The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985–1992): Season 3, Episode 6 - A Sound of Thunder - full transcript
A company provides big game hunters with expeditions to the past to kill dinosaurs. They only have one rule that's there to protect the time line: Never ever get off the beaten path. Violation of this rule is punishable by hefty f...
[music playing]
People ask, where
do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All this is mine.
I'll never starve here.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
[music swells]
Dinosaurs, large and small,
fill my junkyard work room.
This one, given to me by
a friend 30 years ago.
These, given as toys
to my daughters.
When they didn't play with
them, I simply took them back.
So with dinosaurs
coming into my life,
I often wondered
what would happen,
if I could go back into theirs.
Dinosaurs-- time machines--
put them together, and you have
a tale one billion years old.
[ominous music]
REPORTER (ON TV): Douglas Keith
swept to his landslide victory,
conceded by Kurt Deutscher,
just after west coast voters
had left the polling stations.
The new president said that
he rejoiced in the people's
massive affirmation,
their belief in democracy,
and a caring society.
Humanity had the victory.
ANNOUNCER (ON LOUDSPEAKER):
One of our most exciting
selections-- exotic,
15th century Bangkok,
bristled with color and
life, the perfect place
for a Time Safari tiger hunt.
A sultry plunge into--
Sir, this guy says if
Deutscher becomes president,
I want to run, 1492.
No, I said, we don't
conduct escapes.
[laughs]
We're lucky.
Deutscher would mean the
worst kind of dictatorship.
[clearing throat]
Booking card, sir.
Yes.
And my check.
Not yet.
Does the safari guarantee
I come back alive?
We guarantee nothing,
except the dinosaurs.
Those are real photos, of
real animals, taken yesterday.
Or 60 million years
ago, as you wish.
[ominous music]
My Tyrannosaurus Rex,
the biggest damn carnivore
in history.
This is Mr. Travis, your
safari guide in the past.
He'll show you what
to-- where to shoot.
If he says no
shooting, no shooting.
If you disobey, there's a
penalty of another $10,000,
plus government
action on your return.
Biographical computer card.
[beeping]
The great game hunter, yes?
I pride myself on my--
Some of these are illegal.
Elephants--
I shot to protect myself.
Shot everything in
the world, have you?
Everything.
I'm bored.
No new horizons, that's
why I came to you.
I've decided--
Choose your weapon.
They're all proof
they can do the job--
on dinosaurs.
Didn't you write a book,
"Dinosaurs I Have Known?"
They're fantasy.
Right.
You've known nothing till today.
Sign this.
If you're killed,
we're not responsible.
Those dinosaurs are hungry.
What?
We don't time travel
to get ourselves killed.
Six safari leaders
were killed last year,
because a few cowards bolted.
I've shot every damned
animal in the world,
do I look like a coward?
We'll refund your money.
[signs, slams pen]
Get him ready.
[ominous music playing]
Out of charge and ashes,
like golden salamanders,
the old years, the
green years will leap.
Roses sweeten the air.
White hair turns
black, wrinkles vanish.
All, everything,
flies back to seed.
Flee death.
[snorts]
[ominous music swells]
Shall we go?
Let's go!
[beeping]
[machine humming]
[humming sound swells]
[thunder]
[crashing noises]
Look!
Will you look?
They're looking.
Every hunter that ever
lived would envy us today.
Huh.
From now on, Africa
will seem like Illinois.
Have you ever visited
hell, Mr. Eckels?
Until you visit hell,
don't make comparisons.
I'm ready.
Yeah.
[rumbling and crashing]
[tweet]
[beeping]
That it is a jungle
of 60,002,055
years before the
moment you stepped
into our office, Mr. Eckels.
Christ isn't born yet.
Moses has not gone to the
mountain to talk with God.
The pyramids lie
still in the earth.
Hell.
[rumbling]
[beeping]
[whooshing noise]
[futuristic door sound]
[beeping]
There is a path, laid by
Time Safari for your use.
It floats six inches
above the ground, touches
not so much as a blade of
grass, a leaf, or a tree.
