Tomorrowland

Nix:
Every day is the opportunity for a better tomorrow.

Nix:
Let's imagine... if you glimpsed the future, you were frightened by what you saw, what would you do with that information? You would go to... the politicians, captains of industry? And how would you convince them? Data? Facts? Good luck! The only facts they won't challenge are the ones that keep the wheels greased and the dollars rolling in. But what if... what if there was a way of skipping the middle man and putting the critical news directly into everyone's head? The probability of wide-spread annihilation kept going up. The only way to stop it was to show it. To scare people straight. Because, what reasonable human being wouldn't be galvanized by the potential destruction of everything they've ever known or loved? To save civilization, I would show its collapse. But, how do you think this vision was received? How do you think people responded to the prospect of imminent doom? They gobbled it up like a chocolate eclair! They didn't fear their demise, they re-packaged it. It could be enjoyed as video-games, as TV shows, books, movies, the entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse and sprinted towards it with gleeful abandon. Meanwhile, your Earth was crumbling all around you. You've got simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation. Explain that one! Bees and butterflies start to disappear, the glaciers melt, algae blooms. All around you the coal mine canaries are dropping dead and you won't take the hint! In every moment there's the possibility of a better future, but you people won't believe it. And because you won't believe it you won't do what is necessary to make it a reality. So, you dwell on this terrible future. You resign yourselves to it for one reason, because *that* future does not ask anything of you today. So yes, we saw the iceberg and warned the Titanic. But you all just steered for it anyway full steam ahead. Why? Because you want to sink! You gave up! It's not the monitor's fault. That's yours.

Casey Newton:
Even the tiniest of actions can change the future.

Eddie Newton:
Why do you love the stars so much, Casey?

Young Casey Newton:
Because I wanna go there.

Eddie Newton:
But it's so far away.

Jenny Newton:
It'll take a long time. A real long time. What if you get all the way up there and there's nothing?

Young Casey Newton:
What if there's *everything*?

Casey Newton:
There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins?

Eddie Newton:
Come on, Casey.

Casey Newton:
Okay, fine. Don't answer.

Eddie Newton:
Whichever one you feed.

Athena:
Dreamers need to stick together... It's not programming, it's personal.

Frank Walker:
Why now? Why her?

Athena:
Because she hasn't given up.

Athena:
Do you want to know why you could never make me laugh.

Frank Walker:
Why?

Athena:
Because you're not funny.

Hugo:
Have you ever wondered what would happen, if all the geniuses, the artists, the scientists, the smartest, most creative people in the world decided to actually change it? Where, where could they even do such a thing? They'd need a place free from politics and bureaucracy, distractions, greed - a secret place where they could build whatever they were crazy enough to imagine...

Young Frank Walker:
I'm not giving up.

Young Frank Walker:
Who are you?

Athena:
I'm the future, Frank Walker.

Frank Walker:
Now, you and I are gonna be on their watchlist but they may not have your facial recognition profile uploaded yet...

Casey Newton:
May not?

Frank Walker:
May not, so...

[pulls out a device]

Frank Walker:
you walk over there, you take this, you tap them on the neck. If he's human, it knocks him right out.

Casey Newton:
And if it's a robot?

Athena:
[Frank then proceeds to whack Athena with the device] Hey!

Frank Walker:
You'll just piss it off.

[first lines]

Frank Walker:
Are they on?

Casey Newton:
Yep, so introduce yourself.

Frank Walker:
Okay. Hey, I'm Frank, how you doing? Don't answer that, that's rhetorical. Okay, let's get you up to speed... this is a story about the future, and the future can be scary...

Casey Newton:
[Casey interrupts and the scene pauses for a moment] Mmm...

Frank Walker:
What?

Casey Newton:
You sure you want to go with scary?

Frank Walker:
Yes I want to go with scary.

Casey Newton:
Okay!

Frank Walker:
Okay! [scene continues] The future can be scary. Unstable governments, over-population, wars on every continent, famine, water shortages, environmental collapse...

Casey Newton:
[interrupts again]... and scientific breakthroughs, wonder and beauty...

Frank Walker:
Could you please just stop interrupting?

Casey Newton:
I will, just try to be more upbeat.

Frank Walker:
Upbeat? I can't tell them anything if you keep interrupting me.

Casey Newton:
You're right, sorry.

Frank Walker:
As I was saying... with every second that ticks by, we get closer and closer...

Casey Newton:
[interrupts yet again] Ooh I know... tell them about...

Frank Walker:
I can't tell them anything until I tell them about this.

Casey Newton:
Then can we please just start somewhere else?

Frank Walker:
Fine where would you like me to start?

Casey Newton:
Well you keep saying the future wasn't always this way, right?

Frank Walker:
It wasn't... when I was a kid, the future was...

Casey Newton:
Different, right?

Frank Walker:
Right.

Casey Newton:
Okay cool, then start there.

Athena:
You made this yourself?

Nix:
Athena, what are you doing here?

Athena:
Did you, or didn't you?

Young Frank Walker:
Uh, what?

Athena:
Did you make this yourself?

Young Frank Walker:
Yeah?

Athena:
Why?

Young Frank Walker:
I guess I got tired of waiting around for someone else to do it for me?

[after the whole sequence where young Frank first arrives in Tomorrowland]

Frank Walker:
And then everything went to hell...

Casey Newton:
Oh boy...

Frank Walker:
Well it did...

Casey Newton:
So you gave them like one second of blue skies and jetpacks and hope...

