The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 2, Episode 3 - The Emissary - full transcript
Martin is a lonely boy confined to bed because of his illness. His only contact with the outside world is through his loyal dog that brings flowers and objects from the streets to him. When his mother questions the actions of his dog, Martin decides to prove his efficiency to his mother and asks the animal to find a friend for him. The dog brings Miss Haight, Martin's teacher if the boy could go to the school, and she becomes his friend, visiting him every day. One day, Martin is informed by his parents that Miss Haight died in a car crash; after her funeral, his dog goes to the cemetery to bring her back.
[music playing]
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): 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 toyshop.
I'll never starve here.
I just look around, find
what I need, and begin.
I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is--
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 acceleration,
exactly one half terror.
[dog barking]
Dog, every day I tell you
to stay out of my house!
Now stay out!
Get out!
Stay out!
Dog, hey.
Oh, boy, Dog.
Sure.
Look at that.
Oak leaf?
Maple.
Oh, a weed husk.
Oh, no.
Flowers from Mr.
Tarkin's front yard?
Oh, a dandelion?
Fourth of July firecracker?
A dud?
Hey, what's this?
That's a great shape.
Collector's item.
Oh, what a dog.
Boy, you're perfect.
That dog of yours
is in trouble again.
He's always digging places.
He just dug a hole in
Mr. Tarkin's garden.
He's spinning mad.
That's the fourth hole
he's dug there this week.
Well, maybe he's
looking for something.
Fiddlesticks.
He's too darn curious.
And these things
he brings home--
who knows where they've been?
Junk and garbage,
that's all it is.
It's not going to
do you any good
to go touching what he's dug.
Now, if he doesn't behave
himself, he'll be locked up.
Oh, you wouldn't do that.
I mean, how would
I learn anything?
How would I find out things
if Dog didn't tell me?
There's nothing I don't know
when he goes out and around,
and back.
Nothing I can't
find out from him.
I mean, Dog is the only
real friend I've got.
Martin, if Dog will just stop
digging where he shouldn't, he
can run all he wants.
Meantime, we'll probably have
Mr. Tarkin here any moment,
yelling.
No, ma'am.
Look.
I made it myself.
If he can bring back all
these things, why not people?
Martin Bailey owns me.
Sick in bed.
Needs company.
Follow me.
It won't--
It will.
Dog can do anything, right?
OK, bring company.
Ready, set-- go fetch!
[barking]
And don't dig!
[barking]
RADIO: Fly ball
to mid left field.
[barking]
RADIO: It is out of here.
[barking]
RADIO: 23rd homer of the year.
[bell ringing]
[barking]
Hey, that doesn't--
Help!
Get off him!
Warren?
Come on.
Let's go.
Come on.
[barking]
Hello, dog.
Do I know you?
Oh, so that's where my missing
sixth grade student is.
Well, lead on, faithful scout.
Yeah.
Come on, let's go.
[barking]
WOMAN: Just the
medicine he needs.
Well, come on in.
Come here.
Hey, good boy.
Company.
[clanging]
Hello, Martin.
I'm Miss Haight.
I'm your teacher.
Or I will be, as soon as you're
well enough to come to school.
I heard you'd moved into
town, and that you were sick.
I'm sorry I haven't been
to visit you sooner.
Thank goodness for Dog.
Well, Martin, I guess
I owe Dog an apology.
Well, now-- what can
we do to get you well?
Perhaps a book?
A book?
I was taking it home to read.
"The Call Of The Wild?"
It's about a dog.
We're going to take it
in class later this year.
But there's no reason why you
shouldn't get a head start.
That is, if you have the time.
Well, that's all I've got.
Seems like I've been in this bed
for as long as I can remember.
Your dog is a fine
emissary, Martin.
Emissary?
Your representative.
Your scout.
Bringing people back to you.
Yeah, people.
And things.
My mother calls it junk.
Will you come back and visit?
Of course.
And I'll keep coming
back until we get
you well, and out of this bed.
Company.
The giant squid, with its
wiggling tentacles, all eight
of them, seized at Captain
Nemo's Nautilus submarine
and rocked it in
its mighty grasp.
The sailors yelled.
"The guns," cried Captain Nemo.
"Quick!
Now, the guns, or we are lost."
The squid seized a
sailor and brandished him
into the tidal seas,
never to be seen again.
Let me see.
Martin Bailey,
meet Jules Verne.
Sand from the Sahara.
Pyramids.
Sphinx.
Buried treasure.
An oak leaf from
Sherwood Forest.
So Robin Hood has sent his
greetings, has he, Dog?
You're quite a traveler.
A wheatsheaf.
From the far west.
Jesse James, and that
dust that rides up
from his horse's hooves.
Mhm.
Dog brings the whole
world back to me.
Dog is very special, Martin.
But so are you.
You know that, don't you?
Company.
What'll we do today?
I don't know.
Why don't we just talk?
OK.
About what?
How about life?
Life?
It's a big subject.
Well, I couldn't
help but notice.
Writing's nothing to be
embarrassed about, Martin.
It's a wonderful gift.
You're going to grow up to be
the world's greatest writer.
