LEGEND
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY by WILLIAM HJORTSBERG
2nd Draft Revised 10 March 1984
1EXTERIOR FOREST NIGHT
Huge trees taper upward like columns supporting the roof of heaven.
Moonlit dewdrops spangle a delicate spiderweb. The setting is
tranquil and utterly majestic.
Over the brow of a distant hill, a pair of brilliant light beams
scintillate in an etheral ballet.
Numerous small animals gather to behold this wonder. They stand on
the hillcrest, staring down as if at the Nativity.
Squirrels, quail, hedgehogs, mice, pheasants and badgers, natural
enemies untied by the radiant LIGHT.
A magnificent stag watches, numbers of tiny songbirds perched in his
branching antlers.
1A EXTERIOR FOREST NIGHT
PULL BACK: from the hilltop, through ferns and brambles to a steep
embankment where umbrella-sized toadstools cluster.
A snarling face APPEARS under a mushroom cap. This is BLIX a brigand
goblin hunter. Clad in decrepit armor and slung with savage weapons,
he is a terrifying figure.
Blix WHISTLES. The SOUND is unexpectedly lovely, a nightingale's
call.
Further back, three other goblins return the BIRDCALL. They bristle
with weaponry. POX is a pig-faced fop wearing tattered lace and
flithy brocade. Tiny BLUNDER and TIC are both masked by grotesque
helmets. Swarms of gnats drone above their hidden heads. They creep
forward to join Blix.
1B GOBLIN'S POV : HILLTOP
The distant animals silhouetted by dazzling LIGHT.
1C EXTERIOR FOREST NIGHT
Blix signals an advance and the goblins creep through the forest
towards the hilltop.
A moth lands on a twig two feet from Tic's head. He turns. His
incredibly sticky tongue uncoils from within the helmet seizing the
moth and retracting with it, quick as a flash.
As the goblins near the hilltop, the fantastic LIGHT gradually
illuminates their hideous features. A tiny mouse runs out of the
eye-slits on Blunder's helmet, circles the crest, and runs back in
on the other side.
Blix signals silently for the other goblins to spread out.
The goblins crawl separately through the underbrush.
Pox comes snout to snout with a wild piglet. Terrified, the little
shoat SQUEALS and scampers off.
2 DELETED
2A CLOSE : ANIMALS
Alerted by the NOISE, they face the impending threat. The startled
animals run for cover down the hillside.
3 DELETED
3A EXTERIOR FOREST NIGHT
Blix charges forward, brandishing his crossbow.
BLIX: Kill. . . . !
Blix runs over the top of the hill and down into the gully beyond,
closely followed by Tic, Pox, and Blunder. Brilliant clumps of
forget-me-nots are everywhere, like disgarded jewels.
3B GOBLIN'S POV : DISTANT FOREST
The pair of shining LIGHT BEAMS race away between the trees.
4 DELETED
5 DELETED
5A EXTERIOR FOREST NIGHT
The goblins watch the LIGHT BEAMS disappear. Blix GROWLS in
frustration.
BLUNDER(musing): . . . . Fast as a hound dog with his ass on fire. .
. .
Blunder spots a SHINING silver hair caught on the bark. He reaches
up and plucks it free.
POX: What's that . . . . ? L-l-let me see, old chap.
BLUNDER: No! It's mine!
Blunder hides the hair behind his back, but Pox quickly grabs the
other end.
POX: Give it to m-m-m-me!
Both goblins pull on the hair. Miraculously, it does not break, but
stretches between them like spun steel.
BLUNDER: Turn loose, anus features!
POX: Hard cheese!
A furious tug of war. Pox pulls his knife and tries unsuccessfully
to cut the hair.
BLUNDER: It's mine you rectum! Mine! Mine!
Blix marches up and furiously bangs their heads together. Pox and
Blunder fall dazed to the ground.
Blix holds the silver hair shining above his head and studies it.
BLIX: Disgusting and pure, like a prayer. . ..
There be magic in this hair.
The beast ran off, faster and faster.
We must take this to our Master.
6 EXTERIOR VAST LANDSCAPE NIGHT
An incredible landscape, fantastically contoured hills rise above
the monnbright mist. The four goblins dismount, tie up their devil
steeds, and disappear over the brow of a hill.
6A EXTERIOR HILLSIDE NIGHT
The goblins scramble down a steep hillside towards a desolate
wasteland below. A mysterious malevolant shape looms on the far
horizon.
7 EXTERIOR SINISTER EVERGLADE NIGHT
A miasmic Jurassic swamp. Stunted trees rise like amputated limbs
from the fetid water.
The goblins pick their way across the bog towards a distant island,
stepping from submerged logs to crumbled chunks of masonary to
floating lily pads.
A cracked marble plinth juts out of the water. The goblins creep by
a towering skeletal statue playing a bone violin.
7A EXTERIOR BOG NIGHT
A v-shaped ripple undulates past them like the wake of a submerged
crocodile.
Blix unhooks a dead rat from his game belt and tosses it from his
game belt and tosses it onto the scummy surface. There is an angry
swirl and it is gone.
Blix waves the goblins on and they climb onto a huge root twisting
out of the water like a petrified serpant.
The ominous wake cruises back and forth like a shark. Blunder
follows its progress with fear-widened eyes.
BLUNDER:Wish i was still a leprecaun. . . .
Stay clear of nasty places
like this and do nothing all day but
sing and dance and guzzle wine in the sunshine. . . .
Furious, Blix turns on him, his finger to his lips.
BLIX: Shhhh!
Unchastened, Blunder whirls on Pox and repeats the gesture:
BLUNDER: Shhhh!
Pox follows suit with Tic:
POX: Shhhh!
Not to be outdone, Tic turns to silence whoever might be behind him.
TIC: SHHHHH!
7B EXTERIOR BOG NIGHT
HAIRY MEG MUCKLEBONES rises out of the bog, huge and hideous. The
water hag is half corpse, half serpant. She seizes Tic and
disappears beneath the foul surface. The goblin's final CRY trembles
in the chill night air.
7C EXTERIOR BOG NIGHT
Blix, Pox, and Blunder are terrified. They scramble over the twisted
root in a wild panic, leaping onto a floating log.
BLUNDER: Run. . . . ! Panic. . . . ! Emergency. . . . ?
The log rolls beneath their frantic feet. They barely keep their
balance.
POX: Frog spit!
BLUNDER: Snail Sperm!
BLIX: All together. . . .now or never!
The goblin co-ordinate like tiny lumberjacks, running in unison. The
rolling log drifts forward.
POX: J-j-jolly good! Team spirit and all that!
The log runs against the island and the goblins hop ashore.
8 EXTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
An enormous blasted tree crowns the ruins of a forgotten castle.
Tangled roots grip the anicient stones like the tenacles of a
malformed sea monster. An atmosphere of eternal evil hovers over the
site.
The goblins stare back across the bog.
BLUNDER: Poor Tic. . . .
BLIX(growling with anger): Forget Tic! Less is always more.
POX: Better we spilt three ways than four!
Blix hurries up the crumbling steps. Pox and Blunder follow.
The steps lead under gigantic twisting roots. Blix finds a small
opening and slips inside.
Pox and Blunder like this less and less but follow their leader
without complaint.
9 INTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
The three goblins tumble down a steep slope. The giant tree is a
vast hollow stump, open to a moonlit sky, surrounding a smaller tree
transfixed by a curved bronze horn, an instrument of unspeakable
evil.
Pox and Blunder stare up like open-mouthed tourists. Blix is
impatient.
BLIX: Boost me. . . . ! Hurry. . . . ! We must sound the summons
before the dawn. . . .
The three goblins form a teetering ladder with Blix wobbling at the
top and Blunder crushed at the bottom.
Blix blows into the horn with all his might. Nothing happens.
Suddenly, he breaks wind!
Pox and Blunder grimace.
Blix blows again into the horn.
There is no sound. Dead leaves and dust puff out of the bell,
followed by three SQUEALING bats.
The supporting goblins wobble. Pox steps on Blunder's head.
Blix blows a third time into the great horn.
The unholy SOUND reverbarates like the wailing of all the doomed
souls in Purgatiory.
10 EXTERIOR FOREST(VARIOUS ANGLES) NIGHT
As the evil SOUND moans, the forest creatures react with terror.
Squirrels, rabbits, and mice dart fearfully for cover. Birds flock
to their nests. Only the night creatures, the wolves, weasels, and
owls perk up thier ears to listen.
11 INTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
The three goblins cower terrified among the gnarled roots.
BLUNDER: Now what. . . . ?
BLIX: We sit. . . . We wait. . . . That be our fate!
11A EXTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
The goblins wait up on the upper platform of the ruined castle. Blix
sits apart from the others, staring out across at the bog. The light
of a campfire casts their shifting shadows against the huge trunk of
the hollow tree.
Blix plays with the silver hair.
BLIX(to himself): Moving silent like the breeze.
Soft as shadows, still as trees,
Darkness be in all we sees.
He lives in silence, he lives in fire,
He lives in all that's dark and dire.
A mysterious floating shape approaches out of the distance. It is a
black cloak, wafting through the mist like an airborne manta ray.
12 EXTERIOR BOG NIGHT
The flying cloak wraps about the statue of the skeletal fiddler. The
wind presses it tight, revealing the skull through the cloth.
Suddenly, the statue's head turns to look at the great tree.
13 EXTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
Blix walks to to the edge of the platform, peering into the night.
BLIX: Look in the gloom, search out the tomb.
That be where you find our sire.
The pedestal is empty. The statue of the fidder has vanished!
Blix gets down on his knees, genuflecting, toward the the open bog.
The black shadow of the LORD OF DARKNESS falls across him.
Darkness towers over the ruined castle platform, a huge horned
figure drpaed in bacl cloth. An awesome silence ensues.
Blunder and Pox kneel, heaping ashes and dirt upon thier heads.
BLIX: Hail O great One. . . . divine and dark!
Strong like a lion, swift like a shark.
Blix offers the silver hair up to Darkness.
BLIX: Though I'm not worthy of the task Great Lord, I found this for
your amusment.
Blunder leaps to his feet and grabs the hair from Blix.
BLUNDER: Don't listen to them mealy-mouthed lies boss. . . . I'm the
one who found it. . . . Me! Blunder the Bold!
There is a bight FLASH OF LIGHT. Blunder HOWLS with pain.
Blunder stares at his arm in dismay. His hand is gone, magically
replaced by a grotesque birdclaw.
BLUNDER(stunned): Thank you, Lordship . . . .
Blunder experimently clenches and unclenches his new bird claw.
POX: Quite stylish, actually. . . .
Darkness dangles the shining silver hair in front of him.
DARKNESS: Where. . . . ?
BLIX: In the woods, six leagues back,
'Tween Twin Oaks and the Dragon's Track.
DARKNESS: Did my bold hunters chance to see quarry which
cast this spoor?
BLIX: I stalked it, Sire, but much too slow,
What beast it be I do not know.
DARKNESS: This hair is from an angel of light. . . It comes
this way rarely. . . I must have this creature!
BLIX: Oh Divine Dark One, teach us how to catch this
creature.
POX: Your instruction would be m-m-most
ap-p-preciated.
BLUNDER: Amen! I wants to learn! I craves knowledge!
DARKNESS: No trap of yours will work. . . . There is only
lure for such disgusting goddness. . . .one bait which never
fails. . . .
BLIX: Name the bait, Lord. . . .
DARKNESS: Innoncence!
14 EXTERIOR COTTAGE MEADOW DAY
A beautiful flower-spangled meadow alive with songbirds.
Baby rabbits frolic in the tall grass where industrious squirrels
forage for acorns and nuts.
A delicate fawn gambols under the watchful eye of the doe. Clouds of
multi-hued butterflies swirl overhead.
Waist-deep in flower, a young princess skips SINGING across the
meadow. Her name is LILI. She wears splendid brocades and carries a
bouquet wrapped in a lace napkin. Like these blossoms, she is
beautiful and fresh and innocent.
Tiny birds fly down and land on her head and shoulders. She laughs
as a warbling wren takes a seed from her lips.
LILI(singing): Come down sparrow, sing me good morning.
Rise up sun, light the arch of the sky.
Living river, turn light to diamonds,
When I look in my true love's eyes.
Lili runs towards a distant thatched-roofed cottage.
15 EXTERIOR BOULDER AT EDGE OF WOODS DAY
Blix, Pox, and Blunder hide behind a boulder, watching the girl.
BLIX(whipering): Darkness say the perfect lure Always be a virgin
pure. . . .
15A EXTERIOR COTTAGE AT EDGE OF WOODS DAY
The WOODCARVER'S WIFE is hangin up the washing when Lili sneaks from
behind the cottage.
Grinning micheviously, Lili unfastens one end of the clothes-line
and lets it drop.
The laundry flutters onto the new-mown grass, A sheet drpaes around
the outraged wife.
WIFE: Dad-blamed faeries!
16 INTERIOR COTTAGE DAY
The cottage is snug and homey with smoke-blackened beams and hand-
pegged furniture. A WOODCARVER sleeps by his bench surrounded by
wood-shavings and roughed-out toys.
Lili steps into the sunlight streaming through the open doorway. Her
beauty is etheral, an angel descending.
Finches peck at newly-made tarts laid on a trestle table to cool.
They rise to the rafters as at Lili's approach.
The Princess peeks around the room. She tiptoes to the hearth and
lifts the stewpot lid, dipping a finger in for a taste.
Spying the tarts, she grabs one and eats it hurriedly, leaving a
telltale crumb on her upper lip.
The clock tolls the hour. A carved wooden maiden piroettes from the
interior, pursued by a skeletal fiddler playing a bone fiddle. Lili
is fancinated.
The Woodcarver's Wife enters. She curtsies to the Princess.
WIFE: God Bless Your Highness. A royal visit is ever a joy.
LILI: I've not come to visit, Nell
WIFE: Won't you stay for a tart?
Nell pulls a tray from the oven.
WIFE(cont): They're fresh-baked.
LILI: I've no time today.
WIFE(teasing): The Princess must have a sweetheart waiting.
LILI: Nonsense!
WIFE: Surely the king forbids such folly
LILI: What my father doesn't know won't hurt him.
WIFE: The wilful heart invites despair,
Like blind men creeping in a dragon's lair.
With Nell's back turned, Lili steals another tart, hiding it among
the flowers in her bouquet.
LILI: Neither country provebs nor king's command can keep me
out of the woods today.
WIFE: Then it's common sense ought. These woods be thick
with spriggen and banshee!
LILI: Is that why you've hung a bell over the door?
WIFE: Aye, and spread the floor with flax and salt. My babe
won't be stole by faeries.
The Princess starts merrily for the sun-bright doorway.
LILI(laughing): More salt, Nell. . . .! You'll worry
yourself to death if you're not careful.
Lili runs out like a naughty child. The Woodcarver's Wife
leans against the door jamb and calls after her:
WIFE: Beware of toadstool rings and willow trees. . . . !
Stay away from old oaks!
17 EXTERIOR FOREST PATH TO GLADE DAY
Hiding behind a moss-coverd log, Blix, Pox, and Blunder watch
Princess Lili run SINGING through the woods, oblivous to any sign of
danger.
BLIX(scowling): May be innocent. . . . May be sweet. . . .
Ain't half as nice as rotten meat. . . . !
18 EXTERIOR JACK'S FOREST GLADE DAY
A lovely glade surrounded by tall trees, Breathlessly, Lili runs in
from the woods. She is familair with this spot. It is her trysting
place
LILI(calling): Jack. . . . ! I know you're here. . . . Jack!
Lili looks around in exasperation. Behind her, something wild and
mysterious swings through the trees like an animal.
LILI(cont): Jack? Where are you. . . . ? Answer me!
Lili is apprehensive at getting no reply. She hears the RUSTLE of
the leaves but does not see the sun-dappled figure leaping from limb
to limb overhead.
LILI(frightened)(cont): Oh, Jack. . . . please say something if
you're here. . . .
JACK O' THE GREEN, a legendry "Green Man" who lives the free life of
a hermit in the woods, drops down from a tree behind the Princess,
landing without a sound. He is barefoot, about sixteen, and wears
woven ivy leaves and skins.
Startled, Lili SCREAMS.
LILI(cont): Jack! You scared the life out of me.
Jack says nothing, staring at her shyly. Lili hands him the flowers.
A JAY flies down out of the greenery and lands RASPING on Jack's
shoulder. He imitates the bird expertedly, The Jay answers him in
English:
JAY: She brings a gift as fair as herself.
Lili LAUGHS, It all seems magic to her.
LILI: You're so clever, Jack. . . . See what you can find in
the flowers.
Jack pokes in the bouquet and discovers the stolen tart. He stuffs
it immediately into his mouth.
JACK: Mmmmmmm. . . .
LILI: Sweet?
JAY: Sweets from the sweet.
JACK: I know someone sweeter.
Lili blushes.
19 EXTERIOR ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST DAY
Concealed behind the trees, Blix, Pox and Blunder watch the Green
Man and the Princess wander down a meandering path.
Pox picks a spider from his web, pops it in his mouth, and crunches
it down with a happy smile.
19A EXTERIOR MEANDERING PATH DAY
Several birds perch on Jack's head and shoulders. Squirrels, rabbits
and hedgehogs play about his feet. Jack feeds them nuts and berries
from his pouch, answering their chatter expertedly. Jack understands
the language of all wild creatures.
When a frisky wren flies warbling overhead, Lili hesitantly returns
its call.
JACK: That was very good. . . .just right.
LILI: Teach me rabbit like you promised.
JACK: Rabbit is much harder than wren.
LILI: Let me try. I'm a very good student. . . . My father
thinks I'm brilliant. . .
Lili toys with the silver madallion pendant she wears, causing
reflected sunlight to shine in Jack's eyes.
LILI(cont): See how brilliant I am!
JACK(laughing): Stop it. . . . ! I can't see!
LILI: Don't I dazzle you with my wisdom?
Lili seems to glow with sunlight. Jack stares at her, rapt with
love.
JACK: Much more than wisdom dazzles me.
Lili LAUGHS and hangs her madallion around his neck.
LILI: Then teach me rabbit.
JACK: Not today. . . . There's something really special I
promised to show you.
LILI(delighted): Oh, Jack. Do you mean it?
JACK: If it pleases you.
LILI: More than anything!
JACK: This is their season. They won't pass here again
for a long, long time. . . . If you want to see them, you
must do everything I tell you.
LILI: I swear. . . on my honour!
JACK: I'm taking you to a very special place. . . it's
sort of sacred. Nobody but me knows where it is, and,
well. . . .
LILI(impatient): What? Tell me!
Jack unwraps the lace napkin from Lili's bouquet.
JACK: You'll have to wear a blindfold.
LILI(coyly): Don't you trust me, Jack?
JACK: I'll always trust you, Lili. . . .
20 EXTERIOR FOREST PATH, GLADE TO STREAM DAY
Jack holds Lili's hand, leading her blindfolded along a path through
the woods. Distant thunder RUMBLES.
JACK: Storm's coming. . . .
LILI: Who cares? Haven't you a cosy place to hide?
JACK: Many places. . . .None fit for a princess. . . .
