Difference between revisions of "Episode ABC.2.2: "Deities""
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| class="showleft" | Watch for: | | class="showleft" | Watch for: | ||
| The pronunciation of "Xmas." | | The pronunciation of "Xmas." | ||
| + | |||
| + | A "Life with Polly" reference | ||
| + | |||
| + | A plasma sphere (cool) | ||
| + | |||
| + | Remember Teddy Ruxpin? | ||
Bryce blowing himself up (a little) | Bryce blowing himself up (a little) | ||
| + | |||
| + | One of the steamier sequences of the series | ||
| + | |||
| + | Bryce's notions of impossibility. | ||
|- style="border-top: 2px gray solid;" | |- style="border-top: 2px gray solid;" | ||
| class="showleft" | Crew | | class="showleft" | Crew | ||
| Line 101: | Line 111: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| Ron Ray | | Ron Ray | ||
| − | | | + | | Ron (Network 23 tech)* |
|- | |- | ||
| Larry Spinak | | Larry Spinak | ||
| Line 113: | Line 123: | ||
| ? | | ? | ||
| Other Network 23 Board (female) | | Other Network 23 Board (female) | ||
| − | |||
|- | |- | ||
| ? | | ? | ||
| Line 128: | Line 137: | ||
|- | |- | ||
| ? | | ? | ||
| − | | | + | | |
| + | |- | ||
| colspan="2" class="tfootnote" | * Tentative role match, pending confirmation. | | colspan="2" class="tfootnote" | * Tentative role match, pending confirmation. | ||
| Line 147: | Line 157: | ||
Carter enters the Vu-Age Church's temple to a room labeled by a bronze plaque as "Knocking on Heaven's Door," and begins interviewing a woman who is talking to a video simulacrum of her deceased husband... which only she seems to find convincing, as it repeats the same phrase over and over. Carter is accosted by a Vu-Age rep who escorts him to an office and answers some questions, then lets himself be arm-twisted into calling Vanna Smith, who, Carter assures the rep. will want to see ''him''. | Carter enters the Vu-Age Church's temple to a room labeled by a bronze plaque as "Knocking on Heaven's Door," and begins interviewing a woman who is talking to a video simulacrum of her deceased husband... which only she seems to find convincing, as it repeats the same phrase over and over. Carter is accosted by a Vu-Age rep who escorts him to an office and answers some questions, then lets himself be arm-twisted into calling Vanna Smith, who, Carter assures the rep. will want to see ''him''. | ||
| − | Smith appears from a side door and greets Carter... with a slashing right hook. It turns out that Carter's problem is that he and Vanna had a three-year-long affair some time back, one which was characterized by fighting and ended on a fight. Smith is quickly apologetic for her punch, and soon Carter is grilling her about how the girl he knew turned into such a con artist. | + | Smith appears from a side door and greets Carter... with a slashing right hook. It turns out that Carter's problem is that he and Vanna had a three-year-long affair some time back, one which was characterized by fighting and ended on a fight. Smith is quickly apologetic for her punch, and soon Carter ("off duty") is grilling her about how the girl he knew turned into such a con artist. But Vanna sticks to her guns and defends her position, claiming that both she and Carter ended up in the same place - the "reassurance racket." |
| + | |||
| + | Carter talks with Bryce about the process as Bryce's current experiment is literally backfiring. Bryce assures him that "being cortically scanned and stored" requires a computer the size of Network 23's, and that the Vu-Age Church could be storing only the most rudimentary form of a client's personality. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Back in control, Murray confronts Carter and wants to know why Vanna White reacted so strongly. Carter brushes him off and says he'll get his story... "Trust me." Murray calls after him, "Can I...?" and proceeds to confide the problems in Theora, who turns to Max. Max confirms a three-year bout of dorm-room thrashing, but Theora wants to know about Carter's feelings for Vanna White - was he in love? Max confirms that - amid continuing fights - Carter's feelings were very strong. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Carter begins recording his story, calling Vu-Age and Vanna Smith on the carpet for fraud. Theora is concerned that Carter has lost his objectivity, and convinces him to let Vanna Smith see the story before it airs, to give her a second chance. Over another candle-lit dinner in Edison's apartment, he tells her he's breaking his rules, but wants to show her the tape. She says he's changed, from a lover to a muckraker... and decides to pass on seeing the tape. Which suits Carter... and they end up in bed again, instead. | ||
| + | |||
