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Series 1, Episode 7: Science Fiction Sketch
The cast:
VOICE OVER Eric Idle
REDCOAT Michael Palin
AMERICAN VOICE John Cleese
MAN Graham Chapman
WOMAN Eric Idle
The sketch:
(We see a photo of a man with pipe.)
Voice Over: And now here is a reminder about leaving your radio on during the night. Leave your radio on during the night.
(Cut to redcoat.)
Redcoat: A little joke, a little jest. Nothing to worry about ladies and gentlemen. Now we’ve got some science fiction for you, some sci-fi, something to send the shivers up your spine, send the creepy crawlies down your lager and limes. All the lads have contributed to it, it’s a little number entitled, Science Fiction Sketch…
(Zoom through the galaxy to the solar system.)
American Voice: (very resonant) The Universe consists of a billion, billion galaxies… 77,000,000,000 miles across, and every galaxy is made up of a billion, zillion stars and around
these stars circle a billion planets, and of all of these planets the greenest and the pleasantest is the planet Earth, in the system of Sol, in the Galaxy known as the Milky Way … And it was to this world that creatures of an alien planet came … to conquer and destroy the very heart of civilization…
(Mix into close-up of railway station sign: ‘New Pudsey’. Pull out to mid-shot of a couple walking towards camera. They are middle-aged. He wears a cricket blazer and grey flannels and a carrier bag. She wears a fussy print dress.)
American Voice: (gently) It was a day like any other and Mr and Mrs Samuel Brainsample were a perfectly ordinary couple, leading perfectly ordinary lives – the sort of people to whom nothing extraordinary ever happened, and not the kind of people to be the centre of one of the most astounding incidents in the history of mankind … So let’s forget about them and follow instead the destiny of this man … (camera pans off them; they both look disappointed; camera picks up instead a swan little business man, in bowler, briefcase and pinstripes) … Harold Potter, gardener, and tax official, first victim of Creatures from another Planet.
(Weird electronic music. Sinister atmosphere. Follow him out of station. Cut-away to flying saucer, over day skyline. Back to Potter as he walks up suburban road. Back to flying saucer. It bleeps as if it has seen its prey and changes direaion. Cut back to Potter just about to open his front gate. Shot from over the other side of the road. Cut to flying saucer sending down ray. Potter freezes . . . shivers and turns into a Scotsman with kilt, and red beard. His hand jerks out in front of him and he spins round and scuttles up road in fast motion, to the accompaniment of bagpipe music. Cut to close-up of newspaper with banner headline: