Original subtitles

People ask, where do you get your ideas?

Right here.

All this is my magician's toy shop.

I'm Ray Bradbury, and this is...

Fellows here? Doctor, I have your visitor's permit from Meadow...

I'll get it in time to pick up the tickets to the show. You've made your

son.

Chamber 9, identification, please. Dr. Arnold Fellow is here to interview

prisoner number 10069.

Code.

Look, I'm here to help you.

You're wondering why it's so quiet in here.

Yes. I just kicked the radio to death.

Don't worry.

I'm really not violent, except to machines that go yak, yak, yak.

So you're Brock, Albert Brock.

The murderer.

Excuse me.

Welcome to Tranquility.

This will cost you $300.

I don't care.

I don't care.

I don't care.

Well, uh... Shall we begin?

Sure, sure.

Whatever you say, Doc.

I know. That's another $300.

Suppose you, uh...

Tell me, when you first started to hate the telephone?

Oh, at first I loved them. I mean, when I was growing up, we had them all over

in the kitchen, the bathroom, in our cars.

Then when I was 16, my folks gave me my first video phone.

Only they were so new, no one else in town had one, so I had nobody I could

call. But then, Emily Foster, prettiest girl in town, got one.

Started to get real close.

that the phone changes you.

Even if it has a picture, it drains your personality, so what comes through the

other end is some cold fish of a voice saying the wrong things, changing the

meaning on you.

Next thing you know, you've made an enemy.

But the phone is useful, essential to all our lives.

Couldn't you adjust?

Why are we always adjusting to machines?

They're like spoiled kids, always making demands.

We're adults.

We should have control over them.

And the telephone just sits there and demands to be used.

Mr. Jessup, good.

I wanted to show you the new plans for the information center I drew up.

Oh, excuse me, Bob.

Jessup here.

You don't say.

So you'll be buying drinks tonight?

Remember what happened when cellulose first came in? At first, they were just

supposed to be used for emergencies.

You got stuck in traffic or had a breakdown.

But then people couldn't resist using them. They always were calling, calling.

And if it wasn't the telephone, it was the television and the radio.

AMN or the VTR or the... or the fax machine or the walkman

or the watchman or the disc man or the motion pictures at the corner multiplex

and then larger than life in your own living room commercial coming at you

all directions and phone poles and jump back I understand Mr. Brock

please calm down now just finish your story

My whole day was one big listen.

Good morning, Albert. Good morning, Agnes. It's time to get up on this

day. The weather is going to be just great, with the temperature reaching a

of 70 degrees.

Albert, are you there?

Yes, dear.

Don't forget to pick up the pate.

Yes, dear.

And the baked brie from Gourmet Goodies.

And be sure to be home by eight, because the Dorfmans are coming over tonight.

Oh, and would you mind picking up the clothes from the cleaners?

apples are ready and you may now remove them.

Enjoy.

Light on the floor. Please wipe your feet.

Please wipe your feet. Thank you. Have a nice day.

We can't get in touch with Dr. Flynn.

His lapel phone's off.

Did you miss your lapel phone, Doc?

No, no, no. I, um... I was just thinking about your description of your day.

So you felt a little uptight, huh?

On the edge of a cliff.

The next afternoon, I did what I did at the office.

Which was?

I poured a pitcher of coffee into the video pen.

And that helped?

A lot.

Then I got the idea at lunchtime of killing my lapel phone.

Oh? I was outside enjoying my lunch when this obnoxious, shrill computer

voice started yelling at me. Computer poll number nine. What did you eat for

lunch, Mr. Brock?

Your early reply would be appreciated, Mr. Brock.

Computer poll number nine. The life of Colossus.

That's even better.

Well, great.

It positively grew on me.

I started to think, why not begin a one -man revolution?

Deliver us from our conveniences.

Convenient for who, I asked myself?

For friends who feel like talking, regardless of what you have to do.

For my office to find me, no matter where I am.

Mr. Brock, Mr. Jessup just called. He can't seem to reach you on your lapel

phone. He'd like you to get in touch with him right away.

Come in, please, Mr. Hutch.

How I hate that phrase.

Gripped, mauled, pounded by FM voices is more like it. I mean, there's literally

no place where a person can go anymore to find some peace.

Not the bathroom, not even your own car.

Could I have a chocolate milkshake, please?

I bought a chocolate milkshake and poured it

into my back.

Is there any special reason why you chose a chocolate milkshake?

It's my favorite flavor.

I see.

I see. So, uh...

So then what happened?

Silence. That's what happened.

Wonderful, beautiful silence.

