The Invaders (1967–1968): Season 1, Episode 7 - Doomsday Minus One - full transcript

(knocking at door)

Yes.

Well?

I checked the entire
perimeter around the test area.

And?

It seems clean, sir,

but in my opinion,
security is still inadequate

and I... (intercom buzzes)

Yes?

MAN: Pardon me, sir.

There's an urgent phone
call for Major Graves.



A Mr. Spence.

I can have it
transferred over here.

He'll take it there.

Well, how about it, Ted?

Do I get more men or don't I?

I'll let you know.

I said, Major, I'd let you know.

Graves here.

Where's Vincent?

I thought he was
supposed to be here.

Relax. You told me
yourself he wasn't coming in

till tomorrow afternoon.

How can I relax?

Major, how many times
do I have to tell you?



I don't like it.

Maybe I can't prove it,

but I'm being watched.

This whole place
gives me the creeps.

Now, I've already
closed your office here.

By tomorrow, you can be
halfway across the world.

Now just take it easy.
I'll check with you later.

Hey.

Hey, the door's stuck.

Hey!

(knocks)

Hey, out there! The door!

Help, please!

(knocking)

Help me, won't you?!

Come on! Help me!

Help me with the door!

It's stuck!

Help! Help me!

Help! Get the door open!

Help!

Get the door! The door!

No, please, help me!

Help me!

Help!

(pop music playing)

Help! Help!

What's going on?

No, please! Please!

No, no, help!

Help me!

Help! Help!

(low tone) (yells)

NARRATOR: Starring Roy
Thinnes as architect David Vincent.

The invaders...

alien beings from
a dying planet.

Their destination... the Earth.

Their purpose... to
make it their world.

David Vincent has seen them.

For him, it began one lost night

on a lonely country road

looking for a shortcut
that he never found.

It began with a
closed, deserted diner

and a man too long without sleep

to continue his
journey. (eerie whirring)

It began with the landing of
a craft from another galaxy.

(whirring intensifies)

Now David Vincent knows
that the invaders are here,

that they have taken human form.

Somehow, he must
convince a disbelieving world

that the nightmare
has already begun.

The guest star
in tonight's story:

William Windom.

And special guest
star Andrew Duggan.

(engine starts)

David Vincent had
received an urgent call

from a man he'd never met

to come to a motel
he'd never heard of

in a desert he'd never
seen, but he came

because the message
spoke of alien invaders.

The man he'd never
met had disappeared.

The motel he'd never
heard of seemed menacing,

but the desert he'd never
seen promised him an answer.

♪ ♪

(tires squealing)

You're late.

I had some trouble.

Cigarette?

No, thank you.

I'd rather see your credentials,

if you don't mind.

Aren't you being

just a little bit
suspicious, Vincent?

Spence disappeared. Five
minutes later you called me.

And on top of that,
I was tailed here.

You were what?

I was tailed, Major, all
the way from the motel.

You look worried.

Why don't you level with me?

If I did, we'd both end
up in a psycho ward.

This is called Greylock Crater.

It was made about
three months ago.

Made, investigated

and called the result
of a small meteor.

Spence doesn't
go along with that.

He believes this
crater was caused

by the crash of a spaceship.

He believes that
because last week

according to him, he
saw a spaceship land

not 50 yards from here.

You believe him?

My job is security. I
have to believe him.

In the first place, he's
one of my closest friends

and, for a civilian
a very sane man.

In the second place,
that spaceship was met

by a man named Carl Wyeth,

one of the top
engineers on our post.

A man directly connected

with a major
underground atomic test.

A test so big that the
Atomic Energy Commission

has called us in on it, we're
going to stage it with them.

Now do you begin
to get the point?

Well, of course, you've told all
this to the commanding officer.

I told you I didn't want to
end my days in a psycho ward.

I ran a check on Wyeth.

Nothing.

Now, if anything is
wrong on this base,

I will need proof.

Hard, cold, irrefutable proof.

Otherwise, I'm not going
to move a single inch.

Well, Vincent?

Do you think you can help me?

You want me to get
a job on the base,

is that it?

That's why I had
Spence call you.

You're supposed to be an
authority on these... these people.

Oh, there won't be any trouble.

Everything's all been arranged.

You just turn up at
1200 hours tomorrow.