Well, I wouldn't mind.
What have you written first?
About this super great autumn.
And you.
And Dog.
My two greatest friends.
May I?
Sure, I guess.
On Saturday and
Sunday we talked.
We never stopped
talking, and laughing.
Her hair was soft, shining like
the season outside the window.
She walked clear,
clean, and quick.
The heartbeat warm in
the bitter afternoon.
It's beautiful.
[wind rustling]
[knocking]
Anyone hungry?
He is.
I have to go.
[barking]
- No, Dog!
Don't.
What's gotten into you?
Quit.
Bad dream, Dog?
Get well.
Hurry up.
I'll be waiting.
[barking]
[ringing]
Hello?
Dead?
Gone.
Was going home, late last night.
Car crash.
Just gone.
[bell ringing]
MARTIN: I wish I could just--
No.
Stay.
It's better this way.
Oh, gosh.
I'm never going
to see her again.
[barking]
- Dog!
No!
Hey.
Thanks, Dog
Well, at long last.
Welcome to the
land of the living.
What do they do out
there all the time?
Out there?
In the graveyard, Mom.
Under the ground.
Do they just lay there?
Lie there.
Lie there.
I mean, is that all they do?
It doesn't seem like much fun.
Oh, for goodness sake,
it's not made out to be fun.
Well, why don't they jump up
and run around once in a while,
if they get tired
of lying there?
I think God's pretty silly.
Martin.
Well, you think he'd treat
people better than to tell
them to lie still for keeps.
It's impossible.
Nobody could do that.
I tried once.
Dog tries.
You say dead dog,
and he lies down
and plays dead for a while.
But then he gets sick and
tired, and he wags his tail,
or he opens one eye, and
he looks at me, bored.
Boy, I bet sometimes
those graveyard
people do the same, huh, Dog?
Be still with
that kind of talk.
I bet that's
exactly what they do.
Martin.
[whimpering]
[howling]
Dog?
Hey, Dog?
Dog?
Hey, Dog?
Where are you?
Dog!
Dog!
[fireworks]
[laughter]
[fireworks]
First Miss
Haight, and now Dog.
What if he never comes back?
It's only been a day, son.
I'll call the pound
in the morning, OK?
We won't be late.
We're just playing bridge
across at the Underhills'.
I think all the trick
or treaters have gone.
Yes, ma'am.
You OK?
OK.
[bell ringing]
Dog?
If I wish hard enough,
you've got to come home.
Now.
Now.
[barking]
Sure?
[barking]
Yes.
Yes!
[barking]
Dog, where have you been?
[barking]
In!
Come on!
Come on!
[barking]
[slamming]
Dad?
He must have seen Dog come home.
Isn't it great, Dad?
Here, boy.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Good dog.
Come here.
Oh, Dog.
Dog?
Where have you been digging?
FEMALE VOICE: Company.
[music playing]
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): 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 toyshop.
I'll never starve here.
I just look around, find
what I need, and begin.
I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is--
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 acceleration,
exactly one half terror.
[dog barking]
Dog, every day I tell you
to stay out of my house!
Now stay out!
Get out!
Stay out!
Dog, hey.
Oh, boy, Dog.
Sure.
Look at that.
Oak leaf?
Maple.
Oh, a weed husk.
Oh, no.
Flowers from Mr.
Tarkin's front yard?
Oh, a dandelion?
Fourth of July firecracker?
A dud?
Hey, what's this?
That's a great shape.
Collector's item.
Oh, what a dog.
Boy, you're perfect.
That dog of yours
is in trouble again.
He's always digging places.
He just dug a hole in
Mr. Tarkin's garden.
He's spinning mad.
That's the fourth hole
he's dug there this week.
Well, maybe he's
looking for something.
Fiddlesticks.
He's too darn curious.
And these things
he brings home--
who knows where they've been?
Junk and garbage,
that's all it is.
It's not going to
do you any good
to go touching what he's dug.
Now, if he doesn't behave
himself, he'll be locked up.
Oh, you wouldn't do that.
I mean, how would
I learn anything?
How would I find out things
if Dog didn't tell me?
There's nothing I don't know
when he goes out and around,
and back.
Nothing I can't
find out from him.
I mean, Dog is the only
real friend I've got.
Martin, if Dog will just stop
digging where he shouldn't, he
can run all he wants.
Meantime, we'll probably have
Mr. Tarkin here any moment,
yelling.
No, ma'am.
Look.
I made it myself.
If he can bring back all
these things, why not people?
Martin Bailey owns me.
Sick in bed.
Needs company.
Follow me.
It won't--
It will.
Dog can do anything, right?
OK, bring company.
Ready, set-- go fetch!
[barking]
And don't dig!
[barking]
RADIO: Fly ball
to mid left field.
[barking]
RADIO: It is out of here.
[barking]
RADIO: 23rd homer of the year.
[bell ringing]
[barking]
Hey, that doesn't--
Help!
Get off him!
Warren?
Come on.
Let's go.
Come on.
[barking]
Hello, dog.
Do I know you?
Oh, so that's where my missing
sixth grade student is.
Well, lead on, faithful scout.
Yeah.