| + | "arter wakes up alone, only to get an urgent call from Theora: Max is missing. Conferring in control, he, Murray, Theora and Bryce figure out that someone came in the night and took Max out of the system... which can only happen with his compliance. No one can get Max out of Network 23's system... but Max can put himself into a travel computer, apparently leaving "most of his programming - like your body without the brain" behind. Bryce establishes how unique Max's creation and being are - he is "one of the most complex pieces of computer software anyone is likely to create." He even has a "daytime serial" module to keep writing himself. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Theora figures it out: the Vu-Age Church has him. Max is important to Edison... important enough leverage him against the pending story. Carter startes to leave, to confront his "old ex-friend" Vanna Smith... but Theora stops him, saying his personal feelings are getting in the way. Carter makes it clear that personal feelings always drive him... and goes. | ||
| + | |||
| + | The Network 23 board is concerned with eroding demographics for the top-rated Polly show - they're losing the 5-11 year olds. Maybe younger writers are the key? (No, says Cheviot... use ''simpler'' writers.) In other business, the Vu-Age Church show is trending upwards... and Ashwell suggests it's a mistake to let Carter run his exposé that evening. Cheviot laughs at the notion he can control Carter's stories. After all, as Lauren points out... if there's a knock-down fight between these two ratings leaders, the winner is still... Network 23. And then they're back to the Polly show... and its cost overruns. | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
==Notes & Commentary== | ==Notes & Commentary== | ||
| Line 162: | Line 185: | ||
This may be our first good look at a credit-tube terminal and its circular keypad (used by Mrs. Marx), and at the small hand-held terminals (as used by Gene Ashwell). | This may be our first good look at a credit-tube terminal and its circular keypad (used by Mrs. Marx), and at the small hand-held terminals (as used by Gene Ashwell). | ||
| − | The name Marx (Jennifer and Humphrey) can't be a coincidence in this context. | + | The name Marx (Jennifer and Humphrey) can't be a coincidence in this context. (It is definitely "Marx," not "Marks" - we see it on Theora's screen.) |
The faces we see on the various "storage" monitors in the Church temple are not credited and may be show crew or other inside jokes. | The faces we see on the various "storage" monitors in the Church temple are not credited and may be show crew or other inside jokes. | ||
| Line 168: | Line 191: | ||
Why is it that Vanna Smith is one of the "chosen few" to Max? Has Carter not had very many lovers in his life? Or is it that she was somehow special otherwise? | Why is it that Vanna Smith is one of the "chosen few" to Max? Has Carter not had very many lovers in his life? Or is it that she was somehow special otherwise? | ||
| − | In Bryce's lab, Carter is playing with a small stuffed fish, which Bryce snatches away. Is this a riff on the Christian fish symbol? | + | In Bryce's lab, Carter is playing with a small stuffed fish, which Bryce snatches away. Is this a riff on the Christian fish symbol? And what about the plasma sphere - just set coolness (when such things were new)... or another religious reference? |
| + | |||
| + | "....Your mortal remains go into recycling..." Are burial and cremation things of the past? | ||
| + | |||
| + | When Carter leaves for the Vu-Age Church after Max is stolen, he calls out "Roddy" or "Ronnie" - to whom? Ron the technician? A helicopter pilot we don't otherwise meet? | ||
===Opening Credits=== | ===Opening Credits=== | ||
| Line 262: | Line 289: | ||
: <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "People are paying their life savings for it." | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "People are paying their life savings for it." | ||
: <span class="speaker">Bryce:</span> "Well, some people'll give their life savings to anyone on TV who asks for it... won't they?" | : <span class="speaker">Bryce:</span> "Well, some people'll give their life savings to anyone on TV who asks for it... won't they?" | ||
| − | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> (laughs) | + | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> (laughs) |
* <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "...and Goood created the fish that swims in the sea, the bir- bir- *BLECHH* the birds of the air and yea the creatures that walk upon the earth, and then he created... Vanna Smith." | * <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "...and Goood created the fish that swims in the sea, the bir- bir- *BLECHH* the birds of the air and yea the creatures that walk upon the earth, and then he created... Vanna Smith." | ||
: <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "Okay, Max, you can stop that any time." | : <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "Okay, Max, you can stop that any time." | ||
