The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 2, Episode 7 - Punishment Without Crime - full transcript
George Hill is stunned when he is sentenced to death--for murdering a robot facsimile of his adulterous young wife.
[music playing]
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All 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 magicians toy shop.
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 the story?
I never know where the
next one will take me.
And the trip, exactly
one half exhilaration,
exactly one half terror.
[foot steps]
[cymbals crash]
[eerie music playing]
You can't kill me.
You can't kill me.
My wife is alive.
I know.
If you know, why
are you killing me?
Please, look.
GEORGE: See?
Is that my wife?
Is she alive or isn't she?
GOVERNOR: She's alive, yes.
GEORGE: If she's alive,
she wasn't murdered.
So you can't execute me.
Do you understand?
I'm sorry.
What.
It's time.
Time?
You-- you don't understand.
I understand too much.
Now--
You said yourself,
I've done nothing.
She's alive.
[eerie music playing]
GEORGE: My wife is alive.
She's out there.
They can't kill me.
You're killing me
for murder I didn't do.
Who's responsible.
You are.
What did I do.
Surely, you remember.
[foot steps]
[music playing]
George Hill, age 59.
Employment, Hill
Investments limited.
Net worth, 4,500 million pounds.
Married.
Wife's name, Katherine.
No children.
Yes, I know.
Now you know.
Well, come on.
Get on with it.
Murder, Mr. Hill.
Good Lord, no.
Then good day, Mr. Hill.
Hold on.
Sir, why did you come here?
Well--
Yes?
I-- uh--
I heard that you could
help me to get rid of--
Your wife.
And isn't that murder, Mr. Hill?
Not the way you people do it.
There's a subtle difference.
Yes.
I'm only killing a machine.
A machine, yes.
But a machine that thinks and
feels and bleeds and dies.
Even as we speak, there are
those that argue that we--
the facsimiles should be
given a human's rights.
And if so, how is this
different from murder, Mr. Hill?
Do we help you
eliminate an unfortunate
complication in your life
or do we simply kill.
I'm waiting.
You kill.
Speak up.
You murder.
Good.
The client must always
understand that in his heart
and in his mind there
is bloody murder.
Sign here.
I am on a killing
machine, yes?
Yes.
Did you bring a rag?
A lock of hair?
A bone?
What?
Oh-- oh, yes.
I've got a disk of a
voice, lock of hair,
cosmetics, perfume, dental
charts, and medical records.
[eerie music playing]
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER: What did
your wife do to you, Mr. Hill?
[voice echoing]
[music playing]
GEORGE: I don't deserve you.
An old man like me.
I don't deserve
being a fool like me.
KATHERINE: I don't deserve this.
An old girl like me.
What is to age
and beauty then?
Age?
GEORGE: Beauty.
[eerie music playing]
GEORGE: Why did
she do this to me?
How soon will she be ready?
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER:
Your facsimile spouse?
Two weeks.
Is not too long to wait for--
Murder.
I'll go mad.
Sleep then.
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER: They'll
put you under for 14 days,
and then they'll wake you up.
It will feel like five minutes.
Sleep.
[music playing]
Katherine.
Katherine.
Kathy, you've come back.
Yes.
And no.
No more dreams.
Now it's time to do.
To do what?
Surely, you remember.
I've changed my mind.
What?
Kathy.
Katerine, come back with me.
Thou art fair, my love.
What?
Behold-- behold thou
art fair, thou hast
dove's eyes within thy lock.
And thy lips are like
a thread of scarlet.
Thy speech is comely.
And there is no spot in thee.
Honey and milk are
under thy tongue.
And the smell of they
garments is like the smell
of the cedars of Lebanon.
Murder.
You-- you've never
been so beautiful.
I'm your wife
without the floors.
No real woman could compete.
Have you forgotten
where you came?
WOMAN: Why you came.
Your right hand pocket.
Let me see.
No.
WOMAN: Let me see.
Katherine, come with me.
Where?
Anywhere.
Impossible
No, I forgive you.
It was just some--
some silly little--
You don't understand.
No one is allowed to leave here.
You, yes, you buy the dream.
But the dream that's built
must stay until it's used
Used?
I only want to protect you.
My function is not to
be protected but to die.
My dear George,
remember, you hate me.
Hate you?
No.
Katherine, yes.
But you as Katherine, no.
It's not too late.
It's too late two weeks ago.
And all the while you
slept, and every second
of the last eight minutes.
If I paid more money to
these people here perhaps,
they would let me keep you.
When they rent,
they do not sell.
And if you leave now
without killing me,
they will melt my
flesh, file my bones,
and redistribute my
circuitries within the hour.
Pick up the gun.
I'm going to see my young
and beautiful Leonard tonight.
You're not Katherine,
so how can you see him?
What if they facsimiled
him and brought
him here, eat the food,
and drink the wine,
and give me love?
They wouldn't do that.
And what if he
kissed and touched?
Kissed and moved to take me.
He would not.
And if we drank the
wine and then held close,
and I saw his eyes and said,
his head is the most fine gold?