Frank Walker:
It's important! They need to know the stakes!

Casey Newton:
I think they can figure out clocks counting down are bad.

Frank Walker:
Do you want to tell the story?

Casey Newton:
No, you're doing fine.

Frank Walker:
Because if you think you can tell the story better, I would absolutely love to hear you try...

Casey Newton:
Wow really?

Frank Walker:
Really!

Casey Newton:
Well I guess technically I am more qualified...

Frank Walker:
Are you? How so?

Casey Newton:
Because unlike you... I'm an optimist.

Nix:
Oh, bollocks.

[standing on Monitor]

Casey Newton:
How is this possible?

Nix:
We are millions of exponential deviances away from the dimension you call home. Frank had the noble idea of building this machine so that we can keep in touch.

Casey Newton:
[looking back at her garage] This is 3 days ago.

Nix:
Relatively... That's space-time humor. Those tachyons travel faster than light. Once we harness them...

Casey Newton:
You can see backwards in time.

Frank Walker:
Not just backwards.

Casey Newton:
You're kidding.

Frank Walker:
No.

[using Monitor to see the future]

[last lines]

Casey Newton:
[voice over] First order of business... get the door back open. Couldn't hurt to get a few experienced engineers over here. Next...

Frank Walker:
[voice over] Put the party back on... and print out some new invitations.

[Now cut to Frank and Casey speaking in front of an audience of androids like Athena]

Frank Walker:
Which brings us to why we're here today. A year ago, it was all supposed to be over... we shouldn't even be here, but we are. It isn't hard to knock down a big, evil building that's telling everybody that the world's going to end. What is hard... is figuring out what to build in its place, and if we're going to do that... we can't do it alone. We're going to need all of you...

Young British Recruiter:
[raises his hand] Frank Walker. May I ask a question?

Frank Walker:
Sure!

Young British Recruiter:
The search parameters you've given us, while mathematically sound, are a bit... undefined. Could you be more specific, please?

Frank Walker:
Well, Miss Newton. You want to tell our recruiters what they're looking for?

Casey Newton:
Dreamers... we are looking for dreamers. Anyone who will feed the right wolf.

[start handing out cases of Tomorrowland buttons]

Frank Walker:
So... I once told your predecessor that she was nothing but a combination of ones and zeroes. I was wrong. She was much more than that. You are much more than that, too. So, go out there and do she would've done. Find the ones who haven't given up. They're the future.

Athena:
There are things I need to tell you before the final... before the automated program kicks in. I'm a machine, I never thought that was bad until I saw your face when you found out I was.

Frank Walker:
I always knew...

Athena:
No you didn't...

Computer Voice:
Systems failing. Activating last thoughts saved for Frank Walker.

[Voice-Over]

Athena:
Log 15. September. 1965. Frank Walker is looking at me in a manner that is difficult to recognize. It seems imperative to explain to him that I'm an audio-animatronic...

Frank Walker:
Athena...

Athena:
...But I'm concerned that he may be adversely affected when he finds out that I'm not human. He has potential. I don't want to damage it. He needs someone to believe in him and I am fulfilling that need. He's my top recruit. Log 24. October. 1965. I'm having unusual thoughts towards Frank Walker. I suspect a flaw in my empathy interface. I'm thinking I should report it... but I haven't. I cannot explain why. Log 78. April. 1984. Frank Walker has been banished by Governor Nix. He says he's lost hope and he holds me responsible for having given it to him in the first place. I do not understand this. He says I never will, because I do not feel anger... or disappointment... or love.

Computer Voice:
End recording.

Athena:
I was designed to find dreamers... I found you... and lost you. But I found her... Casey. Dreamers need to stick together. It's not programming, it's personal.

Frank Walker:
All right, it's going to be bright, cold and really loud. You're going to lose 90% of your blood sugar in 1/100 of a second. And you're going to wish you were dead. But then it'll be over.

[Frank puts ear muffs on Casey, pauses for a moment, then partially removes it from one ear]

Frank Walker:
Don't pee on us.

[Frank puts the ear muffs back on Casey]

Casey Newton:
This sounds spectacular.

[first lines]

Frank Walker:
Are they on?

Casey Newton:
Yep, so introduce yourself.

Frank Walker:
Okay. Hey, I'm Frank, how you doing? Don't answer that. That's rhetorical. Okay, let's get you up to speed... this is a story about the future, and the future can be scary...

Casey Newton:
[Casey interrupts and the scene pauses for a moment] Mmm...

Frank Walker:
What?

Casey Newton:
You sure you want to go with scary?

Frank Walker:
Yes I want to go with scary.

Casey Newton:
Okay!

Frank Walker:
Okay!

Frank Walker:
[scene continues] The future can be scary. Unstable governments, over-population, wars on every continent, famine, water shortages, environmental collapse...

Casey Newton:
[interrupts again]... and scientific breakthroughs, wonder and beauty...

Frank Walker:
Could you please just stop interrupting?

Casey Newton:
I will. Just try to be a little more upbeat.

Frank Walker:
Upbeat?

Casey Newton:
Yeah, tell them what you like.

Frank Walker:
I can't tell them anything if you keep interrupting me.

Casey Newton:
You're right, sorry.

Frank Walker:
There is still a receiver there?

Athena:
Last I checked.

Frank Walker:
How long ago was that?

Athena:
25 years ago. Roughly.

Young Frank Walker:
Who are you?

Athena:
I'm the future, Frank Walker.

Athena:
Dreamers need to stick together... it's not programming, it's personal.