LILI: In these woods you are the prince, Jack. . . .
I am only a pauper here. . . .
Jack turns to face a radiantly smiling Lili. He bends towards her,
closer and closer, and, for a moment, seems about to steal a kiss.
She waits, smiling, sensing what is about to happen. In the end,
Jack's innoncence and timidity get the best of him and he turns
away. Without his knowledge Lili lifts a corner of the blindfold and
mischievously peeks.
20A EXTERIOR BEHIND A TREE NEAR THE PATH DAY
The three goblin peer around a mossy trunk.
BLUNDER: Yuck! Did you see what he was gonna do?
Makes me want to puke!
BLIX: I swear by all the bats above,
Nothing's quite so foul as love!
21 EXTERIOR UNICORN STREAM AND GLADE DAY
A sun-glided amphithtre within the darker confines of the forest.
Sparkling like a ribbon of diamonds, a stream flows down the middle.
Jack leads Lili out of the woods and unties the napkin from around
her eyes.
LILI(aewstruck): Oh, Jack. . . .! It's magic!
21A EXTERIOR STREAMSIDE SHUBBERY DAY
Some time has passed. Lili is uncomfortable and restless.
LILI: How much longer?
JACK: Be patient!
Lili kneels by the bank of the streem, cupping water into her hands.
Jack stops her from drinking.
LILI: I'm thristy!
Jack points at a huge viper moving sinously along the bank.
JACK: It's poisened the brook.
No animal will drink here now.
LILI(indignant): I want some water.
JACK: Shhh!
LILI: Don't tell me to be quiet. . . .!
I'm a princess!
Jack pulls Lili back into hiding.
JACK(very softly): Just watch! True royalty
approaches. . . .
22 EXTERIOR THE STREAM (JACK & LILI'S POV) DAY
The radiant LIGHT BEAMS GLEAM through the trees. A moment later, a
splendid white unicorn moves down the hillside to the edge of the
stream. This is a stallion. He holds his head proudly. His mate
stands at the edge of the woods.
LILI(OS): Ohh....They're so beautiful....
The unicorn dips his horns into the stream.
JACK(OS): The alicorn purifies the water. . . .
The stallion watches his mare approach to drink. She is slighter and
more delicate, but every inch as mignificent.
JACK(cont)(OS): There's no creature with more
power or magic. . . . As long as they roam the earth,
evil cannot harm the pure of heart. . . .
23 EXTERIOR LARGE BOULDER OPPOSITE CLEARING DAY
The three goblins crouch hiding.
BLUNDER(disgusted): Ugly one-horned mules!
BLIX: Shhh!
24 EXTERIOR CLEARING DAY
The Princess is entranced.
LILI: Such grace. . . . Can you speak
their language?
JACK: A little. . . .it's very hard.
Unicorns talk only of love and laughter.
Dark thoughts are almost impossible for
them to express.
LILI: Oh Jack. . . I must touch one.
JACK(alarmed): No!
LILI: I want to!
Jack restrains the Princess when she attempts to get up from hiding.
JACK: It is forbidden. These are sacred
animals.
LILI: Nothing is forbidden me!
JACK: Don't ever say that! You risk
your immortal soul.
Lili pulls free and steps into the clearing.
LILI: You sound like my confessor. . . .
I only want to touch one.
The Princess strides defiantly into the open meadow.
The unicorns watch the girl from across the stream. They snort and
paw the ground.
Lili stands alone, holding her arms to the unicorns.
LILI(singing): Like a child feels watching a rainbow.
Like a brid feels the first time it flies
I feel magic stirring within me,
When I look in my true love's eyes.
The Stallion's nostrils flare. His strong neck arches. Sunlight
gleams on his horn as he charges.
From Lili's POV the stallion is terrifying as he thunders towards
her acroos the stream.
The stallion rears and prances, racing around the Princess as if
drawn foward on an invisable lead.
Jack watches from the underbrush, his outrage tinged with more than
a touch of jealously.
25 EXTERIOR BOULDER DAY
Blix, Pox and Blunder peer from their hiding-place. Evil leers
brighten their impish features.
POX(whipering): M-m-might as well be fish
in a barrel. . . One would hope for a
t-t-touch more sp-p-port. . . .
Blix clamps his hand over Pox's mouth.
BLIX: Pox! Shut your yap!
26 EXTERIOR CLEARING DAY
The lureof the virgin is too strong for the unicorn to resist. Lili
makes no move as the trembling stallion stands before her, the
rapier tip of his horn pressed against her breast. It is obvious he
could kill her is an instant.
The Princess calmly reaches out and caresses his muzzle.
LILI(singing): When the darkness falls like a curtain
And the rivers and streams turn to ice,
I have summer and daylight forever
When I look in my true love's eyes.
Across the stream, the mare paces back and forth, obviously
agitated.
27 EXTERIOR BEHIND THE BOULDER DAY
Blix pulls a long black flute from his quiver. He takes a dried
hornet from a black snail-shell with a hinged lid and slips it into
his flute, aiming the instrument like a blowgun.
BLUNDER: Steady....take your time....
Don't miss...
Blix silences the foolish golbin with a ferocious scowl. His cheeks
puff. There is a soft PHUT of expelled breath.
28 EXTERIOR CENTRE OF CLEARING DAY
The poisened hornet sails the air and strikes the hornet on the
haunch.
Stung, the unicorn bolts through the clearing, disappearing into the
undergrowth with the mare hard on his heels.
The Princess stands be confused and bewildered.
Distant THUNDER disturbs the tranquility.
Jack rushes to Lili's side.
LILI: Oh, Jack, it was so lovely...
like a dream.
JACK(angry): You're lucky it wasn't a
nightmare!
LILI: Don't be such a scold.... Come,
I'll chase your fears away.
The Princess takes Jack by the hand and leads him from the clearing.
29 EXTERIOR FOREST (UNICORN HUNT) DAY
The unicorns plunge through brambles and fern clumps. Leaping a
deadfall log, the stallion stumbles. He struggles to his feet and
continues running.
The three goblins gallop pell-mell on their devilish steeds. There
is nothing comical about them now.
30 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Jack and Lili sit atop a high promontory jutting over a crystalline
pond.
LILI: Sweet William did a-hunting go,
In the wood where faeries dwell.
From dawn to dusk roamed he to and fro,
Lost, O lost, all under thier spell.
31 EXTERIOR FOREST (UNICORN HUNT) DAY
The stallion stagger, his gait increasingly unstable as the poisen
takes effect.
The mare nuzzle his flank where the envenomed hornet struck. It is a
virulent ound, red and swollen.
The war-like SHOUTING of the goblins grows even closer.
The unicorns pause at a fork in the trail. The stallion motions with
his head. Sadly, the mare compreheads and flees down the divergent
path to safetly.
The stallion stands his ground. When the three goblin hunters gallop
towards him, he turns and limps into the woods.
32 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Jack lies beside Lili, listening raptly to her poem.
LILI(reciting): Came he at last to where bluebells grow,
He heard them ring, 'tis true to tell.
He lay him down and did not know
The flower's sound was his own death knell.
And while he slept came teh lady fair,
And gathered him up behind her saddle.
Now, all young hunters of bluebells beware
Sweet William rode straight through the
gate of Hell.
Jack is lost in Lili's smile.
JACK: When I get to heaven, I know just
how the angels will sound.
LILI(enjoying it): Do you flatter all the girls
like that, Jack?
JACK(embaressed) It's the truth.
Lili kisses Jack sweetly. He doesn't respond.
LILI(smiling): Are you afraid of my kiss?
JACK: I'm afraid you'll break my heart.
LILI: Then still your heart... You
are dear to me as life itself.
JACK: Only because I amuse you...Like some
trained bear!
LILI: That's not true! I do love
you, Jack. You must believe me!
JACK: And if I so....no good can come
from it. I am only a Green Man, without
land or title...no name or wealth to
bring you.
The Princess her golden ring on and off her finger.
LILI: What does it matter. I don't care
about any of that.
JACK: But it does matter....! If not
now....Someday. What about when the time
comes for you to marry?
LILI: I want to marry you.
JACK: That's impossible!
LILI: Not if it's what you really
want, Jack.
Lili shows Jack her ring.
LILI(cont): Don't you wish this was our
wedding ring?
JACK: What if I say yes...? Will my wish
come true?
LILI: It is my right as a princess to
set a challenge for my suitors.
Lili throws her ring high over their heads. It glitters through the
air, tumbling over and over in the long drop to the pond.
LILI(cont): I will marry whoever finds this
ring.
The ring spalshes into the cnetre of the pond. Jack strips off his
leafy cloak and dives headlong from the cliff.
33 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
Sweat-streaked, the unicorn staggers out of the tree onto a sweeping
green meadow brilliant with pink bloosoms. Froth bubbles on his
nostrils. His wide azure eyes betray his panic.
The goblins ride onto the flower-bright meadow. They jump down from
their mounts in a frenzy.
BLUNDER(excited): We got him now....!
We got him now!
The stallion stumbles forawrd, making a last futile effort to attack
the goblins. Limbs leaden, head hanging, the noble animal settles
against a sapling and slides to the ground.
Thunder RUMBLES overhead. A wild wind whips the pink blossoms into
the air.
34 EXTERIOR UNDERWATER RING POND DAY
The golden ring drifts down, tumbling in a lazy spiral.
Jack's pale form stabs through the crystal water. The distant glint
of the sinking ring lures him on.
The ring settles into the mud at the bottom, concealed by waving
weeds.
Jack searches blindly as clouds of silt billow about him.
35 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
The three goblins advance towards the fallen unicorn through a pink
blizzrd of wind blown blossoms.
35A EXTERIOR SKY DAY
The black clouds boil and CRASH, thunderheads mounting one upon
another in a dark maelstrom.
36 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
The goblins stands around the fallen unicorn. Blunder turns away as
Pox seizes the end of the alicorn, lifting it off the ground. Blix
swings an evil battle-axe high up over his head.
Jagged lightning splits the raging darkness as the black blade
falls.
Blix waves the severed alicorn in triumph.
The whirling pink petals turn instantly into white snowflakes.
37 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Apolcalyptic winds SCREAM through the forest. Lightning FLASHES.
The world is plunged into winter darkness.
Lili clings to a tree trunk.
LILI(in desparation): Jack! Help me!
The Princess can't maintain her grip. The icy blasts knock her to
the ground and she crawls to the cliff edge.
LILI(cont)(screaming): Jack!
The her horror, Lili sees a skin of ice form over the surface of the
pond.
LILI(cont) (sobbing): Oh, dear God.... Jack.....
no....
Fighting the raging winds, Lili stumbles to the pond and pounds on
the ice in frustration. It is no use.
LILI (cont): ....got to get help!
Frantically, Lili runs off into the storm-whipped woods.
38 EXTERIOR UNDERWATER RING POND DAY
Jack turns and looks up at the dark surface. He storkes upwards,
only to bump his head into something solid at the top. The pond is
covered by a sheet of ice!
39 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Jack's contorted face is seen through the ice.
He breaks the frozen surface with his fist and his gasping head
thrusts into the air.
JACK(shouting): Lili....!
His words are lost on the wind.
40 EXTERIOR COTTAGE MEADOW DAY
Winter shrouds the tiny homestead. Immobile goats, chickens and
ducks stand silent as snow statues in the farmyard.
Lili runs from the frozen forest and stumbles up the cottage steps.
41 INTERIOR COTTAGE (FROZEN) DAY
The Princess barges in, wild-eyed and distraught.
Frost rimes the walls and furnishings. Everything glisten like sugar
candy. The Woodcarver and his wife are frozen solid.
LILI: Nell....! Arthur....!
Lili touches the wife's gelid cheek.
LILI: Nell....? Oh, nooooo!
Lili is shocked to discover the wife is frozen.
The Princes throws herself sobbing across the bed.
SOUNDS of SNORTING and SHOUTING come from outside
.
Lili scratches the frost off the window pane in the sleeping alcove.
42 LILI'S POV : THROUGH WINDOW
The noisy goblins ride up on a makeshift sleigh of lashed animal
bones. They stop outside and clamber out. Blix has the alicorn
tucked under his arm.
43 INTERIOR COTTAGE DAY
Terrified, Lili runs wildly across the cottage and clims the ladder
to the loft.
43A INTERIOR COTTAGE LOFT DAY
Barrels and chests are stored here. Cured bacon and hams hang from
the rafters. Lili hides in a corner with several twig brooms and a
butter churn. She wraps herself in an old quilt snatched from an
open trunk.
Snows blows in through a hole in the roof, covering the floor
timbers. Three-inch gaps between the planks permit a view into the
cottage interior.
43B LILI'S POV : BETWEEN PLANKS
The front door slams open and the goblins stumble laughing inside.
BLIX: Mortal world turned to ice,
Here be goblins' paradise!
43C INTERIOR COTTAGE DAY
Blunder sinks his handaxe onto the kitchen table as he saunters past
the frozen tarts.
BLUNDER: Lots to eat!
Pox runs forward to the cradle and seizes the frozen baby, baring
his tusks for the feast.
POX: I s-s-simply adore m-m-milk-fed meat!
BLUNDER: What're you....? Some kinda animal?
Horrified, Lili GASPS (OS) in the loft.
The goblins cock their ears to listen. Pox SNARLS and drops the baby
back in the cradle.
Curious, Blunder starts up the ladder to the loft, but changes his
mind half-way, more interested in what Blix is doing.
BLIX: Why eat cold? It's better hot!
Blix points the alicorn at the frozen stewpot on the hearth. It
begins to steam and bubble, magically boiling without a fire
underneath.
POX: Am-m-mazing! How did you d-d-d-do that, old, ch-ch-chap?
Blix is equally surprised by the alicorn's power. He CACKLES and
aims it at the clock on the mantle.
The clock's hand spin wildly around backwards, the carved figures
darting in and out at fives times their normal speed.
Blix launches on an orgy of destruction, waving the alicorn like a
magic wand. Plates shatter, the cradle rocks. furniture topples,
Toby mugs come WAILING alive, painted wooden toys dance and caper.
The goblins SHRIEK with impish joy.
43D INTERIOR LOFT (FROZEN) DAY
Lili watches the havoc through the gaps in the floor.
Blix points the alicorn straight up. Snow flies wildly around the
crouching Princess.
The broom and the butter churn begin a mad dance across the crowded
loft.
It is all the Princess can do to keep from screaming.
43E INTERIOR COTTAGE (FROZEN) DAY
As a grand finale, Blix points at Nell's frozen figure, blowing her
skirts above her waist.
POX(languidly): M-m-most amusing Blix....most
terribly amusing.
BLUNDER: This is sure our lucky day.
Killed that ugly one-horn dead as a cowplop
on a birthday cake!
BLIX: Prattle, prattle like a priest!
(pointing to himself)
It was me who shoot the beast!
POX: Without the p-p-princess for bait,
you'd never gotten close....
B-b-beauty brought the b-b-beast
to bay.
BLUNDER: She's so sweet....I could
eat her brains like jam!
43F INTERIOR LOFT (FROZEN) DAY
Lili slumps against the wall, aghast at what she's just overheard.
43G INTERIOR COTTAGE DAY
Blunder and Pox fill a sack with frozen tarts.
POX: I'd like such her b-b-bones!
Blix points the alicorn at the cottage door. It flies open with a
CRASH.
BLIX: Better hurry! Can't be late!
Blix marches out of the door. The other two goblins follow, darrging
their sacks of tarts.
BLUNDER: When we deliver that horn,
Pox ol' buddy, Darkness gonna give us a humongous big
reward.
Blunder and Pox leave, slamming the door behind them.
After a long pause, Lili creeps sobbing down the ladder from the
loft.
LILI: Oh, God.... God....
The Princess stumbles across the cottage towards Nell.
LILI(cont) What have I done...? I didn't
want the unicorn to die.... All I did
was touch it....
Lili pleads with the frozen Wife, as if begging for her forgiveness.
She is interrupted by the gruff voice of a House BROWNIE.
BROWNIE(OS): You're a wicked, wicked girl!
Lili looks up and sees a long-bearded Brownie standing next to the
clock on the mantle.
43H LILI'S POV : BROWNIE
BROWNIE: The world is in a fine mess
because of you.
43I BROWNIE'S POV : LILIbr
LILI(desperately) : I'll make it somehow....
I swear it...! I don't care what happens to
me.
43J LILI'S POV : BROWNIE
BROWNIE: Words...mere words.... Bolds
deeds be needed now! Look at you!
Pampered and soft! Never done a day's
work in your life....
LILI(OS): Who are you?
BROWNIE: Me...? I'm the house brownie...
I keep dust devils under the bed and all
the china cracked.... You know how a watched pot
never boils? I do that...and I'm
a wizard at turning sweet milk sour....
The front door CRASHES loudly open.
43K INTERIOR COTTAGE (FROZEN) DAY
Little Blunder swaggers into the cottage.
Lili covers her face with the quilt and holds herself rigid as if
frozen. The Brownie ducks out of sight.
Blunder stalks to the kitchen table and pulls his axefree. He does a
double-take on spotting the Princess. The tiny goblin can't remember
can't remember if he saw her earlier or not.
He pokes her and lifts her skirt to peek at her legs. He is stopped
short by Blix's angry CRY outside:
BLIX(OS): Blunder! Move your butt! On the double!
Blunder hurries to the door.
Lili relaxes when she hears it SLAM.
LILI: Thank God....
Lili looks up at the mantle.
LILI(cont) (sobbing): Can you....help me?
437 LILI'S POV : BROWNIE
BROWNIE: Can I what?
LILI(OS): Help me....
BROWNIE(sadly): I'd like to....but I'm
a domestic sort of chap....no good at all
where demons are concerned....
43M BROWNIE'S POV : LILI
LILI: Then I'll do it myself! I'll follow those
goblins....somehow.....
even if it costs my life!
43N LILI'S POV : BROWNIE
BROWNIE: I like your spirit! There's always
hope when a brave heart back a noble cause....
but what chance have you? They have the alicorn!
The power is theirs!
43O BROWNIE'S POV : LILI
The Princess resolutely hurries about the cottage, gathering things
to eat and other useful items.
LILI: I will do it! You'll see....I
fooled them now, didn't I.... Well,
I'll do it again easy as pie....
Lili starts for the door.
BROWNIE(OS): Wait....! Take this....!
Lili turns back.
43P LILI'S POV : BROWNIE
The Brownie pulls a golden feather from his cap and tosses it down
to Lili.
BROWNIE: 'Tis from the tail of the cockatrice....
Make you as fleet as a running deer. And better, when
things seem at their darkest, 'twill remind
you always that hope is alive....
43Q BROWNIE'S POV : LILI
The Princess tucks the feather into her bodice.
LILI: Thank you....Hope is just what
I need.
Lili rushes from the cottage back into the snow.
44 EXTERIOR FOREST (SNOW TRAVELER) DAY
A full-scale blizzard drives down through the naked tree limbs. Jack
slogs forward, near frozen.
JACK(calling): Lili....! Lili....!
Jack sees a tiny bird, frozen solid on a branch. He takes it
tenderly down, trying to warm it with his breath.
