Original subtitles

Cheer up, Russell.

From what I hear, you'll love this place.

It might finally give you some much -needed discipline.

So would prison.

Ever since his father left, he's been getting into trouble.

With the police, with other schools.

I run a large company.

I don't have time to run around putting out fires after him.

I want his behavior changed once and for all.

And I assure you the Academy will do just that.

All our graduates have moved on to respected positions in society.

We have graduates in the executive ranks of many of the Fortune 100 companies,

something I'm sure you would appreciate, Mrs. Dobson. Oh, I do. I'm aware of

your impressive placements.

That's why we're here.

Does anybody care that I'm in the room?

You can't just buy a good son, Mom, like you buy everything else.

And locking me in this dump, I ain't gonna do it.

Disrespecting me isn't going to do it either, Russell.

Now, you're going to try this place, and you're going to do your best.

Understood?

Keep your bags here. Mother, young man, you'll have no need for them here. We

provide everything you need.

I'm keeping the guitar.

Russell seems to think he could have a future playing in a rock and roll band.

Worst things have happened, Mom.

Well, they won't happen in this family, Russell.

It's all right, Matt.

Go into my office and wait for the nurse.

Nurse? What's that about? We always give our students a checkup when they

arrive. We wouldn't want disease coming into the environment.

I can keep the guitar.

For now.

Don't worry, Mrs. Gloucester.

The next time you see him, he'll be more interested in skills that'll make him a

prime candidate for work in the business world. In your company, for example.

I assure you his isolation here will wean him from any desire he may have to

play the guitar.

Yeah, well, this isolation policy, I read about it in your brochure.

It'll isolate Russell from all outside influences for the next year?

That is correct. Our philosophy is the only way to reform troubled young men,

make them productive members of society, is to isolate them from that society.

So none of his delinquent friends or his nose -ringed girlfriend will be able to

contact him?

No, ma 'am. We allow no contact, not even from parents.

No phone mail or visitation for the first year.

Good. Then we're settled.

Enjoy yourself, ma 'am, and rest assured that Russell's in good hands.

I'm sure.

It's a flu shot, Rusty. Relax.

You know what?

I'll have her find the needles.

We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

These gentlemen can hold you down if necessary.

There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and the vertical. We can delude you with a

channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond.

We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest

inner mind to the outer limits.

Please stand by.

In our relentless pursuit of career and worldly possessions, is it we who

pay the highest price, or is it our children?

So, you're awake.

Who are you? Harrison Taylor, your new roommate.

Where am I?

The John Hancock living quarters.

This is your room, Russell.

Rusty.

How'd I get here?

They just brought you in.

I guess you passed out when the nurse gave you a shot.

Man, do I have a headache.

How long was I out?

A few hours.

I thought I'd just let you sleep. That way I could do some homework while I

an eye on you.

Keep an eye on me?

I don't need anyone keeping an eye on me.

It's part of the program.

Each new student is assigned an upperclassman who watches over them,

the ropes.

Make sure they stay out of trouble.

Well, I hate to tell you, Harry, but you got a big job ahead of you.

I wouldn't worry about it, though, because I'm not going to be here too

It's Harrison.

I've heard the same speech from each new transfer, Russell.

Trust me, you will remain here until you graduate.

Not a chance.

You see, chap,

I don't like it here.

Okay, this place isn't going to teach me to do what I want to do. Which is?

Play with my band.

I play guitar.

Where is my guitar?

Musical instruments are not permitted.

What's going on?

I mean, don't you people

see? Don't you see how they control you?

I mean, you're not you anymore.

Don't come any closer, because I'm going to jump here.

anymore, Kern.

And you never will.

Remind me to get the lock fixed on this door.

As we discussed in yesterday's lesson, which I'm sure you can remember, we can

learn from history.

We can learn not to make the same mistakes our forefathers made.

Does anyone have an example?

United Motors.

What about U .N.? When Harold Perkins, then Vice President of the Electronics

Division, suggested they launch an industrial robotics division, the plan

refused. And what resulted?

The Japanese beat us all to the punch and now dominate a multi -billion dollar

year industrial robot business.

If, for example, CEO Newton had met with an unfortunate accident, what would

have happened? The VP would have been promoted, and this country would now

control another multi -billion dollar a year business.

Therefore, it should be clear to all of you that this is an historical example

of how the death of one can benefit the many. Wait a minute.

I'm missing something.

It sounds like you're pushing murder.

I'm only pointing out an instance in history when a timely death would have

benefited this country.

Yeah, but if the message is that it's okay to off somebody if it'll make a

of rich people rich, you're... Hey, even I know that's bull.

You're the new student, Russell Dobson?

