"Space Cases multimedia with a quirky attitude."

The Impossible Dram

[Teaser] [Opening Credits] [Act One] [Act Two]

Initial Credits:

Producer: Irene Litinsky
Production Designer: Real Proulx
Director of Photography: Marc Charlebois
Original Music Score: Jeff Fisher
Editor: Jean Beaudoin
Written by: Peter David and Bill Mumy
Director: Otta Hanus

[TEASER]

(We see Catalina in her uniform, standing in the middle of a strange group of people. Slowly, we realize that they are the crew. Harlan and Commander Goddard are dressed as knights in a sword fight. Thelma and Miss Davenport are court ladies. Bova is a king and Rosie is a queen, with long curls. Radu is the court jester. He juggles some balls, then gives them to Catalina to try. She drops them, and he leads everyone in laughing at her... Miss Davenport and Thelma, Rosie, Bova, and Harlan and Goddard. As Thelma speaks, we go to the Girl's Bunkroom. She is shaking Catalina, who is sleeping with her head on her arms.)

Thelma: Catalina... Catalina...

Catalina: (lifting her head up) Oh, I think I was dreaming.

Thelma: You sound unsure.

Catalina: Saturnians don't dream all that much. And I almost never do.

Thelma: Why not?

Catalina: I just - don't. And of all the things to dream about, a reading assignment for Miss Davenport. I can't even get away from schoolwork in my sleep!

(Thelma picks up an old book and reads the title.)

Thelma: Earth. The Middle Ages. It's about growing old.

Catalina: (laughs) No! It's about a time in Earth history that had knights in armor, castles, crusades...

(Thelma pages through the book.)

Thelma: Oh. Those Middle Ages. The time of the bubonic plague. The Black Death. Smallpox.

(She gives the book back to Cat, who sets it down.)

Catalina: It was a time of adventure, Thelma. Of chivalry. Old Earth was an interesting place.

(She tries to juggle some balls, but misses, and they fall on the ground.)

Catalina: I'm sorry I missed it.

Thelma: Speaking about missing things...

(Cat remembers she forgot to do something.)

Thelma: ...Rosie is in the Team Room, wondering...

Catalina: I was supposed to meet her there for a game of Minbar chess!

(Thelma nods.)

Catalina: Thanks for reminding me, Thelma.

(She gives Thelma a thumbs up.)

Catalina: You're a pal.

(Thelma awkwardly gives a thumbs up as Catalina walks over to the jump tube.)

Thelma: Uh, you punched in the wrong code. That won't take you to the -

(Cat goes down the tube.)

Thelma: - Team Room.

(Cut to an outside shot of the ship, with a cryopod floating by. Then cut to Catalina shooting out into the corridor. She yawns.)

Catalina: Wait a minute. Suzee? Isn't this the entrance to the landing bay? (sighs) Oh, this crazy jumptube system - I can't even find -

(The airlock door opens, and we see Dram silhouetted in it, clad in old-fashioned-looking armor. He enters into the room, pointing a long sword in front of him.)

Dram: Danger! All around! And there are none to save you...

[END OF TEASER]

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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: Jim Bradford as Dram

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[ACT ONE]

(Outside shot of the ship.)

Goddard: (voice-over) You're positive someone came in through the landing bay.

(Cut to Harlan and Commander Goddard walking down the corridor. They turn the corner and see Cat and Dram standing there.)

Harlan: That's what the indicator said on the control console.

Dram: Danger at every turn. I shall protect you, my dear, now that we are reunited.

Goddard: What's going on here? Who are you?

Dram: (standing and drawing his sword) Take care, varlet. Or I will smite you!

Goddard: You'll smite me?

Harlan: He smite. Or he smite not!

(Harlan laughs, and Dram charges at him.)

Catalina: Wait! No! Wait! Hold it! Commander!

Goddard: Band! Stay back! Put that down, that's a direct order! Band! Stay back!

(Cat jumps on Commander Goddard's back while Harlan darts and dodges around Dram, who is trying to skewer him.)

Goddard: Cat! Let go! Can't anyone here follow an order?

Catalina: Commander, I had it under control!

(Harlan twists Dram's arm into a hold, when suddenly Dram stops trying to fight him.)

Dram: Can it be you? My old squire! Pisanyo.