JACK(cont): What's happened....
Standing rigid all around him are numbers of frozen animals.
He can do nothing for the bird and trudges on into the storm.
JACK(cont)(calling): Lili....!
Up ahead, the figure of a man is barely discernible.
Jack runs to the man, thinking himself saved..
Jack discovers the man is frozen, like the bird. His initial shock
gives way to releif. The man is his salvation after all.
Quickly, he unties the stranger's travel bags and cloak.
JACK(cont): God rest your soul.... I know you
won't mind if I borrow your things.
Jack wraps himself in the claok and finds a tinder box in the travel
bag.
He scrapes together a pile of twigs, striking sparks with the flint
and steel to start them smouldering.
45 DELETED : TRANSPOSED TO 46D
46 EXTERIOR FAERIE CIRCLE NIGHT
A campfire blazes. Jack sleeps beside a tiny fire, shivering under
his new cloak.
A tiny glowing LIGHT streaks out of the woods. It circles around
Jack. The LIGHT touches the fire and it BLAZES up like a bonfire,
waking Jack.
JACK: What....?
46A JACK'S POV : LIGHT
Jack stares at the radiant buble hanging above him. He sees a tiny
woman-child with delicate dragonfly wings trapped inside. This is
LUNA.
JACK (cont)(OS): Who're you?
46B EXTERIOR FAERIE CIRCLE NIGHT
Luna ZOOMS off into the treetops.
Jack grabs a flaming brand and jumps to his feet.
JACK (cont): Who's there....?
Watching him through the drifting smoke in GUMP, an elf no more than
the waist high. Slightly built, he is near-naked in spite of the
cold. His face is that of a child, yet his eyes shine with a wisdom
centuries old.
GUMP(smiling mysteriously): Here you be a forest
child and not know the Gump....
JACK: Gump, is it?
GUMP: Aye, Jack.... Honeythorn Gump at
your service.....
The air is filled with frenzied CLICKS and SNAPS: stones tapping,
stick's rubbing, logs being thumped, etc.
Numbers of green-glowing eyes stare at Jack out of the shadows.
JACK (frightened): How d'you know my name?
GUMP: How does a migrating swallow know
the way south in winter....? Or a
spawning salmon find the tiny freshet of
his birth from the black cold depths of the
mysterious sea....? I know everything, Jack!
JACK: Everything....? Why has this
happened? Why is it winter now?
GUMP: I'd be a powerful wizard indeed could I answer....
(shrewdly): Suppose you tell me , Jack.
Jack in uncomfortable.
JACK: Me? How can I do that?
GUMP: You know these woods as well as
any elf.... Did you not see
something odd today? Any strange spirits?
Did nothing untoward happen?
JACK: No....well.... I took Lili to see
the unicorns.....
GUMP (furious): You did what?
Numbers of elves and faeries appear out of the dark woods. They come
in all sizes, from sprites no larger than squirrels to plump hobmen
as big as small children.
BROWN TOM is a plump, tipsy leprechaun, draped with pots and pans
like a tinker; SCREWBALL, a tiny pixie wearing an ill-fitting cap
and garments tassle with flowers.
FAERIES (whispering in chorus): What....?
Codfish and cockles....! Never....! Pewterpots and....
pumpkins....! Poo-poo pudding....! Doo-doo
dumplings....! Shit-willy whatnot....!
GUMP: Silence!
The whipering stops. All eyes are on Jack. He writhes with guilt
under thier scrunity.
JACK(deepling ashamed): Oh God,
she touched him....
A GROAN rises from the crowd of faeries. They are outraged. Gump is
the maddest of all. His face darkens. His eyes glow. He trembles
with banshee fury.
GUMP: Touched it! A mortal laid hands
on a unicorn?
BROWN TOM: Bad....terrible bad!
JACK: We meant no wrong.
GUMP (screaming): What was it you did
mean, Jack!
JACK: Nothing....
GUMP (cold and hard): Nothing, he calls it!
JACK: I wanted to share something special
with her.
GUMP: Well.... I have something now to share with you....a lively
reel to warm your bones!
Gump magically pulls a violen out of thin air.
JACK: I'm in no mood for dancing.
GUMP(screaming with wrath): Squawk! Squawk!
No more talk.... Do you think you can
upset the order of the
universe and not pay the price?
Brown Tom produces ancient bag pipes, Screwball a tambourine. The
other wee folk tune up an incredible variety of oddly-shaped
instryemnts : seashell trumpets, acorn cellos, gossets, serpentines,
blossom-bell horns, bone flutes, all manner of drums and rattles.
A wild and haunting overture begins. The rhythm is complusive.
Jack cannot control his body. His feet move against his will.
JACK(frantic): No! I want no part of
your nonsense.
Gump leers demonically.
GUMP: Time to dance, Jack!
Playing his fiddle, Gump is possessed, demonic.
Screwball beats on a log with a pair of shin bones. The faerie
orchestra breaks into an other-world melody. Jack leaps and jumps
like a zombie.
JACK: No...! Please....!
BROWN TOM(chanting): Round and round and round and round,
Before you're lost, you must be found
.
The tempo increases. The musicians leap and cavort.
Jack twists and capers, dancing against his will.
SCREWBALL(chanting): In and out and up and down,
Behind each smile there lurks a frown.
Gump leaps wildly, fiddling like a demon. Jack is a prisoner of the
frenzied music.
BROWN TOM(chanting): Spin and spin and spin and spin, To learn to
lose you first must win.
Gumps hops into the fire, dancing and playing as sparks leap about
him. The music grows wilder. Jack will never survive.
SCREWBALL(chanting): Twist and reel and toe and heel,
The end to pain is to learn to feel!
Jack's face is a mask of agony. With supreme effort, he hurls
himself onto the ground, his body jerking spasmodically to the
music.
JACK(screaming):Enough!
The faerie orchestra falters, their tempo broken.
GUMP(angry): Is the music not to your liking?
JACK(gasping): I....won't....go....on...Take
my life, if you must.... What I did
is unforgiveable....
(boldly) But, I did it for love! And I'd do
it again! I love Lili with all my heart and
would sooner die than break a
promise!
Gump stares at Jack. A tender expression softens his flinty eyes.
GUMP: Hmmmm..... Love, you say....? Love is
another story....
JACK: I meant no disrespect....
GUMP: Answer me this riddle and
all is forgiven.
JACK: And if I cannot?
GUMP: Why, Jack....then 'tis your
death song I'll be playing.
JACK: Ask away, and pray God my answer
pleases you.
GUMP: What is a bell that does not ring,
Yet, its knell makes the angels sing?
Gump laughs, knowing Jack can't solve his riddle. Jack frowns in
concentration, then grins, as the memory of Lili's song rushes back.
JACK: Bluebells!
GUMP: What?
JACK: The flower. Bluebells. To hear
then ringing means your life is
at an end.
Gump hurls his violin to the ground and stomps on it.
GUMP: Damnation! Codfish and cockles!
Gammon and trotters!
Screwball and Brown Tom run for cover as Gump explodes in an insane
fury. He throws himself to the ground, kicking and SCREAMING.
GUMP(cont): Rabbot noodles....! Schweinhundt
saukraut mit schlagober....!
Piddle-puddles und ka-ka crumpets....!
Piss pots and thunder mugs!
Demkopf doo-doo brains riddle-widdler!
Abruptly, Gump stands and dusts himself off as if nothing had
happened. He smiles at Jack and holds out his tiny hand.
GUMP(cont): You bested me, Jack....
Bested me.... bested me...
JACK(modestly): A riddle with an answer
is like an empty cup when you're
thirsty for wine.
GUMP: Well spoke! And if it's wine you
want, it's wine we shall have.
Gump claps his hands and four tiny glasses magically APPEAR,
floating in the air before them.
Another clap and Brown Tom's hat POPS off his head, revealing a wine
bottle balanced underneath.
GUMP(cont): A small measure of entertainment
at best.
Gumps snaps his fingers and the wine bottle floats off Brown Tom's
head, pausing to in mid-air to fill each bobbing glass.
GUMP(cont): Elderberry wine....no finer drink
under heaven.
Each one takes a glass. Gump raises his in a toast.
GUMP(cont): Here's to Jack....riddle-solver....
dancing fool, and faerie friend.
They all clink glasses. Jack regards his with suspicion.
JACK: I'm honoured, Gump....But no more tricks!
GUMP(to the others): Here be precious summertime frozen
into a winter memory and the blamed
fool won't drink faerie wine for fear of
enchantment.
They all drink, Jack with some relunctance. The faeries enjoy the
wine. Jack gags, as if he's swallowed fire.
JACK(coughing): Pranks....! Is that all you're good
for....! I've lost Lili....! Gump!
Help me! Use your magic to find her....
set the world right.
GUMP: Changing this frozen hell is beyond
my modest powers.
JACK: Is there nothing you can do?
GUMP: If you want more tricks, I'm your
man.... but, for big questions, you must
go elsewhere.
JACK: But don't you care what's happened?
GUMP: Course we care.... What good's the
world locked in a season of death?
No folks to scare on a summer's
night....
BROWN TOM: No babies to tickle....
SCREWBALL: No lovers to tease....
GUMP: No more spells to cast....Does that
sound like an enjoyable prospect?
JACK: We must find the answer!
GUMP: That we must. But first, we better
see that no harm's come to the
unicorns.
SCREWBALL: I sadly fear the worst....
Gumps claps his hands and everyone is magically holding
luminous flower lanterns.
46C EXTERIOR DEEP FOREST NIGHT
Seen from a distance, the lantern-lit faerie procession glows like
foxfire between the massive trees.
46D EXTERIOR SNOW (LILI TRACKS GOBLINS) NIGHT
Princess Lili tuns swiftly between the frozen trees, following the
tracks of the goblins. The quilt is torn, her hair dishevelled. She
pauses at the top of a small, steep hill.
The tracks of the goblins' sleigh pass below.
Lili jumps from the hilltop, leaving the quilt floating behind like
a discarded skin. It is an incrediable leap.
She lands with the sureness of a wild woodland creature and runs
off, hair streaming behind, following the trail of the sled.
47 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA NIGHT
The faerie procession moves out of the woods onto the frozen meadow.
FAERIES(singing together): What can you do when there's Nothing to
be done?
Sing a little song
And have fun, fun, fun....
The silhouette of the unicorn is glimpsed in the glow of the faerie
lanterns.
Led by Jack, the faeries run towards the recumbent stallion.
Wisp stoops and picks up an arrow dropped by the goblins.
GUMP: This is goblins' work....
Powerful demons are agaisnt us!
Jack kneels sadly beside the ice-glazed unicorn.
The SOUND of CRASHING HOOFBEATS alerts the faeries as the mare
unicorn thunders out of the trees.
BROWN TOM: Take cover, laddies!
The faeries dive for protection. Only Jack stands his ground.
The mare charges straight at Jack. He is knocked to his knees as she
gallops past.
The unicorn wheels about. Jack scrambles to his feet.
She charges again, skidding to a stop on the frozen grass. Her
alicorn is aimed straight at Jack's throat.
GUMP: Run, Jack!
JACK: The fault was mine. I owe her
my life.
GUMP: Nobly spoken, lad, and nobility
is her gift in return.
The mare makes a soft NOISE deep in her throat. It is a cross
between whale song and the cooing of doves.
Jack responds in kind, imitating the sound exactly.
SCREWBALL: What's he saying? What's
it mean?
BROWN TOM (shrugging): Search me.... I speak
some rabbit, but not a word of unicorn.
The unicorn continues, a SOUND as close to music as anything in
nature. Jck listens intently and answers her.
GUMP: Come on Jack, don't keep us in
the dark.
JACK: The dark is where we'll stay....
We're cursed. All warmth and light
was lost when the stallion died.
BROWN TOM: Is there naught we can do?
JACK: We must get the alicorn back.
Only then will the world return to normal.
GUMP: And how do faeries fight a demon?
JACK: She says we're to find a champion....
a mortal, bold of heart and pure in
spirit.
SCREWBALL: Look....! Look....!
Screwball points to the mare's hoofprints in the snow. Tiny wild
flowers spring to life within each indentation.
JACK: That is the warmth of her soul.
Not even death's icy hand can stop
it!
SCREWBALL: Little good her soul'll do us now.
BROWN TOM: Screwball's right. Where we gonna
find a champion when every mortal can swing a
sword is froze stiff as an icicle?
GUMP: Don't give up so quick, lads.
(feeling Jack's arm)
You sure you're mortal?
JACK(indignant): Course I am!
BROWN TOM(dubious): What sort of mortal
speaks unicorn?
SCREWBALL: Why aren't you frozen then?
JACK: I don't know.... I was underwater....
and when I came up for air, everything
was covered with ice.
GUMP: You'll do.... We best get you
some weapons.
JACK(puzzled): Weapons....? What are they?
BROWN TOM (dubious): He's no champion,
Gump.
GUMP: We'll have to make him one....
or kill him trying....!
Follow me!
Gump leads Jack and the others into the woods. The unicorn follows.
FAERIES(singing together): What can you do when there's
nothing to be done?
Sing a little song
And have fun, fun, fun....
48 EXTERIOR GREAT TREE NIGHT
Lili creeps around the base of the tree, making no sound. She moves
with the grace of an animal and hides behind a gnarled root where
she can watch the goblins.
Blix holds court, surrounded by a lantern's glow. Pox sits on a bit
of crumbling masonary. Blunder watches Blix gesture with the
alicorn.
BLIX: Look at us! Waiting around like
lackies....and for what? We're the
ones with the power!
BLUNDER: You shouldn't talk like, Blix.
We gets in plenty big trouble!
BLIX: I'm not afraid! Not even Darkness lasts
forever!
Blix aims the alicorn at Blunder, causing a burst of fire to erupt
beneath the tiny, helmeted goblin.
Blunder YELPS and runs off, clutching his flaming backside.
Blix roars with laughte. Power has gone completely to his head.
BLIX (cont): Watch out, Pox!
Blix points the alicorn at Pox. Fire explodes beneath the pig-faced
goblin. He leaps SCREAMING into the air.
Blix points the alicorn at the fire he started and it grows larger.
BLIX (cont): Higher.... higher....
Burning fire!
Making music
Like the choir!
Blunder and Pox watch Blix make the fire fountain into the air.
The heavens blaze. Lili is dazzled.
Something very strange is happening within the swirling column of
flame. Gradually, a demonic face emerges,
Outlined in the fire we see the leering face of Darkness!
Pox and Blunder applaud Blix's rebellion.
POX/BLUNDER (chanting): Higher.... higher..
Burning fire!
Making music
Like a choir!
The three unsuspecting goblins looks up and see the demonic Lord of
Darkness flaming above them.
Blix tosses the alicorn into the air. Blunder unwittingly catches
it.
BLIX: Greetings, Worship....
POX: W-w-welcome, Great Lord....
D-d-darkest of the ....
DARKNESS: Your devotion disgusts me? You
insignificant strands of toad slobber!
Blix and Pox drop grovelling to their knees, covering their heads
with leaves and dirt.
Blunder can't control himself. He rushes forward and points the
alicorn up at Darkness.
BLUNDER: Hear me, you angels of light!
Your reign is over! A new order
begins! All the imps of Hell will
dance freely over this dark land....
I hold the power....
DARKNESS: Enough!
Darkness points a burning finger at Blunder. The alicorn is rippef
from the goblin's graps and flies up to Darkness. Blunder YELPS in
terror.
Something terrible happens: the ground around Blunder begins to
soften. To his horror, the little goblin sinks under as if into
quicksand.
BLUNDER: Please.... It was only a joke...
I didn't mean it.... Honest....!
Blunder is in up to his neck.
BLUDNER (cont): Whatsamatter? Have you no sense of
humour? I hope you choke of faerie
breath and flower petals!
Blunder's hand points up from the earth. Darkness ZAPS it, turning
it to another chicken-claw!
Blunder is gone without a trace; sucked under with a disgusting
SLURP.
Darknesss HOWLS his triumph to the heavens.
From her place of concealment, Lili overhears every word.
DARKNESS: Did you think this alicorn a mere
plaything....? With it my empire
is eternal! Before I ruled only
the night. Now, my minions will
frolic in darkness until the end
of time.
Darkness aims the alicorn at the column of fire started by Blix,
tracing an arc of flames through the night.
Like a mad orchestra conductot with a magic baton, Darkness controls
the fire's movements. The blaze twists and swirls across the black
night, blazing meteor trails, bright as the aeora.
BLIX (fawning): Forgive this intrusion.... My
goblins are a free-spirited lot.
I like to encourage their....
initiative. What do you think of
this policy, Master?
Columns of flame shower around the Dark Lord and from within thier
incendiary interiors, evil wraith-like spirits emerge, swirling like
ghosts.
Bright as comets, numbers of etheral flaming spirits orbit their
fiery master. Darkness stands in total control within their mighty
conflagration, the alicorn his sceptre.
Suddenly, with the pure clarity of a BELL CHIME, the presence of
DAYLIGHT is detected.
The reflected glow of the coming dawn tinges the ground and casts it
luminence over Darkness and the goblins.
DARKNESS (cont) (writhing): What is this light...?
Beams of rising sunlight advance down the tree trunks.
Darkness recoils, wrapping his flaming cloak about him.
DARKNESS (cont): You killed the final unicorn....
Is this not true?
Blix and Pox exchange guilty looks.
BLIX: This is true....
POX: Undeniably t-t-true, Lord.
Darkness is on to them. He points with the alicorn.
DARKNESS: You lie! Here is dawn!
POX: Well.... almost t-t-true....
ess-s-sentially true....
BLIX: That stallion is dead, dead as dreams,
dead as legend....
DARKNESS: OUT WITH IT!
Sunlight is half-way to the ground. Darkness shrinks, shrivelling
like a dying ember.
POX: But.... but.... the m-m-mare still
lives...
DARKNESS: If even one unicorn walks the
earth, my power is not complete....
BLIX: Just a female.... She has no
power...
.
The ground grows very light. Darkness melts into the campfire.
DARKNESS: Only the power of creation....?
Get that female....! I command
you.... In the name of Darkness....
Sunlight strikes the ground. Darkness is gone! His arm holding the
alicorn aloft the fire is the last to disappear.
Lili backs silently into the shadows surrrounding the Great Tree.
49 EXTERIOR FOREST PATH DAY
Lili runs straight into a driving blizzard. A distant SOUND alerts
her and she pauses to listen.
It is Jack and the faeries, SINGING. Jack's voice carries above the
others.
JACK & THE FAERIES (os): When times are hard and things look bad,
Don't feel blue and don't feel sad....
A look of astonished joy comes over Lili's face. As the SOUND of
singing FADES, she runs towards it, calling eagerly.
LILI: Jack....! Ja-aack!
50 EXTERIOR PATH TO GUMP'S CAVE DAY
Jack and the faeries troop march through the blizzard, all SINGING
merrily.
JACK & THE FAERIES (singing): If your down, wearin' a frown,
That's the time to dance like a clown!
Jack hears something in the distance and stops to listen.
LILI (very faint) (os): Ja-aack.... Ja-aack....
JACK (bewildered): Lili....?