Yeah.

And you have a problem with this lesson?

Yeah, I do.

These gentlemen will escort you to Principal Kern.

You can take the matter up with him.

Now, back to Vice President Harold Perkins.

What happened after his plan to launch the Industrial Robotics Division was

thwarted.

Do you have any idea what that guy's teaching in there? Sometimes transfer

students require a couple of days to get with the program.

To get with the program?

We're a progressive school. We have progressive ideas.

Look, can I just use the phone?

I want to call my mother. Your mother's a very busy woman. We can deal with our

own problems, Russell.

If you have concerns, tell me about them. Fine.

I see the nurse.

for a checkup, and I wind up passed out. And then when I wake up, my head feels

like it's been run over by a truck. And where's my guitar?

Your guitar is safely in storage. You can get it back when you graduate.

Even though you probably won't even want it then.

Come in.

This is Dr. Werner.

Mr. Dobson seems to be having trouble in class.

He doesn't agree with what we're teaching.

Let's have a look at you, Rusty.

I don't need a doctor.

You just said your head felt like it had been run over by a truck.

Look, it'll only take a sec.

Look up, Rusty.

What, that's it?

The perimeter tether is falling.

What are you guys talking about, huh? What the hell's going on here? I told

not to move, Russell.

I'm gonna move.

All right, right out of this house, freaks. I don't know what your program

but I'm not gonna be a part of it.

Dobson, come back here.

go Russell.

Why don't you just come with me?

Trent, we go after him? All right.

The tether will stop him.

Where am I?

Dr. Werner's office.

What happened to me?

What is this place?

Welcome back to school, Russell.

Harrison has been kind enough to come down to take you to conditioning.

What? I believe most schools call it physical education.

We do it differently.

Yeah, I bet.

You'll see.

Come on. Wait a minute. Get serious. How do you...

I can barely stand up. How do you expect me to go to pee?

It starts in five minutes.

You still have to change.

Come on.

Did you find the problem?

I think so. I adjusted the control bypass.

It appears to be working satisfactorily now.

It appears to be. Is it or isn't it?

The committee's coming tomorrow.

Well, there's one way to find out.

Watch the conditioning.

Oh, come on, man. You've got to talk straight to me, all right?

Now, what's with this place?

I mean, I tried to leave earlier, and I couldn't get off the grounds, man.

My head.

Why couldn't I leave?

We leave the academy only to serve the academy.

What? We leave the academy only to serve the academy.

What's that mean?

Here we are.

This is your locker. As you can see, there's a conditioning uniform inside.

Change, and I'll meet you in the conditioning room through that door.

How's it going, guys?

Yeah, I can relate.

Spread yourselves out.

We're ready to begin.

Subliminal links verified.

Who's he talking to?

Hands on your head.

Do what we do.

What? Do what we do or you'll be the next one going off the roof.

Delayed reaction.

His brain is still adjusting to the changes I made in the implant. At least

obeying.

Try a grade three test.

But he might hurt himself. He doesn't have the training for a grade three

Do it.

Line up at the base of the ladder. Single file.

What's this all about?

Now, jump.

Oh, there's no way of doing that, is there?

No way.

You have to.

If you roll out of it like everybody else, you'll be fine.

It will kill you if they think you're not with the program.

Satisfied?

For now.

No. What was that all about? They were testing us.

Or more likely, they were testing you.

To find out whether or not I'm with the program, whatever that is.

Obviously you're not.

I guess you're not either.

Name's Charlie Walters.

That's the dollar sign.

Maybe you can tell me what's happening here.

I'll just play along.

Russell, you did well in conditioning today.

Thanks. You're doing business management in five minutes. I'll show you the way.

I'm going there. I'll take it. Thank you.

Russell's been having problems with headaches and passing out. Make sure you

keep a close eye on him. I will.

Good. I'll see you at dinner, Russell.

Enjoy your day.

Remember, they're always watching.

You took a big risk for me in there, man.

Why?

I guess it's just nice to have company that's not one of them.

Yeah, which brings me to the $25 question.

Why aren't either of us like the rest of these zombies?

I don't know.

I don't even know why they're like that.

Wait a minute.

You've been here how long?

And you still have no idea what's going on? Not completely.

Because I don't call attention to myself. I play them all.

Which is something you better start learning how to do if you want to stay

alive.

Yeah, you keep saying that, but how do I know how to play along when I have no

idea what's going on here? The kid who jumped off that roof, his name is Jimmy

Scardale.

He's the only other one who wasn't with the program when I got here.

He's the one that kept me from giving myself away.

In the end, he was more like you.

How? He was impatient.

He tried to break out a couple of times. He got caught.

