Andromeda (2000–2005): Season 5, Episode 1 - The Weight: Part 1 - full transcript

NARRATOR: Last time on
Gene Roddenberrys' Andromeda...

DYLAN: Talk to me.

Craft of unknown origin
under heavy attack

by three former
Commonwealth fighters.

We're being hailed.

Louisa Messereau,
out of Moira by Jordan.

Ambassador, this is
a treacherous region

to be traveling
without weapons.

I represent Arkology.
Our provenance is peace.

ANDROMEDA:
It is roughly
36 kilometers long, 8 wide,

with a 500,000-kilometer orbit.



Impressive.
A self-sustaining ecology.

I am returning from
a successful negotiation

with the Magog

on that great vehicle
they call "World ship."

Somebody tell me
that's not what I think it is.

The Magog had Arkology
targeted all along.

They've never
used tactics before.

I'm Marlowe.

Welcome home, Dylan.

Have you heard of the Paradine?

DYLAN: A doorway to
the many universes

and an entrance for evil.

Marlowe told me something.

He told me that I am
one of the Paradine.



Without a doubt
he is right.

When the dust clears,
we'll see each other again.

No. We will never be
together like this again.

[DISTANT EXPLOSION]

[SCREAMING]

We need to teach
these people
how to survive.

BEKA: They're powering up
a point-singularity weapon.

ANDROMEDA: These people,
they think there's beauty.

There isn't.

It's just darkness
reaching out at darkness.

DYLAN:
I've got to get
to the Andromeda.

This is graduation day.

I'll stay and fight
with these people.

No! Don't!

[SCREAMS]

What do you want?

I want what no one
else here seems
to want... to live.

ANDROMEDA:
The Magog
are puncturing my hull.

DYLAN:
Prep escape pods.

We've got to save
as many as we can.

[SOFTLY]
Not this time...

Then I guess
I'll die trying.

[GLASS SHATTERING]

[SIREN BLARING]

Find Dylan Hunt.

Andromeda, status
on the crew.

All of them
are dead.

DYLAN: Arm the nova bombs.
ANDROMEDA: All of them?

DYLAN: All of them!
ANDROMEDA: Done.

DYLAN: Fire!

ANDROMEDA: The Magog World ship
has suffered minimal damage.

The Route of Ages is for you.

If you stay
and you fight and die,

what will be the point
of these past four years?

[OPERA MUSIC PLAYING]

[DOOR CLOSING]

WOMAN:
Have you come home
from your past?

Dream, Dylan.

Dream...

[SCREAMING]

[DOOR CLOSES]

[DISTANT CHATTER]

MAN: [ECHOING] Intruder.

[DISTANT SOUNDS]

Intruder.

MAN 1: Where did you come from?
MAN 2: How did you get here?

DYLAN: Where am I?
MAN: Answer us!

DYLAN: How did I get here?

MAN 1: Why are you
without injury?

MAN 2: What pain have you
brought us?

Pain? What pain?
What are you
talking about?

[INDISTINCT WHISPERING]

MAN: Come.
Come this way. This way.

[SCREAMS]

[GASPS]

TRANCE: Goodbye, Rommie.

Rhade...

Beka...

Harper...

Goodbye...

DYLAN:
The universe
is a dangerous place,

but in our future,

my crew and I fight
to make it safe.

I am Dylan Hunt,

Captain of
the Andromeda Ascendant,

and these are
our adventures.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

MAN: [SOFT VOICE]
Pain... pain...

[GASPS]

I'm surprised.

Very, very, very,
very surprised.

How many "very"s
was that, do you know?

Came through
without a scratch.

Of course,
the fall could've
killed you.

No, I'm still alive.

I could use some water.

Things are starting to make
a little sense around here.

Tell me where I am.

I'll give you
the bloody details later.

Let's get you out of here.
They'll find us here.

They?
Everybody.

Of course.

You're on
the Planet Seefra-1.

Never heard of it.
What system?

Your guess is
as good as mine.

It'll be all right.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Glamorous Seefra.

[SCOFFS]

MAN: Stay clear.

My slipfighter.
I need
to get back to it.

Long gone.

Probably offered
as sacrifice

to some ill-guided
superstition

about escape
from drought.

Water is gold here.

Do you have a name?

Flavin.

Dylan.
I know.

How would you
know my name?

[WHOOSH]
Heads up!

[WHOOSH]
[EXPLOSION]

You got to watch
your step
around here.

That was an asteroid.

We get quite a few.

Especially
with new arrivals.

Wait.

That mountain.

The Scans.

I like to call it
"the hill of crap."

The superstition is,
and believe me,

we've got absolutely
no shortage

of superstitions
here,

those who go up
never come back.

Now, that's catchy.

I got to remember that-
good, solid irony.

Oh, boy.
She's going to blow.

