The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 2, Episode 10 - Tyrannosaurus Rex - full transcript
Bombastic producer Joe Clarence hires Terwilliger to do the stop-motion animation for a dinosaur film he's making. Frustrated at Clarence's constant bullying and complaining, Terwilliger subconsciously finds a way to work out his stress.
[music playing]
[eerie music]
RAY BRADBURY: People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All of this is my
martian landscape.
Somewhere in this room
is an African Veldt.
Just beyond, perhaps, is a small
Illinois town where I grew up.
And I'm surrounded on every
side by my magician's toy shop.
I'll never starve here.
I just look around, find
what I need, and begin.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
[eerie music]
(VOICEOVER) Well then,
right now, what shall it be?
Out of all this, what do
I choose to make a story?
I never know where the
next one will take me.
And the trip?
Exactly one half exhilaration,
exactly one half terror.
[theme music]
[knocking]
MAN: Get in!
Get in!
Shut the door!
[crashing]
You Terwilliger?
I--
You're late!
No, I'm not.
You are Mr. Clarence?
Who the hell would it be?
And you're filming over there.
- But could I--
- Move it!
Sit down, sit down.
Roll it, Sam!
You dead in there?
SAM: Rolling, Mr. Clarence.
I hope this isn't one of those
long damn demonstration film.
Only 90 seconds, Mr. Clarence.
It better be.
I got things to do.
[horn fanfare]
[distant grunting]
[roaring]
[growling]
[music playing]
My beauties.
(VOICEOVER) Not
alive, but alive.
Dead, but not dead.
Clay, and then liquid rubber.
Yes, oh yes.
I moved you and then, frame
by frame, photographed you.
And God, even now, I can't
believe I made you walk
and fly and live.
[clapping]
Wonderful.
Superb.
OK!
OK!
We've seen better.
Don't give this guy ideas.
You want the job?
It is the best
thing we've seen.
Wyatt, we've got a
budget of just $2,000
for the special effects.
That would hardly pay for my--
So take it or leave it.
Yes or no.
Yes.
Well, he's my lawyer.
Talk.
Talk.
OK, Sam.
Roll the avalanche.
[FILM CLICKING THROUGH
PROJECTOR]
The fabulous Joe
Clarence the great.
Don't let his style fool you.
He's big.
Please, don't worry.
I'm an artist, not a slave.
Come, sign the contract.
OK.
[engine revs]
I'll do it tomorrow.
[music playing]
Well?
Like it?
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Hmm.
OK.
Now plant the King of Lizards
in ancient summer wilds
to wade in swamps of
teeming bacterial life.
[music playing]
Rawr!
You talk nice.
Better yet, watch.
[music playing]
OK, you saw what I did?
Here is how it
looks on the screen,
moving the dinosaur 1/16
of an inch at a time.
And taking a still
picture, and moving
it again, then speed it up.
And--
[music playing]
And God said, life,
and there was life.
You feel like that
sometimes, the creator?
No.
Sure.
And Joe Clarence says work!
But no one works.
Mr. Clarence, how long
have you been been there?
Forever!
Bimbos!
It's a good thing
I sneak around.
Or nothing'd get done
in this damn place!
Careful.
Careful?
Whose dinosaur is this?
Mine.
Like hell.
I pay the bills, hairball.
And that makes it--
- Mine.
Glass?
Yes?
Who owns this
dinosaur, dammit?
The young genius.
Genius?
This jerk, driving around
in that beat-up wreck
with holes in his socks?
It's my monster.
That should have been
specified in the deal.
I never let anyone
own the thing I make.
I put too much time and
affection into them.
So we give you an extra
50 bucks for the beast.
And throw in this camera
equipment when the film's done.
For free.
You could start your
own company, right?
Compete with me,
with my own machines.
[maniacal laugh]
When's my film
supposed to start?
Monday.
Are we ready?
No!
He is ready.
Like hell.
Look at these teeth.
Not sharp!
I want daggers, swords,
a regular court palace.
Hmm.