So they adjusted his conditioning.

They programmed him to jump off the roof.

What do you mean?

I don't understand that one.

The school will say that Jimmy ran away, but they will never find him.

Well, then we've got to tell someone.

How? There's no way out? There's no phones? There has to be. There's not.

That's why I think if I can just play along like I'm one of them, if I can

it to graduation, then I can get out of here.

I can expose yourself. Yeah, well, you know what? It sounds like an awful long

time to keep playing their game.

But what if you get caught?

I won't. What if you do?

Listen, man, we cannot afford to sit around.

Okay, we gotta try and get out of here.

Man, you have no idea what you're up against.

Hey.

Hey. You got a girl?

Out there?

Yeah. What's her name?

Julie.

Yeah, what...

You think that Julie is going to wait for you for three years?

Uh -uh.

She's not, and neither is my girlfriend, and neither is my band.

William, I'm sure you'll enjoy the Academy a great deal, and your parents

be proud of you when you graduate.

We'll take you down to the doctor's office for your visit.

You okay?

Yeah, I...

I just got an ulcer that's making it burn over time.

Figures.

You're the type that gets an ulcer.

How did you know? Right this way.

Because I have one.

Oh, yeah?

Where are they going?

Beats me.

Come on.

What are you doing?

Trying to find a way out of here, because I'm sure as hell not leaving by

a dive off the roof.

Any idea what we are?

The implant will activate when it reaches body temperature. Then you can

look at the readings.

What improvement matter can cause?

There's several.

For one, the implant is smaller, therefore the scar will be smaller.

They've put him in someone else's head.

Isn't that the kid's brain?

We've severed the nerve endings to the region, but the subject won't feel the

scar. It's almost undetectable now. What else?

We've managed to bypass the moral and ethical convergence zones of the

prefrontal cortex.

Our control of this student will be 100%. He'll do anything we want him to.

What?

Do you see something?

Yes. Oh, God, no!

What did you do to get stuck in here?

Nothing.

No. My old man left last year and took off, and we don't know where he went.

I don't care if you want to know the truth.

Anyway, my mom is so into her work that she doesn't have time for me, so she

figures she can play a place like this to take care of the problem.

What problem?

My mom thinks it's some kind of big problem that I play lead in a band.

She just stuck me in here to get me away from what she called bad influences.

Which I guess means guys in my band and my girlfriend.

All I ever wanted to do was play a little music.

All I ever wanted to do was play basketball.

man kept saying they don't give out basketball scholarships to harvard

it's his lifelong dream for me

you

never did anything wrong huh what about you uh

yeah well i gotta admit i did a few other things just little stuff

I guess I thought it would make my mom pay attention to me.

It worked.

And I got home, but it worked.

Gentlemen, it is going very well.

Dr. Werner keeps improving their technology.

We get better and better crops of kids every school year.

Eventually, all of them will be... You got a minute?

As you can see.

No, I don't. It's important.

Will you excuse me, gentlemen?

This better be important.

It is.

I'm doing a little research trying to figure out what caused the malfunction

Russell Dobson's implant.

I thought you might be interested in what I found. His medical history. It's

brief. Some hyperactivity, attention deficit.

All typical of our recruits.

But there is one thing unusual for a boy his age.

He's had an aggravated ulcer since 93. I believe that explains the malfunction.

How could an ulcer affect your implant?

Before medical research discovered the viral cause of ulcers, Dobson was taking

Trixamorphine. Get to the point.

Trixamorphine is an opiate derivative.

It would have bonded with the serotonin receptor site of the prefrontal cortex

convergence zones.

In English.

That's the area of the brain where human consciousness lies. Call it free will,

if you like.

It's also the part of the brain that the implant bypasses to control the

recruits. But if the drug bridges the gap, there is no bypass, hence no

Then why did the tether work?

Because the tether and other functions work on different parts of the brain.

So, will the adjustment you made on Dobson's implant override

the drug's effect?

They must.

He appears to be with the program now.

He better be.

We don't want anything going wrong today.

The committee's waiting for a demonstration.

Tell Taylor I want Dobson watched more closely.

Fine. And do an extensive search of the medical records to see if any other

students are taking that drug.

Sorry, gentlemen.

In addition to the superior education our students receive, Dr. Werner has

incorporated certain necessary skills directly into the technology.

One of these is the use of weapons of any kind.

When given the command to fire, aim at the head, fire five

rounds between the eyes, then stop.

I've never fired a gun before, and I have no idea what I'm doing. Don't

You're with the program.

You'll be a very good shot.

What?

Ready!

Aim! Fire!

This is too weird.

Gentlemen, you've seen the school, our conditioning facilities, and now you

seen the product.