The SOUND of her distant call is erased by the howling storm. Jack
sadly decides it was a trick of the wind and hurries to catch up
with the others.
51 EXTERIOR FOREST PATH DAY
Lili stops running. There is nothing but the wailing wind.
LILI (softly): Jack....? Oh, Jack....
A solitary tear starts from her eyes, only to freeze on her cheek
like a diamond beauty spot.
LILI (cont): Please God.... help me!
Lili drops sobbing to her knees. Through her grief, she sees the
unicorn's track in the snow, each hoofprint gay with tiny blooming
flowers.
Her courage restored, Lili follows this meandering trail of
burgeoning life through the forest.
52 EXTERIOR ENTRANCE TO GUMP'S CAVE DAY
Gumps leads the way a huge BOULDER lodged uner the roots of a giant
tree.
GUMP (proudly): Here's my home, Jack.... What
d'you think of that for a front
door?
Jack thinks Gump is pulling his leg.
JACK (in jest): Be some job in getting it open.
GUMP: Think you so?
Gump WHISTLES. Immediately, two eyes blink open on the front of the
boulder, and he is seen to have facial features.
BOULDER: Morning', Gump....
The Boulder stands on a pair of tiny legs and waddles forth from
under the tree roots, REVEALING the entrance to a cavern.
He promptly trips and rolls over and over in the snows, his tiny
stone feet kicking wildly in the air.
GUMP (bowing): After you, Jack....
Jack enters apprehensively udner the twisting roots.
JACK: Thank you....
The other faeries follow, leading the unicorn.
53 INTERIOR MOUTH TO CAVE DAY
An earthern antechamber under the tree, high enough for Jack and the
unicorn. There is a small wooden door at the far end, sealed with a
bright brass padlock.
GUMP: Brown Tom. Stay here with the
unicorn and guard her well.
BROWN TOM: Like me own life!
GUMP: Better than that! She's the last
of her kind.
Gump marches to the little wooden door. He inserts a finger into the
padlock, twisting it like a key. Instantly, the pops apart. Gump
opens the door and enters a low tunnel beyond.
54 INTERIOR TUNNEL DAY
Tree roots twist down like dead men's fingers and clutch the ancient
rune stones lodged in the earthen walls.
Gump and Screwball walk upright in the damp tunnel, but Jack is
forced to crawl on his hands and knees. Luna flies above thier heads
like a tiny neon insect.
GUMP: Right this way....
Gump pauses by another wooden door, sealed with a brass lock. He
opens it instantly with his magic touch.
SCREWBALL: Home, sweet home!
55 INTERIOR GUMP'S CAVE DAY
Jack and the faeries enter a cost burrw furnished with carved wooden
chairs and tables, a porcelain stove and bundles of herbs hanging
from the ceiling. The simple furniture is overwhlemed by vat piles
of treasure: gemstones, pearls, chests heaped with gold coins.
GUMP: Fit for a king's ramsom!
Jack in awe as he wades through the ankle-high loot.
JACK: Such riches.... I feel I must be
dreaming....
GUMP: If life is a dream, better you dread
the waking!
Screwball fills a golden helm with rubies and pours them out over
his head. He laughs like a child in a sandpit.
JACK: ....beautiful....
GUMP: Mere trinkets.... Let's find you
something useful.
Luna's golden LIGHT streaks down and whirls around Jack's head. He
swats futilely at her.
JACK: Stop it....! Go away....!
GUMP: Easy.... Luna only seeks a little
affection.
Luna hovers beside Jack's cheek.
JACK: I meant no disrespect, but....
ouch! Make her stop, will you,
Gump!
GUMP: Does your blood run so cold? You'll
be a corpse before your time.
Gump unstoppers a silver wine decanter and pours three goblets full.
JACK: What does she want from me?
GUMP: Foolish question....
(handing Jack a goblet)
Drink, and wamr your heart.
The answer's at the bottom of
your cup.
Jack sniffs his goblet suspiciously. This time, he is careful not to
drink when the faeries do.
GUMP (cont): Now then.... down to business.
Gump pulls a bejewlled broadsword free from its scabbard. It is a
remarkably beautiful weapon.
JACK: What's this....? Something to cook
with?
Gump and Screwball exchange a hopeless look.
GUMP(patiently): This is a weapon, Jack.... As fine
a weapon as you'll ever see.
JACK(curious: So, that's a weapon.... What's it
do?
SCREWBALL: World is doomed, if you ask me.
Screwball goes back to playing with the jewels.
Gump pulls a silk handkerchief from his belt.
GUMP: A little demonstration.
Gump tosses the kerchief high in the air and it wafts slowly down.
The little elf is an expert swordsman. He whirls the weapon in a
gleaming blur, slicing the drifting handkerchief neatly in half.
GUMP(cont): With such a blade you could behead
an ogre as easily as uncapping a
soft-boiled egg.
JACK: That's really something.... Can I
try?
Gump hands the sword to Jack.
GUMP: You're the champion, aren't you?
Jack picks up half the kerchief off the jewel-littered floor and
tosses it into the air. As it flutters down, he swings wildly with
the broadsword. Gump has to duck to avoid having his own head
chopped off.
GUMP(cont): Watch out....! You'll get the hang of
it in time.... Now, we best see
about some armour..... Screwball!
SCREWBALL: Coming right up!
Screwball flips open the lid of a chest. Folded inside is a golden
chain-mail coat of exquisite workmanship.
GUMP: Go on.... see if it fits.
Jack slips the coat over his head. It fits perfectly.
GUMP (nodding approval): It will turn a broadhead arrow
ar fifty yards.
SCREWBALL: He might pass for a champion in
that.
GUMP: Have a look at yourself, Jack.
(pointing: Use yonder shield for a mirror.
JACK(confused): ....Shield?
GUMP(exasperated): The round shiny thing over there.
SCREWBALL: Clothes never made the man....
Gump silences Screwball with a stern look and and stalks over to a
small carved desk.
There is a loud, MUSICAL CHIME. Gump pulls a remarkable instrument
from a pouch on his belt: a wonderous crystal globe filled with
whirling miniature worlds.
GUMP(studying globe): Hmmm... getting late. Almost half-
way past the morning mayfly hatch...
.
SCREWBALL(sullen): Too cold for mayflies now....
'Sides, I ain't got no timepeice.
GUMP: You first must know how
to tell the time.
SCREWBALL: I ain't got nothing....
GUMP: No more chatter....! I've got work
to do.
Gump sits at the desk setting his timepeice beside him and rummaging
among his papers.
Jack kneels before a brightly polished shield and studies his
reflection.
Luna round and round his head.
SCREWBALL: Think I'll brew some tea.
Screwball snatches variosu herbs off the ceiling.
SCREWBALL(cont): Colt's foot and sassafrass...
Maybe a spot of spearmint....
St John's Wort not bad.... and
a little foxglove.
Screwball feverishly stuffs a silver teapot full of dried herbs.
56 DELETED
57 EXTERIOR PATH TO GUMP'S CAVE DAY
The unicorn's flowering footprints lead Lili to Gump's cave.
She pauses to consider the situation. Snowflakes glisten in her
tangled hair. She is fiercly beautiful.
Deciding nothing is amiss, Lili stalks silently inside.
58 INTERIOR MOUTH OF CAVE DAY
A small cooking fire flickers under blackened pots and an iron
skillet. The mare unicorn is bedded down on a blanket of straw.
Brown Tom lies fast asleep against her flank.
The unicorn lifts her head when Lili tiptoes in.
Brown Tom is jerked awake as the mare climbs to her feet, snorting
with rage.
BROWN TOM: What....? What....?
Who's there?
LILI: I'm Princess Lili.... I.....
BROWN TOM: You! You're the cause of
all our sorrow!
The Princess drops to her knees.
LILI: I know it was wrong.... Everything
is my fault.
(weeping)
Please.... please forgive me.
BROWN TOM: I ain't the one ye should be asking.
LILI: I want to make it up to her....
I followed the goblins! They gave the alicorn
to the Lord of Darkness!
BROWN TOM: Good lass! You're a plucky
little partridge at that.
LILI: We can't stay here! It's not safe!
Darkness sent the goblins to hunt
the mare... If I found her, so will
they....We msut go!
59 DELETED
60 INTERIOR MOUTH OF CAVE DAY
Brown Tom looks past Lili to the mouth of the cave.
BROWN TOM: Too late!
Pox and Blix stand in the entrance, aiming their wicked, barbed
arrows straight at the hearts of Lili and Brown Tom.
Brown Tom swings an iron skillet back over his head in a warrior's
stance.
BROWN TOM: If you imps're looking for a
fight, ye've come to the chap
who'll oblige ye.
BLIX/POX: Kill....! K-k-kill...!
Kill...!
Blix and Pox loose their arrows, renocking the bows with incredible
speed.
Brown Tom moves like lightning, using the skillet as a shirld to
deflect the arrows raining about him.
Lili stands in front of the mare, striving to protect the unicorn's
body with her own.
Brown Tom lepas acrobatically about with the skillet. A fusillade of
arrows CLANGS OFF its iron surface.
A lucky shot peirces Brown Tom's hat. Dark red liquid streams down
his face. His eyes roll up in mortal terror.
BROWN TOM: Dick-o-Tuesday's duck! They've done
for me!
Brown Tom staggers in a dramatic half-circle, toppling straight over
backwards, stiff as a board.
The mare unicorn rears WHINNYING on her hind-quarters.
The goblin hunters advance. Blix spreads a heavy net wide.
The black shadow on the net falls across Lili and the unicorn like
an evil spider web.
61 INTERIOR GUMP'S CAVE DAY
Screwball's teapot steams merrily. He sits stop a jewel cask
enjoying a cup. A horned Viking helmet several sizes too large
covers his head down to the bridge of his nose.
Gump works at his desk, marking out distances on an ancient chart
with a pair of golden dividers. Dozens of parchment mps are spread
in front of him.
GUMP(muttering): Forty leagues from the Dragon's
Track.... another half-span past
the basilisk den.
Gump lifts his elbow and the curled parchment rolls together.
GUMP (cont)(annoyed): Wirrikows and dopplegangers!
SCREWBALL: Spot of tea, Gump....?
Help calm your nerves...
GUMP: Not now! I'm busy with navigation.
On the other side of the cave, Jack practices a variety of thrusts
and passes with his sword in front of the polished shield.
Luna buzzes around him like a miniature meteorite.
JACK: That's not so bad.... What do you
think, Luna?
Jack studies his reflection in the shield.
There is a BURST OF LIGHT behind him. Luna materialises as a child-
sized woman with gossamer wings. She wraps her slender arms around
his neck.
LUNA: I think you look like a hero.
JACK: What! H'd you do that?
Jack spins around, but Luna is gone. Only the tiny dot of LIGHT
hovers in the air.
JACK(cont) (puzzled): Magic....
Jack looks back at the shield and there is a full-sized Luna hugging
his reflection.
LUNA: Nobody knows nut you. it's our
secret....
(kissing his cheek)
Promise?
JACK (squirming): Don't do that.
LUNA(another kiss): Better promise....
JACK: All right, all right....
I promise.
A loud, MUSICAL CHIEME interrupts Gump's work. he looks around for
his timepiece but it is nowhere in sight.
GUMP: Hmmmm...? Screwball!
SCREWBALL (all innocence): Something I can
do for you, Gump?
GUMP: Hand it over....!
Sheepishly, Screwball pulls Gump's timepeice from inside his tunic
and gives it back.
SCREWBALL: Well, well, well....
how'd that get in there? Must be
some kinda magic...
GUMP: Sneak thief's magic!
(studies timepiece)
Jack! it's time we were on
our way!
At the SOUND of Gump's voice, Luna TRANSFORMS instantly back to a
dot of light.
JACK: I'm ready as I'll ever be....
Jack picks up the shield and starts after Gump and Screwball. Luna
flies overhead.
62 INTERIOR MOUTH OF CAVE DAY
Brown Tom lies flat on his back as Jack and the faeries emerge from
the tunnel.
Gump rushes to his fallen friend, lifting him in his arms.
GUMP: Brown Tom....? You can't be dead....!
Oh, this is is terrible.... terrible!
Brown Tom opens his eyes and looks feebly about.
BROWN TOM (in a daze): Why, Wisp....
they kill you, too?
GUMP: Course they didn't! What in blazes
are you talking about?
Brown Tom rolls his eyes up at the arrow piercing his hat.
BROWN TOM: Goblins shot me through
the brain pan.
Gump yanks off Brown Tom's hat. Bits of broken wine bottle tumble
out. Gump reagrds his friend with scorn.
GUMP: Your brains are one spot an
arrow'd do no harm!
JACK: Where's the unicorn?
Sheepishly, Brown Tom pulls the arrow from his hat.
BROWN TOM: I'm afeered the goblins took her.
Did me best to fight them off, but
they swarmed up by the hundreds.... Horrid
creatures they were. The Princess warned
me, but....
JACK: Princess Lili?
BROWN TOM: Aye.
JACK(overjoyed): She's alive!
BROWN TOM: She was living still
when they killed me.
GUMP: You'll earn your champion's spurs
this day, Jack.... We'll follow their
tracks in the snow. Foul weather's on our
side for a change.
62A EXTERIOR FOREST DAY
Jack and the faeries march through the woods holding lanterns, into
the teeth of a driving blizzard.
63 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Blix and Pox kneel nervously before the Throne of Darkness. A huge
fire blazes in the hearth.
POX: Hail m-most great, and d-d-darkest
of the dark!
BLIX: Though we be nothing in your sight,
We bow before your strength and might!
We hear Darkness speak, but see only his bat-winged shadow spread
like an inky cloak across the two kneeling goblins.
DARKNESS (os): Can you fawning sycophants
do more than grovel? What of the task I set you?
POX: D-d-done, Lord. We have the
m-m-m-m-m-m.... the unicorn.
DARKNESS(os): Where is she?
BLIX: In the dungeon like a treasure,
Awaiting your darkest pleasure.
DARKNESS (os): Very good.... You two are not
entirely devoid of talent.
POX: There's m-m-more, Sire....
BLIX: Though unworthy of your magnificence,
Trifles without consequence,
We present with all due deference....
A gift.
DARKNESS (os): Gift....? What sort of gift?
BLIX: This thing you once called innocence.
DARKNESS (os): Innocence...? I must behold this
wonder....
Darkness stares into the fire.
As Darkness grimps the arm of his throne, his fingers start to melt,
dripping to the dank stone floor.
64 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
Darkness bleeds through the groin vault ceiling, speading like a
stain across the curving stones.
Below, the unicorn is locked in a steel halter, a woven steel cable
binding her to an iron windlass.
The Princess paces the dark and dripping cell. Her dress is in
tatters, her hair tangled. There is something wild and free about
her now, and yet she has never appeared more alluring.
The melting shadow of Darkness drips from the ceiling, forming a
small demonic shape as it falls.
We hear the BEATING of Darkness' heart in time with each evil drip.
The sound grows LOUDER and LOUDER until the echo reverberates within
the vaulted chamber.
Lili is terrified. She looks frantically around as the pulsing rhytm
continues. The Princess sees nothing and hugs the unicorn's neck for
comfort.
64A INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Darkness contemplates the raging flames, his heartbeat THUNDERING.
65 EXTERIOR HILL ABOVE GREAT TREE BOG DAY
Jack and the faeries stare out at the tree-crowned ruin and
surrounding bog.
65A EXTERIOR BOG DAY
Jack and the faeries wade forward through the drifting curtains of
mist.
JACK: Legend says the Dark Castle stood
in olden days when evil anarchy
ruled the land.... The wicked still
come here to sacrafice.
GUMP: They worship the demon....
SCREWBALL: It's ugly! I hate it!
GUMP: Good! You shall go first....
65B INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
CLOSE ON: Darkness. For the briefest instant, we see the smouldering
eyes of the demon GLOWING in anitcipation out of the shadows.
65C EXTERIOR BOG DAY
Although Jack is in no trouble, the water is rapidly growing too
deep for the faeries. Gump urges Screwball forward:
GUMP: Go on! Hurry up!
SCREWBALL: All the time me.
Same old story.
Screwball clibs up onto a floating lily pad.
An undulating v-shaped wake moves through the water alongside as
they step from lily pad to lily padf and clamber onto a long,
twisting root.
Without warning, an emaciated green arm shoors out of the water and
grabs Screwball. He is gone under the surface with a scream.
BROWN TOM: Screwball!
JACK: What was that?
GUMP: Big trouble!
Jack grips the hilt of his sword and rushes to the spot where
Screwball disappeared.
JACK: We've got to do something.
Before Jack can finish, Meg Mucklebones rises out of the bog behind
him. She tosses Screwball aside and hauls Jack into her cadaverous
embrace.
MEG: Foul tasting faerie.....! Come to
me, juicy boy!
Jack YELPS in horror.
MEG (cont): Who be this tender morsel
disturbing Meg Mucklebones' rest?
JACK(terrified): They call me Green
Jack ma'am.
The faeries watch in dismay.
BROWN TOM: Our champion's a goner, he is.
The fearsome hag pinches Jack with her wicked talons.
MEG: What a fine fat boy you are....
JACK: You don't mean to eat me,
do you ma'am?
MEG: Oh, indeed I do....
JACK: That would be a shame, Miss Meg.
You're so lovely. You deserve far
better than scrawny little
me....
The flattery gives Hairy Meg a pause; she simply can't resist it.
MEG: Hmmmm....think me fair, do you, Jack?
JACK: All the heavenly angels must
envy your beauty.
MEG: Ooooo....what a find meal you'll make,
be the rest of you as sweet
as your tongue.
JACK: Let me go and I'll sing songs
of praise to you.
MEG: Let you go? Don't be daft. I've
had naught but muskrat and snakes
all this month.... bit of rancid
goblin, too....
JACK: But....but....don't you like
my words?
MEG: Words are little help in
filling an empty stomach....
JACK: Then fill your soul with loveliness.
Look into your glass and feast on
beauty.
MEG: There's no looking-glass here....
Sometimes, when the moon is full,
I'll chance to see my reflection
in the bog.
Jack glances at the shield hanging over his shoulder.
JACK: My shield would serve you well.
Meg Mucklebones takes Jack's shield, partially releasing him from
her clammy clutches.
MEG: What a splendid idea!
You be so clever, Jack.
Hanging onto Jack with one hand, Hairy Meg bends over the shield.
JACK: Your radiance is the alchemy
that makes rusted steel shine like
silver.
Meg primps and preens: an obscene parody of a pretty maiden at her
vanity table.
MEG: Oooo! That's nice! I be the envy
of any princess in the land.
While Meg is pre occupied with her grotesque reflection, Gump
catches the Jack's eyes. The cunning elf silently mouths the word:
'sword', pointing to his waist at the same time.
JACK: Better, you are a queen without
a peer.... a reigning angel.
Jack nods to Gump and silently draws his sword. Meg doesn't notice
thing.
MEG: You have such discerning taste
for so young a boy....
Meg turns to face him with a fearful pucker of her tattered lips.
MEG (cont): Come, Jack....give us
a kiss before dining.
Jack petrified with fear.
