The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Page #9

...A DARK, UNNERVINGLY PREHISTORIC CREATURE FLYING DIRECTLY AT US,

GROWING LARGER AND LARGER ON THE SCREEN, BUCKAROO UNAWARE OF ITS

EXISTENCE...

EXT. FIELD - LATE AFTERNOON174

Twilight enveloping a New Jersey meadow as a pair of DUCK HUNTERS and

their DOG takes advantage of the last half hour of fading daylight

as...

...that BLACK CREATURE wings overhead!175

176

The duck hunters confused, frightened, FIRING, as a reflex reaction to

this sudden threat from above!

177

CLOSE ON the AWFUL BLACK CREATURE HIT, swooping low with a horrible

shudder!

The hunters transfixed...178

DUCK HUNTERS:

My God! What the hell...

The FRIGHTFUL sound of the CREATURE'S FAILING LUNGS...a terrific noise

as the duck hunters hurry to where their unnatural kill hangs obscured

in a gigantic tree...their dog running ahead, intent on retrieving this

unusual "BIRD"...

EXT. TREE - LATE AFTERNOON179

The heavy-footed hunters SLOSHING THROUGH WATER, the first hunter to

arrive on the scene using a sharp stick to poke at a BULGING BLADDER on

the bottom of the strange creature, the sac bursting and drenching the

hunter with a hideous viscous fluid...SPARKS! AND A STRANGE BLUE

DUST...

180

...as suddenly AN ENORMOUS SPHERE drops out of the tree and begins

rolling toward the hunter who poked that sac...

DUCK HUNTERS:

Jesus Christ--! What is it?

The other hunter following the ODD SPERE as it backs his buddy into a

shallow swamp...the thing coming to a stop and...

181

...A BLACK MAN with dreadlocks emerging from the top of the weird

vessel, trying to balance himself when he slips and crashes to the

ground, his neck breaking...a beam from his dropped 'flashlight'

revealing him in death to be not a black man, but a BLACK ALIEN WITH A

THREE-FINGERED HAND...

182

...the hunters terrified as their dog starts snarling at the tree where

now a second BLACK MAN has emerged, running for the road, jumping the

fence like a gazelle...

183

...the hunters not seeing this second individual, obsessed instead with

a BUCKAROO BANZAI COMIC BOOK they've discovered in the dead alien's

fingers.

1ST HUNTER

It's the latest issue!

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - TWILIGHT184

Buckaroo still on his MOTORCYCLE in pursuit of the van, taking a daring

shortcut down a treacherous hillside...

INT. VAN - TWILIGHT185

Alien John Bigbooté at the wheel, alien John Gomez riding shotgun, in

high spirits, cradling a DRY CELL BATTERY, his strange tongue upon it,

getting high...his teeth glowing.

Bigbooté turning in his seat, overhearing alien John O'Connor operating

a RADIO in the rear of the speeding van...

JOHN O'CONNOR

What? A black ship? Where?

(listening)

A black thermopod's been shot down ten miles back.

JOHN BIGBOOTÉ

A black thermopod here? On Earth?! Why, John Gomez? Why?

John Bigbooté looking at John Gomez for any possible explanation.

JOHN GOMEZ:

John Whorfin...maybe they know he's escaped!

JOHN O'CONNER

How? How could they possibly know? They're more than three trillion

six hundred sixty million miles away.

JOHN BIGBOOTÉ

(jerking the wheel)

They know everything! I told Whorfin to sit tight. This could be the

end of us all! We gotta get Banzai's Overthruster and get off this

rock!

EXT. VAN - TWILIGHT186

The van making a 180( turn!

INT. VAN - TWILIGHT187

John Bigbooté yelling back to John O'Connor:

JOHN BIGBOOTÉ

Where was it, John O'Connor? How far back?

JOHN O'CONNOR

I have a radio fix...

John Gomez opening the glove compartment, taking out a pistol:

JOHN GOMEZ:

Death to the enemy!

JOHN O'CONNOR

Death to the enemy--! Kill or die!

John Bigbooté just driving...his strange eyes set.

EXT. ROAD - TWILIGHT188

Buckaroo rounding a curve on his motorcycle when that van is suddenly

upon him, coming head on!

Buckaroo just having a split-second to catch the logo 'Yoyodyne' on the

front of the van as he swerves into a ditch to avoid certain death...

189

...Buckaroo quickly restarting the motorcycle and taking out A SWISS

ARMY LIGHTER/MINIATURE TWO-WAY RADIO, making a call to:

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Rawhide. Come in. Over.

INT. PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM - TWILIGHT190

Back in the press conference room, the anxious Cavaliers try to help

several LAW ENFORCEMENT TYPES reconstruct the professor's kidnapping.

A TINY BUZZER going off in Rawhide's pocket: his SWISS ARMY CIGARETTE

LIGHTER. Rawhide turns his Back on everyone, taking out a pack of

Luckies, lighting up as he talks quietly into the FLAME:

RAWHIDE:

Over, Buckaroo. What's up? Where in Hades are you? I'm getting a

lotta static.

EXT. ROAD - TWILIGHT191

Buckaroo pushing and shoving his motorcycle onto a woodland path...IT

IS GETTING QUITE DARK...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

That's me. I've been ionized, but I'm okay. I'm, switching on the

homing beacon, mark two minute intervals.

RAWHIDE:

Buckaroo, somebody shanghaied the Professor!

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

The deuce you say.

(realizing)

That crate!

INT. PRESS CONFERENCE ROOM - TWILIGHT192

Elsewhere in the room, nervous and concerned, Penny Priddy sits apart

from the others, thumping the keys of a piano...

RAWHIDE:

What crate?

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

I think I'm on to something. You and the guys go back to the house and

dig up everything you can on an outfit called Yoyodyne.

RAWHIDE:

(into flame)

Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems? You think they're mixed up in this?

...Reno sitting down next to Penny at the piano, his wounded arm in a

sling but his fingers nimble as ever...

PENNY PRIDDY:

How long you been riding with Buckaroo, Reno?

RENO:

Nigh on ten years. Been through a lotta scrapes together.

PENNY PRIDDY:

What'd you do before? Can I ask?

RENO:

Government work. Had my own think tank. Got tired of thinking-wanted

some action. Seen plenty of it too. So will you if you stick around.

PENNY PRIDDY:

Where's Buckaroo? Is he alive?

RENO:

Course he's alive. He's Buckaroo Banzai.

Rawhide calling from across the room...

RAWHIDE:

All right. Let's go! We got our work cut out for us tonight!

Reno getting up, Penny unsure at that moment whether she's being

included, as those steely eyes of Rawhide zero in on her...

RAWHIDE:

You, too, Miss Penny.

EXT. ROAD - NIGHT193

Darkness as Buckaroo races on, the taillights of the van far ahead...

INT. VAN - NIGHT194

John Gomez now sharing his DRY CELL BATTERY with John O'Connor, the two

of them singing a SONG from their home planet...

...John Bigbooté at the wheel, preoccupied, refusing their offer of a

toke on the battery with:

JOHN BIGBOOTÉ

No thanks, I'm driving.

EXT. CRASH SITE - NIGHT195

The Yoyodyne van approaching the scene of the downed spacecraft, the

headlights of the single HIGHWAY PATROL CAR illuminating the CORPSE OF

THE DEAD CREATURE in the water...the HIGHWAY PATROLMAN pulling the

figure out of the water, the hunters standing by...

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN

Hand me that tarp. Let's cover this guy...

2ND HUNTER

What guy? He's got paws.

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