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Happy Anniversary Part 1 (December 7, 2000) Story by: Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt |
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Teaser |
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EXT. THE CITY - NIGHT - STOCK - ESTABLISH INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - NIGHT WIDE - That great big empty lobby. It's probably too dark to notice how cluttered and dusty it's all become (unopened mail, newspapers, etc.) FULL FIGURE - Someone moves in the garden. Angel wanders in from the garden in his long coat. He's been out walking. OTHER ANGLES - Angel moves aimlessly around the lobby, the point here is to emphasize his aloneness, the current emptiness in his life. CLOSER - ANGEL wanders to the bookshelf. Pulls down a novel, glances at it, puts it back. Scans the shelf for something that might interest him. Nothing does. He moves on. FROM THE BALCONY - He's a small figure wandering in that big space; finally he heads up the stairs. CAMERA DOLLIES on the balcony, meeting Angel as he gets to the top of the stairs, growing into a C.U. He's in his own world. CAMERA WATCHES as he walks down the long hallway and disappears, just as alone as anyone else in the world. INT. OFFICE - NIGHT A utilitarian office, blank and dingy. A phone sits on the single otherwise-bare desk. A very dead hanging plant dangles from a wire from the ceiling, old file folders are piled in corners. CORDELIA and WESLEY kneel, tossing the abandoned files into big trash bags. WESLEY CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA WESLEY CORDELIA She stands up and bumps her head on the dead hanging plant. CORDELIA (cont'd) GUN enters, carrying a small stack of flyers. GUNN CORDELIA Gunn picks up the phone receiver. GUNN Cordy grabs the receiver from him, listens. CORDELIA WESLEY GUNN Wesley gets on his knees by the baseboards, fiddling with a clump of wires. Cordy slams down the receiver. CORDELIA Wesley has followed the wires under the desk. WESLEY (O.S.) The lights go out. Total darkness. GUNN (V.O.) EXT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - NIGHT - STOCK - ESTABLISH INT. ANGEL'S ROOM - NIGHT CAMERA MOVES THROUGH the darkened room, finds Angel's back, creeps around to a profile. He's staring out the window into the night. Hold for a long beat… DISSOLVE TO: ANGEL - opens his little "office-size" fridge, stares in at the contents: a few containers of blood and nothing else. After a beat he closes the door. Not hungry. DISSOLVE TO: ANGEL - sits in a chair, reading. He glances at the window. The light is starting to change, the sun beginning to rise. He closes the book, gets up, shuts the curtains against the coming light. INT. ANGEL'S ROOM - BEDROOM - MORNING Angel climbs into bed, stares at the ceiling. Hold. DISSOLVE TO: SAME SCENE - LATER - DAY Angel is finally asleep. In the distance we HEAR someone singing "Oh say can you see/ by the dawn's early light…" Angel's eyes open. He hears the singing. He sits up. INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - LOBBY - DAY The singing is much louder now: "gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there…" Angel appears on the balcony, having thrown on a t-shirt and pants. He looks down: ANGEL'S POV - THE HOST Stands alone in the lobby singing our national anthem. (NOTE: the lobby should look unkempt, newspapers and mail strewn about, dusty, etc.) HOST Angel descends the stairs. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL THE HOST ANGEL HOST END OF TEASER |
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Act One |