GUMP(shouting): Give her the kiss of
cold steel, Jack!
Jack swings blindly with his eyes closed. It is a lucky stroke, Meg
Mucklebones' head flies from her shoulders.
JACK(astonished): I did it!
The decapitated hag sinks back beneath the scummy surface.
GUMP: Like a chmapion, Jack.
BROWN TOM: Bravo!
JACK: How's Screwball?
SCREWBALL: Chewed, but not disgested....
Jack points his sword at the hollow tree.
JACK: Then on to victory!
FAERIES (all together): On to victory!
65D INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
A huge fire blazes in the gaping hearth. Darkness stands before it,
almost a shadow in his midnight cloak.
DARKNESS: I've been an exile for too long....
banished by the sun.... forced to
hide in the bowels of the earth....
On the eve of my greatest victory, this....
child of nature appears.... It has been an eternity
since I felt such desire.... I could know
her in an instant. She is helpless.... and yet....
(anguished)
What is wrong with me, Father?
A VOICE IN THE FIRE answers Darkness; majestic and sepulrchral; the
flames billow out as it speaks:
VOICE: You hold the world in your grasp....
Supreme power belongs to you... yet
your triumph is meaningless!
DARKNESS: Meaningless?
VOICE: What do you gain from it? What pleasure
comes from ruling a pack of imps and
goblins....? Souls already black.... This
innocent creature fascinates you because
only she can appreciate the enormity
of your achievement.
DARKNESS: I'll take her then!
VOICE: A hollow victory! She remembers
the world as it was, when she loves your
new order you will triumph! Woo her....
win her.... break her spirit....
DARKNESS: Thank you, Father.... Your
wisdom is ever my guide.
VOICE: Remember.... She must desire you....
nothing else matters!
65E EXTERIOR GREAT TREE DAY
Jack and the faeries step ashore on the island. Gump makes a
mystical sign with his hands.
JACK: What's that?
GUMP: For our protection, Jack. You must
be ready.... Remember, Darkness is a liar....
a treacherous fiend! Don't listen to him.
Never believe what you see.....
JACK: He won't fool me.
GUMP: Don't be so sure! No human has
ever set foot in this place before!
66 INTERIOR GREAT TREE DAY
Jack and the faeries stare up at the massive horn embedded in the
inner tree.
Screwball starts to climb towards it.
SCREWBALL: What a nice big trumpet....! Bet
it sounds louder than anything....
Gump hauls him back down by the seat of his pants.
GUMP: Don't touch it! Our lives are
lost if it blows!
Jack finds an opening hidden between the roots of the inner tree.
JACK: In here! I've found a passage!
Jack drops inside.
66A INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
The moment Jack enters the inner tree, a deep TREMOR reverberates
through the subterranean Castle of Darkness.
Draped in shadows before the fire, the Dark Lord looks up at this
disturbance.
DARKNESS (to the fire): I feel a presence....!
Some power invades my sanctity....
VOICE (from the flames): Every wolf suffers
fleas.... 'tis easy enough to
scratch!
The flames surge out towards Darkness, embracing him.
67 INTERIOR TINY ANTECHAMBER DAY
Like the catacombs of Paris, the walls are decorated with bones and
human skulls. At each corner of the open ceiling is a carved demonic
head. Jack and the faeries stand looking up.
GUMP(gloomily): The decor of death....
BROWN TOM: Tells you somthing 'bout
him what lives here.
SCREWBALL: It's a dead end....
Jack searches along the ossuary walls.
JACK: Doesn't make sense.... Check
the walls. There must be some sort
of secret key....
Screwball doesn't join the other faeries in the search. He is
attracted by several round stone balls lying in the rubble. Picking
up three with a happy grin, he begins to juggle.
SCREWBALL: One-two-three....
fidde-dee-dee....
Gump sees what Screwball is doing and flies into a rage.
GUMP: Screwball! Drop those this
minute!
Screwball tosses the balls carelessly over his shoulder. One lands
in the stone cornice near the ceiling and rolls along, gathering
momentum as it passes through the open mouths of each gargoyle.
The balls disappears into the mouth of the final gargoyle. It is
swallowed with an emphatic GULP.
All at once, the roof slides shut above.
BROWN TOM(alarmed): Newt-finger marmalade!
The floor pulls suddenly open and they all plummet SCREAMING into
empty space. Luna circles, a dot of light above tthe bottomless pit.
LUNA (wee voice): Oh, dear.... Oh, dear...
The tiny faerie whirls in a blur of indecision before streaking down
into the dark opening after her falling friends.
68 INTERIOR CAVE CHUTE DAY
Like prisoners on a fairground helter-skelter, Jack and the faeries
spin down a seemingly endless curvinbg chute.
GUMP(singing): When times're hard and thing look bad,
Don't feel blue and don't feel sad....
JACK: How can you sing at a time
like this?
GUMP: Can you think of anything
better to do?
They hurtle through festooned cobwebs, stirring up smokey clouds of
ancient dust.
69 INTERIOR CAGE AND ALCOVE DAY
The end of the chute opens into an iron cage. Jack and the faeries
tumble through onto a pile of straw. Luna is right behind, bright as
a firefly.
BROWN TOM: Ouch! Ow!
SCREWBALL: Where are we?
Gump stares woefully at the iron bars.
GUMP: Some place we don't want to be!
A scuffling NOISE in the far side of the cage attracts their
attention. Blunder pops up from a pile of straw, still wearing his
helmet.
BLUNDER: Shhhh! What is this?
A chatterbox convention?
SCREWBALL: Who be you, bucket-head?
GUMP: Stay clear of that imp! He's
a hell hound goblin!
BLUNDER: What I am won't help me
none, nor you neither....
Blunder pulls off his helmet. He is Screwball's indenical twin!
BLUNDER(cont): ....even if you is my brother!
Screwball can't believe his eyes.
SCREWBALL(astonished) Blunder...!
BLUNDER: Screwball....!
They rush into each other's arms.
GUMP (to Jack): A Buttercup family reunion....!
I can't believe it.... Last I remember,
he sold Screwball a jug of dragon's tears
that turned out to be cow piss!
SCREWBALL: What happened to you?
BLUNDER(flexing his bird claw): It's a long story....
Let's just say I went look for adventure and
found more'n I could handle....
Doesn't matter now anyway... We're all of us
in the same fix....
JACK: Just what sort of fix is that?
BLUNDER: The kitchen of the Lord of
Darkness! All of us be on his menu!
SCREWBALL: I knew it! I knew it! Should
of stayed at home....
BLUNDER: That's right, brother, me'n you
is barbeque!
BROWN TOM: Wish I had a drink....
JACK: Only dead meat waits for the
stewpot! Spring the lock, Gump!
Gump examines the huge padlock with a frown.
GUMP (wearily): Iron is sore trouble for elves.
SCREWBALL: Magic's no good against it.
Jack slumps down in the corner to think things over. The faeries
mill about by the opposite wall.
Jack stares at the bars. Luna orbits his head.
JACK: I know I promised.... but it's the only way....
Luna buzzes him furiously.
JACK(cont): Sure it's a secret... It'll
keep forever when we're all dead....
Jack glances guiltily at the whirling dot of LIGHT.
JACK(cont) (to Gump): Why not have Luna fly
out between the bars and find a key?
GUMP(shaking his head): She's much too small....
could never lift it...
JACK(blurting it out): Not if she changes
sizes like she can!
GUMP: What?
There is a bright FLASH of faerie-light and Luna stands full-sized
before them, her gossamer wings a-tremble.
GUMP(cont)(outraged): You wilful sprite! How dare
you keep such secrets?
LUNA: They're mine to keep! But I'll do
what you ask.... if you kiss me, Jack.
JACK: That's easy enough.
Jack kisses her chastely on the cheek.
LUNA: Call that a kiss? Am I not sweet?
JACK(eager to please): Sweeter than bee
pollen on a summer wind.
Luna moves in close to Jack.
LUNA: Sweet is the wind thats blows me to
you....
Jack gently pushes her away.
JACK: It's not possible. I'm in love....
LUNA: A faerie's love makes anything
possible....
A soft cocoom of faerie LIGHT engulfs Luna. She metamorphoses within
it, emerging as Princess Lili.
LUNA/LILI: ....even you heart's desire.
Luna/Lili embraces Jack. It is sweet and tempting.
JACK(resisting): No.... this isn't real....
Screwball and Blunder giggle and snigger.
LUNA/LILI: Oh, but it is.... I'm warm and alive
and happy to be in your arms.
Jack is nearly enchanted, but after a delicious moment, he pushes
away.
JACK: I can't do it....! This is faerie glamour!
A brilliant aura of faerie LIGHT envelops Luna/Lili and she
TRANSFORMS into her true winged-form
.
LUNA(bitterly): You....! You....mortal! I
could vex you! Dance you life away!
JACK: Threats can't make you love you.
Human hearts don't work that way.
LUNA: What care I for human heart?
Soft and spiritless as porridge!
A faerie's heart beats fierce and free.
There is a furious pytotechnic whirlwind and, in an instant, Luna
returns to a tiny dot of LIGHT.
JACK: Luna....?
Without an answer, Luna flies out between the iron bars.
JACK(cont) (to the faeries): I.... didn't mean
to hurt her.
GUMP(scornful): Your fine senseibilities
have left us here to rot.
The SOUND of heavy footsteps approaches, accompanied by rough,
tuneless SINGING.
COOK(os): ....this li'l piggie went to market....
anudder li'l pigge got eat.... pig-meat
pie, l'l piggie die....
BLUNDER: Oh, no! He's coming...!
Hide! Hide! Hide!
Blunder conceals himself under a pile of straw. A deformed shadow is
cast across the cage.
SCREWBALL: Blunder's got the right idea!
Screwball hides in the straw. Jack and the other immediately do the
same.
A fiendish demon COOK opens the cage door. He is ten feet tall and
unspeakably ugly. He peers blindly inside, sniffing the air with his
hideous nose.
COOK: ....pig-pig-pig...
.
The Cook gropes inside the cage.
The Cook reaches deep into the straw pile in teh corner and grabs
Blunder.
BLUNDER: Help....! Lemme go...?
Turn me loose, you tub o' guts!
The cook hauls Blunder out, kicking and screaming. He locks the cage
abd stumps away.
BLUNDER(cont): I hope I give you heart-burn!
After a bit, the faeries and Jack peer up out of the straw.
SCREWBALL(woefully): Fricasseed faeries, the lot of us....
BROWN TON: Lambs to the slaughter....
Jack draws his sword.
JACK: Not without a fight!
Transformed back to full-size, Luna tip-toes into the alcove outside
the cage, her hands coyly behind her.
GUMP: Luna....!
LUNA(maliciously): You look like mourners at your
own funeral.
GUMP(angry): Come back to dance on
our graves!
LUNA: I'd gladly frolic on Jack's....
She LAUGHS and holds up a large iron key.
LUNA(cont): ....but this cage shan't be
your tomb!
Luna tosses the key in to Gump. Instantly, she reduces to a tiny dot
of LIGHT and flies out of the alcove.
GUMP: Well done!
Gump unlocks the barred door and they all clamber out. Screwball
steps on Brown Tom's head in his eagerness.
SCREWBALL: Lemme outta this stink hole!
BROWN TOM: Mind you bleeding foot!
GUMP: Shhhh!
Jack is the last of all.
JACK: Keep behind me in case
there's trouble.
Sword in hand, Jack ;eads the faeries out of the alcove into
the kitchen.
70 INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
Huge ovens belch fire and smoke. The vast hearth blazes. Like the
lower reaches of Hell, the Dark Lord's kitchen is a place where all
hope is abandoned.
Jack and the faeries creep through the brimstone haze.
BROWN TOM: Terrible sight for a sober
man to see....
JACK: Quiet!
The demon Cooks blocks the way, chopping meat with a montrous
cleaver, A SECOND COOK, every bit as terrifying, SNORES by the
hearth. Trussed to a spit, Blunder hangs upside-down nearby.
Jack motions the faeries on. The blind Cook turns them, sniffing the
air.
COOK: Whut be there?
Jack and the faeries duck behind a huge bellows.
SCREWBALL: ....Back in the frying pan!
Gump clamps his hand over Screwball's mouth.
Grasping his cleaver, the Cook advances towards them.
COOK(sniffing): Be it live victuals?
From where he hangs, Blunder sees the faeries' plight.
BLUNDER(calling out): Hey....!
Lard belly!
The Cook turns, angered by this insult.
COOK: Whut say, pip-squeak?
BLUNDER: Two things down here look
just alike!
COOK: Wuzzat?
BLUNDER: Your face and my ass!
The Cook GROWLS with fury.
COOK: Bash in you face! Den it no be
so pretty!
The Cook backhands poor Blunder, smacking him about like a punching
bag.
Jack and the faeries make a break for the exit.
Blunder manages to work one arm free from his bonds.
COOK(cont): Whut you got to say now,
pork pie?
Blunder rears back and punches the Cook in the jaw. Stunned,
he topples over over backwards a great CRASH.
70A INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
The reverberations tremble through the immense underground castle.
Darkness listens by the fire.
DARKNESS: Do you feel it, Father....?
A force....loose in my domain....
VOICE(out of fire): Guard well what is yours!
DARKNESS(roaring): BRING INNOCENCE TO ME!
71 INTERIOR KITCHEN CORRIDOR DAY
The faerie band gathers in the foul, dripping corridor. Irregular
torchlight casts a lurid glow across the broken stones.
BROWN TOM (gasping for breath):
.....saved....by a goblin.... Never
thought....I'd see....the day....
JACK: Wish we could repay the favour!
SCREWBALL: My brother can take of himself.
GUMP: Screwball's right! It's more important
we find the unicorn.
JACK: And Lili!
BROWN TOM: Where do we start?
GUMP: We must find the dungeons. Legend has
is they house such sirriw that death
is a gift....albeit one rarely granted.
Screwball sits down defiantly.
SCREWBALL: Think I'll stay right here thank you
very much.
Gump grabs hold of Screwball's ear and hauls him back up.
GUMP: Not so fast! You search with the
rest of us!
Screwball hugs Jack's leg.
SCREWBALL: All right! I'm going with Jack!
GUMP: No you won't. Be faster if we
split up.
Screwball looks both ways, deciding which seems safest.
SCREWBALL: Fine! I'm going this way!
BROWN TOM: I'm going that way!
They both turn and collide, falling flat on their rumps.
JACK: Wait....! Better to search in
teams, Gump and me together. Brown
TOm, you and Screwball look in the
other direction.
Gump hauls out his ornate timepeice.
GUMP: Right! Let's synchronise! We meet
back here in twice five hundred
beats of a bluebird's heart.
Brown Tom takes a similar timepeice from under his tunic and studies
its intricate interior.
BROWN TOM: Best to allow another couple dozen
butterfly breaths in case we get
thirs....er, get lost....
GUMP: No grog shops down here, Brown Tom.
JACK: Let's hurry!
Jack and Gump run off along the corridor, followed by Luna's glowing
LIGHT. Screwball watches without moving.
SCREWBALL: Know what I want to know?
BROWN TOM: What?
SCREWBALL: Why me?
Brown Tom gives Screwball a swift kick in his rear.
BROWN TOM: Why not?
The two little elves scamaper off together.
SCREWBALL: I hate it....I hate it....
I hate it....
72 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
The iron-studded dungeon days swing magically open as Lili watches,
her eyes aglow with animal fire. She crouches beside the unicorn,
resting on her haunches in an easy feline fashion.
Lili rises like a sleepwalker, unable to resist the compulsion
luring her toward the open doorway.
The chained unicorn WHINNIES pitifully. Princess Lili looks back
without expression as she leaves.
73 DELETED
74 DELETED
75 INTERIOR ANOTHER CORRIDOR DAY
Luna's bobbing LIGHT leads the way as Jack and Gump hurry along the
rubble-choked corridor. Alerted by the SOUND of something, they dart
into the shadows.
GUMP: Quick, Jack!
Jack and Gump watch in horror as a cracked EGG the size of a
watermelon runs down the corridor on armor-scaled chicken legs, led
on either side by a Demon holding a chain leash.
Jack draws his sword. The Demons stop and the Egg begins to crack.
JACK: I'll scramble that one!
Gump restrains him. The Egg cracks apart.
GUMP: Don't trust your eyes! All is
enchanted here.
The Egg breaks into pieces and a dripping winged monster emerges; a
diabolic cross between a bat and a pterodactyl. It emits a fearsome
SHRIEK and flies off down the corridor followed by the twin
attendant Demons.
Jack and Gump hurry on in the opposite direction.
75A INTERIOR DUNGEON CORRIDOR DAY
Screwball and Brown Tom creep timorously forward. They are alerted
by the SOUNDS of something approaching. A hideously deformed shadow
fall across the opposite wall.
The two faeries clutch each other in terror and duck into the
shadows.
It is Princess Lili! She passes the evles' hiding place as if in a
trance.
76 INTERIOR VIADUCT DAY
Jack and Gump emerge on a narrow span arching across the vast
central of the undreground castle. Similiar viaducts, above and
below, bridge the awesome chasm.
The Green Man and the faerie gawk at the sheer magnitude of it all.
JACK: Not even kings live like this....
On a high span above, Jack sees Princess Lili drifting by like a
somnabulist.
JACK (cont): My God! Gump, look! It's Lili!
GUMP: Don't believe it, Jack.
JACK (yelling): Lili !
The SOUND ECHOES through the vast space.
77 INTERIOR LILI'S VIADUCT DAY
The Princess pauses. A section of parapet has broken off and she
wanders to the edge, staring down into the void. For a precarious
moment, she teeters on the brink, seemingly about to fall.
JACK (os) (calling): Li-li !
The Princess does not respond, wobbling like a dreamer on the narrow
edge of disaster. She leans against the ruined parapet and a bug
chunk of masonry breaks away, tumbling and bouncing into the abyss.
JACK (cont) (os) (calling): It's Ja-ack !
Lili's face is blank. She turns and continues blindly on her way.
78 INTERIOR VIADUCT DAY
Jack stares up at Lili's retreating form.
JACK: It's her. I know it.
GUMP: Don't be so hasty! Remember who we're dealing with.
JACK: I've got to reach her!
Jack races off. Gump runs along behind.
78A INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
The shadowy figure of Darkness looms over a band of deformed PYGMIES
with needle-sharp teeth and wickedly curved talons long as pitchfork
tines.
DARKNESS: My enemies approach.... destory them!
Darkness points an evil finger and the Pygmies scurry CACKLING off.
79 DELETED
80 INTERIOR LILI'S VIADUCT DAY
Jack and Gump hurry out onto the arching span. The Princess is
nowhere in sight.
GUMP (running after): Slow down....!
Use some caution!
JACK: This way!
Jack runs on into the corridor in the direction taken by Lili. Gump
follows after.
81 INTERIOR RAIN CORRIDOR DAY
Lili wanders down a long colonnade with dangling vine-like roots. A
glistening magic rain falls from the granite ceiling. Her blank eyes
stare straight ahead.
Jack and Gump appear at the opposite end of the passage in time to
see the Princess drift out of sight.
JACK: There she is....! Lili....!
