AntZ

     The penny starts scrapes the bubblegum off the sneaker,
     bringing Bala and Z along with it.  They're carried through
     the air as the penny gets thrown away...turning over and over
     in a lopsided orbit as Bala and Z SCREAM...

     ...and land with a CRASH in total darkness.

     EXT. LAKE - DAY

     The "lake" where Z and Bala were nearly drowned by the water
     droplet.

     The earth shakes as a HUGE, MONSTROUS creature approaches the
     lake - and begins to drink from it.  The creature seems to
     hear something, and, growling, turns its ugly head.  It's a
     Pomeranian, one of those yappy little lap-dogs -- but seen
     from ant perspective, it's something out of a horror movie.

                         TOUGH VOICE (O.S.)
               Ant Team Six -- take him out!

     The monster bears its huge fangs at the approaching
     intruders -- a bunch of flying ants who look as though
     they're attacking the Death Star!

     The monster rears and snaps at two of the ants, who are
     making a diversionary run...

     and then gets it from the rest of the ants, who land on his
     soft, wet nose and start stinging away like crazy.

     The monster rears back in pain -- and runs away, YIPPING!

     The members of ANT TEAM SIX, a crack team of hardcore flying-
     ant commandoes a la Seal Team Six, break off the attack and
     land.

                         MAJOR MANDIBLE
               And don't come back, you sissy!

     MAJOR MANDIBLE, Ant Team Six's lethal commander, steps into
     frame.  He's the one-eyed killer we met in the bar earlier.
     The rest of his team fan out to search the area.

                         MANDIBLE
               Talk to me.

                         COMMANDO ANT
               Z and the Princess were here, sir.
               Signs of a struggle.

                         MANDIBLE
               Let's get a read on that feremone
               track.

                         COMMANDO ANT #1
                      (to the others)
               Get the sniffer!

     Two other commandoes come running up with what looks like a
     piece of machinery on a tripod -- only it's an ant -- a
     highly specialized, blind ant with an incredibly acute sense
     of smell.

                         TRACKER ANT
               Bala...find Bala...

     The tracker, drool running out of its long proboscis, sniffs
     the air and starts signalling like a geiger counter...

                         TRACKER ANT
                      (as he's swivelled)
               Nnononononononoyeahyeahnononononono
               no...

     Finally the tracker stops swivelling, pointing in one
     direction and saying, "Yeahyeahyeahyeah..."

                         COMMANDO ANT #3
               Got 'em!  Ten clicks from here!

                         MANDIBLE
               Z -- you dirt-digging, fancy-dancing,
               wisecracking, royalty-grabbing, rebel
               SCUM!
                      (yelling into the
                       distance)
               I AM COMING FOR YOU!  YOU ARE ONE
               DEAD ANT, MISTER!

     Mandible's muscles bulge.  The veins in his head throb.  This
     is one ass-kicking ant.  Even Mandible's troops look scared
     of him.

                         MANDIBLE
               Let's MOVE!  GO, people!  GO!  GO!
               GO!  GO!  GO!

     Ant Team Six takes to the air, heading in the direction
     indicated by the tracker ant.

     INT. TRASH BAG - DAY

     Darkness.  Out of it we hear the voices of Z and Bala.

                         BALA
               Come on, Z.

                         Z
               Forget it.  You go ahead, I give up.
               I...I don't know what I was thinking.
               "Insectopia".

     In one corner of the screen, we can see an irregular little
     hole through which a shaft of light is falling.  Bala
     proceeds towards it, the hole appears to get bigger and
     bigger...

                         Z
                      (defeated)
               There's only one thing worse than an
               ant who goes around mindlessly
               following orders, and that's an ant
               who's too dumb to go around
               mindlessly following orders.

     Bala stops...she notices that they're being watched.  She's
     emerging from a tied off garbage bag -- the yellow ties loop
     away gracefully.  Bala and Z have been tossed into a garbage
     area.  And above them and below them, peering from garbage
     cans, recycling containers, bags, etc., a multi-cultural
     assortment of insects are regarding them.

     A laid-back FLY voices their thoughts.

                         FLY
               What's with the bummer attitude?

     A nearby BUTTERFLY joins in.

                         BUTTERFLY
               Yeah -- nobody stresses out in
               Insectopia!

                         BALA
               Did you say...

                         Z
                      (joining Bala)
               ...Insectopia?

     Z and Bala look around.  Just to get things straight, the
     garbage dump doesn't look disgusting -- that would be seeing
     it through human eyes.  Instead, we're looking at it through
     ant eyes -- and, reimagined this way, it's Paradise.  Not the
     ordered, sterile, paradise of the picnic, but an earthly land
     of plenty.

     The sides of the plastic garbage bags are sheer, reflective
     walls of smoothest obsidian...the garbage cans are gigantic,
     thick metal columns put there by the gods (think the
     pyramids); a coke bottle, refracting the sunlight into a
     gorgeous rainbow, trickles a fountain of sweet nectar into
     the pink, bittersweet flesh of a grapefruit half, which
     appears as a multi-chambered concave dome.  Everywhere,
     insects are disporting themselves -- a multi- species love-in
     that's like an insect version of Woodstock.

     Bala and Z are awe-struck.  Bala turns to Z.

                         BALA
                      (happily)
               Z, we made it!