: <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "I don't know if I can... yaaaaa, yaaaa, yaa... yaa... hup." "All right, Max... I know you're dying to tell me: did they or didn't they have a relationship?" | : <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "I don't know if I can... yaaaaa, yaaaa, yaa... yaa... hup." "All right, Max... I know you're dying to tell me: did they or didn't they have a relationship?" | ||
: <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "Well- well, if you call three years of thrashing around in his dorm room a relationship... yes." | : <span class="speaker">Max:</span> "Well- well, if you call three years of thrashing around in his dorm room a relationship... yes." | ||
| − | : <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "Well, I don't, actually." | + | : <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "Well, I don't, actually." |
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Max:</span>: "Well... ah, love. The walks... over soft grass. The smiles... over candle-lit dinners. ...The arguments over just about everything else." | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "Betrayal comes to us in many forms. The husband whose credit account shows visits to unlicensed sex therapists. The child who won't watch his TV. The TV hero who turns out to be quite ''un''heroic. This is a story about an even greater betrayal: when those who claim to speak for God... turn out to be liars." | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "I'm breaking my own rules here... I brought you a rough cut of the story I did on the Vu-Age Church, to show you. Before I put it on the air." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Vanna Smith:</span> "Why?" | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "I don't know... maybe, test your reaction, give you a chance to respond..." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Vanna Smith:</span> "To... see if I would change?" | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "...to give you a chance to change..." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Vanna White:</span> "Well, your technique has really changed. It used to be dinner... and then ''passionate'' lovemaking. Now it's... passionate muckraking." | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Murray:</span> "How do we know Max is gone? I mean, he's always moving around in the system, like a... like a termite." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "Yeah, but he usually comes when he's called." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Murray:</span> "Okay, like a dog." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "Murray..." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Murray:</span> "You know, for a moment there you sounded just like Max." | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Murray:</span> "What's the big deal? I mean, I ''like'' Max, just as much as the next guy. Almost." | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Theora:</span> "I think you're letting your personal feelings get in the way again." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Carter:</span> "To hell with my personal feelings. I'm not some machine! I've got personal feelings about every story I do - they're what makes me ''care''! ...what makes me ''work''! What makes me ''good'' at what I do!" | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Edwards:</span> "[unintelligible] levels for "Life with Polly" are stable, but the demographics are eroding." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Cheviot:</span> "How are they eroding... exactly?" | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Edwards:</span> "We're losing the five to eleven year olds." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Lauren:</span> "Might I suggest that the story lines are becoming a bit too complex?" | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Ashwell:</span> "Do we need younger writers? Because I've got this nephew..." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Cheviot:</span> "Simpler. Simpler writers. Will you speak with the producers on it?" | ||
| + | |||
| + | * <span class="speaker">Edwards:</span> "The ratings surge began when the church promised to bring people back from the dead." | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Ashwell:</span> "Ben... in light of that, do you think it's wise for Edison Carter to do an exposé on the church tonight?" | ||
| + | : <span class="speaker">Cheviot:</span> "In case you haven't noticed, Ashwell, I don't try to tell Edison Carter ''anything''." | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | *: <span class="speaker">:</span> " | ||
| + | *: <span class="speaker">:</span> " | ||
| + | |||
</div> | </div> | ||
Revision as of 18:51, 25 March 2015
| Max Headroom: Episode ABC.2.2 | |
|---|---|
| Title | "Deities" |
| Production No. | 2.2 |
| UK Air Date | NA? |
| US Air Date | 25 Sep 1987 |
| Length | 48 minutes |
| Creative | Written by Michael Cassutt
Directed by Tom Wright Edited by Andrew L. Cohen |
| Watch for: | The pronunciation of "Xmas."