Uh, portcullis, like in
front of a castle gate.
Court, port, what you said.
A big bite, dammit.
And the back, more spikes.
And the eyes, I want them
boiling mad, ravenous.
Big bite, spikes,
eyes ravenous.
How'd you like to be fired?
I quit years ago.
Look, you call them claws?
I want claws big as rakes!
Razors!
I'm a week behind now.
You keep coming in.
You tell me to change
this, to change that.
So I change it.
One day the tail's all wrong.
The next day it's the clothes.
You'll find a way
to make me happy.
Ravenous eyes, slobbering lips.
I want to see a monster!
I already have.
(LAUGHING) That?
That's a wimp.
Go on!
Work!
Work!
[music playing]
Don't let him scare you.
Why are you so nice to me?
I never married.
That doesn't bother me so much,
but I would have liked a son.
All these years, I
never created anything.
[music playing]
[clicking]
TERWILLIGER: Slobbering
lips, ravenous eyes,
spine like a picket fence.
SAM: Teeth like daggers,
swords, a court palace.
TERWILLIGER: Cult-pullis, right.
No!
The eyes, more fire.
The lips, more poison.
The teeth, more gnash!
More slobber!
More bite!
More gumbo!
Gumbo?
More gumbo.
Gumbo?
Gumbo.
[whirring]
Well now?
Well?
That's a monster.
No!
That wouldn't scare
my aunt Sarah!
Don't you know
what a monster is?
[music playing]
A monster.
I'll give you a monster.
This animal ain't right.
You're fired.
Come on, Sam!
Roll it!
[film clicking]
Well?
Yeah.
That's a monster.
Dammit, Terwilliger.
I don't believe it,
but boy, you did it.
That's terrifying.
It sure is.
That monster, it
sure looks familiar.
Familiar?
Sure.
That's T-Rex, dummy.
No, I mean, it's
got such a look.
Like I met him someplace.
The museum glass.
Or maybe you read a book once.
No, I never forget the face.
Where?
I hate to admit it,
Terwilliger, but you got to me.
Talk about fright.
OK, drop-outs.
Two weeks to finish the film.
Four weeks for the preview.
Jump!
Sam, another look, OK?
At the monster.
Playing with fire?
You're going to get burned.
Maybe not this second, but--
[music playing]
That's me.
That's me.
That's me.
That's me!
That's me!
Where's that's
scheming little worm?!
[door slams]
Sue him.
For what?
I never made enough on the
money you paid me to bank any.
So you can't take that.
Tape my jeep.
Forget it.
Mr. Clarence,
let me talk to him.
What has God wrought?
TERWILLIGER: I didn't know
I was doing it, I swear.
It came out of my fingers.
It was all subconscious.
My fingers do everything for me.
They did this.
But do the fingers
come into my office
and take me directly
by the throat?
Six weeks of film shot,
400,000 spent, the budget shot.
All those nice young actors
fired tomorrow, all of us,
under a leaf next week.
Don't make me feel
any guiltier than I am.
It's just he kept up at me.
Do this, do that,
do it the other way,
turn it inside out,
upside down, he said.
I swallowed my pride.
I was angry all the time.
And this sort of crept in.
I should have seen.
We should all have seen.
Think.
Think of something.
Right now, Mr. Joe Clarence
is looking to be convinced.
This is all some dreadful
nightmare, a dream.
Find some excuse.
Say something to him.
CLARENCE: Like what?!
Like what?
Well, he just told
me a touching story.
Touching?
Mr. Clarence, the
film you just saw
is well, a tribute to you.
What?
Shall I go on?
If you want to.
Yes.
A tribute to you, Joe
Clarence, the unsung hero
of the motion picture industry.
Unknown, unseen,
you sweat out your
lonely little creative life.
Well, who gets the credit?
The stars, the directors.
Does anyone ever
speak the name of Joe
Clarence across the wide world?
No.
So Terwilliger gets to thinking.
How could he present the real
Joe Clarence to the world?
And boom, it hits him.
The dinosaur, what
better symbol?