Jack and Gump run to catch up, pushing through root tendrils agleam
with rain. Suddenly, they are attacked by SCREAMING Pygmies.
GUMP: Jack!
JACK (drawing his sword): Demons!
The nimble Pygmies leap about them, lethal talons slashing through
the drizzle.
Jack and Gump retreat, backing between clingling rootlets.
GUMP: Quick! In here!
Gump yanks open a heavy oaken door in the side wall and they duck
inside, slamming it shut in the teeth of the attacking Pygmies.
81A INTERIOR SEALED CORRIDOR DAY
Jack strains against the door handle, struggling to keep the portal
shut tight. There is less space than in a closet. The corridor
behind them is completely bricked over.
GUMP: Trapped....!
CLOSE ON DOOR: With great force, the Pygmies' claws stab through the
thick wood like stiletties. Their needle tips are mere inches from
Jack and Gump.
The door's inner surface is studded with talons. Jack suddenly SLAMS
the door open with such force it swings into the side wall with a
loud CRASH.
The Pygmies' frenzied SCREAMING ends in abrupt SILENCE.
Jack and Gump peer cautiously out.
81B INTERIOR RAIN CORRIDOR DAY
The Pymies hang unconscious on the other side of the door, dangling
from their imbedded talons.
JACK: Come on!
Jack and Gump run into the rain.
82 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
Jack and Gump hurry around the corner just as Lili heads towards a
pair of massive doors swinging slowly open at her approach.
JACK (calling): Lili! Wait!
Gump grabs Jack's arm and yanks him to a stop.
GUMP: Don't be daft! She's under a spell!
Lili enters and the doors swing closed behind her.
83 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
An enormous chamber draped with black cloth surrounded by tall
Baroque columns. Winged demons writhe in the shadows above. A long
black table reaches down the centre of the room. All is lit by
firelight. The gaping hearth, with its entablature of monumental
sculpture, is flanked by a pair of massive ebony thrones, carved in
a hideous, twisting mass of tendons, sinews and museles.
When the imposing doors swing closed, Lili's spell is broken. She
stares in terror at her news surroundings.
Something weird and mysterious approaches from out of the draped
shadows. It is a magnificent high-collared black gown, waltzing like
a ghost across the black marble floor. There is no one wearing the
garment!
Fascinated, Lili watches the dress circle towards her. She finds it
irresistable. Taking hold of the gown's empty sleeves she begins to
dance, spinning round and round to the impulsive music.
84 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
Jack paces back and forth in front of the sealed doors.
JACK: Why did you stop me?
GUMP: We best reconnoitre. What if it's
a trap?
Gump and Jack strain to see through the crack between the doors.
85 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili dances by herself, turning slow dreamy circles before the
blazing fire. She is now WEARING the splendid black gown!
Reflected firelight GLITTERS in the shadows. An open jewel box
spills its sparkling treasure onto an ornate table. Lili is lure
like a moth to the flame.
She steps up onto an oversized footstool by the table. The ebony
casket brims with gemstones. Lili's eyes dazzle. A carved ebony
figure of a skeleton turns slowly out of the centre, holding in its
up lifted arms the most exquisite black diamond necklace the mind
can imagine.
The Princess sucks in her breath. The temptation is too great. She
impulsively takes the necklace and hops down from the stool.
The high collar of her gown makes fastening the clasp difficult and
without thinking, she backs towards the wall, fumbling behind her
neck.
She leans against a sculpted marble frieze of souls in torment,
concentrating on the tricky clasp. All at once, a piece of sculpture
becomes ANIMATE. Powerful arms reach out to fasten the necklace. For
a moment Lili doesn't notice, grateful for the help. Then, she
realises what is happening and SCREAMS.
The musular black arms reach for her as she pulls away in terror.
Lili turns to run, but is stopped short by her reflection in a tall
cheval glass mirror. She looks furtively about, making certain she
is unobserved. Alone, she admires her perfect image.
CLOSE ON MIRROR: Beneath Lili's pleased expression we see the evil
face of Darkness APPEAR like a man emerging from under water.
Darkness penetrates the surface of the mirror.
Lili backs away, GASPING soundlessly with terror.
Darkness steps forth through the glass into the room, clad in black
finery.
Lili staggers. Darkness reaches to embrace her and the Princess
SHRIEKS at the top of her lungs. The moment he touches her shoulder,
she slumps tothe floor, unconscious.
Darkness stands over the fallen girl, his heartbeat pulsing like
muffled thunder. Something almost like a smile creases his hideous
features as he rolls a lock of Lili's hair between his clawed
fingers.
The Princess blinks and opens her eyes. She is horrified to find
Darkness kneeling over her and frantically tries to get away.
DARKNESS: Do not be afraid, lady....
Lili GASPS like a stranded fish. She is catatonic with fear.
DARKNESS (cont): I mean you no harm.
Darkness offers the Princess his hand.
DARKNESS (cont): How like you my gifts...? Does
the gown not please you? Come....
tell me....
Lili's terror renders her speechless.
DARKNESS (cont): The colour is most suitable... We
sanctify the death of the old world
and the birth of a new order....
You are the guest of honour.
Lili WEEPS and tugs at the black dress.
LILI: ....of dishonour...! Take this
away.... Please! I beg you!
Darkness advances on Lili. The slow kettldrum THROB of his heart
underscores his words.
DARKNESS: Your soul in like some dark nectar....
I cannot rest unril I taste its
sweetness.
LILI (frantic): Never! I hate you! I hate this
dress!
DARKNESS: Can you speak so of your bridal
gown....?
LILI (screaming): Nooooooooo!
86 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
Jack and Gump listen by the closed doors to Lili's peircing scream
(OS). Jack is desparate and half-draws his sword from the scabbard.
JACK: What has he done to her?
Gump restrains the boy.
GUMP: You have no power to stop it....
Be thankful she lives.
Jack shoves his sword back in disgust.
JACK (bitterly): Some champion....
What good is this fancy sword?
GUMP: It's not the sword that counts, but
the man who swings it....
87 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili slumps to the cold stone floor, WEEPING. Darkness bends
solicitously over her.
DARKNESS: Why the tears?
LILI (sobbing): ....everything is lost....
poor Jack....
DARKNESS: Why weep for him? He left you
alone to die!
LILI: No! He'd never do that! He was
killed....like everything else....
DARKNESS (glancing over his shoulder): Yes.... But
why mourn? You have a new and grander destiny!
LILI: Consort of some cowardly vile toad
who slinks through the night!
DARKNESS: Not so! I requite to shadow's
solace and dark of the night.... Sunshine is my
destroyer!
LILI (scornful): You think you're so powerful....
and hide in the ground like a mole!
DARKNESS (smiling): This too will change.
The last unicorn dies tonight....!
As her blood ebbs, the sun sets forever.
There shall never be another dawn!
LILI (horrified): No....! You can't....
You mustn't....
Darkness throws back his evil head and LAUGHS.
88 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
The demonic LAUGHTER of Darkness carries through the massive doors.
JACK: He means to kill the mare, Gump!
GUMP: Don't mourn the corpse
'til the coffin's in the ground.
DARKNESS (OS): My dominion shall encompass
the enternal night!
GUMP: As long as the sun still shines,
so does hope!
JACK (bitterly: Sun doesn't shine down here.
Jack fingers Lili's silver medallion hanging around his neck
and from out of the blue, inspiration strikes.
JACK (cont) (grinning): Wait a minute....! I
think I know a way.
89 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili stares at Darkness with terror and loathing.
DARKNESS: The world shall be at last as
nature intended....a place of chaos and
anarchy!
LILI: You're mad!
DARKNESS: Aye, Lady, and proud to be so!
For in madness lies the soul of all
that's noble.... Can you fathom the loneliness
of untold eons lived in darkness? My spirit
was forged in that black fire....
LILI: You live alone because you are
loathsome! The contagion of your wicked heart demands
isolation.
DARKNESS: Nay, mistress. I've found
my mate and you know it. We're just
alike, you and I. Beneath the skin
we are already one.
LILI: Never!
DARKNESS: 'Twas your sin trapped the unicorn.
Even now, the evil seed of what you've
done blooms within you!
LILI (shrieking): You lie! You're
repulsive!
DARKNESS (stung by her words): No more so than you!
Can't you sense it? That is why I desire you.
I need someone to share the dark secrets of my
soul.
LILI: You....? You disgust me! You're
nothing but a beast!
DARKNESS: Everyone is a beast....only most are
afraid to see it!
Darkness compels Lili over to the mirror with the force of his will.
90 LILI'S POV : MIRROR
Lili sees her reflection in the glass. The lovely feminine
features ALTER into those of a cat-like beast.
DARKNESS (os): This mirror shows how we really are....
Behold your true reflection.
91 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili pulls free from his graps and turns from the glass. Her
face remains lovely and unchanged.
LILI (frantic): No! You're working magic on me!
I won't believe it!
DARKNESS: My Lady misjudges me... I am no
common trickster.... look at
you hands!
Lili's fingers transform before her eyes: hooked claws spring from
their tips, coarse black hair pushes the skin.
DARKNESS (cont) (Laughing): My mirror
never lies.
Lili's lovely face undergoes the same tranmutation she
witnessed in the mirror. She feels fur-covered sheeks and
pointed ears. This time, her SCREAM is hysterical.
Darkness places a protective arm around Lili.
DARKNESS (cont): Glory in your animal nature.
It is your triumph!
LILI: I'm hideous!
DARKNESS: No! The puling, pallid creature you
were was truly something disgusting.
Now you are magificent.... a fierce goddess!
Lili jerks away, HISSING and showing her claws.
LILI: Damn you!
DARKNESS: We are both of us damned, my Queen.
Darkness bows with mock formality, ALTERING into his own shadows,
which slides through a crack in the paving stones.
Lili cannot resist her reflection. Horrified anew. she falls to the
floor, WEEPING.
91A EXTERIOR SKY DAY
Round and red, the great disc of the setting sun slides towards the
distant horizon.
92 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
Crazed by anxiety, Jack finds the keyhole and cups his hands around
it.
JACK (calling out): Lili....? Can you
hear me....?
93 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili huddles WEEPING on the cold stones.
JACK (os): ....Lili....?
At the sound of Jack's voice, the Princess looks up with a start.
LILI: ....Jack?
JACK (os): Over here....
By the door....
Lili turns eagerly turns to the door.
LILI: Oh, Jack....dear Jack! Can it
really be you? I was afraid you
were dead.
93A INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
JACK: Thank God you're all right! I didn't
know what to do.... I never want to
lose you again....
93B INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili pauses before the keyhole, out of Jack's line of sight.
LILI: Jack, my love....my precious
love! I pray it's you and not more
wicked magic.
93C CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
JACK: It's me, you can be sure of that....
and there's magic on our side, too.
93D INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
LILI: It's all my fault....the unicorn....
everything....
JACK (os): My fault as much as yours....
Don't worry. We're here to save you.
LILI (sadly): I'm far past saving,
sweet Jack....
A huge tears wells in Lili's eye and flies out toward the keyhole,
defying gravity.
94 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
Lili's tear flies through the keyhole and strikes Jack's face like a
horizontal raindrop. He touches the spot curiously.
GUMP (amazed): How did you do that?
JACK (to Gump): I didn't do anything....
(into keyhole) let me see your face.
It will give me hope....
Jack strains to see through the keyhole.
95 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili stares at the keyhole in horror.
JACK (os): ....just to glimpse your smile....
LILI (grief-stricken): No.... I can't....
forget me, Jack....
The Princess reaches out her animal's paw and covers the keyhole.
96 INTERIOR CORRIDOR OUTSIDE GREAT HALL DAY
As the LIGHT in the opening grows DARK, Jack tenderly places his
hand next to Lili's.
JACK: Lili....? I love you....
Gump pulls frantically on Jack's arm.
GUMP: Come, Jack. We've no time
to spare.... Remember your plan?
Sadly, Jack takes his hand from the keyhole and follows Gump back
along the corridor.
97 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Princess Lili lies SOBBING. High above, the winged figures watch
her. The music THROBS, underscoring a low, rhythmic CHANTING. Like
some ghastly chorus fro, Hell, the living statuary sings in unison
to Lili:
STATUARY (singing): Bride of Night.... Bride of Night....
Darkness is your heart's delight!
Hail to Darkness! Hail the Night!
His the Power and the Might!
Master of Chaos, Lord of Doom,
Sing his praises from the tomb!
Lili lifts her head, listening to the sepulchral SINGING. Her eyes
burn like a tiger's. She bares her fangs, and from her throat issues
a bone-chilling HOWL.
98 INTERIOR DUNGEON CORRIDOR DAY
Screwball and Brown Tom stop short in their tracks when they hear
the SOUND of a distant HOWL echoes in the shadows.
SCREWBALL (trembling): I vote we run like hell!
The two faeries scamper off into darkness.
99 INTERIOR DUNGEON CORRIDOR DAY
Gump, Jack and a woman-sized Luna wait outside the kitchen door as
Brown Tom and Screwball come running up. Gump studies his ornate
timepiece.
GUMP: Where were you? In another three flicks
of a badger's tail it'll be half-past.
SCREWBALL: Sorry....time slips away
when you're having so much fun.
BROWN TOM (out of breath): We....found the mare
....chained....in the dungeon below.
Gump shoves his timepiece back in his belt.
GUMP: Excellant.... Who has a bit of
parchment?
The two faeries search in their clothing. Screwball produces a
plethora of trash: marbles, string, old doll's eyes, coloured bird's
eggs, ancient coins, etc. At last he finds a crumbled peice of
sheepskin.
SCREWBALL: Here.... I was saving it
to write me will on.
BROWN TOM: Where there's a will there's
a....
GUMP: Shush, both of you....! Jack has a
plan....a good one....
Gump squats on the floor, and, using a triangle and some charcoal,
divides the parchment into mysterious lines and angles.
GUMP (mumbling): ....angle of refraction equals....
angle of incidence....multiplied by a
factor of fourty.....divided by the
square root of a google-plex....
Gump SNAPS his fingers triumphantly.
GUMP (cont): Perfect! It will work like a charm, Jack!
JACK: Let's get started! What we need to
do is sneak back into the kitchen and
gather all the plates and
platters....
SCREWBALL: Oh no! Not me! Seen enough
of that kitchen, I have!
BROWN TOM: Don't be so pig-headed!
You can trust Gump.
SCREWBALL: I'd sooner trust a rat
in the ghetto!
BROWN TOM: Well.... trust Jack then.
Jack eases open the kitchen door.
JACK: Remember....just the shiny ones....
Jack leads the way back into the kitcheb. Gump urges the other two
to follow.
GUMP: ....and be quiet! Soft as
thistledown, that's the faerie way.
100 INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
Jack and the faeries tiptoe cautiosuly into the kitchen.
Both Demon Cooks are asleep, the encountered first is stretched out
across his chopping block, SNORING like a dragon with indisgestion.
The unfortunate Blunder turns slowly over the coals, hog-tied to a
spit. A bright red apple is stuffed in his mouth. Jack and Gump rush
to his side.
Gump pulls the apple from Blunder's mouth.
BLUNDER (frantic): Get me outta here! Please!
While I'm still medium rare!
GUMP: Quiet....! You're a free imp
on one condition....
BLUNDER(very loud): Condition....! What condition?
Loose me or I'll make such....
Gump shoves the apple back into Blunder's mouth, stoppering his loud
complaint.
GUMP: Any more noise and you're
shish-ka-bob....
Blunder nods eagerly.
GUMP (cont): You do what we tell you....
understand?
More eager nodding from Blunder.
GUMP (cont): Swear it!
Gump pulls the apple out of Blunder's mouth.
BLUNDER: I swear! On the festering
forelock of Nicodemus!
Jack cuts Blunder's bonds and the little imp hops nibmly out of the
fireplace.
BLUNDER: A thousand thanks....
Jack boosts Gump and Screwball up onto the mantle where the polished
plates are stacked.
JACK: Up we go!
Luna TRANSFORMS into a dot of LIGHT and flies up to the cimnet
pieces, REMATERIALISING there in her full size.
JACK (cont): Your turn, Blunder.
Jack lifts Blunder onto his shoulds so he can climb to the first
level of the three-tiered mantle. Blunder joins Screwball, Gump and
Luna as they rush about the mantlepiece, frantically gathering
shield-sized plates.
One by one, the faeries toss the plates down to Jack, who stacks
them in Brown Tom's arms.
Brown Tom staggers through the kitchen carrying a teetering tower of
plates. He can't see where he is going and trips over the nozzle of
the giant bellows.
The plates fall with a deafening CRASH!
Both ferocious blind Cooks are awakened by the NOISE.
SECOND COOK: Huh....! Wuzzat?
Jack and the faeries freeze in place as the Cook rises and pulls his
huge cleaver from the chopping block.
COOK (sniffing the air): Meat....! Me
smells fresh meat!
Jack draws his sword and steps between the awesome Cook and Brown
Tom, sprawled helplessly on the floor.
SECOND COOK: Find meat!
JACK: Over here!
The blind cook lunges for Jack. He wields his deadly cleaver with
amazing accuracy for one without sight.
COOK: Chop it up!
Jack ducks past the Cook, smacking him on the leg with the flat of
his blade. The huge demon YELPS in pain.
The Second Cook picks up a skillet, wielding it like a club.
SECOND COOK: Smash....! Me smash!
Jack is caught between the two demon Cooks. He cannot face one
without turning his back on the other.
Gump sees Jack's predicament and leaps from the mantle onto the
Second Cook's head with a wild CRY:
GUMP: Schweinhundt!
Gump clings to the Second Cook like a terrier, confusing him and
giving Jack time to dart acrobatically out of the way.
JACK (jabbing the Cook): Gotcha!
COOK: Cut you in half!
A mighty swing from the Cook misses Jack, who executes a nimble
back-flip. The Cook cleaves through a hanging side of meat by
mistake.
The Second Cook grabs hold of Gump and shakes him.
SECOND COOK: Sweet, sweet blood....
Up on the mantle, Screwball and Blunder exchange a helpless look.
Gump is a goner unless they do something. They a simultaneous
unspoken conclusion, and leap onto the Second Cook's back.
SCREWBALL (calling out): Rooster toes....!
BLUNDER (calling out): ....pig whiskers!
Faced with this new twin threat, the Second Cook drops GUmp, who
immediately bities him on the leg.
SECOND COOK: Whut.....! Who now? Ouch!
Jack fights a rearguard action, stabbing at the savage Cook as he
retreats.
JACK: Best you can do?
COOK: You gonna be mince-meat!
Jack back onto a steep stone ramp against the far wall.
JACK: Got to catch me first!
The Cook's cleaver CLANGS against the ramp, missing Jack by inches.
The Second Cook has his hands full. Brown Tom has joined the fray
and clings to his other leg while Blunder and Screwball claw and
punch at his head.
SCREWBALL & BLUNDER: Hit him....!
Sock him....!
Staggering under the full weight of the faerie onslaught, the Second
Cook lurches in circles.
SECOND COOK: Kill....! Smash....!
Furious, the Second Cook swings his heavy skillet at Screwball and
Blunder. He misses them completely, hitting himself square on the
head and knocking himself out.