It's anti-gravity.
Its purpose is to
stop you from touching
this world of the past.
Stay on the path,
don't go off it.
If you fall off,
there's a penalty.
And shoot only one animal.
One?
Our government doesn't
like us here in the past.
We pay big fees to
keep our franchise.
A time machine can be a killer.
We might destroy a
roach, or flower even,
and destroy an important
link in a species.
So?
Oh, lord.
Come on.
If we kill a mouse here, all
the future family of that mouse
are killed, right?
And all the families,
of all the families--
instead of one mouse,
you annihilate one,
1,000, a million possible mice.
Well?
Well.
[rumbling]
For want of 10 mice, a fox dies.
For want of a fox,
a lion starves.
For want of a lion, infinite
billions of lifeforms
cease to exist.
A caveman goes hunting,
but you, friend,
have stepped on all his lions.
The caveman starves.
From his loins might have
sprung 10 sons, from theirs 100.
Kill this one man, you
destroy a race of people,
an entire history of life.
Europe remains for
ever a dark forest.
Step on a mouse, you leave
your print like a Grand
Canyon across eternity.
So stay on the path!
Keep off the grass.
[laughs]
[ominous music]
[shoes squeaking]
[insect sounds]
Our animal's marked
with white paint.
Today I came back, and
followed the animals,
and found one who was
going to die anyway,
when a tree fell on him.
I noted the time down
to the exact second
and shot a paint ball.
I left a white
mark on his chest.
You can't miss it.
I correlated our
arrival in the past
so that we meet
our monster no more
than three minutes before
he was going to die anyway.
We kill only animals that
have no future, those
that will never mate again.
[large animal sounds]
Steady, fellas.
Go forward to the red marker.
[insect noises]
[ominous music]
[large animal sounds]
It's telling us its enemy,
the meat eater, is near.
[ominous music]
Here he is.
Lord of the mighty
beasts there we find.
[crashing, growling]
[roar]
Listen to his breathing.
You could vacuum clean
the Empire State Building.
[scoffs]
Oh, I do go on.
[crashing]
[growl]
[ominous music]
It's an old kill.
He'll be back this way
when he's finished.
[bones crunching]
Rifles at the ready.
[guns clicking]
[growling]
[heavy footsteps]
There he is.
[roaring]
My God.
It could reach up
and grab the moon.
[roaring]
[growling]
OK, in two minutes
when I say fire--
your bullet will strike
at exactly one second
before the tree falls, but
it must be timed on the nose,
to the second.
No, nobody can kill that.
That can't be killed.
[roaring]
We were fools to come.
Shut up!
I-- I-- I never guessed, I--
I didn't realize
it would be so big.
Turn around, quietly,
and go back to the machine.
I can't move.
Remember the painted
target, and take aim.
It was never like this
before, always safe.
I always won.
Somebody get me out.
Stay on the path,
Eckels, stay on the path!
Oh God, no.
[roaring]
Fire, fire!
[gunfire]
[roar]
Get back here, Eckels!
No!
[gunfire]
[roar]
[groaning]
[tree cracking]
[thud]
[sounds of dinosaur dying]
Huh.
[panting]
Get over here.
Get over here!
[ominous noise]
Dig them out.
What?
Dig out your bullets.
We don't leave
anything in the past.
[ominous music]
[squelching sounds]
What about the other shots?
We'll get them
with an ID magnet.
Why don't we use
the magnet here--
Dig, dammit!
[gags]
[heavy footsteps]
[roar]
You hear that?
That's his friends coming.
How would you like me to
leave you here to greet them?
Ugh, ugh.
Get out of here.
[roaring]
[ominous music]
[spinning noises]
[crashing]
[roar]
[whoosh]
Welcome back.
[whoosh]
[ominous music]
Ah, they're here.
The election, who
won the election?
Election?
What election?
Deutscher is president,
leader of the 15th rule.
[music]
What?
What?
What!