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INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - DAY Moments later. Angel stares at the Host. ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST CAMERA PUSHES IN ON HOST. HOST (cont'd) FLASHBACK TO: INT. CARITAS - PREVIOUS NIGHT The Host is at the bar, the BARTENDER is mixing a SeaBreeze for the Host. HOST (V.O.) ANGLE - STAGE The TORTO DEMON, a big ugly thing and his PARASITE (a squishy ugly neckless puppet head that grows out of his chest a la Alien) sing: TORTO PUPPET PARASITE TORTO & PARASITE HOST (V.O.) The bartender sets the drink on the bar. The Host, watching the singers, picks it up and absently sips it, makes a face, turns to Elian. HOST Bartender looks uncertain. HOST (cont'd) HOST (V.O.) ANGEL (V.O.) HARD CUT: INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - DAY ANGEL HOST ANGEL INT. CARITAS - PREVIOUS NIGHT GENE RAINY moves to the stage. He is an unassuming graduate student in his mid to late twenties. HOST (V.O.) Gene picks up the mic. GENE Gene runs out of words, stands there awkwardly, the music begins. GENE (cont'd) The Host watches as Gene sings. INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - DAY HOST ANGEL HOST INT. CARITAS - PREVIOUS NIGHT GENE The Host watches Gene, transfixed. Eyes widen, and he staggers, hand to his head. Suddenly grimacing. GENE (cont'd) Host passes out, hits floor. (No ratchet gag.) INT. ANGEL'S HOTEL - DAY Angel and the Host. HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST Beat. ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST Off Angel glaring at him, EXT. UNIVERSITY - DAY - ESTABLISHING INT. PHYSICS LAB - DAY The lab is divided into two parts, an INNER LAB, full of Gene's equipment, separated from the OUTER LAB via large windows in the dividing wall and a door that locks. In the INNER LAB we find GENE RAINY, an unassuming graduate T.A. in physics. He is a genius in his field, and there is something very lonely about him. He is deep in thought. In fact he is standing stock still, frozen, as CAMERA circles him like we will circle his frozen time bubbles later in the story. In his lab are accelerators, a so-called bubble chamber, a large dry erase board with mathematical formulas on it, big-ass computer and other high tech physics equipment. As CAMERA comes to rest, we see that he is alone in his lab. In the outer lab are other GRAD STUDENTS working with various equipment, among them a sassy girl named VAL and a wanna-be genius named MIKE. IN THE OUTER LAB Mike looks up from his work, sees Val staring at Gene in the adjoining room. MIKE VAL MIKE VAL MIKE VAL Val moves to the window dividing the labs. Knocks on it. Gene turns, Val points to door. Gene unlocks door, lets her in. VAL (cont'd) GENE VAL GENE VAL GENE VAL GENE VAL Gene erases a few of the math formulas on the dry erase board, replacing them effortlessly with new ones as: GENE VAL GENE VAL GENE VAL Gene walks past some of his machinery: two particle accelerators pointed at two mirrors - tubes running above the mirrors. GENE He indicates an imaginary space between the mirrors. GENE (cont'd) He indicates the two tubes. VAL GENE DENISE, Gene's nice grad student girl friend, enters. There's a little tension between Gene and Denise, things aren't all that peachy between them. VAL DENISE GENE DENISE GENE DENISE GENE Denise shrugs: nothing much. GENE (cont'd) DENISE GENE DENISE GENE DENISE GENE VAL DENISE GENE DENISE GENE He moves to Denise, they exchange a slightly awkward kiss, then: DENISE VAL As the women move off: GENE INT. KARAOKE BAR - NIGHT Angel and the Host enter. The place is a dive - maybe six tables, dingy lighting, floor hasn't been cleaned in months. ANGEL HOST They note the GUY singing on stage: "Greensleeves." GUY, ON STAGE HOST Angel just looks at him. The Host sees this. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL The Host scans the room, shakes his head. HOST ANGEL HOST BARTENDER (O.S.) Angel and the Host turn to find the BARTENDER standing behind them. Bartender is late 40's, big and fat and unkempt. HOST BARTENDER The Host raises an eyebrow at Angel, then faces the Bartender. HOST ANGEL BARTENDER ANGEL BARTENDER HOST ANGEL BARTENDER ANGEL BARTENDER HOST A beat. The Bartender looks at Angel, who shrugs. ANGEL A moment, then the Bartender starts awkwardly - BARTENDER HOST Off the bewildered Bartender - EXT. UNIVERSITY - NIGHT - STOCK - ESTABLISH INT. PHYSICS LAB - NIGHT PAN A CLOCK that reads 2:30 A.M. DISCOVER Gene alone in his lab, studying a complex set of equations (INSERTED) on