The faeries leap off as the demon toppes backwards into the
fireplace.
GUMP: We must help Jack!
The faeries race to the foot of the ramp. Jack parries the Cook's
fearsome swing. The Cook presses him relentlessly. The CLASH of
steel rings through the cavernous kitchen.
The faeries start up the ramp like a tiny cheering section.
BLUNDER: Stick him a good one!
SCREWBALL: Cut him down to size, Jack!
Giant wine barrels are stacked at tge top of the ramp. The Cook back
Jack against them. There is no further room for retreat.
COOK: Gonna spill your guts, boy.
The Cook swings his cleaver from the hip. Jack nimbly springs out of
harm's way. The cleaver drives full force into one of the chocks
supporting the pyramid of wine barrels.
GRUMBLING, the Cook yanks his cleaver free. This pulls the chock
loose from under the bottom barrel.
COOK (cont) (Listening): Wuzzat....?
The entire stack of barrels shifts, rolling towards the Cook.
COOK (cont): Bad news!
The Cook runs for his life. The huge hogshead RUMBLE forward in a
wooden avalanche.
Jack crouches at the top of the ramp. As the Cook runs past he
sticks the sword-blade between his legs and trips him up.
The Cook tumbles, head over heels, down the ramp.
Half-way up, the faerie band sees the giant barrels ROLLING towards
them.
SCREWBALL (horrified): Sodom and Glockamora!
The faeries turn and run.
The barrels CRASH on top of the fallen Cook, knocking him senseless
as they CONTINUE rolling.
The faeries dive for cover in the arched opening of the kitchen
doorway at the bottom of the ramp.
The barrels CRUNCH into the kitchen wall. Because they are larger
than the doorway, the faeries crouching inside are spared.
Oceans of wine flood out in a dark tidal wave, forcing the door and
washing the little people into the corridor beyond.
101 INTERIOR KITCHEB CORRIDOR DAY
Brown Tom is beside himself with delight. He scoops up wine with
Screwball's helmet and pours it on top of his head..
BROWN TOM: Whoopeeeeeee!
Jack appears in the shattered doorway, sword in hand.
JACK: Hate to break up the
party, but there's work to be
done!
Gump jumps to his feet.
GUMP: Hurry! Get those plates~
Jack sheathes his sword and rushes into the kitchen.
Screwball and Blunder follow, but Brown Tom lingers behind, scooping
the helmet full of wine.
BROWN TOM: Just a wee taste....
Gump kicks Brown Tom smartly in the pants.
GUMP: Move! Or I make your head ring
worse than any hangover!
Gump chases Brown Tom back into the kitchen.
101A INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
The faeries gather up the fallen plates. Jack stares thoughtfully at
the fireplace, where the body of the Second Cook has snuffed out the
flames.
GUMP: What's on your mind, Jack?
JACK: Smoke rising.... That chimney
must go clear to the top.
Gump peers into the hearth.
GUMP: Not much to hold onto. Take a
peapod pixie to make the climb.
Screwball steps proudly forward.
SCREWBALL: I'll do it!
The faeries are astonished. Screwball never volunteers.
GUMP: What? Can I believe my ears?
SCREWBALL: Don't see why not. Ain't
I small enough for the job?
BLUNDER (proudly): No job's too
small for the Buttercup brothers....
SCREWBALL (on his knees: Please, Gump.... let me try.
I know I'm always trouble, but I want
to make it up to you....
Prove that I won't let you down.
BROWN TOM: Be sure ya don't fall down!
GUMP: All right! Do it! But be swift.
SCREWBALL: Thank you....thank you....
You'll never regret it....
Jack boosts Screwball up into the chimney.
JACK: I'm proud of you, Screwball.
(handing him a plate)
Don't drop it....
GUMP (calling up): We'll send Luna with
a signal when all is ready.
101B INTERIOR CHIMNEY DAY
Screwball clings to the smoke-blackened bricks, staring up the
nearly endless shaft at a small circle of light far above.
BROWN TOM (os) (calling from below): Always
knew you'd be going places, Screwball....
Good luck....!
SCREWBALL (to himself): I'm goin' places,
all right.... straight to the top and on
outta this hell-hole.... No more
kitchen....no more demons.... Just the
easy life for Screwball Buttercup....
101C INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
A shining gold plate is propper on the Secnd Cook smouldering in the
fireplace.
Luna positions another plate against the bellows, taking care to get
the angle right.
Gump stands between the bellows and the shattered kitchen door,
measuring the nagle with a curious hand-held instrument.
GUMP: Little more to the left, Luna....
that's better..just a touch more....
perfect.
101D INTERIOR KITCHEN CORRIDOR DAY
Blunder and Brown Tom run off carrying armloads of plates.
Jack leans a platter against the corridor wall, adjsuting it
precisely.
JACK (calling): How's that, Gump?
GUMP (os): Dead centre....!
102 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili's tears have dried. She prowls the majestic hall with regal
dignity. Something magic occurs at the baquet table: each crystal
goblet fills mysteriously with black wine as she passes; every empty
bowl and platter suddenly is heaped with an incredible things to
eat-all of it black!
The food is beautiful in spite on its colour. Lili stares a it with
undisguised hunger. Some animal instinct warns her not to trust this
gleaming ebony feast, but she's famished and snatches up an apple
bright as ploish anthracite.
DARKNESS (os): Good....eat....
Lili GASPS, dropping the apple. Darkness sits in one of the twin
grostesque thrones flanking the hearth.
DARKNESS (cont): The food is for your enjoyment.
LILI: I don't want it! I'm
not hungry!
DARKNESS: Do you lie just to please me?
LILI: I do nothing for your pleasure!
Darkness gestures to the opposing throne.
DARKNESS: You are so like a child, milady.
Sit, and we'll talk.
Lili makes no move towards the chair.
DARKNESS (CONT) (gently): Like a
child, you expect anger and
defiance will upset me.... These
are the qualities I admire most....
Lili snarls, fangs gleaming in the firelight.
LILI: So.... I'd love to rip out your
throat, yet it would pain you more
if I licked your hand....
DARKNESS: All I desire is that you
sit in that chair and talk with me.
Lili approaches the grotesque throne. Like some impossible organism,
it pulses in anticipation.
LILI: Sit....? Here....?
DARKNESS: Yes. Please....
LILI: I prefer to stand.
For a moment, Darkness nearly sucumbs to anger. The viens in his
forehead throb. His talons grip his throne in a spam of fury.
DARKNESS (snarling): Sit....!
Darkness shrewdly realises rage won't work and he relaxes with a
twisted smile.
DARKNESS: (cont): .....or stand. As
you wish.... It's enough that we're
alone together.... just the two of
us....
102A CLOSE: MATCHING FIREPLACE OPPOSITE
Across the Great Hall from the blazing hearth is an identical
fireplace. This one is cold, but not empty. Covered with soot and as
black as a Moor, Screwball climbs into VIEW between the massive
andirons.
DARKNESS (cont) (os): All of time
awaits us....why not make a start.
Screwball puts down his plate and tiptoes into the Great Hall
towards the banqueting table.
LILI (os): A start at what....?
102B INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Darkness leans forward in his throne, smiling at Lili.
DARKNESS: Simple conversation....
LILI: What do we possibly have to
talk about?
DARKNESS: Thoughts....dreams....
ambitions....
LILI: I have no interest in your
foul ambition.
DARKNESS: Desire then....surely we
beasts all have desire.
102C INTERIOR GREAT HALL (MATCHING FIREPLACE OPPOSITE) DAY
Unseen, Screwball climbs up onto the banquet table. He can't believe
his good fortune. A bounteous feast surrounds him.
LILI (os): You'd never dream what
I desire....
DARKNESS (os): Don't be so sure....
Dreams are my speciality
Screwballs stuffs his tunic with black fruit. He rushes about,
treading on the feast in his crazed delirium at beung surrounded by
such plenty.
DARKNESS (cont) (os): It is through
dreams I influence mankind. I have
dreams of my own.... dreams of enternity
with you....no more silence....no
more loneliness....
102D INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Lili LAUGHS in the face of Darkness.
LILI (scornfully): Such drivel! You
sound like some simpering schoolboy!
DARKNESS: I'll wager there was a
time when the attention of a
devoted schoolbvoy were entirely to
your liking.
Lili regards her claws with a savage sneer.
LILI (snarling): I know what I'd do
with such meat now!
DARKNESS: ....all things change, lady.
The pleasures of youth become the
regrets of maturity....
A loud CRASH on the banquet table causes Darkness to look around. He
SEES Screwball standing by the centrepiece, about to shove a whole
chicken in his mouth.
DARKNESS (cont) (angry): What're
you doing here?
Blackened with soot, Screwball easily passes for a goblin.
SCREWBALL (all innocence): .....am
I early....?
DARKNESS: You impudent imp!
SCREWBALL: I thought the invitation
said half-past....
DARKNESS (roaring): GET OUT!
Screwball gets the message. He drops the chicken and hops down off
the banquet table, running to the opposite fireplace for all he's
worth.
DARKNESS (cont) (gently to Lili): Sit....
I value your thoughts. Why not share them
with me?
Lili looks at the grotesque throne.
LILI: No more than that....just sit?
DARKNESS (nodding): Sit....
Lili steps up onto the oversized footstool. Inches behind her, the
monstrous throne swells and throbs like an organic creature, the
powerful sinews rippling with desire.
LILI (a feline smile): Doesn't
seem such an outrageous request....
The Princess prepares to sit, her luscious, silk-swathed bottom only
inches from the lavcivious surface of the squirming throne.
DARKNESS: You'll never regret granting
me this favour....
Lili's eyes glitter as she teases him.
LILI: What shall we talk about?
DARKNESS (impatient): Just sit!
The febric of Lili's gown brushes the writihing throne. In another
second she will be sitting. Unexpectedly, she stands up tall on the
footstool.
LILI: Such a disagreeable chair....must
be terribly uncomfortable. I think
I'll stand if you don't mind.
Darkness barely controls his raging anger.
DARKNESS: I prefer you to sit!
LILI: I'd rather stand, thank you.
Darkness's forehead swells with fury.
DARKNESS: Sit!
LILI: No.... Not now....
Darkness puffs like an adder in his frenzy, rising up to tower over
Lili.
DARKNESS (roaring): I command you to sit!
Lili is utterly unafraid. She LAUGHS at the swollen image of
Darkness.
LILI: Don't be silly.
Lili hops down from the footstool.
DARKNESS (screaming with rage): SIT, DAMN YOU!
Lili sashays past him, twitching her gown in an unashamedly wanton
fashion. Her hearty LAUGH is as loud as the outraged ROARS of
Darkness.
LILI (laughing): Never.... never....
103-110 DELETED
110A INTERIOR DUNGEON CHASM DAY
Jack scales a plate like a golden discus across the chasm to Brown
Tom waiting on the viaduct above.
Jack hurls another plate.
Suddenly, the Winged Monster, hatched from the walking Egg, glides
SHRIEKING from the shadows. It catches the plate in its saw-toothed
beak and dives at Jack. Gump sees it first.
GUMP: Jack....!
Dropping the plate, the Winged Monster rips at Jack. The Green Man
draws his sword and defends himself. The fight is savage and brief.
Jack hacks the Monster out of the air. It lies, flapping and broken
at his feet. Gump touches him sympathetically on the arm.
JACK: ....I'm all right....Let's
get on....to the dungeon....
GUMP (pensive): You have power
within I never imagined.
111 INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Darkness stares at the Princess in a towering rage. She
flirtatiously pretends to be interested in a bit of fruit before
rejecting it in favour of another, which also proves not to her
liking.
DARKNESS: I'm not above my own little
pranks, milady.... Should you have
a taste for them.
LILI: No doubt they're as foul as
the stuff you set on your table....
Darkness relaxes, taking his cue from Lili's mocking tone.
DARKNESS: Foul....or fair, such distinctions
are entirely arbitrary, my dear.... Does
not the lowly toad think his mate fair,
warts and all....?
LILI: Do you suggest I will think
you fair some day?
DARKNESS: In time....and time we surely
have... stretching before us....
infinity....like a merciful curtain closing
off the past....
Darkness moves gracefully to Lili's side and kneels before her.
DARKNESS (cont): I beseech you...do not reject
my foods as you do my food.... Never have I
abased myself so before another....It is not
humility that brings me low, mistress.... but
love....
LILI: Love?
DARKNESS: Aye, love.... You think my
heart a barren desert where only
hate can flower....A much finer blossom
show its petals now....nourished by
sorrow....watered with your tears...
(baring his breast)
I offer you this rose, Princess!
....my heart....my soul....
Lili is astonished. She walks away to consider what Darkness
has said.
Darkness watches her slyly. His expression reveals his words
to have been a ruse. He gloats in anticipation.
Lili turns back to face him. Darkness immediately resumes his look
of adoration.
LILI: You dizzy me, lord.... I never
thought to hear the word 'love'
spoken again....
DARKNESS: You'll hear it forever.
(shouting)
I love you!
LILI: If such is true....hope
is yet alive...
(regarding her claws)
These talons can caress as well as kill....
They are interrupted by the SOUND of a CHIME. An unseen clocks tolls
the hour.
Darkness stares up into the shadows.
DARKNESS: It grows late....
111A EXTERIOR SKY DAY
The setting sun blazes through distant drifting clouds, tinting the
sky in a riot of colours. Another CHIME is heard.
111B INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
The SOUND of the unicorn's frightened whinny carries up from the
dungeons below.
DARKNESS (laughing): Our wedding
feast is in good voice....Think
you not?
Lili cunningly disguises her alarm.
LILI: I admire your thrift, my lord,
both the meal and entertainment
in a single dish.
Darkness appreciates this joke.
DARKNESS: Are you anxious to see blood flow?
LILI: As you are to drink it!
(smiling slyly)
Will the groom grant his bride her wish
on this night?
DARKNESS (beaming with pleasure):
You have but to ask my savage beauty.
Lili leers, baring her feline teeth.
LILI: I want to kill the unicorn!
Darkness claps his hands with joy.
DARKNESS: Lady, you make me proud....
111C INTERIOR CHIMNEY DAY
Screwball struggles up the endless chimney, past hideous gargoyles
and ancient skeletons imbedded in the blackened bricks.
The SOUNDS of conversation CARRY UP from below.
LILI (OS): I will do it with joy....!
Let the unicorn's blood anoint our love!
SCREWBALL: Crumpets and candlesticks....!
She's gonna kill it!
LILI (OS): ....and in the eternity
awaiting us, I will happily sit on your throne
as befits the Queen of Darkness!
SCREWBALL: I can't let that happen....Why,
it's not civilized!
Clutching the golden plate, Screwball struggles upwards like
a tiny mountaineer.
He reaches into a grinning skull for a handhold and the jaws
clamp shut on his fingers.
SCREWBALL (cont): Billygoat dumplings!
Screwball yanks his hand free, nearly losing his balance. His terror
gives him renewed energy and he scrambles frantically up the inside
of the chimney.
111D EXTERIOR TOP OF CHIMNEY DAY
The chimney pot is shaped like a monstrous demon. Black as a sweep,
Screwball emerges at the top and looks around.
The distant sun is a dying ember resting on the surrounding rim of
dark mountains. We HEAR the SOUND of a clock CHIME!
111E INTERIOR DUNGEON CORRIDOR DAY
A distant CHIME stops Gump in his tracks. He pulls out his timepiece
from the pouch and studies it.
GUMP: ....not much time....
111F INTERIOR GREAT HALL DAY
Princess Lili stretches out her arms towards Darkness.
LILI: Bring me to the wretched beast.
Darkness takes her arm and leads her towards the blazing hearth.
The unicorn's distant whinny ECHOES from below.
DARKNESS: This way, fair beauty. I hear a
throat begging to be cut.
Lili hesitates when she realises Darkness intends to lead
her straight into the flames.
LILI (fearful): No....! It's impossible!
Darkness steps into the leaping flames. He turns and takes
Lili's hand.
DARKNESS: Now you are my queen. Nothing is
impossible....Come....it takes but a
single step....Find the faith....
Darkness looks deep into Lili's eyes. She places her tiny
foot among the white glowing coals. Nothing happens. Not
even the fur is singed.
Lili smiles. Her fear vanishes. She stands at the side of her
master. Darkness wraps a powerful arm about the girl and they are
consumed by flames, becoming one with the blaze around them.
112 DELETED
113 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
Unseen by the deformed goblin GUARDS, the faeries creep out of the
shadows and take cover behind a squat stone column.
Jack positions Blunder in the corridor entrance with the final plate
before joining the others.
JACK: Everything's ready....
GUMP: And you, Jack? Your greatest
challenge is still to come....
Darkness and Princess Lili emerge, arm in arm, out of a background
curtain of fire. They sweep majestically down the stone steps to
where the unicorn is chained.
Silent as mice, Jack and the faeries peer around at them. Jack is
horrified by Lili's bestial appearance.
JACK: ....oh, God....! Lili....
GUMP: Judge her with your heart, not
your eyes.
Blix and Poxand the other goblin Guards scramble to attention as the
regal pair ascends.
BLIX: Greetings....
POX: S-s-s-salutations....
DARKNESS: Silence....! Prepare the unicorn
for sacrafice!
The goblins hurry to comply. Blix selects a grotesque black
greatsword from among a rack of weapons.
Pox furiously pedals a grindstone. Blix applies the blade. Showers
of sparks shower onto the glistening floor.
Behind the column, the watching faeries are desparate. Luna's
glowing LIGHT hovers above their heads.
BROWN TOM: The game is lost....for all
of Jack's pretty plan...
.
JACK: No! It'll work! It must!
GUMP: Luna! Fly up to Screwball! Tell
him it's time!
Quick as a FLASH, Luna STREAKS off into the shadows.
Blix carries the sharpened greatsword to Darkness, offering it with
a low bow.
DARKNESS: Excellent.... Let the ritual
begin....
The demon Guards stand in a semi-circle around the unicorn. Blix and
Pox open tattered black prayer books. Darkness steps to a twisted
lectern and READS from a sinister volume.
DARKNESS: In the beginning, there was
nothing....a void of darkness, a cold
enternity of silence....
POX: Endless night, black as death!
Mother of Shadows protect us!
The assembled Guards answer in a ghastly CHORUS:
CHORUS OF GUARDS: Mother of Shadows, renew us!
POX: Dream Sister....eclipse our pain!
CHORUS OF GUARDS: Night Bride....restore our strength!
114 INTERIOR KEEP AND CORRIDORS DAY
Luna BLAZES straight up out of the abysmal keep; a tiny shooting
star. The demons' ceremony continues (OS):
DARKNESS (OS): ....and when the perfect void
was corrupted by Light, a great wailing was
heard and all the brethern fled in terror....
Luna rockets along the ruined corridors of the labyrinth.
CHORUS OF GUARDS (OS): Deliver us, O'
Darkness, from all fear....
115 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
Darkness steps forward. His booming VOICE disturbs the sleeping abts
and sends them wheeling in clouds around his head.
DARKNESS: Hear me, ye Powers of the Night! We
offer this sacrafive in honour of you....
