Armageddon

Armageddon 

FADE IN :

Blackness. Then a hint of green becomes EARTH. It lies across an expanse of space. Richly colored. Fertile.

A GIGANTIC ASTEROID cuts into frame, Burning into EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE and striking down in the currant area of Guzumel, Mexico.

Voice : An impact equivalent to ten thousand nuclear weapons detonating simultaneously.

A HUGE DINOSAUR FOOT steps down hard and is VAPORIZED with a deafening ROAR.

Voice : One hundred trillion tons of dirt and rock hurled into the atmosphere.

EARTH, seen from space, is rocked with an IMMENSE SHOCKWAVE. A SHEET OF DEBRIS washes across the North and South Hemispheres.

Voice : A blanket of dust the sun is powerless to penetrate. For five thousand years our world is robbed of light as a nuclear winter falls. In that darkness, a civilisation is
           removed from existence.

EARTH is now completely entombed in a dark, cold hell. Letters push towards us--

"A R M A G E D D O N"

65 MILLION YEARS LATER

EARTH, reflected off the face of ASTRONAUT PETE SHELBY'S HELMET. It appears close enough to touch. Shelby, attached to SHUTTLE ATLANTIS BY LIFELINE, struggles to replace a piece of the shuttle's operational arm.

Shelby : (with radio squawking) Houston, I can't get this thing to work...

EXT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - DAY

In a hub of computers and tracking equipment, we find DAN GOLDEN, former Astronaut from Apollo 8 (first crew to orbit the Moon) and now N.A.S.A's second-in-command. Golden is watching Shelby on a SERIES OF VIDEO SCREENS. FLIGHT DIRECTOR WALTER CLARK sits with rows of N.A.S.A Techs. Golden stands over him, arms on the back o his chair.

Clark : Atlantis, what's the problem?
Shelby : (V.0) It just isn't working. Any suggestions?
Clarke : Hang on Pete. We'll figure something out for you.

Golden taps Clark and sits down.

Golden : (to Shelby) We got the top scientific minds in the world working on this. (a slight smile) Try "whacking" the thing.
Shelby : Okay, Houston, commence whacking.

Selby begins Whacking the satellite with his glove. The SATELLITE comes n-line, lights up like a Christmas tree.

A HORRIFYING RUMBLING SOUND. SHOTGUN LIKE PELLETS assault the satellite. SHRAPNEL rips into it's delicate gold skin. The satellite EXPLODES. Shelby's lifeline breaks; he spins off, suit leaking from twenty punctures.

INT. SHUTTLE ATLANTIS

COMMANDER JAMES TURNER turns to his left

General : "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"

EXT. SHUTTLE ATLANTIS

STOTGUN LIKE PELLETS shred through Atlantis' N.A.S.A. logo, peeling the shuttle down to her ribs. FIERY EXPLOSION.

EXT. SPACE

CLOSE ON SHELBY as he twirls away from Atlantis. His helmet is fogging. He gasps for air, wretching, his eyelids leaking blood. He tries to form words:

Shelby : Ple...he...me....

Shelby's SHOULDER-CAM angle spins end-over-end....

INT. N.A.S.A - MISSION CONTROL
MONITORS go dead.

N.A.S.A. Technician #1 : All systems crashing!
N.A.S.A. Technician #2 : Massive failure. We lost them.

Utter silence. Utter desolation. DOLLY IN ON GOLDEN'S FACE. Utter disbelief.

INT. WKU MOUNTIAN OBSERVATORY - NIGHT

THEO and PEARL (at telescope), and JIMBO (at the console), 20's, are star-gazing. Astronomy books, Starbucks cups, etc.,spread all over. Nine Inch Nails plays on the radio. These three could land a date if only they would lose the road flares (plaid shirts, glasses) that signal the painful fact that they are die-hard science nerds THEO'S POV - THROUGH WKU TELESCOPE - Far off in space is a dusty, murky swarm of matter - something resembling a FLOATING EXPLOSION.