his large computer screen. He moves to the dry erase board, erases a few of his equations, replacing them with new ones: GENE He stands back, studying his work for a moment. He's on the brink of a breakthrough but doesn't want to be too excited just yet. GENE (cont'd) Gene moves to the accelerators, inserts a set of equations on their touch pads. We HEAR various HIGH TECH WHIRS AND BEEPS and suddenly both accelerators click on, a reddish light coming on at the end of each accelerator sending a beam bouncing off both mirrors, creating (C.G.I.) a narrow force field band between the two mirrors. Gene moves to the two tubes positioned over the force field. Opens them both to a precise setting. INSERT TUBE - A tiny drop of silver mercury slowly mushrooms out. BACK TO SCENE Drops of silver mercury fall out of the tubes (in slightly slo motion on one take), descend towards - and right through - the force field beam. GENE - watches, depressed, as the drops cascade through the beam into a special metal catch-bowl beneath it. GENE (cont'd) He roughly switches off both accelerators and the lab falls silent - he glares at the math board and (must not be played melodramatically) hurls or tosses his magic marker at the board, walking out of the lab, shutting or slamming the door behind him. CAMERA creeps past the accelerator into the dark recesses of the lab, DISCOVERING something odd, the shapes of two bodies. As they walk out of the darkness, we get our first glimpse of the LUBBERS, a sad-eyed demon fundamentalists whose dream of Utopia is the end of all human life. One of the lubbers carries an ancient looking staff, a large red jewel embedded in the top of it. He will speak in a demon language and we will sub-title it. This should not tempt the fine young lubber into over-acting in the least. LUBBER # 1 They move in front of the math board, Lubber # 1 placing his staff in front of it. LUBBER # 1 (cont'd) Lubber # 1 passes a gnarled hand over the staff. The jewel of the staff begins to glow. CAMERA DOLLIES past glowing jewel and LOCKS OFF on a portion of the dry erase board that show several equations, including Gene's latest. SPECIAL FX: A ripple moves across tow or three of Gene's latest equations and we see them subtly altered into new equations. END OF ACT ONE |
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Act Two |
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EXT. FLASHY CITY CUTS - STOCK - DAY INT. OFFICE - DAY The place is cleaner. Some office supplies have been added, but it's still pretty bare and plain. Wesley and Gunn sit side by side behind the desk, depressed, as Cordy puts (unlit) candles into candle holders around the room. CORDELIA GUNN CORDELIA WESLEY Cordy sinks onto a chair next to theirs (three little chairs.) They're lined up crammed behind the desk like the "see no evil" monkeys. CORDELIA GUNN WESLEY VIRGINIA bursts in, carrying a huge gift basket and a bottle of champagne. VIRGINIA Three sad little faces look back at her over the desk. VIRGINIA (cont'd) Wesley goes to her, gives her a quick kiss. Cordelia relieves her of the champagne, opens it. WESLEY CORDELIA VIRGINIA GUNN VIRGINIA She puts the gift basket on the desk. VIRGINA (cont'd) GUNN WESLEY CORDELIA Cordelia takes a drink straight from the champagne bottle. VIRGINIA GUNN VIRGINIA WESLEY CORDELIA VIRGINIA GUNN CORDELIA VIRGINIA CORDELIA VIRGINIA CORDELIA Virginia reaches for the phone. VIRGINIA WESLEY CORDELIA GUNN VIRGINIA INT. PHYSICS LAB - DAY Gene, still depressed from the night before, digs out his keys, unlocks the door to the INNER LAB, enters, taking off his jacket, tossing it on a chair, absently scanning (unseen) screens on the computer. Something catches his peripheral attention. He looks up. Something not right. He moves to the dry erase board. GENE'S POV - The new equations. Written in his hand-writing, by the way. GENE - knows he didn't write them. He looks around, a little suspiciously. Then, realizing the equations are correct: GENE Suddenly excited, Gene shuts the door and moves quickly to the accelerators, firing them up with different