Darkness reaches up and seizes a fluttering bat from out of the air.
DARKNESS (cont): Here is our offering....
sanctified with blood....
Darkness crushes the bat to a pulp and splatters the unicorn's white
flank with its blood. Darkness struggles mentally with the mare.
DARKNESS (cont): ....and with fire!
Darkness touches his fingertip to the unicorn's haunch. The hide
smoulders instantly, leaving an ugly brand.
CHORUS OF GUARDS: Blood and fire, born of Night....
Blood and fire, drown the Light!
The unicorn rears back. Her hooves CLATTER on the cold
stones.
DARKNESS: I pray you, Father, accept my
sacrafice....Let Light be orever extinguished!
Let the Age of Darkness begin!
Darkness contorts with the strain on imposing his will on the
unicorn. He dominates the mare and she grows calm.
As the Demon Guards CHANT, Blix and Pox strain at the winch. They
drag the unicorns towards the chopping block.
116 DELETED
116A EXTERIOR TOP OF CHIMNEY DAY
Screwball stands watching the sunset. One hands holds the plate, the
other polishes a black apple on his tunic.
SCREWBALL (singing under his breath):
....nickety-nackety....noo-noo-noo....
The apple is bright as obsidian. Screwball smiles at his reflection
on its gleaming surface.
SCREWBALL (cont) (singing): ....fiddle-
dee-widdle-dee....
Screwball takes a big bite of the apple.
Screwball grins, chewing happily. Not a care in the world.
It hits him like a stroke. His eyes cross and he toppes, dropping
the plate.
Luna comes BLASTING out of the chimney like a tracer bullet.
LUNA (tiny voice): Screwball!
Screwball falls onto the rim of the chimney.
In a brilliant BURST OF LIGHT, Luna materialises into her grown
self, catching the plate an instant before it drops over the edge.
LUNA (cont): Do it!
Luna looks sadly down on Screwball, touching him with her toe.
LUNA (cont): Screwball...wake up!
Screwball SNORES loudly.
LUNA (cont): Oh, Screwball....
Luna aims the golden plate at the ruby BLAZE of the setting
sun. She aims a beam of LIGHT straight down the chimney.
116B INTERIOR CHIMNEY DAY
The beam of LIGHT descends the dark shaft like a golden waterfall.
116C INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
The beam of LIGHT moves like a searchlight inside the fireplace,
criss-crossing the Second Cook's body as it misses the propped plate
he holds by inches.
117 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
Working together, the two goblins turn the iron winch. Bit by bit,
the cable is drawn forward onto the drum.
The unicorn's neck is stretched across the block.
Darkness stands before Lili, offering the greatsword.
DARKNESS: Once your hands were too delicate
for such a task....spinning and weaving
were more their work....
LILI: Let my loom be made of flesh and blood....
I am sister to the Fates!
Lili eagerly seizes the sword.
DARKNESS: What a queen you'll make!
Jack slumps against the wall, desparate.
JACK: Come on, Screwball....
GUMP: She means to do it, Jack!
She's one of them!
Jack stares at Lili.
Gump grabs a long black bow from a weapon rack, and an arrow from a
quiver beside it.
GUMP (cont): I'm going to stop her!
JACK: Gump, wait! I trust her!
Gump fits an arrow onto the bowstring.
The unicorn is helpless before Lili. Blix locks the winch, securing
the cable.
DARKNESS: My lady, the birth of a new
world awaits your stroke.
Lili swings the greatsword high over head.
CHORUS OF GUARDS (chanting):
Blood and fire....eternal ice!
Blood and fire....and sacrafice....
Gump draws back the arrow in the longbow, aiming at Lili.
JACK: No....! Don't...!
Jack grabs the bow. He and Gump struggle for the weapon.
118 DELETED
119 DELETED
120 DELETED
120A INTERIOR KITCHEN DAY
The beam of LIGHT hits the plate held by the Second Cook in the
fireplace. It STREAKS across the the plate leaning on the bellows,
ZIGZAGGING out into the corridor.
120B INTERIOR KEEP DAY
The beam of LIGHT ZOOMS out of the corridor, strikes the plate on
the viaduct, and REFLECTS down into the lowest depths of the castle.
121 INTERIOR DUNGEON DAY
Gump is determined to shoot Lili. Jack, equally determined to stop
him.
JACK: I trust her, Gump....I'll
always trust her....
GUMP: Foolish, mortal!
The beam of LIGHT STREAMS in through the corridor. Blunder REFLECTS
it off his plate towards the others.
Struggling for the bow, Jack and Gump kick over the propped shielf
the moment the LIGHT beam reaches it.
BROWN TOM: Stop lads....! The light!
A wild LAUGH bursts from Lili's throat. She swings the sword with
all her might.
The blade arcs through the air, a glittering SUNBURST where it
carves through the deflected beam of LIGHT.
Lili aims not for the mare, but for the line restraning her. The
sword severs the woven cable.
LILI (exultant): Run! You're free....!
The unicorn plunges into the shadows. Only the ECHO of her hoofbeats
remain.
Jack and Gump stop struggling. Jack dives for his fallen shield.
Darkness pulls a weapon from his belt. It is the stallion's alicorn
mounted as a shortsword.
DARKNESS (sneering savagely): Innocence!
Huge and terrible, Darkness lunges for Lili, driving the alicorn
straight through her side.
Lili is pierced by the horn. She GASPS, supported by the Demon's
hold on the blade.
Miraculously, Lili's features alter and TRANSFORM. The fangs and
claws disappear. Her fur melts like the morning dew. She is an
innocent maiden once more.
Lili slides dying off the alicorn and falls to the ground.
Jack holds his shield in the beam of LIGHT, angling in a bright
swath towards Darkness.
JACK: Burn....! You evil bastard....
The LIGHT hits Darkness like an express train. He HOWLS, blasted in
a smoking whirlwind across the dungeon.
Darkness cowers on his knees, SCREAMING in the LIGHT.
All the goblins scatter HOWLING from the LIGHT.
Brown Tom capers a happy two-step around Gump, who stares straight
up into the central keep.
BROWN TOM: ....and we'll dance on the
black devil's grave....
GUMP'S POV : LOOKING UP: The beam of LIGHT dims and goes
out.
BROWN TOM (OS): What's wrong....? What's
happening, Gump?
Gump shrugs, looking sadly at Jack and the darkened shield
he holds.
GUMP (sadly): Sunset....
With a savage SNARL, Darkness staggers off into the gloon, trailing
trendrils of smoke.
Jack drops the shield and rushes to Lili's side. He kneels and
cradles her in his arms.
Throwing back his head, Jack HOWLS like a wild animal. His CRY is a
wolf-wail of utter despair.
Gump runs frantically up to grieving Green Man.
GUMP: No, Jack....Quick! He's after the mare!
Gump seizes the grotesque sacraficial greatsword.
GUMP (cont): The world needs a champion!
(handing Jack the black sword)
Use this against him!
Jack snatches the sword. He rises cold with fury and runs off into
pursuit of Darkness.
122 DELETED
123 DELETED
124 DELETED
125 DELETED
125A INTERIOR TUNNEL NIGHT
The unicorn gallops through a desolate landscape of broken columns
and grumbled masonry.
126 EXTERIOR EDGE OF THE WORLD NIGHT
A precipice jutting over eternity. The unicorn runs along a narrow
trail bordering the edge of the abyss, highlighted by a bright
backdrop of comets and stars.
126A INTERIOR TUNNEL NIGHT
CLOSE ON: The black hooves of Darkness as he runs relentlessly along
the unicorn's track.
PULL BACK to show Darkness TRANSFORMED into a muscular black unicorn
stallion. He surges onward, an explosion of strength. FLAMES flare
from his nostrils.
126B EXTERIOR EDGE OF THE WORLD DAY
The huge black unciron THUNDERS out of the cavern-mouth.
The mare stand alone, trapped on a final promontory.
The black stallion REARS and charges the mare....
Black and terrible, the devil stallion rises over the mare, striking
out with his fearsome hooves.
The mare staggers before this onslaught of evil, falling to the
ground amid flying black feet.
The black stallion paws the ground, preparing to ram his alicorn
into the fallen mare.
Jack runs out from the dark cavern, gripping the evil greatsword
with both hands. He sees the stallion tower above the mare
JACK (calling out): Darkness....!
You rotten filth!
The superb black unicorn turns to meet this new challenge. He
SNORTS, breathing fire, and lowers his head, charging straight at
Jack.
Jack stands his ground, greatsword poised, as the huge black
stallion gallops towards him, hooves striking SPARK.
Jack swings with all his might as the demon unicorn ROARS
slavering past.
The greatsword passes straight through the black beast, as if it
were striking a ghost.
Jack is knocked off balance by the fury of the charge, but he
manages to stay on his feet as the stallion wheels and attackes
again.
The black unicorn's red eyes BLAZE as he crashes into Jack.
The Green Man is thrown awkwardly to one side. He loses the
greatsword and sprawls helpless on the ground.
Dazed, Jack rises on his elbows.. He sees the black hooves of
Darkness standing before him.
Looking up, Jack sees the Lord of Darkness TRANSFORMED back to his
original form. He holds his alicorn sword pointed straight at the
boy's heart.
DARKNESS: Always a pleasure to take a
brave man's life.
Darkness thrusts down with the alicorn, but Jack rolls skillfully
aside and counds to his feet.
JACK: ....haven't killed me yet....
Jack draws his own sword and swings at Darkness, who parries with
the alicorn. SPARKS fly.
Jack swings again. Darkness catches the blade in his bare hand and
holds Jack immobile to meet his malevolent gaze.
DARKNESS: ....Oh, but I have...
Jack is speechless with horror.
DARKNESS (cont): Don't you know me, boy,
don't you know from whence I come....
The muscle hump behind Darkness's neck bulges and cracks. It bursts
open and a pair of leathery bat wings unfold. Jack's horror is
complete.
DARKNESS (cont): Time to die....
Darkness drives the alicorn sword into Jack's chest, running him
through.
Jack's eyes are wide with astonishment. Is this what it's like to
die?
Darkness pulls the alicorn out of Jack. There is no blood! No trace
of a wound remains on his flesh. Jack blinks in wordless amazement.
DARKNESS (cont): So...! I should have
known....We're just the same! You're
immortal, Jack!
JACK (disbelieving): No....! I'm not!
I'm human....
DARKNESS (laughing): Who was your mother?
JACK (confused): I....don't know....
DARKNESS: Who was your father?
JACK: ....I....can't remember....
DARKNESS: How long have you lived in
the forest?
JACK: All my life....! I...I....
know who I am....
DARKNESS: You pitiful fool! An immortal
all this time and never knew....
(laughing)
Don't you see, Jack? Don't you understand
your power....! Together we could rule
the universe!
JACK (bewildered): .....together....?
DARKNESS: There'd be nothing to stop us!
No power could stand in our way! We're
just the same, Jack....You and I.....
eternal....!
Jack struggles to understand the immensity of this
revelation. He wavers in the face of the demon's persuasiveness.
All at once, the mare unicorn gallops up from the shadows, white and
pure.
She spears Darkness straight his mid-section. The evil Lord SCREAMS,
staring down at the shining alicorn thrsut out of his chest.
DARKNESS (cont): ....Father....! Protect me....
Darkness starts to shrink. The mare lifts the writhing demon high in
the air, impaled like a kicking insect.
Rearing, the unicorn arches her neck and tosses Darkness over toe
edge into the abyss.
Darkness tumbles into the haze. His final HOWL is a lament from the
depths of Hell.
At the last moment, the falling figure of Darkness TRANSFORMS into
the flapping black cloak and sails off into the shadows.
Jack picks up the alicorn. He wraps his other arm around the
unicorn's neck. They stand together at the edge of the world, united
in a victorious embrace.
126C EXTERIOR MOUTH OF CAVERN NIGHT
The faeries gather at the entrance. Screwball is there, half asleep.
Luna is full-sized. Pale and sleeping, Lili lies on the black cloak.
The faeries stand around her, eyes downcast.
Jack rides up, mounted on the unicorn. Surrounded by light, he is
more than a champion. He is divine. The faeries are delighted.
GUMP: Why....Jack....solved
your riddle at last....
BROWN TOM: Should've known no
mortal could speak unicorn
like that....
JACK: How is Lili?
GUMP: Sadly beyond the help of faerie
magic. She's under a powerful spell....
It's like a riddle....
Jack understands. He brightens into a smile.
JAC: I know the answer....! Lift
her to me, gently....
Jack hands Gump the alicorn as the faeries gather Lili in their
arms, lifting her above their heads.
Jack carefully pulls the enchanted Princess in front of him across
the unicorn's withers.
JACK (cont): We'll meet again, dear friends....
Jack touches his heels to the unicorn's flanks and they
gallop off in a CLATTER of hoofbeats.
GUMP (waving): Ride like the wind,
Jack....
BROWN TOM: Wish we could go with him....
GUMP: And why not? I know some magic
words that'll do the trick!
SCREWBALL: Oh no! Not me! I hate to travel
like that....makes me sick.
GUMP: Stand back....! The sky's the
limit!
SCREWBALL: Can't stand your bumpy
takeoffs....
Abruptly, Screwball SHOOTS into the air, flying out of
sight.
GUMP: Screwball! Wait for the spell....
SCREWBALL (os): ....I never do....
Gump gestures magically.
GUMP: Eiderdown and milkfeed fluff....
All at once, Gump, Blunder, and Brown Tom STREAK off into space.
Luna watches them go. TRANSFORMING into a dot of LIGHT, she speeds
up after them.
127 EXTERIOR FOREST (RIDE MONTAGE) NIGHT
Jack clings to Lili as the unicorn thunders through the midnight
forest, darting like quicksilver between the shadowy trees, leaping
impossible chasms, splashing across streams in a burst of moonlit
spray.
127A EXTERIOR SKY NIGHT
The full moon hangs above like the lantern of God as the faeries
tumble through the clear night sky. Gump rides the alicorn like a
broomstick.
Far below, magically white and fluid as free-roving moonbeam, the
unicorn carries her passengers across the nocturnal forest with the
ease of a dreamer transported through time.
128 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
It is not yet sun-up. The first faint trace of the false dawn tints
the eastern horizon. Everywhere, the snow is melting. It is like
springtime, with bold patches of green showing through the frozen
landscape.
A bright beam of LIGHT APPROACHES, weaving between the giant trees.
It is Jack and Lili, mounted on the unicorn.
Jack rides up onto the high rock overinghanfing the ponnd and slides
easily to the ground with Lili in his arms.
The unicorn doesn't move. She stands watching as Jack gently rests
Lili down on the mossy earth.
Jack strips off his golden mail coat and steps on the edge of the
promontory. He dives gracefully into the pond.
128A EXTERIOR FOREST DAY
Screwball in the lead, the faeries CRASH down through the trees,
bouncing to a stop on the forest floor.
SCREWBALL: Ow!
BROWN TOM: Ouch!
GUMP (cheerfully): Home again!
The bedraggled faeries scowl at Gump.
129 EXTERIOR UNDERWATER DAY
Jack streaks down, streaming air bubbles like a comet's tail.
129A EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
The faeries gather around the frozen unicorn stallion. His alicorn
has been restored. Wreathed in flowers, it stands majestically out
from his forehead.
129B EXTERIOR UNDERWATER DAY
Jack strokes deeper and deeper into the pond, past undulating weeds
and curious fish.
129C EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
Faeries are all about, dancing and SINGING around the statuesque
unicorn. They pelt one another with petals. The mare stands demurely
to one side, draped in blossoms.
129D EXTERIOR UNDERWATER DAY
At the bottom, Jack moves carefully, trying not to stir up the muck.
He gently parts the drifting trendrils, searching among the water
weeds.
129E EXTERIOR TREETOP DAY
High above the faerie celebration, beautiful MUSIC is HEARD. It is
Gump, playing his violin in uppermost branches of a towering pine.
Delicate as the call of a meadow lark, Gump's music rises sweetly
into the heavens. It is just dawn. The sun's GLOW blazes in the
east.
129F EXTERIOR UNDERWATER DAY
A winking GLEAM catches Jack's eyes and he reaches out an eager
hand.
A cloud silt issues from his grasp as he opens his fingers. Centred
on his palm, golden and perfect, is Lili's ring.
129G EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
Round and full, the sun rises. The golden sun rays pierce through
the trees and start across the open meadow. Gump's music continues,
more lyrical than ever.
As the sunlight advances, bright spring flowers push up through the
once-frozen earth.
129H EXTERIOR UNDERWATER DAY
Jack turns and strokes upwards, higher and higher, towards the
shining ceiling of light far above.
129I EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
Gump's music swells to a crescendo. The life-giving sunlight reaches
across the meadow and strikes the flank of the dormant stallion.
130 EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Jack breaks the surface, holding the ring triumphantly above his
head.
130A EXTERIOR CLIFF ABOVE POND DAY
The Princess sleeps under the tree. She no longer wears the black
wedding gown, but is dressed as before. Jack's armour has also
disappeared.
Jack kneels before Lili and slips the ring onto her finger.
He takes the girl into his arms and kisses her passionately on the
mouth.
Lili smiles. Her eyelids flutter.
131 DELETED
132 DELETED
133 DELETED
134 EXTERIOR UNICORN DEATH ARENA DAY
The unicorn's sunlit flesh twitches, dislodging a butterfly warming
his wings on his haunch.
In a single, beautiful movement, the stallion rises to his feet. He
arches his powerful neck and CALLS to his mate. The magic animals
gallop off together across the open meadow.
135 DELETED
136 DELETED
136A EXTERIOR RING POND DAY
Princess Lili awakens.
LILI: Oh....! Jack! What a dream
I've had!
The Princess smiles when she sees the ring on her finger.
LILI (cont): Such a terrible dream....
I could never tell you....
Lili looks around, but Jack is nowhere in sight.
LILI (cont): Jack....? Where are you....?
(calling)
Green Jack!
Getting no reply, Lili wanders off in search of Jack.
137 EXTERIOR JACK'S FOREST GLADE DAY
Puzzled, Lili searches the familiar place.
LILI (calling): Jack....! Where are you
hiding now?
The wind surges through the treetops. The leaves all move together
as if they were a single living organism.
Jack's VOICE is heard out of the waving trees.
JACK (os): I'm everywhere, Lili....my
spirit lives in everything....
LILI: Jack.... Don't play games with me!
I love you!
JACK (os): I....love.....you...
LILI: Will you be here tomorrow?
Unseen in the bushes, Gump and the faeries hide, grinning as
they watch Lili.
JACK (os): I'm always here, Lili....
whenever you come....
Mystified, but happy, Princess Lili picks a flower and wanders off
into the sun-bright woods.
END CREDITS ROLL
138 EXTERIOR MEADOW DAY
A lush broad expanse, boldly pattered with wild flowers. Breasting
the waving grass like a swimmer in the sea, the unicorn bounds
joyfully in total freedom.
Mounted on the animal's back, his arms in victory, Jack rides like a
triumphant angel. His hair and skin are tinted green! He is the
incarnation of all that is magical in Nature.
T H E E N D
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