Jimbo : When are we going to let N.A.S.A in on what we've found?
Theo : We don't even know what we have yet. Comet, asteroid - it could be anything up there. And don't be so eager to red flag N.A.S.A. They don't call us when they discover anything.
Jimbo : Yeah, but this is their sandbox were playing in.
Theo : This is our discovery. We're going to hold a press conference. We're going to be famous. SPACEWATCH'll name this thing after us. Job offers are going to fly in from all the big companies. J.P.L., that think tank up at M.I.T., hell even N.A.S.A. 'll be chasing us.
Pearl : I'm going on Oprah, Larry King, Letterman...
Jimbo : Hell with them, I'm going on Howard Stern....
Pearl : (concentrating) This things really acting up tonight. We should find out if anyone else knows about this.
Theo : How?
Jimbo : (master of factly) Call N.A.S.A
Theo : And say what? "Hi, we're a couple astronomer geeks who found something really bitchin; floatin' in space." You can't just call N.A.S.A. It's like calling the White House. Besides, you'll never get the number.
Jimbo : I have the number. I got it from "Mega monster."
Pearl : Who?
Jimbo : He's some super-hacker, I went to high school with. Guy's totally wired into every encrypted government installation.
Theo : He's also an ex-con.
Jimbo : They never proved he shut down the power in those seven states.

Theo grabs the phone.

INT. HOUSTON TEXAS - JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - NIGHT

Golden and his crew, devastated and exhausted, search for answers. We cut around the room.

Clark : What the hell was that?
Technician 1 : Space junk?
Technician 2 : Too big, too much. It took out the whole shuttle.
Clark : The press is going to want answers. What are we going to say?
Golden : Nothing. Not until we know what happened.

INTERCUT - N.A.S.A. MISSION CONTROL/WKU OBSERVATORY

INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL

Two N.A.S.A. techs, FLIP and SKIP, looking very haggard, furiously typing numbers into the circulator. The phone RINGS, Flip answers.

Jimbo : (whispers to Pearl & Theo) I got mission control....!
Flip : Yeah, Mission Control.
Jimbo : (into phone) Uhh hi, I'm an astronomer in Kentucky, and I was wondering if you guys had seen some strange activity in the southern middle quadrant of the asteroid
            belt between Antares Major and Epsilom Scorpio....
Flip : Who is this?
Jimbo : My name? Uhh....Louis Lipshitz...
Flip : This is a restricted line. How did you get it? Where are you?
Jimbo : Lexington... Massachusetts.
Flip : Can you tell me the exact co-ordinates..?
Theo : Hang up! Hang up now!

Jimbo hangs up the phone.

Theo : Lexington.. uhh...Massachusettes. Idiot. I told you not to call them.

EXT. MANHATTAN ISLAND - SUNRISE

Establishing. The sun rises over the Brooklyn Bridge.

EXT. MANHATTEN - MADISON AVENUE - EARLY MORNING

LITTLE GUY, still yawning, exits an apartment with a Jack Russell terrier on a long RETRACTABLE LEASH. TERRIER'S POV as the little dog attacks the city, looking for a place to relieve himself. The Man stops in front of a "Crazy Eddie's" T.V. store. Floor-to-ceiling T.V.'s in the window broadcasting E.S.P.N.'s "Morning Exercise Show" with hot women SWEATING.

The Jack Russell strains on the leash to a FIRE HYDRANT. A SHOE is next to the hydrant, connected to a HUGE SAMOAN GUY watching the pelvic thrusting on T.V. The dog lifts his leg and pees, hitting both hydrant and shoe. The huge Samoan guy kicks the dog. The dog YELPS.

Little Guy : You kick my dog again and I'll go nuclear on you.

The T.V. images BLINK and STATIC. A massive SONIC BOOM emanates directly above. The huge Samoan guy looks up as---

A ROCK, the size of a basketball, strikes him and EXPLODES into the pavement, spewing sparks and concrete, throwing PEDESTRIANS to the sidewalk.

INT. "CRAZY EDDIE'S" T.V. STORE

FIFTY T.V.s are BLOWN across the showroom floor. SALESMEN and CUSTOMERS dive to the floor, SCREAMING.

EXT. MANHATTEN - "CRAZY EDDIES"

Little guy, lying on the sidewalk, recovers. His DOG LEASH runs from the leash grip into a 10 FOOT CRATER in the sidewalk. The huge Samoan guy's LEGS protrude.

Little Guy : Samson?
Pedestrian : Somebody call 9-1-1!

INSIDE THE CRATER - THE JACK RUSSELL dangles by the leash. Embedded in the hole 30 feet below is A SMOKING, RED HOT OBJECT.

INT - N.O.R.A.D. - CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN

The U.S.'s Early Warning Air Defence. Two U.S.A.F RADAR TECHNICIANS are hunched over radar screens.

Radar Tech 1 : I got one, two, three boggies...the whole board's lighting up!

The RADAR TECH 2 hits a KLAXON, stabs phone line buttons.