A "Life with Polly" reference A plasma sphere (cool) Remember Teddy Ruxpin? Bryce blowing himself up (a little) One of the steamier sequences of the series Bryce's notions of impossibility. |
| Crew | Series Crew, Season 2 |
| Actor | Role |
| Main Cast | |
| Matt Frewer | Edison Carter /
Max Headroom |
| Amanda Pays | Theora Jones |
| George Coe | Ben Cheviot |
| Chris Young | Bryce Lynch |
| W. Morgan Sheppard | Blank Reg |
| Jeffrey Tambor | Murray |
| Guest Starring | |
| Dayle Hadden | Dr. Vanna Smith |
| Hank Garrett | Gene Ashwell |
| Lee Wilkof | Edwards |
| Sharon Barr | Lauren |
| Gregory Itzin | Gregory (Vu-Age Rep) |
| Rosalind Chao | Angela Barry |
| Michael Margotta | Network 23 Researcher |
| Peg Stewart | ? |
| Co-Starring | |
| Brenda Hayes | Shannon* |
| Gary Ballard | ? |
| Featuring | |
| Clarence Brown | ? |
| Dale Raoul | Jennifer Marx |
| Ron Ray | Ron (Network 23 tech)* |
| Larry Spinak | ? |
| Unknown Cast | |
| ? | Humphrey Marx (Avatar) |
| ? | Other Network 23 Board (female) |
| ? | Other Network 23 Board (male) |
| ? | Other Network 23 Board (male) |
| ? | |
| ? | |
| ? | |
| * Tentative role match, pending confirmation.
Unknown roles represent credited cast members with no certain matching role. Unknown cast represent roles with unknown, possibly uncredited actors. | |
The second episode of the ABC series' second season set a high bar by taking on that old-time "electronic religion"... in Max's time and our own.
Synopsis
20 minutes into the future, it's time for the weekly broadcast of the Vu-Age Church's program "Save Yourself" - "modern religion for the video age" on Network 23. Church leader Vanna White is making a hard pitch for five million credits in donations to keep their research into resurrection technology going. It's an effective pitch: first we see a woman making a donation while visiting her "stored" husband, then none other than Network 23 board member Gene Ashwell.
Murray, on the other hand, smells a scam - or at least a story. Vu-Age has gotten too big, too fast, and on promises that have to be bogus. Theora fervently agrees, but Carter is curiously reticent - he doesn't want to waste his time on such a canned story. Murray twists his arm, and he reluctantly agrees.
Carter's odd reaction gets Murray curious, and he quizzes Theora and then Max about Carter's religious beliefs. According to Max, Carter doesn't have any strong feelings on the subject, making his reaction even more inexplicable.
Carter enters the Vu-Age Church's temple to a room labeled by a bronze plaque as "Knocking on Heaven's Door," and begins interviewing a woman who is talking to a video simulacrum of her deceased husband... which only she seems to find convincing, as it repeats the same phrase over and over. Carter is accosted by a Vu-Age rep who escorts him to an office and answers some questions, then lets himself be arm-twisted into calling Vanna Smith, who, Carter assures the rep. will want to see him.
Smith appears from a side door and greets Carter... with a slashing right hook. It turns out that Carter's problem is that he and Vanna had a three-year-long affair some time back, one which was characterized by fighting and ended on a fight. Smith is quickly apologetic for her punch, and soon Carter ("off duty") is grilling her about how the girl he knew turned into such a con artist. But Vanna sticks to her guns and defends her position, claiming that both she and Carter ended up in the same place - the "reassurance racket."
Carter talks with Bryce about the process as Bryce's current experiment is literally backfiring. Bryce assures him that "being cortically scanned and stored" requires a computer the size of Network 23's, and that the Vu-Age Church could be storing only the most rudimentary form of a client's personality.
Back in control, Murray confronts Carter and wants to know why Vanna White reacted so strongly. Carter brushes him off and says he'll get his story... "Trust me." Murray calls after him, "Can I...?" and proceeds to confide the problems in Theora, who turns to Max. Max confirms a three-year bout of dorm-room thrashing, but Theora wants to know about Carter's feelings for Vanna White - was he in love? Max confirms that - amid continuing fights - Carter's feelings were very strong.
Carter begins recording his story, calling Vu-Age and Vanna Smith on the carpet for fraud. Theora is concerned that Carter has lost his objectivity, and convinces him to let Vanna Smith see the story before it airs, to give her a second chance. Over another candle-lit dinner in Edison's apartment, he tells her he's breaking his rules, but wants to show her the tape. She says he's changed, from a lover to a muckraker... and decides to pass on seeing the tape. Which suits Carter... and they end up in bed again, instead.
