SCIENCE FICTION BLAST-OFF THEATER

"The New Adventures Of Stan Starburst:  Chapter 2 - Rage of the Man-Beast!"

                                                               by Richard Nathan

 

Before the lights come up, a voice announces the title of the story:

                                                            VOICE
                                    "The New Adventures of Stan Starburst -
                                    Chapter Two - Rage of the Man-Beast!"

Lights come up on surface of the planet Fettatonia, not two far from where Chapter One took place.  Somewhere on the ground is a large, rotten piece of alien fruit. Something made of mashed bananas might be appropriate.

Enter our heroine, BETTY COLLINS, pursued by the malevolent MAN-BEAST.  Betty screams and the Man-Beast roars.

                                                            BETTY
                                    Get away from me, you monster!  You killed
                                    Stan Starburst, the only man I'll ever love! 
                                    You ripped off his head!

The Man-Beast roars and lunges at her.  Betty dodges and falls.  She picks up the only thing available to use as a weapon, the piece of alien fruit, and smashes it into the Man-Beast's face.

The Man-Beast is stunned, and slowly transforms into DR. ZADWICK.  (The actor playing the role can remove his make-up as he removes the rotten fruit from his face.  

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    You've done it!  You found the cure!  You
                                    beautiful girl!  I could kiss you!

                                                            BETTY
                                    Stay back!  How can you think I would
                                    kiss a monster who ripped off the head of
                                    the only man I'll ever love?     

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    Dear child, I  haven't ripped off anyone's
                                    head.

Enter STAN STARBURST and TOG THE TANGORIAN.  Tog carries the thing that looks slightly like a bad prop version of Stan's head - which Dr. Zadwick (as the Man-Beast) ripped off in Chapter One.

                                                            STAN
                                    That's right, Betty.  He hasn't!

                                                            BETTY
                                    Stan!

She runs to his arms.  After a quick embrace, she asks:

                                                            BETTY
                                    But your head?  How... 

                                                            STAN
                                    I don't want to sound conceited, Betty, but
                                    do you really think this looks like me?

Tog tosses Stan the head prop, and Stan holds it up so that Betty can compare it to Stan's head.

                                                            BETTY
                                    Well... not exactly....  But what is it?

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    That is the rare Head-Plant of Fettatonia -
                                    so named because of its uncanny resemblance
                                    to the head of so many humanoid life forms.  It's
                                    the reason I came to this planet .  I had reason to |
                                    believe its properties might cure for the plague of
                                    Septamyocytrosis that has decimated
                                    my home world of Thalencia.  I found that
                                    digesting the Head-Plant would indeed
                                    cure Septamyocytrosis.  Unfortunately,
                                    the same properties that cure that dread disease 
                                    also have a side-effect - anyone who
                                    ingests it turns into a ravening Man-Beast.

                                                            BETTY
                                    Oh dear!

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    I found out about the side effect when I
                                    tried the treatment out on myself.  First I
                                    exposed myself to the Septamyocytrosis
                                    virus, and then I ingested the Head-Plant. 
                                    To my horror, I turned into a Man-Beast. 
                                    But then when this delightful young woman
                                    exposed my skin to the pulp of the
                                    Fettatonian Blazo Fruit, it turned me
                                    back to myself, with no side effects!

                                                            STAN
                                    Your daughter will be very glad to see
                                    you!  Has anyone seen her?

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    Daughter?  I have no daughter!

                                                            BETTY
                                    I knew it!  He's so ashamed of her, he's
                                    blocked her from his memory!

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    No!  Really!  I have no daughter!

                                                            STAN
                                    Maybe this is a side effect of the Blazo Fruit.

                                                            TOG
                                    Should we try smacking him with other plants?

Enter HAN-DAR with a ray-gun drawn.

                                                            HAN-DAR
                                    That will not be necessary!

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    You brought Han-Dar here?  Do you realize
                                    what you have done?  I would rather have died
                                    of Septamyocytrosis than face this
                                    vile and foul abomination!

                                                            STAN
                                    I don't think that's a nice way to talk about
                                    your daughter!

                                                            BETTY
                                    In this case, I disagree.

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    She isn't my daughter!  She is an assassin from the
                                    planet Malaciente, the sworn enemy of my home
                                    planet Thalencia.  No doubt she has come here to
                                    kill me.

                                                            HAN-DAR
                                    No doubt!

                                                            STAN
                                    But when we met you on Thalencia, you begged us
                                    to help you find Dr. Zadwick, so he could cure
                                    your planet of Septamyocytrosis!

                                                            HAN-DAR
                                    But I really wanted you to find him so I
                                    could kill him before he could find the cure!  Did
                                    you find the cure, Doctor?

                                                            DR. ZADWICK
                                    Yes, I did.  If you have any humanity at all,
                                    you'll let me save millions of lives.

                                                            HAN-DAR
                                    Millions of Thalencian lives!  No, I'd rather
                                    kill you all!

                                                            BETTY
                                    You see what I mean, Stan!  This always happens
                                    to us!  Couldn't we just go one day without
                                    someone trying to kill us?

                                                            HAN-DAR
                                    I'm going to do more than try!

Han-Dar shoots Betty, Tog, Stan and Dr. Zadwick, who all fall down, apparently dead!

                                                       VOICE
                                    Don't miss the concluding chapter in The New
                                    Adventures of Stan Starburst - Chapter Three -
                                    Septamyocytrosis Strikes!"

Blackout!

                                      
THE END

 

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© 2005 by Richard Nathan.  All rights reserved

The author grants all internet uses to print these scripts for their own, personal, non-commercial use.  No other use may be made without the author's permission.  Without limiting the foregoing, the plays may not be staged without the author's express  permission.

Send e-mail to the author at Richard-Nathan@att.net.