This
is the first draft of the time-travel episode that later became the two-parter, Cardinal's
Design and Cardinal's Revenge. This
first draft was written by Gavin Scott, with a date of September 5, 1997 on the
script, almost a year and a half before the story was actually filmed, and
nearly a year before the series began filming. The script lists this as the
ninth episode of the series. Rebecca Fogg is in the script as Phileas' sister,
the original concept for the character.
EXT.
THE ROOFTOPS OF PARIS - NIGHT
We cruise slowly across the rooftops of
Paris, closing slowly in on the yellow-lit window of a garret.
JULES (OC)
In
days when I was a struggling playwright in Paris, eking a living by
looking after other people's theatres
We push in right through the window of the
garret.
INT.
JULES' GARRET - NIGHT
Jules Verne, thin and poorly dressed, is working at a desk by candlelight.
JULES (OC)
and
wondering where my next meal would come from, there was one great literary
figure who did everything in his power to set me on the right track.
The door bursts open and a tall, massively
built man with dark, almost Negroid features and hair best described as a
nineteenth century Afro bursts into the room with a bottle of champagne in
either hand. His name is ALEXANDER DUMAS.
DUMAS
Making notes, Verne, I thought I'd catch you
at it! Making notes, scribbling away when you should be at my party.
JULES
Monsieur Dumas! I can't come to a party:
look at me.
DUMAS
It's a fancy dress party. You can come as a
struggling writer.
JULES
It
is not a fancy dress party!
Dumas claps his arm around Verne's shoulder.
DUMAS
Maybe
not now, my young friend: but when you and I arrive - it will be!
And he pulls out of his pocket a coiled up
ball of red velvet which springs to full size as a broad-brimmed hat, complete
with feather, and jams it on his head.
Voila!
I am a musketeer - and you are the musketeer's ill-clad servant!
And they disappear out the door.
EXT.
ABOVE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE - DAY
The gondola cruises over the French
countryside.
JULES (OC)
So
when I received a message from my old friend asking for my help, I did not
hesitate for a moment.
INT.
THE GONDOLA - DAY
PHILEAS
Dumas? The chap who wrote the Three Musketeers? I'd no idea he was still
alive.
JULES
Still
alive! He has mistresses all over France, writes an entire newspaper
himself every week, and still keeps turning out plays and novels by the
dozen.
REBECCA
How romantic!
I'd love to meet him.
JULES
(Suddenly
changing his tune) He's also always in debt and quite old and fat.
REBECCA
But full of passion: don't forget - I've
read his books. Remember, Phileas-
how you kept having to drag me out of the apple-loft?
PHILEAS
Babbling
about Milady and the Man in the Iron Mask? How could I forget?
(To JULES)
Did he say what he wanted?
JULES
Remember
Cardinal Richelieu - the villain in The Three Musketeers?
REBECCA
(Shuddering)
Terrifying man. Red robes and torture
chambers.
JULES
One of Dumas'
admirers found some papers belonging to Richelieu in the attic of
his country estate. He says they appear to be drawings of some kind of ...
machine.
PHILEAS
Interesting.
But why does he need you?
JULES
He say it's
ruined him.
INT. A LANDING
- DAY
A crowd of angry CREDITORS is pushing and
shoving to get in to Dumas'
offices. A thin, harassed man named PARFAIT is trying to close the door against
them.
PARFAIT
No! Monsieur Dumas
is NOT in! Leave him in peace - let him finish his book - THEN he'll be
able to pay you!
CREDITOR
I've
been waiting three months! I want my money now!
CREDITOR
II
Three months! I've been waiting a year! COME
OUT, YOU SCOUNDREL!
JULES
(Pushing
his way to the front) Jules Verne, Monsieur Parfait. He's expecting me.
PARFAIT
Ah,
Monsieur Verne - thank goodness!
And to a roar of anger from the Creditors,
he lets them through. As they try to press in behind, Phileas whips out his
sword-stick.
PHILEAS
Back,
you dogs! How dare you disturb an author at work!
And
he slams the door behind them.
INT.