This way.
What's gonna blow?

What are you doing?

AUTOMATED VOICE:
Good afternoon,
Denizens of Seefra,

or good night, depending on
the rotation of your location.

This is the voice of Virgil,
sending the dreams...

Only a few
thrive here.

The rest end up
dead or broken.

Thanks for bringing
me in here.

MAN: Get out of here, Flavin,

and take the intruder
with you.

ALL:
Intruder! Intruder!

Welcome
to The Carnival-

the hall of mirrors,

the convention
of myopic ignoramuses.

ALL SHOUTING:
Intruder!

[GROANS]

[LAUGHS]

Nice place.

Get him
out of here.

Look, fellas,
I got nowhere to go.

[GROANS]

ALL SHOUTING:
Intruder! Intruder!

Well, at least
I'm making new friends.

Welcome to Seefra,

where they've never met
a visitor they didn't like,

or, in some cases,
want to eat.

[SHOUTS] Now!

[GROANS]

It hurts, doesn't it?

[CRACKING]

[BONE CRACKING]

[LAUGHING]

[GROANS]

[GRUNTS]

[BOTH GROANING]

[GROANING]

Thanks.

Okay, I guess I met everybody.

[WHOOSHING]

Sun's gone out.
Let's roll.

"Sun's gone out"?

I'll need an explanation
for that one too.

ALL SHOUTING:
Intruder! Intruder!

DYLAN:
They're not
so crazy about you

here on Seefra.

True, but you...
you're new.

They'll want you dead.

That's just because

they haven't seen
my sunny side yet.

You've definitely got
an expiration date.

Thomas has got a guy
to do his real dirty work.

Thomas?

So there's somebody
running the show here?

Check.
He's the head spook.

This room...
I know.

I know.
It's familiar.

The eccentricities of Seefra,
everything looks familiar.

Hallucinations, fatigue,
drunken stupor,
superstition,

or just
run-of-the-mill weirdness.

You choose.

Like the mountain.
The Scans?

Whoever made this place
went over that big hill

and never came back.

You can't get
there from here.

"You can't get there
from here,"

that should be
this place's motto.

You have.
You have!

ALL:
The book. The book.

I am.

I am!

ALL: Our friend.

Until? Until?

ALL:
The end. The end.

Are you feeling willful?

Who could defeat
such a man?

You saw his weapons.

Help us.
Why not help yourselves?

Get off your fat
pelvic bones and
save yourselves.

Go. Go!

Take care of the intruder.

[ALL MURMURING]

Exactly. Exactly.

I will query this man.

Perhaps he will
be useful to us.

And his machinery.

He came in a ship.
Yes, I know.

He was thrown through.

What if he
charted his route?

[EXCLAIMS]

I am dry.

You forgot the ice.

Rocks. Of course.

[ALL EXCLAIMS]

[ALL EXCLAIM]

All blood and treasure
on the planet Seefra-1

must be ours.
ALL: Yes.

You hear me?
Must be ours!

As leader of
this community,

give me what's right,
not what's left.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

[SILENCE]

I dominate.

I need not lead.

So...
here's the layout.

Seefra-1 is in a system
of nine planets
and two suns.

Nine planets,
each identical
to the other.

Hall of mirrors.

Here's where we are,
and here's the hilarity,

this sun on the right

gets pretty wacky
when someone arrives.

Boom, pop,
and with the exception
of you

a pile of fast-arriving
smithereens.

How often do you get
new arrivals?

Some days we
get four or five,

then some months,
not a soul.

Most of it isn't pretty.

It's been quiet lately,

though we had
a nice batch last month.

Describe them.

No one like you,
if that's what
you're asking.

But you said
people come and go.

They come and go.

They don't come and go
and come back.

Paranoia and, above
all, superstition

run this town,
hence your
warm reception.

If you're looking
for a grid, a chart

some recognizable
constellation,

the Peaks of Monjo,
the Belt of Thesaurus...

forget it.

What's with
the Slipfighter?

This kind of technology
is strictly forbidden
on Seefra.

Why would it be forbidden?

FLAVIN:
Thomas never
gives the details,

and the puppets
on this planet
never ask questions.

You'll catch on to it
after a while.

I don't have a while.

Me neither.

It's my one shot
at getting out

of this lovely corner
of the universe.

So you know
how to get out?

If the fine citizens
of this place see this,

I'm dead meat.

They think
the lack of technology
keeps them safe.

They kill you
for embracing it.

Speaking of
getting killed,
this plan of yours

doesn't stand
a chance.

I'll take those odds.

You stay here a while,
you'll feel the same.

Well, I'm not planning
on spending too
much time here.

Going up
the Scans, are you?

Leaders tumble.
Legends fall.

The crowd jumps
to its feet
with a roar.

Then we start over.