Catalina: Yeah! That's Pisanyo, just like I'm -

Dram: Mirabella, my beloved daughter!

Catalina: Your - daughter.

Goddard: Cat? What are you doing?

Dram: Ignore him, Mirabella, he thinks you're a cat!

Goddard: So speaks the man who thinks he's a knight!

Dram: Thinks? I am Dram, knight of Cervantes, and I am come to protect you from the deadliest dangers!

Catalina: No - these guys aren't dangerous!

Dram: I speak of the monster that walks among you. We must search this place, find it, and destroy it.

(Command Post. Miss Davenport is entering. Radu stands at the central control console.)

Davenport: Radu, where is everyone?

Radu: An unauthorized ship docked in the landing bay.

(We see the small ship on the screen.)

Davenport: To whom does it belong?

Radu: According to the commander, a man who thinks he's a knight from Old Earth.

Davenport: Thelma!

Thelma: (appearing out of nowhere) Yes, Miss Davenport.

Davenport: Who let an unauthorized vessel into the landing bay?

Thelma: The Christa did.

Davenport: The Christa did. You're telling me the ship made that decision?

Thelma: Oh, yes. Do not worry. The Christa is an excellent judge of character.

Davenport: And how do you know that?

Thelma: It let you in.

(Miss Davenport and Radu both shrug and concede the point. We then cut to Dram chasing Bova down the hallway with his sword. They go into the Team Room, and while Cat and Harlan try to stop Dram, he says his line.)

Dram: Have at thee! Now, bug-creature, you who serve the mighty monster, prepare for my fearsome charge!

(Bova shocks Dram, and Harlan and Cat run over to him.)

Catalina: Bova! How could you have hurt him?

Bova: I should have just let him stab me. What was I thinking?

Dram: The bug-creature is a friend of yours, Mirabella?

(Catalina nods.)

Dram: My apologies, bug-creature. I took you to be working for the great monster whom I truly seek.

Harlan: What great monster?

Dram: An ancient and evil creature that leeches away your energy and will to live like a soul-sucking vampire. We must find it, before it finds -

(Rosie and Commander Goddard come in.)

Rosie: Hi! What's all the excitement?

(Dram goes to pull out his sword, but Cat and Harlan stop him.)

Dram: Zounds! A talking radish monster!

Goddard: That's it! Outside.

(Harlan, Cat, and Dram leave with Commander Goddard.)

Rosie: A radish monster?

Bova: At least you're not a bug.

(Harlan, Cat, Dram, and Commander Goddard enter the hallway.)

Dram: Unhand me, Pisanyo!

(Harlan lets go of him.)

Goddard: Give me the sword, Don Quixote.

Dram: This oaf is harassing me again! Who are you to relieve a knight errant of his weapon?

Catalina: He's the commander of the ship.

Dram: The lord of this majestic vessel?

Goddard: Yeah, the lord of the vessel. Fine. Now just hand me the -

Dram: The king of this realm? My humblest apologies, sire. Of course, I should have realized. Your regal bearing, that noble brow. What else could you be but a king?

(Commander Goddard smiles smugly for a moment. He then notices Cat and Harlan, who are chuckling, and he turns serious again.)

Goddard: So here's a royal order. Give me the sword.

(Dram removes it and gives it to him.)

Dram: Treat it well.

(He leaves. Harlan and Catalina bow to Commander Goddard, who looks annoyed at them.

Command Post. Miss Davenport, Thelma and Radu are still looking at the ship on the screen.)

Davenport: It's definitely some sort of one-man escape pod. But it's much too small a vessel to have a faster-than-light drive.

Thelma: It could be a cryopod.

Radu: You mean, for suspended animation?

Davenport: A cryonic suspension pod! Jettisoned from a larger ship in emergency, yes, it makes sense! I just wish we knew more about him.

Radu: Thelma? Couldn't the escape pod have some sort of ship's log or data crystal on it?

Thelma: Yes. But such escape pods sometimes come equipped with booby traps to protect their passengers. Entering it could be extremely hazardous. I wonder who should go in after it?

(Radu and Miss Davenport both look at her pointedly.)

Thelma: I wonder why I asked?

(Engine Room. Cat, Harlan and Dram are just entering.)