Do I use my own name?

Why not? You already
used it at the motel.

It's too late to change now.

All right, 1200 hours.

Oh, one other thing.

If you get jammed
up... Yeah, I know.

You never heard of me.

What about Spence?

Is he also expendable?

I have men out
looking for Spence.

Eight-to-five you
never find him.

Say, uh, buddy...

whose car is that?

Mr. Tomkins' car. Why?

"Tomkins"?

No reason. Thanks.

Why were you so anxious
to see me this morning?

Whatever happened
to Charlie Spence?

"Spence..."

I'm told he's disappeared.

General, don't you think
it's a little childish of you

to worry about
the fate of one man

when you've agreed
to the death of a million?

I told you why I did it.

Tell me again.

Tell me again, General.

Don't push me, Mr. Tomkins.

Wouldn't take much to make me...

Change your mind?

And if you did, General,
what chance would you have

to save your precious world?

Spence is dead, General.

You understand?

He's dead.

Oh, by the way, General,

there is a name I would like

to mention to you.

David Vincent.

If he shows up at your post

I'd appreciate your
letting me know about it.

♪ ♪

I thought you understood that
you were to be on your own.

That's why I asked
you to meet me

before I report to the post.

You'd better have a good reason.

You tell me.

This morning a man named
Tomkins left the Desert Winds Motel

and drove to the desert.

I'm not interested
in any Tomkins.

Well, you should
be... He's an alien.

The same one who tried to
follow me to the crater yesterday.

Today, I followed him.

About five miles from
here at an adobe ruin,

he met an Army man.

Can you identify him?

Well, no, I couldn't
get too close

but he was a general... His
car was marked with a star.

He was well over
six feet, about, uh,

180 pounds.

You're describing
General Beaumont.

Who's he?

The commanding
officer of this post.

He was wounded in
the Battle of the Bulge;

again on the Yalu
River in Korea.

He's got every
decoration in the book.

I've known him for 20 years.

One of the finest
men I've ever known.

An hour ago, he met an alien.

That is ridiculous.

Can you assure me that, uh...

the general was on
the post at that time?

Of course not, but I
can easily check it out.

What if he wasn't?

Then I would be convinced

that General Beaumont's
business was both private...

and legitimate.

What's the matter, Major?

You afraid of the truth?

Does it scare you?

The truth never scares
me, Mr. Vincent...

just so it is the truth.

Look, you asked me down
here to check some things out.

Exactly what shall I do?

(A) Forget about
General Beaumont.

I'll handle him.

(B) Go after your aliens...

Go after Carl Wyeth.

♪ ♪

Well, Mr. Vincent, do
I make myself clear?

As a civilian
employee on this post

you are forbidden to
enter any restricted area.

Yes, sir.

Uh, where would I find
the office of Carl Wyeth?

Unfortunately, his office
is in a restricted area...

Building "C,"

Room 109.

Your office is in Building "A."

Will there be anything
else you want to know?

No. Thank you.

Good luck.

Thank you.

GRAVES: Oh, General...

this is Mr. David Vincent,

a new member of
our engineering staff.

General.

Mr. Vincent.

Something wrong, General?

No, no. No, nothing is wrong.

Just for a second there

I thought I'd met
that man before.

I checked over your request

for additional security
personnel, Rick.

And?

I put it through channels.

Through channels?

Do you know how
long that will take, sir?

Why, by the time
Washington gets...

You know, if anybody else
had submitted that request

I would have
rejected it out of hand.

(laughing)

If you don't look out, Rick,

this job will turn
you into an old lady.

I better be moving along.

I'm late for a meeting.

Ted?

I want you to postpone the test.

You want me to do what?

Why? For what reason?

Because I ask you to.

Because you ask me to?

Well, here lately, Major,
you've been asking me

to do a lot of things that
don't make any sense.

Now, if you have
some concrete reason

for turning the defense policies
of this country upside down,

I suggest you state it.

I'm listening, Major.

I have nothing concrete, sir,

but something
stinks on this post...

and unless you
postpone that test

it'll be my job to find out why.

I must be going out of my mind,

because I swear I
sensed a threat in that.

Now... come on, Rick, we've
known each other too long.

We don't have to
fence, to play games.

If we can't trust each other...

Can we, General?

Well, Ted?

