a little.) Neinstein: And now, through fortunate happenstance, your actions have melded us into one. I relinquish control of your ship, and I have made some additional modifications that will benefit you in the future. I shall go now. You will not see me again. Harlan: Oh, wait, before you go - (He moves to stand behind the two "adults".) Harlan: - could you take care of one more thing? (Neinstein smiles.) Rosie: I thought you liked them better this way! Harlan: Well, I think we could use two less kids and two more adults, don't you? Radu: No arguments! Goddard: All right! I'll be a STARDOG! I'll be a commander! Davenport, isn't this great? Davenport (under her breath) I can wait. Goddard: What? Davenport: I said I can't wait! Goddard: No, you said it with- Davenport: I know perfectly well what I said, young man! Goddard: Tell me I'll be taller than her! (An outside shot, of the ship preparing to go into hyperdrive, then cut to the Team Room. The adults are back to normal again, both sitting with perplexed looks on their faces.) Harlan: You don't remember anything? Neinstein turned you into twelve-year-olds! (They look at each other.) Davenport: It's all such a blur, like - like it happened years ago! Goddard: Well, it's good to know while you were in charge you handled everything smoothly - You did handle everything smoothly, didn't you? You didn't - trash the ship, or - Harlan: Commander, Commander! (indicates Catalina, Radu and himself with a hand gesture) Give us some credit, huh? (Radu and Catalina are standing against the wall, not really part of the conversation.) Radu: I guess we're lucky they don't remember anything. Catalina: Maybe lucky. Although, you know, it might have done them some good. Remembering what it was like to be kids again? (A pillow hits Catalina in the side of the head, and as she looks around, we see Miss Davenport smiling.) [End Credits]