DUMAS' NOVEL FACTORY - DAY
A scene of frenzied and chaotic activity,
with writers scribbling away with quill pens at tall desks, copy boys gathering
up their handwritten pages, and Dumas,
on a dais at the end of the room presiding over it all. He rises as he sees
Jules and folds him in his arms.
DUMAS
The
man of science! Saved!
One of the writers hands over a sheaf of
pages.
MAQUET
Chapter Three of the Mohicans de Paris,
Monsieur Dumas.
DUMAS
I'll revise it tonight.
MAQUET
The publisher needs
it to today.
DUMAS
It it
good? [sic]
(Signing his name)
Very well: tell him I've already revised it. Today is the crisis.
(To JULES) Cardinal
Richelieu has destroyed me.
ACCOUNTANT
Monsieur DUMAS
- if we don't come up with twenty thousand francs today they will evict
us!
JULES
Richelieu's
been dead for two hundred years, Alexander.
DUMAS
Come down to the basement - I'll show you
how he operates from beyond the grave.
INT.
SPIRAL STAIRCASE - DAY
As they descend a spiral staircase Dumas thrusts a sheaf of rolled up parchments into Jules'
hands.
DUMAS
The
plans for Cardinal Richelieu's chariot. How could anyone resist trying to
recreate it?
JULES
Provided they could afford it.
DUMAS
I
thought I could charge admission - box office receipts at the theatre down
a bit lately - draw people in -
REBECCA
What a wonderful
idea!
DUMAS
Problem
is - it's swallowed everything I own - and it doesn't work. Just - sits
there. Nobody's going to pay to see a lump of cast iron. It doesn't even
look as if it came from the seventeenth century. Or the nineteenth, for
that matter.
INT.
BASEMENT - DAY
The little group appear at the top of the
stairs leading into the basement - and stare down in astonishment. There below
them is an amazing vehicle consisting of a platform with two massive screws on
either side and a spherical cabin in the centre.
PHILEAS
Good Lord! Does
it tunnel, or fly,
or -
DUMAS
I keep telling you - it does nothing!
PASSEPARTOUT
What
motivates it, Monsieur?
DUMAS
Isn't that obvious? Malice.
REBECCA
I
think he means - what sort of engines does it have?
DUMAS
Ah!
Therein lies the mystery. Let me show you.
They descend into the room and Dumas
opens a panel in the side of the machine. They peer in to see ...
PHILEAS
Two stones?
His watch suddenly flies out of his pocket
and slams against one of the stones.
JULES
Two
magnetised stones, Fogg. Do they revolve?
DUMAS
Of
course not! The curse of the Cardinal lies on the whole device.
PASSEPARTOUT
There
is a gear - look. Attached to -
And he disappears inside the engine
compartment.
PASSEPARTOUT
(OC)
This
is very strange ...
JULES
Let's
have a look in the cabin.
And he starts to climb the short ladder
which leads to the top of the platform.
INT.
CABIN - DAY
Our heroes and DUMAS
squeeze into the spherical cabin and look at the elaborate, swirling rods
that constitute the controls.
REBECCA
It's beautiful.
DUMAS
A
poisoned chalice, Miss Fogg.
(He looks at her thoughtfully)
Tilt your chin a little - ah! Your remind me of Madame Bonacieux.
REBECCA
Surely Madame Bonacieux was a fictional character, Monsieur Dumas.
DUMAS
But
her hold on my heart was very similar to the hold you're establishing on
mine, Miss Fogg.
JULES
(Breaking
the mood) How's your mistress, Dumas?
DUMAS
Touring
engagement in Austria.
(To REBECCA)
I've been VERY lonely. But - one bears up.
Phileas has been busy examining the interior.
PHILEAS
It's
almost inconceivable anyone could have built something like this two
hundred years ago. Look at this gyroscope
He touches a gyroscope - which begins to
spin. PASSEPARTOUT's voice comes from the depths.
PASSEPARTOUT (OC)
Is
there another one of those, Master? If there is, spin it also. There's one
connectifaction here that hasn't been -
Rebecca finds a gyroscope and sets that in motion as well.
JULES
And
here's a third!