Dram: I sense it... it's... it's nearby... no. No, I thought I did. Forgive me, Mirabella, at my age it's easy to become confused sometimes.

(Cut to Radu and Miss Davenport waiting outside the Airlock.)

Radu: Thelma, are you okay in there?

Davenport: She'll be fine! It's just a precaution. I'm sure she's not in any real danger.

(They hear a sizzling noise, and they both wince. Thelma comes out, blackened and with teeth missing, and carrying something.)

Radu: Thelma?

Thelma: This data crystal was in the escape pod. It might be of some use.

Davenport: (taking it tentatively) Good work, Thelma.

Radu: Are you okay?

(Thelma makes strange whirring noises, then walks into the wall, twice.

Boys' Bunkroom. Bova is sitting at the table, working with several vials. Harlan and Dram come in.)

Harlan: Bova. You still working on that same experiment?

Bova: Not any more. This was my last try at it. You guys were right. It was impossible.

Dram: What was your intention?

Bova: To create an artificial oxygen formula.

Harlan: The idea was that you could drink it and then breathe in a vacuum.

(Dram picks up Bova's vial.)

Harlan: We tried to tell him that it was -

Dram: Impossible, yes. Ridiculous, even. What were you thinking of, bug-creature?

Bova: I don't know.

(Dram studies the liquid in the vial, then sets the vial back on Bova's table.)

Dram: You put in three parts dichlorite?

(Bova nods.)

Dram: Try two next time.

(Harlan and Dram leave. Bova yawns, and then we hear a strange noise. Bova and the camera spin around to see - a sweatshirt lying on someone's bed.

Harlan and Dram are entering the Girls' Bunkroom. Rosie and Cat are already inside. Harlan stops and lets Dram enter first.)

Dram: Ah, Mirabella, my dear.

Catalina: Good, we were waiting...

(We see a strange noise again, and Dram starts looking around.)

Dram: It's here!

Harlan: Oh, not the monster thing again!

Dram: Again I am mistaken.

Harlan: Gee - there's a shock!

Catalina: Harlan!

(He looks at her as if to say, "What?" Then he leaves.

Harlan walks down the hallway. He yawns, and again, we spin around to see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary behind him, although we hear strange noises, and the picture distorting, as if from some strange creature's point-of-view.)

Harlan: He's getting to me!

(He goes down the jumptubes. We hear Commander Goddard speaking before the scene changes.)

Goddard: (voice-over) Well, you people beat me to it.

(Cut to the Command Post. Commander Goddard is checking out the data crystal.)

Goddard: Checking out his craft for clues was the next thing I was gonna do. Good initiative.

Davenport: It was Mr. Radu's suggestion. Two Brownie points, Mr. Radu.

Radu: Uh, we couldn't have done it without Thelma.

Goddard: Well done, Thelma. (yawns) Oh, excuse me. Well, let's check out this data crystal, shall we?

Thelma: Excellent idea, Pierre. The corn muffins look scrumptious today!

(She falls over.)

Goddard: After we fix Thelma.

(Girls' Bunkroom. Dram, Cat and Rosie are still there.)

Dram: Tell me, Mirabella, what do you dream of?

Catalina: Nothing. Really.

Dram: My child, I don't believe that for a moment. A child of mine. With no dreams. That would be a worse ordeal than any monster I might hope to encounter.

(The door opens.)

Dram: The monster!

Catalina: (turning) Holy grozit! It's hideous!

(Commander Goddard comes in, looks behind himself briefly, then realizes she's referring to him.)

Goddard: Very funny.

Dram: My humblest apologies, Sire. I leapt before I looked.

Goddard: Ladies? (motions toward the hallway) A moment, please?

(The two girls go out in the corridor with him.)

Goddard: We have to talk about Dram.

Rosie: He seems nice enough, Commander.

Catalina: Yeah, maybe he could stay a while.

Goddard: Cat, that's not possible.

Catalina: Commander, just because he's a little weird - What's the harm?

Goddard: Cat - he's dying.

[END OF ACT ONE]

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[ACT TWO]

(Outside shot, then cut to the Command Post. Catalina, Radu, Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard are there.)

Catalina: Is Dram really -

Davenport: He's very ill, Catalina.