[music swells, drumbeats]
[MUSIC SWELLS LOUDER, MORE
OMINOUS]
[heavy breathing]
[gunshot]
[ominous music]
People ask, where
do you get your ideas?
Well, right here.
All this is mine.
I'll never starve here.
I'm Ray Bradbury.
And this is--
[music swells]
Dinosaurs, large and small,
fill my junkyard work room.
This one, given to me by
a friend 30 years ago.
These, given as toys
to my daughters.
When they didn't play with
them, I simply took them back.
So with dinosaurs
coming into my life,
I often wondered
what would happen,
if I could go back into theirs.
Dinosaurs-- time machines--
put them together, and you have
a tale one billion years old.
[ominous music]
REPORTER (ON TV): Douglas Keith
swept to his landslide victory,
conceded by Kurt Deutscher,
just after west coast voters
had left the polling stations.
The new president said that
he rejoiced in the people's
massive affirmation,
their belief in democracy,
and a caring society.
Humanity had the victory.
ANNOUNCER (ON LOUDSPEAKER):
One of our most exciting
selections-- exotic,
15th century Bangkok,
bristled with color and
life, the perfect place
for a Time Safari tiger hunt.
A sultry plunge into--
Sir, this guy says if
Deutscher becomes president,
I want to run, 1492.
No, I said, we don't
conduct escapes.
[laughs]
We're lucky.
Deutscher would mean the
worst kind of dictatorship.
[clearing throat]
Booking card, sir.
Yes.
And my check.
Not yet.
Does the safari guarantee
I come back alive?
We guarantee nothing,
except the dinosaurs.
Those are real photos, of
real animals, taken yesterday.
Or 60 million years
ago, as you wish.
[ominous music]
My Tyrannosaurus Rex,
the biggest damn carnivore
in history.
This is Mr. Travis, your
safari guide in the past.
He'll show you what
to-- where to shoot.
If he says no
shooting, no shooting.
If you disobey, there's a
penalty of another $10,000,
plus government
action on your return.
Biographical computer card.
[beeping]
The great game hunter, yes?
I pride myself on my--
Some of these are illegal.
Elephants--
I shot to protect myself.
Shot everything in
the world, have you?
Everything.
I'm bored.
No new horizons, that's
why I came to you.
I've decided--
Choose your weapon.
They're all proof
they can do the job--
on dinosaurs.
Didn't you write a book,
"Dinosaurs I Have Known?"
They're fantasy.
Right.
You've known nothing till today.
Sign this.
If you're killed,
we're not responsible.
Those dinosaurs are hungry.
What?
We don't time travel
to get ourselves killed.
Six safari leaders
were killed last year,
because a few cowards bolted.
I've shot every damned
animal in the world,
do I look like a coward?
We'll refund your money.
[signs, slams pen]
Get him ready.
[ominous music playing]
Out of charge and ashes,
like golden salamanders,
the old years, the
green years will leap.
Roses sweeten the air.
White hair turns
black, wrinkles vanish.
All, everything,
flies back to seed.
Flee death.
[snorts]
[ominous music swells]
Shall we go?
Let's go!
[beeping]
[machine humming]
[humming sound swells]
[thunder]
[crashing noises]
Look!
Will you look?
They're looking.
Every hunter that ever
lived would envy us today.
Huh.
From now on, Africa
will seem like Illinois.
Have you ever visited
hell, Mr. Eckels?
Until you visit hell,
don't make comparisons.
I'm ready.
Yeah.
[rumbling and crashing]
[tweet]
[beeping]
That it is a jungle
of 60,002,055
years before the
moment you stepped
into our office, Mr. Eckels.
Christ isn't born yet.
Moses has not gone to the
mountain to talk with God.
The pyramids lie
still in the earth.
Hell.
[rumbling]
[beeping]
[whooshing noise]
[futuristic door sound]
[beeping]
There is a path, laid by
Time Safari for your use.
It floats six inches
above the ground, touches
not so much as a blade of
grass, a leaf, or a tree.
It's anti-gravity.
Its purpose is to
stop you from touching
this world of the past.