I'll tell you something.

When my boy died in Korea...

something happened to me.

I... couldn't think.

I couldn't feel.

I was empty.

I thought for me it was the end.

Then you... you and Ethel
and your kids came along

and... helped to
fill that void for me.

Try to trust me, Rick.

Forget whatever it is
you think you know, and...

trust me.

Is Mr. Wyeth in his office?

I'll see.

Mr. Wyeth in there?

Well, there's
someone to see him.

Yes, sir.

He's in the machine shop.

Go down to the
end of the corridor.

Where it splits, you take
the one that goes to the right.

There's a sign there.

Okay. Thank you.

(knocking lightly)

♪ ♪

(dull thud)

You're supposed
to say, "I got lost."

I'm looking for Carl Wyeth.

This is his office, isn't it?

I'm Carl Wyeth,
and this is my office.

Well, I talked to
the guard out front

and he said it was all right.

Mr. Vincent was told to
go to the machine shop,

instead of which he came here.

It's funny you know my name.

We've never met.

All right, let's get
him out of here.

All right. Take me
to Major Graves.

Let's clear this thing up.

Wouldn't it be better, Sergeant,

if he were turned over
to General Beaumont?

I report to Major
Graves, Mr. Wyeth.

My work comes directly
under the general's supervision.

Well, I'm sorry, but...

If necessary, Sergeant,

I'll call the general myself.

As you wish, Mr. Wyeth. Come on.

DAVID: I just wanted
to meet Mr. Wyeth.

I realize I broke
some rules, but...

There are no "buts"

about military
regulations, Mr. Vincent.

I thought you made
that clear, Major.

So did I, sir.

Well...

Mr. Vincent, you have knowingly
breached security regulations.

You're a civilian.

I have no power
to court-martial you.

However, I am placing
you in confinement

and turning your case over
to the Department of Justice.

Take him away.

Justice Department.

We're here to pick
up a David Vincent.

Identification.

Would you sign this, please?

Thank you.

What's this all about?

Department of Justice.

If you please, Mr. Vincent.

This way.

(door opening)

(knock on door)

You sent for me, sir?

Your leave orders.

Effective 2400 hours tonight.

I think it's in the interest
of all parties concerned.

Are you ordering
me to leave, Ted?

Well, very well, you
were right to bawl me out

about that Vincent
mix-up, but there was

something I should
have told you about him.

Something I am going to tell you

before you turn him
over to the Justice people.

Two agents picked
him up over an hour ago.

They're very efficient.

Yes, very.

What was it you
wanted to tell me about?

It'll keep.

Rick... 2400 hours tonight.

It's taking a long
time to get there.

Just where are you taking me?

Please turn around.

♪ ♪

All right, Mr. Vincent, out.

Another disappearance?

You're not going to
disappear, Mr. Vincent.

You're going to
have an accident.

♪ ♪

All right, you showed
me a wrecked car.

So what?

What I showed you
was a fatal accident.

Nobody in that car
could have walked away.

There were no bodies
found in the wreckage.

What does that prove?

They were aliens.

When they die here on Earth

their bodies are
consumed... they disintegrate.

I've seen it before.

And one of them

had an awkwardness
about his hands...

A mutated fourth finger.

I've seen that before, too.

You don't expect me to
believe all that, do you?

If you didn't suspect
something like this

why did you have Spence
call me in the first place?

And where is Spence?

How did Wyeth know who I was

before he'd even seen me?

And why did the
Justice Department

send out agents so
quickly to pick me up?

I don't have any answers.

Then try to find one.

Call the Justice Department,

see if they sent agents here.

See if they ever
even heard of me.

Tomkins, I cannot leave the post

in the middle of the night

anytime you decide... General...

two of my people
died a few hours ago.

I'm not interested.

You should be.

They were the ones sent
out to pick up Vincent.

They're dead, General.

We have a man running
around who knows too much.

That's the reason
I called you out

in the middle of the night.

What do you want me to do?

Send out a search party?

I want you to reschedule
the nuclear test.

Move it up.

I want it within 24 hours.

That's impossible.

Your people couldn't detonate
the nuclear device in that time?

They could do it by tomorrow
noon if I ordered them to.

Then do so, General.

I can't.

A committee from the
United States Senate

has been invited to
observe the test next week.