Come on, let's go.
[barking]
WOMAN: Just the
medicine he needs.
Well, come on in.
Come here.
Hey, good boy.
Company.
[clanging]
Hello, Martin.
I'm Miss Haight.
I'm your teacher.
Or I will be, as soon as you're
well enough to come to school.
I heard you'd moved into
town, and that you were sick.
I'm sorry I haven't been
to visit you sooner.
Thank goodness for Dog.
Well, Martin, I guess
I owe Dog an apology.
Well, now-- what can
we do to get you well?
Perhaps a book?
A book?
I was taking it home to read.
"The Call Of The Wild?"
It's about a dog.
We're going to take it
in class later this year.
But there's no reason why you
shouldn't get a head start.
That is, if you have the time.
Well, that's all I've got.
Seems like I've been in this bed
for as long as I can remember.
Your dog is a fine
emissary, Martin.
Emissary?
Your representative.
Your scout.
Bringing people back to you.
Yeah, people.
And things.
My mother calls it junk.
Will you come back and visit?
Of course.
And I'll keep coming
back until we get
you well, and out of this bed.
Company.
The giant squid, with its
wiggling tentacles, all eight
of them, seized at Captain
Nemo's Nautilus submarine
and rocked it in
its mighty grasp.
The sailors yelled.
"The guns," cried Captain Nemo.
"Quick!
Now, the guns, or we are lost."
The squid seized a
sailor and brandished him
into the tidal seas,
never to be seen again.
Let me see.
Martin Bailey,
meet Jules Verne.
Sand from the Sahara.
Pyramids.
Sphinx.
Buried treasure.
An oak leaf from
Sherwood Forest.
So Robin Hood has sent his
greetings, has he, Dog?
You're quite a traveler.
A wheatsheaf.
From the far west.
Jesse James, and that
dust that rides up
from his horse's hooves.
Mhm.
Dog brings the whole
world back to me.
Dog is very special, Martin.
But so are you.
You know that, don't you?
Company.
What'll we do today?
I don't know.
Why don't we just talk?
OK.
About what?
How about life?
Life?
It's a big subject.
Well, I couldn't
help but notice.
Writing's nothing to be
embarrassed about, Martin.
It's a wonderful gift.
You're going to grow up to be
the world's greatest writer.
Well, I wouldn't mind.
What have you written first?
About this super great autumn.
And you.
And Dog.
My two greatest friends.
May I?
Sure, I guess.
On Saturday and
Sunday we talked.
We never stopped
talking, and laughing.
Her hair was soft, shining like
the season outside the window.
She walked clear,
clean, and quick.
The heartbeat warm in
the bitter afternoon.
It's beautiful.
[wind rustling]
[knocking]
Anyone hungry?
He is.
I have to go.
[barking]
- No, Dog!
Don't.
What's gotten into you?
Quit.
Bad dream, Dog?
Get well.
Hurry up.
I'll be waiting.
[barking]
[ringing]
Hello?
Dead?
Gone.
Was going home, late last night.
Car crash.
Just gone.
[bell ringing]
MARTIN: I wish I could just--
No.
Stay.
It's better this way.
Oh, gosh.
I'm never going
to see her again.
[barking]
- Dog!
No!
Hey.
Thanks, Dog
Well, at long last.
Welcome to the
land of the living.
What do they do out
there all the time?
Out there?
In the graveyard, Mom.
Under the ground.
Do they just lay there?
Lie there.
Lie there.
I mean, is that all they do?
It doesn't seem like much fun.
Oh, for goodness sake,
it's not made out to be fun.
Well, why don't they jump up
and run around once in a while,
if they get tired
of lying there?
I think God's pretty silly.
Martin.
Well, you think he'd treat
people better than to tell
them to lie still for keeps.
It's impossible.
Nobody could do that.
I tried once.
Dog tries.
You say dead dog,
and he lies down
and plays dead for a while.
But then he gets sick and
tired, and he wags his tail,
or he opens one eye, and
he looks at me, bored.
Boy, I bet sometimes
those graveyard
people do the same, huh, Dog?
Be still with
that kind of talk.
I bet that's
exactly what they do.
Martin.
[whimpering]
[howling]
Dog?
Hey, Dog?
Dog?
Hey, Dog?
Where are you?
Dog!
Dog!
[fireworks]
[laughter]
[fireworks]
First Miss
Haight, and now Dog.
What if he never comes back?
It's only been a day, son.
I'll call the pound
in the morning, OK?
We won't be late.
We're just playing bridge
across at the Underhills'.
I think all the trick
or treaters have gone.
Yes, ma'am.
You OK?
OK.
[bell ringing]
Dog?
If I wish hard enough,
you've got to come home.
Now.
Now.
[barking]
Sure?
[barking]
Yes.
Yes!
[barking]
Dog, where have you been?
[barking]
In!
Come on!
Come on!
[barking]
[slamming]
Dad?
He must have seen Dog come home.
Isn't it great, Dad?
Here, boy.
Come on.
Come on.
Come on.
Good dog.
Come here.
Oh, Dog.
Dog?
Where have you been digging?
FEMALE VOICE: Company.
[music playing]