Goddard: It was all in the data crystal of his cryopod. There were medical records, file footage -

Davenport: He comes from one of the outer rim colonies. He was very rich, very, very respected. The illness affected his mind first. Gave him his delusion about being a knight. Screen on.

(The screen shows the story as she tells it.)

Davenport: His behavior became more and more irrational, until his daughter, Mira, decided she couldn't take care of him any longer. She had to send him to a medical facility, the closest one being at Tau Ceti, to be cared for until he -

Goddard: - passed on. (yawns) Excuse me.

Radu: We think his transport ship was attacked. Possibly by the Spung. Both the ships were destroyed, apparently. But Dram was put into suspended animation in an escape pod and ejected before that happened. He had been floating in space for several years before the pod's automatic systems latched on to us.

Catalina: Well, could we put him back into the pod? Into suspended animation? He'd be asleep - but alive.

Davenport: No. The seal's broken, Catalina.

Catalina: Well then, how - how about if we -

Goddard: There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry.

(Boys' Bunkroom. Bova is still sitting at the table.)

Bova: Oxygen experiment, day thirty-two. Okay, I took Dram's suggestion.

(Bova mixes some liquid in one of his vials. Suddenly he yawns and falls over.

Team Room. Harlan is doing a handstand. As we watch, he turns right-side up.)

Dram: Oh! It's not a noble thing to admit, Pisanyo, but I envy you. I have an old body with a young soul. We seem so different. But the only thing that separates the young from the old is time's passage. But we are running out of time, good squire - we must go to the foe.

Harlan: But we searched the ship!

Dram: Then we must look again!

Harlan: Dram, Dram, look. There's no - (yawns) No monsters on the ship.

Dram: You see? It fatigues you. It influences me, too. But I fight it. So must you. Otherwise, how can we protect Mirabella?

(Catalina comes shooting out of the tubes.)

Catalina: I can protect myself! Especially since there's nothing there.

Dram: If you believe there to be nothing, how can you know to protect yourself? Demons think to take you away. When they threaten those who are dear to me, they shall pay dearly in return.

Catalina: Wait here. Okay?

(She leaves, and Harlan follows her.

Corridor.)

Harlan: (putting a hand on her shoulder) Where do you think you're going?

Catalina: To do something. Maybe we can stage a quest! Create a holographic monster that he can find, and -

Harlan: Cat, what is it with you and this crazy old guy?

Catalina: It's none of your business. Look, he's decent, and proud, and he deserves a lot better than to be called a crazy old guy. He deserves to be a knight, fighting for... whatever knights fight for. He deserves to live his dream. Not dream his life.

(She yawns, then walks away.

Command Post. Commander Goddard yawns, then falls to his knees. Miss Davenport rushes over to him.)

Davenport: Commander, what's happening?

Goddard: I don't know - I just -

(He falls over.)

Davenport: Rosie! Rosie! Call for help.

(She goes over and finds that Rosie is slumped across her control panel.)

Davenport: Oh, dear. Come on, now. Wake up!

(She yawns, too. We see Catalina coming through the jump tubes, and shooting out into the Command Post.)

Catalina: Commander!

(We see Commander Goddard sprawled on the floor.)

Davenport: Catalina... thank heavens...

(We see Rosie sprawled on the floor as well.)

Catalina: What happened?

Davenport: I don't know...

(Catalina goes over to Commander Goddard and tries to pull him up.)

Catalina: Commander! Wake up!

Davenport: You have to do something...

Catalina: Don't you see? Dram was -

(She drops Commander Goddard on his face.)

Catalina: Sorry, Commander. (to Miss Davenport) Dram was right! There's something on this ship that's draining us of our energy. It has to be stopped! It -

(We hear another noise and turn, to once again see nothing but the strange twisted point-of-view again. Cat jumps up, grabs Dram's sword and leaves.

Radu is stumbling down a corridor.)

Radu: What's going on around here?

(As a door opens, he falls over.)

Radu: Thelma! Something's causing everybody on the ship to pass out! We've got to do something about it - got to fix it!

Thelma: Not a problem, Radu.

(She goes over to him and pulls him to his feet.)

Thelma: I have been affecting additional repairs on myself, and am now operating at peak efficiency.

Radu: It's good to see you're okay again, Thelma.