"arter wakes up alone, only to get an urgent call from Theora: Max is missing. Conferring in control, he, Murray, Theora and Bryce figure out that someone came in the night and took Max out of the system... which can only happen with his compliance. No one can get Max out of Network 23's system... but Max can put himself into a travel computer, apparently leaving "most of his programming - like your body without the brain" behind. Bryce establishes how unique Max's creation and being are - he is "one of the most complex pieces of computer software anyone is likely to create." He even has a "daytime serial" module to keep writing himself.
Theora figures it out: the Vu-Age Church has him. Max is important to Edison... important enough leverage him against the pending story. Carter startes to leave, to confront his "old ex-friend" Vanna Smith... but Theora stops him, saying his personal feelings are getting in the way. Carter makes it clear that personal feelings always drive him... and goes.
The Network 23 board is concerned with eroding demographics for the top-rated Polly show - they're losing the 5-11 year olds. Maybe younger writers are the key? (No, says Cheviot... use simpler writers.) In other business, the Vu-Age Church show is trending upwards... and Ashwell suggests it's a mistake to let Carter run his exposé that evening. Cheviot laughs at the notion he can control Carter's stories. After all, as Lauren points out... if there's a knock-down fight between these two ratings leaders, the winner is still... Network 23. And then they're back to the Polly show... and its cost overruns.
Notes & Commentary
Although the script for this episode tries to deal equitably with religion, it becomes one of the hardest-hitting shows, taking on the flim-flam nature of most television evangelists. (This was on the heels of the Jim Bakker/PTL scandal, so the audience was perhaps ripe for such a take.)
It seems evident that Vanna Smith is named after "Wheel of Fortune" gameshow hostess Vanna White, who began her long tenure as letter-turner in 1982. One of the opening shots, of a stained-glass window, strongly resembles the "Wheel."
Although the Vu-Age Church makes no direct connection to any real religion, the Christian connections are strong, starting right from the opening lines, about the "rapturous day" when... Vu-Age Labs will be able to restore believers to real bodies.
This may be our first good look at a credit-tube terminal and its circular keypad (used by Mrs. Marx), and at the small hand-held terminals (as used by Gene Ashwell).
The name Marx (Jennifer and Humphrey) can't be a coincidence in this context. (It is definitely "Marx," not "Marks" - we see it on Theora's screen.)
The faces we see on the various "storage" monitors in the Church temple are not credited and may be show crew or other inside jokes.
Why is it that Vanna Smith is one of the "chosen few" to Max? Has Carter not had very many lovers in his life? Or is it that she was somehow special otherwise?
In Bryce's lab, Carter is playing with a small stuffed fish, which Bryce snatches away. Is this a riff on the Christian fish symbol? And what about the plasma sphere - just set coolness (when such things were new)... or another religious reference?
"....Your mortal remains go into recycling..." Are burial and cremation things of the past?
When Carter leaves for the Vu-Age Church after Max is stolen, he calls out "Roddy" or "Ronnie" - to whom? Ron the technician? A helicopter pilot we don't otherwise meet?
Opening Credits
This episode uses the standard second-season opening credits.
Subliminal Credits
This episode has no subliminal credits in the Zik-Zak montage.
Quotes & Caps
- Announcer: "We now return to 'Save Yourself,' Network 23's weekly broadcast of the Vu-Age Church... modern religion for the video age."
- Vanna Smith: "Your church has been at the forefront of resurrection research. But resurrection is a very costly process and requires your donations. Without your generosity, we may have a long, long wait... until that glorious day... that rapturous day... when the Vu-Age laboratories perfect cloning, and reverse transfer."
- Edwards: "This resurrection process Vu-Age is offering is a financial bonanza... brilliant targeting. Is there any way our other programs could utilize these techniques?"
- Cheviot: "We've quite enough to deal with in news and entertainment, Edwards. Let's leave religion to the televangelists. After all, they're the professionals."
- Murray: "Okay, you don't have to be telepaths to know what I'm thinking."
- Carter: "Oh, go ahead and surprise us, Murr."
- Murray: "Well, you all know about this Vu-Age Church - came out of nowhere a few years ago, claiming to be the first modern religion for the age of video. But- now they're rich, and they got everyone worried. ...Shannon?"