They'll have to be disappointed.

Although by next week

they'll have other things
to think about, won't they?

The anti-matter device is ready.

The special truck bringing it
from the saucer is now en route.

Special truck?

Refrigerated.

The elements are
highly unstable.

Once it arrives,
all we have to do

is deliver it to the test site

and set the timing mechanism.

I'll have to think about it.

You don't have
time to think about it.

General, are you willing
to risk the inevitable...

A nuclear war...

Just to indulge a few senators?

Will you risk hundreds
of millions of people

being blasted to
radioactive dust?

Believe me, General,

this is the one chance
your kind has to survive.

Tomorrow at noon.

(door slams)

Beaumont checked onto
the post half an hour ago,

made one phone
call to Washington

and then went right
out to the test site.

Where was he last
night? I don't know.

But I do know that
the nuclear test

has been moved up to noon today.

Well, my escape
must have forced them

to push up their timetable.
Whatever they were

planning for next week
they're doing today. Eh...

Now look, Beaumont is
the key to this whole thing.

We don't have much time.

We've got to face
him with the truth.

Let's go.

Come on.

40 minutes.

Remember, don't set the timer

until you reach
the detonation site.

Right.

General Beaumont, sir.

What is it?

I believe you already
know, General.

In case you hadn't
noticed, Rick, I'm busy.

Now make your point and get out.

All right, sir, one question.

Why was the test time
moved up? Technical reasons.

There's a man outside I
want you to see, General.

I asked him to wait so
that I could talk to you first.

All right, you've talked to
me. If I remember correctly

you're no longer on duty, Major.

Ted... you've got
to see this man.

Now, if you won't

I'll have to go
over your head...

Call the Pentagon.

It may be too late already,

but at least it's better
than doing nothing.

And who is it you're about
to risk your career on, Major?

The man I smuggled back
onto the post last night.

David Vincent.

How did you find him?

He found me.

And how did you know

he wasn't still
in jail, General?

I'll get him.

I saw you meet
Tomkins in the desert.

You know who he
is and what he is.

And what is that, Mr. Vincent?

An alien being...
From outer space?

The men who picked me
up last night were aliens, too.

Major Graves checked it out.

The Justice Department

never received a request
to send agents here.

As a matter of fact, they
never even talked to you.

Where are they, these... aliens?

They died in an auto wreck.

Naturally, their bodies

will be available
for examination.

No, they won't.

You know why.

You know what a busy morning

this is for me, Major.

I'm sorry that you
chose to expose me

to the imaginings of
obviously a diseased mind.

Did I imagine Spence's
disappearance?

Is he dead? Or don't
they tell you everything?

Have you finished?

General, if you continue
this collaboration

you'll be serving
the cause of beings

dedicated to one thing...

The destruction of mankind

the takeover of this planet.

Now, I can't believe
you'd knowingly

do something like this.

Not a man with your record.

Not a man... My record!

What do you know of my record?

I know enough. You know nothing.

All you know are a
few empty, stupid words

from a hundred speeches made
at a hundred different parades.

General Beaumont,
hero of two wars.

Give him another medal.

I'll tell you what my
record adds up to.

100,000 men dead
because of my orders.

My own son dead
because he believed me

when I said his
would be the last war.

Death, destruction
and suffering,

and all for what?

So that one day we
could all kill ourselves

in one monumental
nuclear holocaust.

Whose words are those?

Your alien friends?

I'll call the Pentagon.

You'd be wasting
your time, Major.

Outside of this room
there isn't a man on Earth

who would believe
either one of you.

Time is running out.

As it did for Spence, General?

Spence had to die, Rick.

He had to.

He was endangering

what we were doing... the plan.

Whose plan?

Yours or theirs?

Whose plan?

We made it up between ourselves.

A world gone
totally radioactive...

Stripped of all life...

Is of no greater value
to them than it is to us.

Mr. Tomkins assured me that
at great sacrifice to his people

they were able to land an
antimatter bomb on the Earth.

Six of their craft
were destroyed

as well as all the crew...
Blown to oblivion...

Just to get that one
bomb on the Earth.

Ted, what the devil
are you talking about?

I'm talking about antimatter...

Matter that is the
mirror image of ours

and when brought
together with our matter

it fuses and detonates.