The lonely, proud, unsung,
wonderful, terrible metaphor
of power, strength,
shrewd animal cunning,
the true democrat, the great,
great striding individual.
All thunder and lightning.
Genius, embodied
in tyrant lizard.
Joe Clarence, dinosaur.
Joe Clarence.
He said that?
He's shy.
You ever hear him say much?
Talk back?
You've always been his
hero, he couldn't speak it,
but he could make you immortal.
Immortal?
Years from now, people
will say, remember
that film Lizard Terror?
Sure.
Why?
Because it was the one film
in all history that dared
base itself on the
Tyrannosaurus Rex,
on the real hard-hitting,
fast-thinking,
real-life, A1-caliber producer.
Every day for the
next 200 years,
you'll be starring
somewhere in the world.
Me?
Starring?
Every day?
For 400 years.
Why not?
My God, Terwilliger, did
you really like me that much?
Well, it's hard
to put into words.
You know, I always
wanted to be an actor.
You're both still
on the payroll.
But only till the preview.
Then-- we'll see.
Age before beauty.
[dramatic music playing]
[t-rex roaring]
[dramatic music]
[chatter]
[bicycle bells ringing]
[excited chatter]
There he is!
Can we have your autograph?
GIRL: You're great!
CLARENCE: No!
No!
No!
No!
No!
GIRLS: (CHANTING) You!
You!
King Lizard!
King Lizard!
CLARENCE: It's a mistake!
It's a mistake!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): You!
You!
You!
King Lizard!
King Lizard!
Sign!
Sign!
Sign!
You!
You!
You!
Ling Lizard!
King Lizard!
GIRL: Keep signing!
GIRL: Keep signing!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Excuse me?
Who invited you to
the preview tonight?
My uncle, of course.
Uncle?
[girls chattering]
And who are those girls?
My Girl Scout patrol.
Excuse me.
I got to go finish my good deed.
Sir!
Sir!
Could you do a
line from the film?
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Grr.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Looks like we both
still have jobs.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Rawr!
And it looks like
you've created something.
A monster.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Grrrrr.
Grrr!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
[growling]
[theme music]
[eerie music]
RAY BRADBURY: People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All of this is my
martian landscape.
Somewhere in this room
is an African Veldt.
Just beyond, perhaps, is a small
Illinois town where I grew up.
And I'm surrounded on every
side by my magician's toy shop.
I'll never starve here.
I just look around, find
what I need, and begin.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
[eerie music]
(VOICEOVER) Well then,
right now, what shall it be?
Out of all this, what do
I choose to make a story?
I never know where the
next one will take me.
And the trip?
Exactly one half exhilaration,
exactly one half terror.
[theme music]
[knocking]
MAN: Get in!
Get in!
Shut the door!
[crashing]
You Terwilliger?
I--
You're late!
No, I'm not.
You are Mr. Clarence?
Who the hell would it be?
And you're filming over there.
- But could I--
- Move it!
Sit down, sit down.
Roll it, Sam!
You dead in there?
SAM: Rolling, Mr. Clarence.
I hope this isn't one of those
long damn demonstration film.
Only 90 seconds, Mr. Clarence.
It better be.
I got things to do.
[horn fanfare]
[distant grunting]
[roaring]
[growling]
[music playing]
My beauties.
(VOICEOVER) Not
alive, but alive.
Dead, but not dead.
Clay, and then liquid rubber.
Yes, oh yes.
I moved you and then, frame
by frame, photographed you.
And God, even now, I can't
believe I made you walk
and fly and live.
[clapping]
Wonderful.
Superb.
OK!
OK!
We've seen better.
Don't give this guy ideas.
You want the job?
It is the best
thing we've seen.
Wyatt, we've got a
budget of just $2,000
for the special effects.
That would hardly pay for my--
So take it or leave it.
Yes or no.
Yes.
Well, he's my lawyer.
Talk.
Talk.
OK, Sam.
Roll the avalanche.
[FILM CLICKING THROUGH
PROJECTOR]
The fabulous Joe
Clarence the great.