EXT. MANHATTEN - MORNING

Traffic is ground to a halt. CAMERA MOVES into a cab. STU, the Cabbie, with an ASIAN TOURIST, who's craning his neck out the window.

Asian Tourist : What's the problem? Stu : Could be a couple of things: shootin', stabbin', dead guy (shrugs) Well, it's Friday, payday. Could be a jumper.

A projectile the size of a dump truck SCREAMS through the sky and blasts through three huge buildings.

More projectiles explode in the intersection. Cars get thrown everywhere. Stu's cab slams upside down into JOHNNY'S BAR.

ONE BLOCK DOWN. THE ENTIRE TOP FIVE STORIES -- A sheared section topples and hits the street below. Bricks, mortar and gargoyles everywhere.

EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - PENTAGON - DAY

Establishing, over which we hear RINGING PHONES.

EXT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAY

Chaos in the corridors. GENERAL TEMPLE, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a man of stature, bursts out of his office, met by his SECRETARY.

Secretary : We're getting reports as far away as Greenland and parts of Mexico!
Temple : Get me Dan Goldman on the secure phone.

Temple enters his office and picks up a secure phone.

INT. MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOM

Golden enters the room and sits down. Technician Flip hands him a secure phone. Golden sinks into his chair. In the b.g., VIDEO MONITORS show twenty live feeds from T.V. stations across the country.

Temple : (V.O.) Can you go secure?
Golden : (presses a button on the phone) I am secure. Go ahead, General.

He listens...WE HEAR the distinct gargled voice of a secure line.

Golden : When?
Temple : (V.O.) Twelve minutes ago. Now you know what happened to your shuttle.

INTERCUT - GOLDEN / TEMPLE

INT. PENTAGON - GENERAL TEMPLE'S OFFICE - DAY

Temple paces in his office.

Temple : I'm going to brief the President. What's going on here, Dan? Why didn't we have warning?
Golden : Tell the president it's called "budget cuts." We don't have enough telescopes to track the skies.
Temple : Is it over?
Golden : I don't know. We'll figure it out. (hangs up)

INT. MISSION CONTROL - INSIDE THE GLASS-ENCASED ROOM

Flip enters the room. Skip writes notes....

Golden : (to Skip and Flip) Fly a team up to New York. Contact every Space Watch facility in the world. We gotta find what part of the sky this is coming from.
Skip : I'll call J.P.L. and get the Hubble telescope on it.
Golden : Did we find who made the phone call last night?
Flip : The F.B.I.'s on it.

INT. KENTUCKY - DORMITORY ROOM

Theo is sleeping. The door is RAMMED in. Two F.B.I. AGENTS ROAR into the room, overwhelming him.

EXT. KENTUCKY - COLLEGE CAMPUS

Pearl and Jimbo are walking across campus. TWO BLACK SEDANS pull up. The kids increase their pace.The sedans SKID to a stop. F.B.I. AGENTS spring from the cars, cuff them and CUT TO :

MANHATTEN - JOHNNY'S - DAY

Stu's upside down cab, in front of Johnny's. A tow truck removes dented cars from the trashed intersection. Career drunks, FRANK, FRED and WILLIE, stand in the threshold looking out at the devastated intersection. Stu sits on top of his cab, Listening to the guys:

Frank : This city sucks...
Fred : What the hell was it?
Willie : They're sayin' it's space rocks.
Stu : Rocks from space, my ass. That, my friends, was the work of the big Saddam. That was big-ass Iraqi missiles

INT. MANHATTAN - SUBWAY - DAY

F.B.I. AGENTS and N.A.S.A. SCIENTISTS examine a CHUNK OF ASTEROID, still smouldering, which has ripped through the roof and floor of a subway car. The plastic seats and aluminium panelling of the car has melted.

EXT. KENTUCKY - INTERROGATION ROOM - AFTERNOON

Jimbo, Theo and Pearl sit in front of three F.B.I. AGENTS. Two N.A.S.A. ASTRONOMERS look over the kids' TELESCOPE PHOTOS with concern.

Jimbo : So, that N.A.S.A. guy wasn't kiddin; about bein' arrested and....
Federal Agent : Please shut up.
Jimbo : Yes, absolutely, yes sir.
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : I'm a N.A.S.A. astronomer. When were these photos taken?
Federal Agent : And which of you called N.A.S.A. Mission Control last night?
Jimbo : (points at Theo) Him.
Theo : (points at Jimbo) Him.
Jimbo : I was calling the Houston area code, which is 713. I was calling 712, which is outside Spokane, Washington, where my Aunt Zelda....
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : Tell us the exact ascension angle of your telescope when this was taken.
Theo : It's our discovery. No way.
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : Your "discovery" killed close to 100 people in New York alone - people who could've used a warning.