Our graduates will continue to climb the ranks of this country's greatest

companies and institutions.

Once there, you will have complete control over them. How do we know that

sure? I'm sorry, sir, know what? That these students will do whatever is

required, without question, without hesitation, without a single emotion.

I will demonstrate.

Now, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Walters, will you step forward, please?

Mr. Taylor, bring one of your weapons.

Mr. Taylor, point the gun at Mr. Walters' head.

Mr. Walters, you may not defend yourself.

Is that understood?

Yes, sir.

Mr. Taylor, cock the gun.

Mr. Taylor, pull the trigger.

Yes, sir.

The

chamber

was empty, but only I knew that.

Neither student did.

Any emotional hindrance Mr. Taylor might have had to this act was removed by the

program.

His old standards of moral judgment are as absent as Mr.

Walter's instincts of self -preservation.

You may rejoin the group.

When do you expect optimum placement?

At the current rate, we expect optimum placement in many of the Fortune 500

companies within five years.

We will also have begun to infiltrate certain government institutions.

Very impressive.

But how do we know this will work once the students are out of here and into

real world? We've anticipated that question and have arranged a

for this week. We understand the committee is unhappy with certain

being made by the CEO of Carlton Electronics.

We have one of our alumni positioned next in line to ascend to his chair.

Within the week, one of our students...

We'll make that ascension possible.

What's that mean?

I know what program that is.

They're leaving.

They're taking Taylor with them.

Hey, you think he's the one they're sending off, that guy?

Nobody said anything about killing anybody.

Man, you're naive, aren't you? Why do you think these things in our heads make

us such good shots?

I got another question for you. How's Taylor going to get off the grounds?

I mean, he's got the exact same thing in his head that we do.

That's an excellent question. Whatever scramble my brain's out there to do the

same thing, I'll tell it.

Keep going, keep going.

Key cards.

They're turning off those boxes.

I saw where Kern keeps them in his office. If we can go into his office and

those cards, we can cut our leash.

What, you're just going to break into Kern's office?

Why not? I broke into harder places than that.

No, man.

No. Fine.

I'm just getting away, anyhow.

Meet me at the front door at midnight.

What are we going to do when we get out of here?

Well, first we get as far away from this hellhole as possible, and then we'll

figure out what to do.

I don't know, man. What about Julie?

Well, I'm not much good to her dead, am I?

You know what?

Fine. I'll go alone.

And you can stay here and be the only one who's not with the program.

Wait.

Okay, all right.

Just tell me where to meet you and when.

Good evening, Mr. Walters.

Tell me now, how was your ulcer?

Fine. Why?

It's midnight, Charlie.

What are you doing?

Rusty.

I don't believe this. Come on, man. We're leaving.

We leave the Academy only to serve the Academy.

Okay, Charlie, you got me. Let's go.

You can't leave. Not unless the program wants you to.

Stop fooling around.

Nobody leaves until they graduate. Nobody graduates until they're with the

program.

Students, stop Mr. Dobson and hold him.

Do not hurt him, just hold him.

He's got the key cards.

Stop him.

Use any means necessary, but stop him.

Thank you.

Can you tell me if Marianne Dobson's in yet? Yes, she is.

Great.

Can I speak to her, please? Tell her it's her son.

No, sorry. She's in a meeting.

Wait, a meeting at 7 in the morning? Yes. Can I take a message? I'll get her

call you back.

Well, can you interrupt the meeting? Tell her this is important.

Do you want me to lose my job? No, I don't want you to lose your job, but I

don't think that... I think it's okay if you interrupt. It's an emergency.

Hold on. I'll go see what I can do. Yeah, I'll hold.

No, no, I can't call back. I've been trying to get a hold of her all night.

Look, I'm sorry.

I'm going to have to get you to call back.

Thanks for nothing.

And I need to talk to the Pope, but it's not going to happen any time soon. You

don't understand me. He's in trouble. I think he's in danger. I said get back

now.

Back.

Back.

It's good to see you all.

You are the future of Carleton Electronics.

It's the people on the ground level.

We're stands on with our products.

that make this company strong.

Now, I'd love to take the credit for creating more jobs for all of them. Hey,

what's your problem, man? Sorry, I've got you somebody else.

You really have the workers who have gone before you to thank for the growth

this company. Yes.

You know, this company has a long and rich history dating back to the First

World War.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

You don't understand.

Why aren't you guys out there? Don't worry.

Everything's being taken care of. What do you mean, taken care of?

in this country, online.

It's said the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

It is with these same good intentions that we blindly place our trust in those

with power, the architects of our future, and all too often, the

our ultimate fate.