(He spins it)
Anything happening down there, Passepartout?
(No reply)
Passepartout?
PHILEAS
Drat the man -
Passepartout!
He opens the door of the sphere to go check
on him - and his mouth falls open in astonishment. The basement has disappeared.
EXT.
FIELD - DAY
The machine is now sitting in a piece of
ruin-dotted waste ground beside a convent wall on the outskirts of old Paris.
PHILEAS
What the devil -
REBECCA
Where
have we gone?
Dumas appears beside them.
DUMAS
The convent!
It's come back!
JULES
What
are you talking about?
DUMAS
There!
Look! This is my street! And that convent was demolished a century ago!
They look out towards Notre Dame, visible
over the low, crooked rooftops.
REBECCA
Paris hasn't looked like this for much
longer than a century, Monsieur Dumas.
JULES
Which
means we haven't travelled through space at all - but through time!
Suddenly a piercing scream comes from the
ruins.
MADAME
BONACIEUX (OC)
Let
me go, you monsters! Let me go!
And as they turn they see a young woman –
Madame Bonacieux -being pursued into the ruins by six GUARDSMEN.
DUMAS
Richelieu's
Guards! The devils! Come on!
And without further ado he leaps off the
machine and races towards the scene.
EXT.
THE RUINS - DAY
The Guardsmen are dragging Madame Bonacieux
into a coach as Dumas rushes up.
DUMAS
Unhand
that woman!
The Guardsmen stare at him.
GUARDSMAN
I
Do
you know who you' re talking to?
DUMAS
Being
members of Cardinal Richelieu's guard doesn't give you the right to abduct
young women.
GUARDSMAN
I
Being
members of Cardinal Richelieu's guard gives us the right to abduct anyone
we please. Now, be off with you before we add you to the list.
DUMAS
Not without the lady.
The Guardsmen draw their swords.
GUARDSMEN
Really?
FOGG,
JULES AND REBECCA
(Appearing
from behind the ruins)
Yes, really.
Phileas takes out his sword-stick - and Rebecca brings a kind of three-ended bolo out of her bosom and
twirls it menacingly around her head.
INT.
CABIN - DAY
A hatch in the floor of the cabin opens up
and Passepartout's head emerges.
PASSEPARTOUT
Master?
What's going on?
A shadow falls over him as a figure in red
ecclesiastical robes with a magnificent gold chain around his neck steps into
the cabin, closely followed by two Guardsmen.
RICHELIEU
I
am going on, peasant.
And a Guardsmen hits Passepartout
over the head with the hilt of his sword.
RICHELIEU (CONT'D)
And now - let us consult the book.
And at a gesture, one of the Guardsmen hands
him a massive, leather-bound book. Its title: NOSTRODAMUS - THE HIDDEN
PROPHECIES.
EXT.
RUINS - DAY
Tight on Rebecca's
bolo around the neck of a choking guardsman - whose sword she removes to turn to
the third - as Phileas flicks his
opponent's sword to Jules, who
engages the fourth - not very elegantly, but with great enthusiasm.
PHILEAS
(Still fighting)
Keep the back straight, JULES,
keep it straight.
Our heroes drive the guardsmen back towards
the carriage as Dumas spirits
Madame Bonacieux into the shelter of the ruins from which he hurls a stone which
knocks Jules' opponent senseless
to the ground.
JULES
There was no need for that, DUMAS!
I had him on the run!
But the collapse of Jules’ opponent is the
signal for a general retreat: the other guardsmen throw the unconscious
one into the carriage, leaps aboard themselves and high tail it out of there. Jules stares.
JULES
We beat
them!
DUMAS
Good Lord!
It's all just as I
imagined it!
REBECCA
(Bandaging a wound on JULES'
arm)
Except the blood is real.
JULES
We
beat Cardinal Richelieu's guardsmen! I don't believe it!
PHILEAS
I
must say - I'm rather surprised too. Almost as if ...
MADAME
BONACIEUX
Thank
you! Thank you for saving me! You have saved my honour, you have saved the
Queen's honour, you have -
PHILEAS
Oh dear.
The others turn to follow his gaze.