Stay on the path,
don't go off it.
If you fall off,
there's a penalty.
And shoot only one animal.
One?
Our government doesn't
like us here in the past.
We pay big fees to
keep our franchise.
A time machine can be a killer.
We might destroy a
roach, or flower even,
and destroy an important
link in a species.
So?
Oh, lord.
Come on.
If we kill a mouse here, all
the future family of that mouse
are killed, right?
And all the families,
of all the families--
instead of one mouse,
you annihilate one,
1,000, a million possible mice.
Well?
Well.
[rumbling]
For want of 10 mice, a fox dies.
For want of a fox,
a lion starves.
For want of a lion, infinite
billions of lifeforms
cease to exist.
A caveman goes hunting,
but you, friend,
have stepped on all his lions.
The caveman starves.
From his loins might have
sprung 10 sons, from theirs 100.
Kill this one man, you
destroy a race of people,
an entire history of life.
Europe remains for
ever a dark forest.
Step on a mouse, you leave
your print like a Grand
Canyon across eternity.
So stay on the path!
Keep off the grass.
[laughs]
[ominous music]
[shoes squeaking]
[insect sounds]
Our animal's marked
with white paint.
Today I came back, and
followed the animals,
and found one who was
going to die anyway,
when a tree fell on him.
I noted the time down
to the exact second
and shot a paint ball.
I left a white
mark on his chest.
You can't miss it.
I correlated our
arrival in the past
so that we meet
our monster no more
than three minutes before
he was going to die anyway.
We kill only animals that
have no future, those
that will never mate again.
[large animal sounds]
Steady, fellas.
Go forward to the red marker.
[insect noises]
[ominous music]
[large animal sounds]
It's telling us its enemy,
the meat eater, is near.
[ominous music]
Here he is.
Lord of the mighty
beasts there we find.
[crashing, growling]
[roar]
Listen to his breathing.
You could vacuum clean
the Empire State Building.
[scoffs]
Oh, I do go on.
[crashing]
[growl]
[ominous music]
It's an old kill.
He'll be back this way
when he's finished.
[bones crunching]
Rifles at the ready.
[guns clicking]
[growling]
[heavy footsteps]
There he is.
[roaring]
My God.
It could reach up
and grab the moon.
[roaring]
[growling]
OK, in two minutes
when I say fire--
your bullet will strike
at exactly one second
before the tree falls, but
it must be timed on the nose,
to the second.
No, nobody can kill that.
That can't be killed.
[roaring]
We were fools to come.
Shut up!
I-- I-- I never guessed, I--
I didn't realize
it would be so big.
Turn around, quietly,
and go back to the machine.
I can't move.
Remember the painted
target, and take aim.
It was never like this
before, always safe.
I always won.
Somebody get me out.
Stay on the path,
Eckels, stay on the path!
Oh God, no.
[roaring]
Fire, fire!
[gunfire]
[roar]
Get back here, Eckels!
No!
[gunfire]
[roar]
[groaning]
[tree cracking]
[thud]
[sounds of dinosaur dying]
Huh.
[panting]
Get over here.
Get over here!
[ominous noise]
Dig them out.
What?
Dig out your bullets.
We don't leave
anything in the past.
[ominous music]
[squelching sounds]
What about the other shots?
We'll get them
with an ID magnet.
Why don't we use
the magnet here--
Dig, dammit!
[gags]
[heavy footsteps]
[roar]
You hear that?
That's his friends coming.
How would you like me to
leave you here to greet them?
Ugh, ugh.
Get out of here.
[roaring]
[ominous music]
[spinning noises]
[crashing]
[roar]
[whoosh]
Welcome back.
[whoosh]
[ominous music]
Ah, they're here.
The election, who
won the election?
Election?
What election?
Deutscher is president,
leader of the 15th rule.
[music]
What?
What?
What!
[music swells, drumbeats]
[MUSIC SWELLS LOUDER, MORE
OMINOUS]
[heavy breathing]
[gunshot]
[ominous music]