He-- he won't--
won't come here.
His locks are as
black as a raven.
He doesn't exist.
His cheeks are
a bed of spices.
No.
Kathy might have said
that, but not you.
His legs are as
pillows of mine.
No.
This is my big love.
No.
Oh.
Oh, my god.
My god, no.
No, indeed.
Mr. George William Hill,
you are under arrest.
Arrest?
For-- murder.
[music playing]
WOMAN: Jurors, assemble.
All present in court, rise.
Be seated.
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,
you have now heard the
case against George Hill.
And you have heard his defense.
These are the kuria tarns,
the pressures of city life
have made it practical for
you to hide in your homes.
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
I don't deserve you.
An old fool like me.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): I don't
deserve being a fool like me.
And myself present,
the prosecution
posed the questions.
Are there too many
robots in the world?
Have they become to human?
Are they, in fact, embodying
all of our qualities,
light and dark?
If they are, then new laws
must be and have been passed.
If not, our old laws will not
sustain in this strange time.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): And no.
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
I've changed my mind.
It's not too late.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): It's
too late two weeks ago.
If killing a man
or woman is murder,
is not the facsimile destruction
of a robot image of a man
or a woman similar bloody death?
The defense, on
the other hand,
point to the corpus
delecti and say,
What never lived cannot die.
And George Hill--
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
It's not too late.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): It
was too late two weeks.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: Two years
from now it will be a joke.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER):
While you slept.
But now, a
scapegoat is needed.
The law says kill him.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: We say, nay.
We beg your mercy.
This man but killed a
nightmare in his head.
Shall he suffer punishment
for a deranged instant
in which he but killed a
lifeless, energized machine?
That would be madness
beyond his madness.
But the prosecution
and the law says--
One man and only one
must pay for the excesses.
Execute him.
[music playing]
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, how say you?
Guilty.
Guilty
Guilty.
Guilty
Guilty
- Guilty
- Guilty
Guilty
Guilty.
Guilty.
Guilty.
[foot steps]
What are you doing here?
KATHERINE: I came to
say I'm so sorry it's
going to end this way.
It's already ended.
I killed you.
Well, right now,
I wish it were.
Now.
Kate?
Kate.
Have to go and tell them
you're alive You're here.
There's no need to kill me now.
I've told them.
Tell them again
for god's sake.
They won't listen.
Kate, it's not fair.
Where are you going?
When?
With him?
Where?
Good bye.
Kate!
Kate.
It's time.
[eerie music playing]
RAY BRADBURY
(VOICEOVER): People ask,
where do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All 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 magicians toy shop.
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 the story?
I never know where the
next one will take me.
And the trip, exactly
one half exhilaration,
exactly one half terror.
[foot steps]
[cymbals crash]
[eerie music playing]
You can't kill me.
You can't kill me.
My wife is alive.
I know.
If you know, why
are you killing me?
Please, look.
GEORGE: See?
Is that my wife?
Is she alive or isn't she?
GOVERNOR: She's alive, yes.
GEORGE: If she's alive,
she wasn't murdered.
So you can't execute me.
Do you understand?
I'm sorry.
What.
It's time.
Time?
You-- you don't understand.
I understand too much.
Now--
You said yourself,
I've done nothing.
She's alive.
[eerie music playing]
GEORGE: My wife is alive.
She's out there.
They can't kill me.
You're killing me
for murder I didn't do.
Who's responsible.
You are.
What did I do.
Surely, you remember.
[foot steps]
[music playing]
George Hill, age 59.
Employment, Hill
Investments limited.
Net worth, 4,500 million pounds.
Married.
Wife's name, Katherine.
No children.
Yes, I know.
Now you know.
Well, come on.
Get on with it.
Murder, Mr. Hill.
Good Lord, no.
Then good day, Mr. Hill.
Hold on.
Sir, why did you come here?
Well--
Yes?
I-- uh--
I heard that you could
help me to get rid of--
Your wife.
And isn't that murder, Mr. Hill?
Not the way you people do it.
There's a subtle difference.
Yes.
I'm only killing a machine.
A machine, yes.
But a machine that thinks and
feels and bleeds and dies.
Even as we speak, there are
those that argue that we--
the facsimiles should be
given a human's rights.
And if so, how is this
different from murder, Mr. Hill?
Do we help you
eliminate an unfortunate
complication in your life
or do we simply kill.
I'm waiting.
You kill.
Speak up.
You murder.
Good.
The client must always
understand that in his heart
and in his mind there
is bloody murder.
Sign here.
I am on a killing
machine, yes?
Yes.
Did you bring a rag?
A lock of hair?
A bone?
What?
Oh-- oh, yes.
I've got a disk of a
voice, lock of hair,
cosmetics, perfume, dental
charts, and medical records.
[eerie music playing]
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER: What did
your wife do to you, Mr. Hill?
[voice echoing]
[music playing]
GEORGE: I don't deserve you.
An old man like me.
I don't deserve
being a fool like me.