REBECCA
Oh lord
...
For there, sailing along in a stately manner
through the ruins, its screws turning slowly about six feet above the ground, is
the time machine. And visible through the windows of the cabin is a figure in a.
red robe.
JULES
Noooooo!
And he begins to run towards it - as a hail
of bullets comes from the time machine and with a sudden burst of speed it
vanishes into the ruins.
They look at each other - and at Madame
Bonacieux.
MADAME BONACIEUX
What?
What? Why are you looking at me like that?
DUMAS
I
should have known it. Did I not write that Cardinal Richelieu was one of
the most brilliant schemers ever to dominate France?
INT.
RICHELIEU'S DUNGEONS - DAY
Massive doors slam to as the machine glides
into the cavernous space at the centre of Richelieu's prison complex. Lit by the
lurid glare of iron braziers, festooned with instruments of torture, we can hear
the moans of prisoners in the cells all around it as Passepartout,
his arms bound behind him, is pushed out of the machine.
PASSEPARTOUT
What
IS this place?
RICHELIEU
My
play pen.
The
massive, bald TORTURER, naked to the waist, lumbers up.
RICHELIEU (CONT'D)
(To the Torturer)
Rack him.
PASSEPARTOUT
Rack
me? No, it is too soon for the racking and the rocking! You haven't even
done any quizzes yet!
RICHELIEU
Oh
the quizzes will come later. This is just to get - warmed up.
EXT.
PARIS STREET - DAY
Our heroes are hurrying through a Paris
street: not dissimilar to other we have seen - except that sewage runs down the
middle of the road, there are beggars and pedlars and animals everywhere, and it
looks altogether like something out of the middle ages.
REBECCA
(Stepping over a dead cat)
Had they no concept of hygiene?
PEDLAR
Bottle
of scent, madame, keep everything smelling of roses.
PHILEAS
(Glancing
at a skeleton on a gibbet)
Big on law and order, though.
A footpad emerges from an alley and thrusts
a knife under Fogg's chin. Hardly pausing in his stride, Fogg smashes him back
into the alley with an elbow in the chest.
DUMAS
Had
to be. The place was infested by thieves.
Jules notes the wonderfully low-cut decolletage of a woman selling fruit.
JULES
Wonderful fashions, though.
DUMAS
(To REBECCA)
So becoming. Perhaps we ought to get some appropriate clothes, try to
blend in a bit more. You in particular, my dear ...
JULES
Dumas: concentrate. Even as we speak our friend PASSEPARTOUT may be enduring unspeakable tortures.
DUMAS
(To REBECCA,
roguishly)
But as soon as we've rescued him, let's give your figure the chance it
deserves.
(Catching JULES' eye
guiltily and trying to appear conscientious)
Now - the Cardinal's Palace should be along here somewhere, if I remember
my researches correctly.
JULES
The
question is - what do we do when we get there? We can't just demand that
they give us our time machine back.
PHILEAS
To
say nothing of my valet.
REBECCA.
Of
course not: don't be absurd. We have to reconnoitre, find a way in.
There's sure to be a weak point. There always is.
PHILEAS
Always ?
EXT.
CARDINAL'S PALACE - DAY
They've arrived in front of a massive
building bristling with cannon, and with guardsmen are on duty at every doorway,
archway and window.
JULES
THIS
is Richelieu's headquarters?
DUMAS
He
felt the dignity of the church required it.
Rebecca senses people observing them: their nineteenth century clothes do stand
out.
REBECCA
You were right, Monsieur Dumas.
I do wish we looked a bit less…
In an upper room a guardsman, having his
head bandaged, looks down from a second story window and sees them.
GUARDSMAN
Good
God! There they are! What effrontery! After them!
REBECCA
Conspicuous.
GUARDSMAN
I
After
them! Guardsmen! Apprehend those felons!
And immediately it seems every trooper in
the building is pouring out towards them, brandishing their swords.
PHILEAS
Run! Run for your lives!
(To Dumas)
I do hope you're in training, old chap.
And they race away as if the devil himself
was after them.
END
OF ACT ONE
Continued on
Page 2
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