- Shannon: "In terms of air time and ad rates, Vu-Age is bigger than Islam, Judaism, IBM, Scientology, and all but two Christian denominations. Projections indicate that they will pass the Catholics and 700 Club by this time next year."
- Carter: "Murray... every X-mas we do the story about the fire that wrecks the TV and puts the family out in the cold. Every spring we cover the Special Olympics. Is this the month when we nail a new TV evangelist?"
- Murray: "Now c'mon, you don't think there's a story in that?"
- Carter: "I just don't want to waste my time on a story that Angie Barry can handle in her sleep. ...Sorry."
- Angela Barry: "No problem."
- Murray: "Yeah, well, I have a problem. Excuse me... is your contract up? Or are you just losing your edge?"
- Murray: "Have you any idea what that was all about? I've never seen him chill out on a story."
- Theora: "No... he tends to be over-eager."
- Murray: "Yeah... that means something's wrong. I hate that."
- Theora: "There are things wrong all over the world, Murray... otherwise we wouldn't have jobs."
- Murray: "Max..."
- Max: "You rrrannnng?"
- Theora: "Oh, god, he's been in the Dobie Gillis file again."
- Murray: "Max... um... you share memories with Edison, is that right?"
- Max: "M-M-M-I like to think that he shares memories with me... actually."
- Murray: "All right, do you - or, or does Edison - have a religious background?"
- Theora: "Murray, I really think this is prying."
- Murray: "Mmm. Depends on what I find out."
- Max: "Well... that part of our memory is a little confused. But, I find no kneeling on wooden pews, no prohibitions against smoking, dancing or carrying on, no-no-no-n-no crying in the chapel... or is this the Elvis Presley file?"
- Max: "And while we're on the subject of TV religions, may I - may I - may I say unto you, verily, that they do a good job collecting all those donations. God-God-God may have taken only seven days to create the universe... but the running repairs! Expensive business!"
- Theora: "Now look what you've started."
- Jennifer Marx: "And then there was Sarah, you know - Adottie's granddaughter? Well, she had her art show at the institute last week and it was the most wonderful thing! Oh, Humphrey, I wish you could have seen it."
- Humphrey Marx: "Yes... it's wonderful, isn't it?"
- Jennifer Marx: "Aren't you one of the Talbot boys?"
- Carter: "Um... I don't think so."
- Jennifer Marx: "Ah... they tend to keep their hair."
- Theora: (laughs)
- Murray: "What is so funny about that?"
- Theora: "Oh... sorry."
- Gregory: "Vanna Smith and her associates are addressing those issues. You can rest assured..."
- Carter: "...and I should pardon that expression..."
- Gregory: "...that those issues will be resolved before the resurrection process goes on line."
- Gregory: "But you should be familiar with this sort of process, Mr. Carter. Isn't that how Max Headroom got his start?"
- Carter: "I wasn't aware that was common knowledge."
- Gregory: "It isn't."
- Carter: "Are you a clergyman... or just a PR man?"
- Gregory: "When you come right down to it, Mr. Carter, is there any difference?"
- Murray: "I don't believe it - the lady just threw a right hook."
- Theora: "Should we call for backup?"
- Murray: "No, no, no, no - Edison gets hit two, three times a year - I think it's part of his deal. But we did get that on tape, is that right?"
- Theora: "Yeah, right."
- Max: "Ah - Ah... Vanna Smith, one of the chosen few... ah-yeah-yeah."
- Murray: "You know Vanna Smith?"
- Max: "Me? In... the biblical sense? No..."
- Theora: "No, Max, I think Murray means 'does Edison know Vanna Smith'?"
- Max: "Edison? I'm sorry - one of my commandments is 'Thou Shalt Not Squeal.'"
- Theora: "I'm not sure I want to know."
- Murray: "I'm not sure we ought to know."
- Vanna Smith: "I don't know what made me do that."
- Carter: "Just don't ask me to turn the other cheek."
- Vanna Smith: "I guess... it's been such a long time since we've seen each other, and... we had a pretty big fight, as I recall."
- Carter: "I think you hit me then, too."
- Carter: "You're never going to convince me it's right to promise people something as important as life after death when you can't deliver!"
- Vanna Smith: "Edison! Has it ever occurred to you that you might be wrong? I mean, I know that's close to blasphemy..."