Don't let his style fool you.
He's big.
Please, don't worry.
I'm an artist, not a slave.
Come, sign the contract.
OK.
[engine revs]
I'll do it tomorrow.
[music playing]
Well?
Like it?
Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Hmm.
OK.
Now plant the King of Lizards
in ancient summer wilds
to wade in swamps of
teeming bacterial life.
[music playing]
Rawr!
You talk nice.
Better yet, watch.
[music playing]
OK, you saw what I did?
Here is how it
looks on the screen,
moving the dinosaur 1/16
of an inch at a time.
And taking a still
picture, and moving
it again, then speed it up.
And--
[music playing]
And God said, life,
and there was life.
You feel like that
sometimes, the creator?
No.
Sure.
And Joe Clarence says work!
But no one works.
Mr. Clarence, how long
have you been been there?
Forever!
Bimbos!
It's a good thing
I sneak around.
Or nothing'd get done
in this damn place!
Careful.
Careful?
Whose dinosaur is this?
Mine.
Like hell.
I pay the bills, hairball.
And that makes it--
- Mine.
Glass?
Yes?
Who owns this
dinosaur, dammit?
The young genius.
Genius?
This jerk, driving around
in that beat-up wreck
with holes in his socks?
It's my monster.
That should have been
specified in the deal.
I never let anyone
own the thing I make.
I put too much time and
affection into them.
So we give you an extra
50 bucks for the beast.
And throw in this camera
equipment when the film's done.
For free.
You could start your
own company, right?
Compete with me,
with my own machines.
[maniacal laugh]
When's my film
supposed to start?
Monday.
Are we ready?
No!
He is ready.
Like hell.
Look at these teeth.
Not sharp!
I want daggers, swords,
a regular court palace.
Hmm.
Uh, portcullis, like in
front of a castle gate.
Court, port, what you said.
A big bite, dammit.
And the back, more spikes.
And the eyes, I want them
boiling mad, ravenous.
Big bite, spikes,
eyes ravenous.
How'd you like to be fired?
I quit years ago.
Look, you call them claws?
I want claws big as rakes!
Razors!
I'm a week behind now.
You keep coming in.
You tell me to change
this, to change that.
So I change it.
One day the tail's all wrong.
The next day it's the clothes.
You'll find a way
to make me happy.
Ravenous eyes, slobbering lips.
I want to see a monster!
I already have.
(LAUGHING) That?
That's a wimp.
Go on!
Work!
Work!
[music playing]
Don't let him scare you.
Why are you so nice to me?
I never married.
That doesn't bother me so much,
but I would have liked a son.
All these years, I
never created anything.
[music playing]
[clicking]
TERWILLIGER: Slobbering
lips, ravenous eyes,
spine like a picket fence.
SAM: Teeth like daggers,
swords, a court palace.
TERWILLIGER: Cult-pullis, right.
No!
The eyes, more fire.
The lips, more poison.
The teeth, more gnash!
More slobber!
More bite!
More gumbo!
Gumbo?
More gumbo.
Gumbo?
Gumbo.
[whirring]
Well now?
Well?
That's a monster.
No!
That wouldn't scare
my aunt Sarah!
Don't you know
what a monster is?
[music playing]
A monster.
I'll give you a monster.
This animal ain't right.
You're fired.
Come on, Sam!
Roll it!
[film clicking]
Well?
Yeah.
That's a monster.
Dammit, Terwilliger.
I don't believe it,
but boy, you did it.
That's terrifying.
It sure is.
That monster, it
sure looks familiar.
Familiar?
Sure.
That's T-Rex, dummy.
No, I mean, it's
got such a look.
Like I met him someplace.
The museum glass.
Or maybe you read a book once.
No, I never forget the face.
Where?
I hate to admit it,
Terwilliger, but you got to me.
Talk about fright.
OK, drop-outs.
Two weeks to finish the film.
Four weeks for the preview.
Jump!
Sam, another look, OK?
At the monster.