I just sat in my car for a whole hour drinking it in. It was incredible.

I felt drunk with freedom.

Freedom, Mr. Brock? Yes, Doc. Freedom from one more damn note and the whole

screeching symphony.

But, um...

Well, a symphony that enlarges our lives, Mr. Brock.

You've heard of passive smoking, Doc?

Of course you have. Well, there's passive listening, too. And we're being

poisoned by it, whether we like it or not.

Go on.

On my way home that night, I bought my weapons.

You heard of diathermics?

Of course, I am a doctor.

Yeah, but not a medical one.

Anyway, I picked up a diathermy machine.

Electric current, static interference. You got it.

Hello. Hello.

Hello.

Oh, sir, sir, sir, sir, sir.

So far, your behavioral pattern is not very practical.

Why didn't you just start a fraternity of radio haters, circulate petitions,

legal and constitutional rulings? After all, this is still a democracy.

I'm that thing called a minority.

I did protest. I tried a petition.

Everyone laughed.

Well, maybe you should have taken it like a good soldier.

I mean, for the majority of people, fax machines, phones, walkmans, watchmans,

they mean freedom.

The freedom to live a more efficient, trouble -free life with you.

You selfishly tried to impose your minority idea of freedom on them. But

majority rules. They may rule, but they're not always right.

The majority have gone too far.

Don't you see that?

They figured that if a little music was charming and keeping in touch was good,

that a lot of a good thing would be that much better. But it's not, because

we've become dependent.

We're prisoners of our own progress, manacled by squawking machines.

So, what's a man to do, Doc?

Get an equalizing machine.

Ain't that obvious?

I got home that night to a completely hysterical wife because she had been out

of touch for three hours, damn it.

That's why I decided I had to murder her.

You decided to kill your wife?

I can get in touch with you all day.

In touch, Agnes.

In touch.

God, how I hate that friend. Where's your phone?

Where's your briefcase?

Now, don't tell me you've lost the facts.

What's going on?

Letter this. Please wipe your feet.

Please wipe your feet.

I'm going to touch you in that gun.

Oh, Albert!

The road needs to be turned over now. The road needs to be turned over now.

The road needs to be turned over now. The road needs to be turned over now.

The road needs to be turned over now. In five minutes, Mopsy will be ready to

fire.

Police! Freeze!

Drop the gun!

The lapel phone, the Walkman, the fax machine, the video phone. You were

destroying personal and public property.

I'd do it all over again, Doc.

So you have no remorse?

Uh -uh.

You don't want any help from the Office of Mental Health?

Uh -uh.

You're ready to take the consequences?

Of course I am.

You'll see, this is the beginning.

I'm the vanguard of a small segment of the population that is tired of... of

having their privacy constantly invaded. Every minute was music, voices, do

this, do that.

The revolt has begun.

Somehow, somewhere, what I've done will have an effect.

My name will go down in history.

Mr. Brock, if you will just give us a chance.

I'm sure that we can rehabilitate you. Now, you have a wife, a family. Surely

you'd like to rejoin them.

It'll take time, of course.

But the seed has been sown.

They got worldwide coverage on TV, radio, and in the newspapers.

Soundbite, sightbites.

In fact, watch for a sudden spurt in the sale of chocolate milkshakes.

And then?

Then keep your eyes and ears open for small islands of silence.

People killing their lapel phones. People just simply tuning out.

That'll be the beginning.

Don't you want to get out of here?

I just want to go back to my nice, quiet cell.

Please.

I think...

I've enjoyed our little talk, Doc.

My quiet chat.

Yes.

But...

Chloe, have this replaced, please.

Well, fellows, what's the prognosis on Brock?

He's top priority, you know. I just got back, Inspector. Give me a moment to

write up my notes. No need for lengthy reports. Just give it to me in a

nutshell.

Well, he's obviously suffering from, uh... Dad, it's Lee.

He's dealing with the persecution.

Can we rehabilitate him, Doctor? That's what I want to know.

We can't have people running around destroying our modern means of

communication. Yes, probably, but, uh... The messenger is here for your monthly

reports, Doctor Fellows.

Can I send him in, or will you be back soon? In a minute.

They need him right away.

Dad? Dad? Later, son.

What are you talking about, Fellows?

What's happening in there? I can't hear you. I can't see you now. What are you

doing?

My whole day was one big listen.

I'm sending you a fax. Your video phone seems to be on the blink.

Can you hear me, fellas?

Somewhere, somehow, what I've done will have an effect.

Yes, Dr. Fellows?

Would you get me a chocolate milkshake?