equations in the L.E.D. keypads this time. Again they come on, again the red flashes from the tip of the accelerators and the C.G.I. force field springing to life between the mirrors. Gene opens the valves on the liquid mercury. CLOSE - FAT DROPS of mercury FALL OUT OF THE TUBES. C.G.I. EFFECT - Two or three of the drops fall and are "caught" in the force field, suspended in mid-air, frozen in time. GENE - can't believe what he's seeing. He moves around the beam. GENE (cont'd) CAMERA FOLLOWS - in the beam are six silver mercury drops perfectly suspended in space and time. GENE (cont'd) And for the first time he looks truly and purely happy. He bolts for the door, slamming it shut behind him and racing out through the outer lab. We HEAR on his departing back: GENE (cont'd) EXT. UNIVERSITY - LIBRARY - DAY Gene, more excited than he's ever been in his life, comes tearing across campus and right past us, caroming around a FEW STUDENTS. PAN to an establishing shot (if we can) including a sign that says REYNOLDS LIBRARY INT. LIBRARY - HALLWAY - DAY A dark hallway near library. CAMERA DRIFTS down the hallway towards a door with a sign: BASEMENT ACCESS, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. The door is shoved open - clearly breaking a lock - and Angel and the Host move down the hall, Angel steaming: ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST Host sees a co-ed, turns his back. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL Angel moves off through the library. The Host watches him. HOST'S POV - ANGEL at a REFERENCE DESK across the library. Angel says something to a STUDENT CLERK who helps Angel gather up several books. Angel makes his way back to the Host, drops the books on a kiosk or table. ANGEL (cont'd) As Angel and the Host start going through the books: HOST Angel ignores him, CAMERA DOLLIES PAST them both, maybe DISSOLVING in the MOVE to someone watching them from a far and dim corner - a LUBBER DEMON. EXT. UNIVERSITY - DAY WIDE - ESTABLISH several outdoor tables, students eating and drinking at them. VAL CLOSER - DENISE and VAL sit at a table. Denise is sad. Val's eating. Their table is next to a big hedge or a see-through cinderblock wall with ivy growing on it, or something much better that Stewart will come up with. DENISE VAL CAMERA MOVES through the wall or hedge, we see Gene, still very excited, running towards us. As he pulls up even with the girls, he overhears: VAL (cont'd) DENISE Gene stops, can't help eavesdropping (unseen) as: VAL DENISE VAL DENISE VAL DENISE VAL DENISE VAL PUSH IN ON GENE, his world dissolving - DENISE VAL DENISE VAL DENISE VAL DENISE VAL DENISE Off Gene, devastated, stepping away from the wall and the source of his misery. INT. LIBRARY - DAY CAMERA PUSHES in on Angel and Host at their table or kiosk. ANGEL Angel shows Host a photo - we're too far away to see it. HOST They keep paging, then: HOST (cont'd) Host shows Angel a photo in a faculty book. INSERT PHOTO - Gene in f.g. in the lab, maybe Val and a couple of other grad students in b.g. Gene shyly holds up a check. CAPTION: Gene Rainy's just "in time" to win multi-million dollar grant. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL Angel grabs book and heads back towards research desk. ANGLE - RESEARCH DESK Angel approaches STUDENT REFERENCE CLERK, shows clerk Gene's photo in book. ANGEL (cont'd) STUDENT CLERK ANGEL STUDENT CLERK The clerk looks up. Someone is coming up fast behind Angel. Someone the clerk finds pretty scary. STUDENT CLERK (cont'd) ANGEL AND WHAM! Angel is hit unbelievably hard in the back by the Lubber with his hunga-munga type weapon (we can't use staffs or swords because Buffy is.) As the Student runs for her (or his) life and Angel drops - INT. PHYSICS LAB - DUSK Gene unlocks the door and enters his inner lab, closing the door behind him, heartsick, a broken man. He walks past his experiment, not even looking at the mercury bubbles still suspended in air. He moves to the desk where his big computer sits. Picks up a picture (Gene and Denise in happier times, smiling for the camera somewhere Ext. Campus, his arm around her.) Gene looks at the picture for a long beat. Possibly CAMERA shoots through suspended bubbles as Gene looks up from the photo to them, his plan suddenly crystallizing. CLOSER - GENE He says the following without malice or melodrama; his heart is simply broken. GENE END OF ACT TWO Continue on to Part