- Bryce: (explosion) "There are no experimental failures. There's only more data."
- Carter: "'Cortically scanned and stored.' Which means there's a version of your personality, as of the day you were scanned, on tape at the temple. And the day you die, when your mortal remains go into recycling, that cortically-scanned file is opened and displayed... am I right?"
- Carter: "Your relatives can come and have conversations with you... eeyuh."
- Bryce: "Now that's where we start to run into some problems, Edison. You need billions of bits of memory, the kind we have here at Network 23, in order to duplicate just one personality."
- Carter: "So... talking to your dead relative is like talking to... Teddy Ruxpin."
- Bryce: "Yes."
- Carter: "The Vu-Age Church will transfer that cortical scan onto a new and perfect body, thus making you... rise from the dead. What about that?"
- Bryce: "Well, I never use the word 'impossible,' Edison."
- Carter: "Yeah, I've noticed that."
- Bryce: "It might be possible to transfer a very complex cortical scan... something on the order of Max Headroom?..."
- Max: (background)"Max!"
- Bryce: "...to a body..."
- Carter: "Don't... even... think it."
- Bryce: "...but, uh, given the little crummy, little scans that the Vu-Age Church makes, you'd end up with an idiot version of yourself that doesn't even possess all your memories."
- Carter: "People are paying their life savings for it."
- Bryce: "Well, some people'll give their life savings to anyone on TV who asks for it... won't they?"
- Carter: (laughs)
- Max: "...and Goood created the fish that swims in the sea, the bir- bir- *BLECHH* the birds of the air and yea the creatures that walk upon the earth, and then he created... Vanna Smith."
- Theora: "Okay, Max, you can stop that any time."
- Max: "I don't know if I can... yaaaaa, yaaaa, yaa... yaa... hup." "All right, Max... I know you're dying to tell me: did they or didn't they have a relationship?"
- Max: "Well- well, if you call three years of thrashing around in his dorm room a relationship... yes."
- Theora: "Well, I don't, actually."
- Max:: "Well... ah, love. The walks... over soft grass. The smiles... over candle-lit dinners. ...The arguments over just about everything else."
- Carter: "Betrayal comes to us in many forms. The husband whose credit account shows visits to unlicensed sex therapists. The child who won't watch his TV. The TV hero who turns out to be quite unheroic. This is a story about an even greater betrayal: when those who claim to speak for God... turn out to be liars."
- Carter: "I'm breaking my own rules here... I brought you a rough cut of the story I did on the Vu-Age Church, to show you. Before I put it on the air."
- Vanna Smith: "Why?"
- Carter: "I don't know... maybe, test your reaction, give you a chance to respond..."
- Vanna Smith: "To... see if I would change?"
- Carter: "...to give you a chance to change..."
- Vanna White: "Well, your technique has really changed. It used to be dinner... and then passionate lovemaking. Now it's... passionate muckraking."
- Murray: "How do we know Max is gone? I mean, he's always moving around in the system, like a... like a termite."
- Theora: "Yeah, but he usually comes when he's called."
- Murray: "Okay, like a dog."
- Carter: "Murray..."
- Murray: "You know, for a moment there you sounded just like Max."
- Murray: "What's the big deal? I mean, I like Max, just as much as the next guy. Almost."
- Theora: "I think you're letting your personal feelings get in the way again."
- Carter: "To hell with my personal feelings. I'm not some machine! I've got personal feelings about every story I do - they're what makes me care! ...what makes me work! What makes me good at what I do!"
- Edwards: "[unintelligible] levels for "Life with Polly" are stable, but the demographics are eroding."
- Cheviot: "How are they eroding... exactly?"
- Edwards: "We're losing the five to eleven year olds."
- Lauren: "Might I suggest that the story lines are becoming a bit too complex?"
- Ashwell: "Do we need younger writers? Because I've got this nephew..."
- Cheviot: "Simpler. Simpler writers. Will you speak with the producers on it?"
- Edwards: "The ratings surge began when the church promised to bring people back from the dead."
- Ashwell: "Ben... in light of that, do you think it's wise for Edison Carter to do an exposé on the church tonight?"
- Cheviot: "In case you haven't noticed, Ashwell, I don't try to tell Edison Carter anything."
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