Playing with fire?
You're going to get burned.
Maybe not this second, but--
[music playing]
That's me.
That's me.
That's me.
That's me!
That's me!
Where's that's
scheming little worm?!
[door slams]
Sue him.
For what?
I never made enough on the
money you paid me to bank any.
So you can't take that.
Tape my jeep.
Forget it.
Mr. Clarence,
let me talk to him.
What has God wrought?
TERWILLIGER: I didn't know
I was doing it, I swear.
It came out of my fingers.
It was all subconscious.
My fingers do everything for me.
They did this.
But do the fingers
come into my office
and take me directly
by the throat?
Six weeks of film shot,
400,000 spent, the budget shot.
All those nice young actors
fired tomorrow, all of us,
under a leaf next week.
Don't make me feel
any guiltier than I am.
It's just he kept up at me.
Do this, do that,
do it the other way,
turn it inside out,
upside down, he said.
I swallowed my pride.
I was angry all the time.
And this sort of crept in.
I should have seen.
We should all have seen.
Think.
Think of something.
Right now, Mr. Joe Clarence
is looking to be convinced.
This is all some dreadful
nightmare, a dream.
Find some excuse.
Say something to him.
CLARENCE: Like what?!
Like what?
Well, he just told
me a touching story.
Touching?
Mr. Clarence, the
film you just saw
is well, a tribute to you.
What?
Shall I go on?
If you want to.
Yes.
A tribute to you, Joe
Clarence, the unsung hero
of the motion picture industry.
Unknown, unseen,
you sweat out your
lonely little creative life.
Well, who gets the credit?
The stars, the directors.
Does anyone ever
speak the name of Joe
Clarence across the wide world?
No.
So Terwilliger gets to thinking.
How could he present the real
Joe Clarence to the world?
And boom, it hits him.
The dinosaur, what
better symbol?
The lonely, proud, unsung,
wonderful, terrible metaphor
of power, strength,
shrewd animal cunning,
the true democrat, the great,
great striding individual.
All thunder and lightning.
Genius, embodied
in tyrant lizard.
Joe Clarence, dinosaur.
Joe Clarence.
He said that?
He's shy.
You ever hear him say much?
Talk back?
You've always been his
hero, he couldn't speak it,
but he could make you immortal.
Immortal?
Years from now, people
will say, remember
that film Lizard Terror?
Sure.
Why?
Because it was the one film
in all history that dared
base itself on the
Tyrannosaurus Rex,
on the real hard-hitting,
fast-thinking,
real-life, A1-caliber producer.
Every day for the
next 200 years,
you'll be starring
somewhere in the world.
Me?
Starring?
Every day?
For 400 years.
Why not?
My God, Terwilliger, did
you really like me that much?
Well, it's hard
to put into words.
You know, I always
wanted to be an actor.
You're both still
on the payroll.
But only till the preview.
Then-- we'll see.
Age before beauty.
[dramatic music playing]
[t-rex roaring]
[dramatic music]
[chatter]
[bicycle bells ringing]
[excited chatter]
There he is!
Can we have your autograph?
GIRL: You're great!
CLARENCE: No!
No!
No!
No!
No!
GIRLS: (CHANTING) You!
You!
King Lizard!
King Lizard!
CLARENCE: It's a mistake!
It's a mistake!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): You!
You!
You!
King Lizard!
King Lizard!
Sign!
Sign!
Sign!
You!
You!
You!
Ling Lizard!
King Lizard!
GIRL: Keep signing!
GIRL: Keep signing!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Keep signing!
Excuse me?
Who invited you to
the preview tonight?
My uncle, of course.
Uncle?
[girls chattering]
And who are those girls?
My Girl Scout patrol.
Excuse me.
I got to go finish my good deed.
Sir!
Sir!
Could you do a
line from the film?
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Grr.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Looks like we both
still have jobs.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Rawr!
And it looks like
you've created something.
A monster.
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Grrrrr.
Grrr!
GIRLS (IN UNISON): Yeah!
[growling]
[theme music]