KATHERINE: I don't deserve this.
An old girl like me.
What is to age
and beauty then?
Age?
GEORGE: Beauty.
[eerie music playing]
GEORGE: Why did
she do this to me?
How soon will she be ready?
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER:
Your facsimile spouse?
Two weeks.
Is not too long to wait for--
Murder.
I'll go mad.
Sleep then.
FACSIMILE INTERVIEWER: They'll
put you under for 14 days,
and then they'll wake you up.
It will feel like five minutes.
Sleep.
[music playing]
Katherine.
Katherine.
Kathy, you've come back.
Yes.
And no.
No more dreams.
Now it's time to do.
To do what?
Surely, you remember.
I've changed my mind.
What?
Kathy.
Katerine, come back with me.
Thou art fair, my love.
What?
Behold-- behold thou
art fair, thou hast
dove's eyes within thy lock.
And thy lips are like
a thread of scarlet.
Thy speech is comely.
And there is no spot in thee.
Honey and milk are
under thy tongue.
And the smell of they
garments is like the smell
of the cedars of Lebanon.
Murder.
You-- you've never
been so beautiful.
I'm your wife
without the floors.
No real woman could compete.
Have you forgotten
where you came?
WOMAN: Why you came.
Your right hand pocket.
Let me see.
No.
WOMAN: Let me see.
Katherine, come with me.
Where?
Anywhere.
Impossible
No, I forgive you.
It was just some--
some silly little--
You don't understand.
No one is allowed to leave here.
You, yes, you buy the dream.
But the dream that's built
must stay until it's used
Used?
I only want to protect you.
My function is not to
be protected but to die.
My dear George,
remember, you hate me.
Hate you?
No.
Katherine, yes.
But you as Katherine, no.
It's not too late.
It's too late two weeks ago.
And all the while you
slept, and every second
of the last eight minutes.
If I paid more money to
these people here perhaps,
they would let me keep you.
When they rent,
they do not sell.
And if you leave now
without killing me,
they will melt my
flesh, file my bones,
and redistribute my
circuitries within the hour.
Pick up the gun.
I'm going to see my young
and beautiful Leonard tonight.
You're not Katherine,
so how can you see him?
What if they facsimiled
him and brought
him here, eat the food,
and drink the wine,
and give me love?
They wouldn't do that.
And what if he
kissed and touched?
Kissed and moved to take me.
He would not.
And if we drank the
wine and then held close,
and I saw his eyes and said,
his head is the most fine gold?
He-- he won't--
won't come here.
His locks are as
black as a raven.
He doesn't exist.
His cheeks are
a bed of spices.
No.
Kathy might have said
that, but not you.
His legs are as
pillows of mine.
No.
This is my big love.
No.
Oh.
Oh, my god.
My god, no.
No, indeed.
Mr. George William Hill,
you are under arrest.
Arrest?
For-- murder.
[music playing]
WOMAN: Jurors, assemble.
All present in court, rise.
Be seated.
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury,
you have now heard the
case against George Hill.
And you have heard his defense.
These are the kuria tarns,
the pressures of city life
have made it practical for
you to hide in your homes.
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
I don't deserve you.
An old fool like me.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): I don't
deserve being a fool like me.
And myself present,
the prosecution
posed the questions.
Are there too many
robots in the world?
Have they become to human?
Are they, in fact, embodying
all of our qualities,
light and dark?
If they are, then new laws
must be and have been passed.
If not, our old laws will not
sustain in this strange time.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): And no.
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
I've changed my mind.
It's not too late.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): It's
too late two weeks ago.
If killing a man
or woman is murder,
is not the facsimile destruction
of a robot image of a man
or a woman similar bloody death?
The defense, on
the other hand,
point to the corpus
delecti and say,
What never lived cannot die.
And George Hill--
GEORGE (VOICEOVER):
It's not too late.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER): It
was too late two weeks.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: Two years
from now it will be a joke.
KATHERINE (VOICEOVER):
While you slept.
But now, a
scapegoat is needed.
The law says kill him.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: We say, nay.
We beg your mercy.
This man but killed a
nightmare in his head.
Shall he suffer punishment
for a deranged instant
in which he but killed a
lifeless, energized machine?
That would be madness
beyond his madness.
But the prosecution
and the law says--
One man and only one
must pay for the excesses.
Execute him.
[music playing]
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, how say you?
Guilty.
Guilty
Guilty.
Guilty
Guilty
- Guilty
- Guilty
Guilty
Guilty.
Guilty.
Guilty.
[foot steps]
What are you doing here?
KATHERINE: I came to
say I'm so sorry it's
going to end this way.
It's already ended.
I killed you.
Well, right now,
I wish it were.
Now.
Kate?
Kate.
Have to go and tell them
you're alive You're here.
There's no need to kill me now.
I've told them.
Tell them again
for god's sake.
They won't listen.
Kate, it's not fair.
Where are you going?
When?
With him?
Where?
Good bye.
Kate!
Kate.
It's time.
[eerie music playing]