Thelma: Not a problem, Radu. I have been affecting additional repairs on myself, and am now operating at (computer noises) - peak efficiency.

Radu: (sleepily) Terrific.

(He falls over again.

Team Room. Dram is talking to Harlan.)

Dram: Were you and Mirabella exchanging words of romance earlier? I saw it in her eyes - if not in yours.

Harlan: Romance? Cat and me? No, that's nuts.

Dram: The only thing more insane than falsehood is truth.

(Catalina enters, carrying the sword.)

Catalina: We're in trouble!

(She gives the sword to Dram.)

Catalina: Here. Dram, you'll need this. And we need you.

Dram: I shall not fail!

Harlan: Cat?!

(He leaves, and the two kids run after him.

Outside shot, cutting to the corridor.)

Harlan: I don't get this!

Catalina: Dram knew that there would be something wrong before there was - he must know what he's doing!

Harlan: Well, maybe he's the cause of it! Everything was fine till he - till he showed up.

(They both yawn.)

Dram: You doubt me, Pisanyo? And you, Mirabella?

(Catalina shakes her head.)

Dram: I say the monster lurks just ahead!

Harlan: And I say -

(He falls to his knees, then to the ground. Cat is kneeling next to him. She yawns again.)

Dram: No, Pisanyo! Mirabella! Don't let it strike you down, too!

(He runs off.)

Catalina: No... wait...

(She staggers after him.

Engine Room.)

Dram: I should have realized that sooner or later, monster, you would return here, to the heart of the ship's power! Can you see it, Mirabella?

(She shakes her head.)

Dram: How can you not see it?

Catalina: Back in the Command Post... I thought... How can we fight something that's not there?

(We keep seeing flickerings of a huge dragon in front of the engine.)

Dram: It stands before us! Huge! Hideous! Turning our dreams to lies, our hopes to ashes!

(Catalina drops to her knees.)

Catalina: Even Suzee can't see it! It's like a dream...

Dram: (kneeling beside her) Exactly. Look. Let your young eyes see through my old ones. Dream of glory. Dream of life. And dare to fight for both - if you believe in nothing else, believe in that. Fight, Mirabella, fight!

(Catalina looks up, and the dragon flickerings suddenly take on near-solid clarity.)

Catalina: I see it...

Dram: Yes!

Catalina: I see it!

(Catalina sonic blasts. Dram gapes in astonishment, then stands and points his sword at the dragon-vision.)

Dram: Think not to run away, monster! Never, never whilst I live, it ends here!

Catalina: Wait!

(Dram waves his sword at the dragon-vision a few times.)

Dram: It ends in glory!

(He charges the dragon-vision, sending his sword into the protomix master, which starts to flash electricity. The dragon-vision writhes and fades.

We then see Cat waking up in the Medlab. The entire crew is around her - except Bova.)

Rosie: I think she's coming around.

Goddard: Welcome back to the land of the living.

Harlan: You had us worried there, ring-head.

Catalina: (sitting up) Wow. It was a dream! I don't believe it! I dreamt that there was this wonderful old man, who thought that he was...

(Everyone gets sad expressions and looks towards Dram's sword, sitting on a table nearby. Catalina walks over and picks it up.)

Catalina: So the monster...

Radu: There was no monster. The chemicals from his escape pod, the ones that put him into suspended animation? They leaked into the Christa's air systems. That's what was knocking everybody out.

Goddard: It even caused mild delusions playing to our fears. Or suggested fears.

Radu: Thelma and I sealed it off and fixed the imbalance.

Catalina: If that's what you want to believe, Radu, you go ahead. I know what I saw!

Harlan: You mean what you wanted to see.

Catalina: Same thing.

(We see the sword floating through space, then the same image on the Command Post screen.)

Catalina: He wouldn't have wanted it sitting on a shelf gathering dust. It's better this way. Symbolic. He'd have liked that.

Harlan: Yeah. He said that you liked me. Said, you know, you had feelings for me.

Catalina: In your dreams!

(Harlan smiles and walks off. Catalina rolls her eyes, then juggles some balls. We cut to an outside shot of the sword floating around.)

Dram: (voice-over) Dream of glory, Mirabella. Dream of life, and dare to fight for both. If you believe in nothing else, I say, believe in that!

[END CREDITS]

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