Jimbo, Theo and Pearl lower their eyes.

Jimbo : Our math must've been off! we thought it was gonna pass the Earth!
Pearl : Ascension 712, retention 345.
F.B.I. Agent 2 : And you've told no one about this- not your teachers, not your friends?
N.A.S.A. Astronomer : (into cellular phone) J.P.L., please. Search co-ordinates...

INT. PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHT

N.A.S.A.'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: home of the HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. Two J.P.L. TECHNICIANS man the Hubble's control console.

J.P.L. Technician 1 : New info! Plot co-ordinates 712 by 345. Let's move on high-resolution imaging.
J.P.L. TECHNICIAN 2 punches the co-ordinates into a control console.

EXT. OUTER SPACE - CONTINUOUS (DAY)

The HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE floats by in geosynchronous orbit. The telescope tilts, repositioning in view.

INT. PASADENA CALIFORNIA - J.P.L. - NIGHT

Images from the Hubble arrive on a high resolution printer. J.P.L. Technician 1 grabs four PHOTOS from the printer. Technician 2 swipes stuff off the console, making room. Together they arrange the four photos. They star silently at the awesome COMPOSITE PHOTO.

J.P.L. Technician 1 : Motherfu......

INT. N.A.S.A. - MISSION CONTROL - ENCLOSED ROOM - NIGHT

Golden and all his TECHNICIANS crowd around a console, staring at a smaller version of the COMPOSITE PHOTO.

Golden : Copies to the Pentagon, Colorado Space Command, and the Washington office. We gotta compute size, composition, speed, impact point

WE SEE the photo -- A HUGE ASTEROID

EXT. OUTER SPACE - CONTINUOUS - DAY

CAMERA PUSHES THROUGH A CLOUD OF ROCKY, ICY DEBEIS, penetrating the cloud until the HUGE ASTEROID CORE comes into clear view -- a mass of dirt and ice -- rough, craggy, menacing. INT. N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM - NIGHT

Golden and Clark enter. A group of ten N.A.S.A. SENIOR TECHNICIANS are all talking at once.

Golden : Okay guys, one of the worst days in N.A..S.A history just got worse. Ten million to one. A rogue comet came from deep space and collided with an asteroid. Some
             kids actually got a picture of the collision event and told no one. The stuff that hit this morning was the collision's forward-thrown matter, mere pebbles from what's
             about to come. Walter?
Clark : A big asteroid. E.T.A., eighteen days. A lot bigger than the five mile one that obliterated the dinosaurs. Golden : The size of Texas.

Silence. Everybody stares at each other.

The phone CHIRPS.

Golden's Secretary : Director, the Pentagon.

Golden hits a button.

A LARGE T.V. SCREEN establishes AUDIO/VISUAL link.

INTERCUT; PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM/ N.A.S.A. - BRIEFING ROOM

INT. PENTAGON - SITUATION ROOM - NIGHT

Temple sits with the Joint Chiefs, White House Chief of Staff, the Directors of the N.A.S.A., C.I.A., etc.

Temple : Dan, we're all here. Tell us what we're up against.
Golden : (V.O.) In it's simplest terms? The end of Mankind. One asteroid, one mile wide or bigger, impacts the Earth with the equivalent force of all the nuclear weapons in the
             world, times a thousand. Half our population will die within 24 hours from tidal waves and heat pulses. The other half won't be so lucky. In the end, it will be men
             eating the flesh of other men. (beat) It's not the end of the world, General, the world - Earth - will still be here. But there will be no life - maybe cockroaches and
             some resilient strands of bacteria.
Temple : Well, that's really positive, Dan. The President just got off the phone with the Russians. They're just about to launch a new Mars Probe on the biggest rocket in the
              world.
Golden and the N.A.S.A. BRASS exchange sceptical looks.

Golden : (V.O) With the worst guidance system in the world. Their Mars Probe in '96 was found by a pygmy tribe in Africa.
Temple : They're going to pull off the probe and replace it with four Atlas Class IV nuclear warheads. Enough punch in their opinion - not to break it up - but to slow it down
             enough to miss Earth's orbit. Golden : (V.O) Their launch date is set for next month.
Temple : They're going to move it up.
Golden : (V.O) To when?

Temple : Sixteen hours from now.