                         FLY
                      (alighting on the
                       grapefruit)
               C'mon in!  The nectar's fine!

     Like a kid at an amusement park, Z slides down the smooth
     side of the garbage bag, whooshing this way and that until he
     slides into one end of a straw (a red and white striped
     tunnel), and is shot out...

                         Z
               Yippeeeeee!

     ...into a bottle-cap filled with lemonade, which he
     alternately drinks and swims through...

     Down at the bottlecap, Z is drying himself off.  Then he
     sees, emerging from behind a lemon peel, a gigantic TERMITE.

                         Z
                      (terrified)
               AAAAAGH!!!

     Surprisingly, the termite seems equally terrified...

                         FLY
                      (to Z)
               Hey, take it easy!  There's nothin'
               to be afraid of!

                         Z
               Yeah, well, I make it a practice not
               to trust anyone who shoots acid out
               of their forehead.

                         CRICKET
               Dude, here in Insectopia, we don't
               judge people by how many arms and
               legs we've got.

                         FLY
               Yeah, back home, they called me a
               fruitfly.  But here, I'm known
               as...
                      (with attitude)
               Superfly.

                         CRICKET
               Anyway, big Gus is mellow.

     The termite sticks his hand out.  A drop of acid drips from
     his head and splashes at Z's feet.

                         Z
                      (taking his hand,
                       disgusted)
               Charmed.

     Z reaches out and shakes the termite's hand, as Bala watches,
     smiling.

                                              CUT TO:

     EXT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT

     The insects are having a cookout, their faces illuminated by
     the still-red ember of a match.  Platters heaped with food
     lie untouched as they pat their bellies...

     Z and Bala sit next to one another, smiling shyly as if they
     had just met for the first time.

                         Z
               So...you never did tell me...what
               made you come out to the worker bar
               that night?

                         BALA
               Just looking for fun, adventure,
               trouble, I guess.

                         Z
               Well, "trouble" is my middle name.
               Actually, my  middle name is .985,
               but I don't tell people.  Hey, Bala,
               I...I actually have something of
               yours...you left it at the bar that
               night.

     Z takes out Bala's scarf, which he's been keeping folded in
     a pocket.

                         Z
               Sorry, it's been through a war, not
               to mention everything else...

                         BALA
               You held onto this all that time?

                         Z
               Well, I...I know it's a little
               strange, but...I thought it might
               come in handy if I...needed a scarf
               someday.
                      (embarrassed)
               Well, to be honest, I just liked
               having it.

     He hands it back to her.  Bala looks at Z, frankly, openly.
     For a moment Z is shy.  Then he looks at her too.  They're
     two lovers, leaning closer, about to have their first kiss,
     when --

                         BEETLE
               Hey Z!

     The moment is wrecked.  Z looks up.  A chubby beetle stands
     there with Gus the termite.

                         BEETLE
               Wanna bring back dessert?  There's a
               thirty foot long blimp in the next
               can, made completely of chocolate!

                         Z
                      (annoyed)
               Sure.  I wasn't busy or anything.

     Z gets up to go with them.

                         Z
               Great timing, guys.  Ever wonder why
               they call you "pests"?

     EXT.  INSECTOPIA, TOP OF CAN - NIGHT

     As Ant Team Six lands and takes up position above the feast.
     The tracker ant is going nuts.

                         TRACKER ANT
               Yesyesyesyesyes --

     One of the commandoes puts his hand over the tracker's mouth
     to shut him up.  Mandible communicates with his troops by
     pulling down his one functional antenna and gruffly
     whispering into it, as though it were one of those commando
     headsets.  His troops do likewise.

                         MANDIBLE
               Talk to me.

                         COMMANDO #1
               I've got a read on the Princess --
               but target Z isn't accounted for.

                         MANDIBLE
               Let's move in.

     EXT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT

     Back at the feast, a cricket strums on his legs like a
     guitar, opining about life and the universe to a bunch of
     other chilled-out, hippyesque insects...Bala taps her feet to
     the song.

                         CRICKET
               What if, like...we're just these tiny
               little things, and we're just like
               part of this whole other huge
               universe, that's like, so big we
               don't even know it exists?

                         LADYBUG
               Man...that's so deep...

     At that moment Ant Team Six rapels down from the top of the
     garbage bin, landing amongst the insects.

                         MANDIBLE
               EVERYBODY DOWN!

     The cricket gets up to confront Mandible, but Mandible cold
     cocks him with a right to the jaw.  The other insects, too
     surprised to fight, just do as they're told.

                         MANDIBLE
               Alright, you hippy scum!  Make one
               move and I'll exterminate you!

     A couple of commandoes grab Bala by the arms and heave her up.

                         BALA
               Stop!  You don't understand!

                         MANDIBLE
               I don't have to understand, Missy --
               I've got orders.  Now where's Z?

                                              CUT TO:

     INT. INSECTOPIA - NIGHT

     Z, the termite, the beetle and the fly are happily carrying
     a huge M&M back to the feast.

                         FLY
               Man, your girl is fly, know what I'm
               saying?

                         Z
                      (overdoing it)
               Oh, Bala?  I guess she's okay, you
               know, for a princess.  I mean, I
               usually date queens, or you know,
               empresses, because sometimes the
               lesser nobility are too much in awe
               of my smouldering sensuality.  Please
               stop me if I'm making you feel
               inadequate.