Now, if this explosion happens
on the surface of the Earth

there's only a tremendous
blast, nothing more,

but if it is detonated
underground

it would blow the Earth off
its axis by several degrees.

Do you realize what
you're talking about?

An effect like this could...

could cause
earthquakes, tidal waves.

Millions could die.

Think of how many millions more

would be spared the
horror of atomic war

because the world
would never know

about the antimatter bomb...

will think the
tragedy was caused

by a nuclear explosion.

Atomic weapons will be banned.

Finally, there will be peace.

But millions die.

Doomsday comes today at noon.

Then what do the invaders do?

I don't care about that,

because the minute
the explosion happens

I'll be on the phone to
the secretary of defense

and within 24 hours, they'll
be exposed to the world.

Do you think they'll let
you get away with that?

You'll be dead before
you can make a phone call.

They'll kill you.

I'm not that much
of a fool, Vincent.

If anything happens to me

Lieutenant General
McIntyre at the Pentagon

has orders to go into my safe,

take the contents
directly to the president.

There's enough
evidence in my safe

about the presence of
the invaders on Earth

to convince even
the general staff.

I would call the
Pentagon, if I were you

and have my safe opened.

Why?

I doubt very much

if your evidence
is still in there.

That's ridiculous.
I trust McIntyre.

I've known him all my life.

Ted, in the name
of God, call him.

Get me the Pentagon.

Anything wrong, sir?

Just some last-minute
adjustments.

Call the General,
if you want to.

Mclntyre died this morning

of a heart attack.

What about the evidence?

Listen to me.

I want you to go to my office

and open my safe.

The combination is right-17,

two turns left to 42,
one turn right to 30.

Check the contents.

I want an immediate report.

I'll hold on.

Thank you.

There's nothing in my safe

but my birth certificate
and my 201 file.

Get me the gate.

Major Graves.

You are to hold any vehicle

attempting to get
into the test area.

That includes military
vehicles, until I...

What?

General, an Army
truck went through there

five minutes ago.

Where are they
placing their bomb?

General!

They didn't tell me.

Major, I found a sketch
of the detonation area

in Wyeth's office.

It was all marked and prepared.

You have a map of the area?

Sure. Right over here.

Why, that circle's...

almost a mile
from the test hole.

How far from here?

Oh, three miles.

General, will you...?

Major Graves speaking
for General Beaumont.

I want a squad of men
sent into the test area

immediately, combat-ready.

General Beaumont
will meet them there.

Right.

I told them you'd meet
them there, General,

but before you go, I think

you'd better cancel
this detonation.

General, move.

We have no time!

Your attention, please.

This is General Beaumont.

This detonation

will be canceled
until further notice.

I'll say again, this detonation

will be canceled
until further notice.

Give me that weapon, soldier.

Follow the general's car.

(frequencies screeching)

(gunfire continues)

General, I think we can
take a chance on maybe, uh...

What are you doing?

Wait a minute, Ted!

(gunfire continues)

(engine starts)

(frequencies screeching)

Let me take the wheel.

You're losing blood.

I'm all right.

I've got to... I'm going to...

deliver their bomb
right back to them.

(frequencies screeching)

What time is it?

It's almost noon.

We're almost there.

You'd better bail out.

Oh, no.

I don't know...
what I've been...

the last few years, or who...

but right now I am General
Theodore Beaumont,

United States Army,

and I expect to be obeyed.

You all right?

Yeah.

I'm all right.

(frequencies screeching)

(frequencies screeching)

(frequencies screeching)

Struck out, huh?

Well, at least it was
a good, long at-bat.

They listened to me
for over three hours.

Must be some sort
of world's record

for one man in front of a
military board of inquiry.

Well, how could
they write it off?

After the explosion,
the fire fight...

Beaumont's disappearance?

They didn't write it off.

They just clamped the
security lid down tight.

The inquiry may go on
for months or even years.

You know what the verdict is?

Attempted sabotage
by enemies unknown.

Well, that's something anyway.

Well, Major...

we haven't lost.

I hope not, Vincent.

I pray we haven't.

NARRATOR: The Earth turns
on its axis, unaware of the disaster

that never happened,

and David Vincent
goes forward again,

very much aware that
a far greater disaster

can lie ahead--

The final disaster
wrought by the invader.