I'm pretty good at that.

Good at what?

Starting over.

You're one
that'll make it back,

but you'll come
back different.

After what I've
been through
the last two days,

what could possibly
make it worse?

Exactly.

[GLASS SCREECHING]

I have an intruder
for you to
take care of.

[MAN WHISPERS]
You want me
to kill now?

Is that part
of our deal?

Modify your behavior
or I will let loose.

Remember, I can
make superstition
turn very ugly.

Crowds can do
very ugly things.

Committees gone wild.

Assemblies jump
into panic.

I can whip that up.

You're the boss.

Yes, I am.

Leaders tumble.
Legends fall.

The crowd jumps
to its feet with a roar.

[DISTANT EXPLOSION]

[GASPS]

This place is nuts.

That's impossible.

[EXPLODES]

Hello, Rhade.

Interesting new
arrival, I'm told.

So I hear.

And I'm listening.

He came through smooth,
like you.

And you.

Who is he?

Someone who
needs help,
like you.

And you.

No, I'm happy
as a clam,
not like you.

[SCOFFS]

Thomas wants him dead.

FLAVIN:
Is that a problem
for you?

Haven't you already
sunk as low as you can?

Maybe...

but I wear my sorrow
like a badge.

A badge? Indeed.

I take it as a sign, a symbol
that you could be happier.

You know you will be.

This arrival
is good news for you.

Good news, good tidings...
sunny days, merry music.

They're all gone,

blown away like the dust

that covers
this pleasant
little hellhole.

"Pleasant
little hellhole."

Sorry, that's a little too
Nietzschean-on-the-verge-of-
the-apocalypse kind of thing

for me to get
truly behind it.

I protect you because
you make me laugh.

Come on.
Who is he?

He is a walking seminar
on the bright side of life.

I only know moonlight.

All right.
Full moon, then.

A silvery moon
to dance by?

I don't know
about dancing,

but you've certainly got
that "beat of your own drum"
thing going.

You have no idea.

[BUZZING]

[BEEPS]

MAN: Excellent.
WOMAN: Okay, gentlemen.

See your mom?
Look at your mom.

WOMAN: Careful.
Now give me a wave.

Hi.
WOMAN: Now, be careful.

MAN: Okay, now,
we have to...

[EXCLAIMS]
[WOMAN LAUGHS]

MAN:
That didn't
work out, did it?

Never, never--

"Never, never give up."

MAN: Remember that, Dylan.
Never give up.

I'm on Tarn-Vedra.

[BUZZ]

Rhade!

Dylan.

Rhade, my god!
I can't believe it.

How did you
get here?

Went through
the Route of Ages.
How did you get here?

I have no idea.

I was fighting on Arkology

and there was a flash
of white light,

and I was here.

What about Beka? Harper?

Come with me
if you want.

I could offer you wine,
nourishment.

We can talk
about our sorrows.

You have quarters here?

I live in the hallway
of broken dreams,

where lost love found me
and threw her chilly arms
around me.

What's the matter
with you?

With me?

I was just wondering...
The Commonwealth.

What was it?

Was it love?
Or lies?

Just like Louisa.
Love or lies.

Nothing means anything.

I feel nothing.
But loss.

We both feel the loss
of what happened, Rhade.

I held the dying
Louisa in my arms.

Tears clouded my vision.

I turned to the doorway...

[GROWLING]

That was nine months ago.

That can't be.

I've been here two days.

A day, a lifetime...

What does it matter in
a world we are all lost in?

Come on.
You can't accept that.

Let me know
when you do.

Maybe it's best
if you don't come
with me.

We'll see each
other again.
It's a small world.

I'll buy you a drink
at the saloon tomorrow.

Talk about old times...
if that's what they were.

It'll be like graduation day.

Remember?

[WHISPERS]
All I want now
is vengeance

to wrap around
your stinking hope.

ALL:
Intruder! Intruder!

Intruder! Intruder!

[INDISTINCT CHANTING]

You know, I'm not
in the mood, okay?

Life... will forever
be a deadly enterprise.

With only one sad end,

and there's only
one solution.

Deny exploration.

And embrace exploitation.

To be milked
is to be free.

Okay. Have a nice day.

Does dying alone
frighten you?

Do you fear the sudden
stop at the house
of mortality?

What do you do
at death's door?

Well, you know,
I never knock, 'cause it
drives him crazy.

The book instructs
me on how to
deal with intruders.

Get a rewrite.

[ALL GASP]

This is Tarn-Vedra.

-Is it?
-I know what I saw.

The more vivid
the memory,

the more it seems like
it was just yesterday.

Get to the point.

The Route of Ages.

A whimsical term
from Vedran mythology,
"the Route of Ages"

originally referred
to the mystical road

which linked the houses
of the various Vedran Gods

in the celestial
city Etashi.