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Happy Anniversary Part 2 (December 7, 2000) Story by: Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt |
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Act Three |
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INT. LIBRARY - DUSK Angel manages to get up off the floor to his knees as Lubber prepares to cut his head off. HOST (O.S.) Surprised, Lubber turns and Host hurls a large book at his head. Lubber easily leans aside, book goes flying past and hits Angel as he's getting to his feet. ANGEL HOST Lubber swings weapon, Angel blocks and grabs it. Lubber produces another one - swings it down hard, Angel ducks at the last second as Lubber's hunga munga chops a hunk out of a reference desk. LUBBER # 1 This time Angel grabs weapon, tries to turn it on Lubber who is too quick for him, bashing Angel in the face with his right. HOST Angel, fed up, beats the crap out of Lubber who eventually hurls a big wooden chair at Angel, knocking him back long enough for the Lubber to escape. The Host moves to Angel who is breathing hard. ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST HARD CUT: INT. GENE'S APT. BUILDING - BASEMENT - NIGHT Cut to as mundane a shot as possible of the "criminal mastermind" looking utterly bereft. He is installing his particle accelerators, carefully pointing them towards a specific point in the ceiling, humming/singing morosely: GENE Gene sets the key-pad coordinates. INT. PHYSICS LAB - NIGHT Angel (the Host a few steps behind) hurriedly moves through the outer lab to the inner one where Mike the grad student stands, shocked to see Gene's accelerators, etc., missing. ANGEL MIKE ANGEL MIKE ANGEL MIKE HOST ANGEL MIKE ANGEL HOST MIKE INT. GENE'S APT. - BEDROOM - NIGHT ANGEL (V.O.) The bed is against a wall. The window is open and a curtain is blowing softly. The room has a lot of lab junk in it in various boxes against the walls. Gene places one of the accelerator mirrors on a box next to one wall, moves to the opposite wall and sets the other mirror (note: a force beam connecting the two mirrors would run right through the bed; also, because of the lab stuff around, the mirrors shouldn't stand out to the casual observer.) We continue to HEAR: MIKE (V.O.) Gene velcroes another keypad device on the side of the headboard. Clicks it on. L.C.D. READOUT: Hit ENTER to ENGAGE. ANGEL (V.O.) MIKE (V.O.) Gene moves to the doorway, his work complete. Stops, looks back. GENE'S POV - The bed. Comforter pulled back, nice fluffy pillows with a red rose on one. Lights low. Ready for love. HOST (V.O.) MIKE (V.O.) INT. PHYSICS LAB - NIGHT ANGEL MIKE ANGEL Mike nods. HOST MIKE Angel and Host exchange a look. ANGEL MIKE HOST MIKE ANGEL MIKE ANGEL INT. GENE'S APT. - NIGHT Gene is setting the table, lighting candles, making everything just so. Again the lighting is low, romantic. Table looks inviting. EXT. STREETS - NIGHT - DRIVING Angel's car roars past, Angel at the wheel, Host next to him. INT. ANGEL'S CAR - NIGHT They're going pretty fast. HOST Angle glares at him. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST Nothing from Angel. HOST (cont'd) ANGEL HOST Beat. ANGEL HOST Angel looks back at road and drives. Host waits patiently. INT. GENE'S APT. -NIGHT Gene sets the steaming pasta, asparagus and chicken bowl on the table next to the tossed green salad and fresh bread. He studies the table, everything is perfect. He puts a little wrapped present next to Denise's plate. He checks his watch: she'll be here any moment. INT. ANGEL'S CAR - NIGHT - DRIVING Angel still drives silently, Host still waits. Host hums a little (unrecognizable so we don't have to pay for it) tune. Checks his watch yet again. Angel's had it. ANGEL HOST ANGEL HOST ANGEL Beat. |