Etashl-tarn,
the capital of Tarn-Vedra,

takes its name
from that same
root Vedran word.

So you know
that this is Tarn-Vedra.

I know that
you are Paradine.

Takes one to know one.

Are you here
for thirst or business?

What difference
does it make?

Always concede to
the obvious,
bow to the inevitable.

Which brings me
back to you.

You, who are
here all alone.

Careful.

You're talking to me now.

I am Thomas.

THOMAS: Help!

Help!
Help!

That's what I do, remember?

No. Think of who I am.

No! Think what you
are doing, man!

You are of use to me...

so today, it's good
to be you.

I use you to find out
what is despicable
in myself.

What are my lows?

To where I have sunk?

To what are
my dwindling joys?

I will kill him.

Why are you
using the Route of Ages?

If you truly are Paradine,

You don't need it.

I've seen it.
It's, like, "poof!"
And you're out of here.

Doesn't work
that way here.

Believe me, I've tried.
I'm all poofed out.

No one comes or goes
that easily here,
except maybe you.

Me?
Yes. You.

I think all answers
lie through you.

I'll tell you
what I believe.

I believe
that this whole system

was manufactured
around Tarn-Vedra.

It's engineered.

It's why all the planets
look the same.

Suns don't blink
on and off.

And this town, this place,

it's a debris field
from a crashed starship.

You think it
might be yours?

Why not?

No place like home.

Yeah, no place like home.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Yeah, and a merry good day
to you folks too.

Can I buy
you a drink?

Sure.

As long as you're buying,
I'll take a double.

THOMAS: Dylan Hunt.

Rhade.

Escort this man
to his end.

You can't stay here.

Well, I can't go
anywhere either.

So...

it has come to this.

[GROANS]

Rhade, you seem
a bit confused lately.

Check that.
Angry and confused.

I want payment
for the pain
you've caused.

I want to kill
your eternal hope,

the hope that led me
to this damnation.

Rhade--

[ALL LAUGHING]

MAN:
Get him out.

MAN 2:
Finish him off!

Careful, Rhade.

It just might be
that I am out of hope
as well.

Tell me why.

I think I left "why"
in the other universe.

[YELLS]
Why?

Why?

Why was hope
so important?

Hope is everything, Rhade

Without it,
there is no reason
to live.

Well, then,
today is your lucky day.

[GROANING]

I hate the hope
that you brought me.

You give me
too much credit.

It's always been
about you.

Okay...

Let's play.

You can't hate hope.

You can hate me,
but you hate yourself...

more, and do you
know why?

Because...
you failed.

[GROANS]

We all did.

Failed!

Four years.
Four years of my life!

[SCREAMS]

[PANTING]

[BUZZ]

DYLAN:
Go ahead, Rhade.

Throw yourself away.

It's time for you
to leave these
people alone.

May I?

[CROWD GASPS]

Thomas, I think
you're out of a job.

Not the book!

Well, would you
look at this?

[ALL GASP]

MAN:
Follow me!

Flavin, this is suicide.

No, this is
a hall of mirrors,
dear one.

Call it what you want.
It's still suicide.

I have to leave.
You have to let me go.

This is your time now.

You know, if I had a drink
for every time I heard that,

I would be dead by now.

Hold on to what
is timeless,
and in the end,

you will arrive
where you started.
That is where hope is.

Yeah, well, you know,

maybe hope is a blunder
that you dream about.

Now you're starting
to talk like me.

If you can't beat 'em...

Almost got everything
figured out.

You won't make it.

Like I have a choice.
Like you do.

Everyone by now knows
I've dabbled with the devil
and his friend.

You can't protect me.

Who said anything
about protecting you?

Dylan Hunt,
there are three kinds
of people in the universe,

those who can count,
and those who can't.

Fine.

See you on the other side.

[INDISTINCT CHATTERING]

[EXPLOSION]

[EXPLOSION]

It doesn't look
like he made it.

Thomas warned us
you would try
to mislead us.

Thomas kept Seefra safe.

So now it is you
who must lead us out.

The intruder.

The one who has
suffered the least.

Boy, you sure
don't know my past.

Look, I'm not your leader.

You don't have to be
held captives to
all of this.

RHADE:
It's all they know.

Well, good.

Then they've got something
to build on.

So what do you think?

Is there a light
at the end
of the tunnel?

My fear is that the light
at the end of the tunnel

is a missile.

Well, then,
it'll probably
get both of us.

I can't hold a grudge
against you.

It's too much effort.

So what you're saying is
you're too lazy to hate me?

If you want
to call it that.

Yeah. Lazy works for me.

I can't help you.

I can't help myself.

You'll find yourself, Rhade...

probably in the last place
you look.

Andromeda.

Okay... Home sweet home.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]