Episode 1: ‘The Emerald Heart’
Written by Joseph Stefano
Directed by Fritz Kiersch
The scene opens in the middle of the Louisiana bayous. As the scene continues, in the middle of the marshes a dwarf sized man is tied upside down and left for dead.
The next scene show a young blond boy (Jim Kipp), who is out in the bayous in a rowing boat, filming the area with his camcorder. He spots a Great White Egret and films that; then an Alligator feeding. He turns and moves to the front of the boat to get a better perspective. Just then, in the viewfinder, he spots the tied up dwarf. He’s taken aback and reaches back to put the camcorder down in the boat; but he’s still in shock and fumbles it; dropping the camcorder into the water. Jim is unaware that as it sinks, a huge green mossy hand beneath the waters catches it.
Jim approaches the dwarf. “Friend or foe?” The dwarf shouts to him. “A foe would leave you hanging there” Jim quips as he begins to untie the man’s bonds. “Try not to upset the boat. I’m a lousy swimmer!” Jim tells the struggling dwarf, who collapses into the boat, now free. He seems edgy though, even outrightly terrified. He seems to cower in the boat, his eyes darting nervously around. He orders Jim to take him ashore then get him some food: He obviously hasn’t eaten anything in a long time and says he is ravenous. Jim tells him that he’s staying at his Grandmother’s house that is near to the edge of the swamp, and there’ll be plenty of food there. The dwarf is too nervous to return with him though, saying he can’t risk it. “If the monster who did this to me finds out I survived.....” He says in a terrified voice.
Only in Houma a few days, and Jim already has a taste
for the bondage with dwarves scene!
Meanwhile, in Houma’s town centre, a young man arrives in a white Porsche; smiling and waving to people (Dr. Anton Arcane). He stops the car outside a greengrocer’s, where he sees a silver haired middle aged woman (Savannah Langford) buying groceries. He offers her a ride home since he’s going her way, and appears quite gallant, helping carry her bags into the car and opening the door for her to get in. Savannah seems quite pleased to see him, saying that she didn’t expect to buy half the things she has. Dr. Arcane get into the car and turns to Savannah, opening a conversation. “You know I still haven’t met that very special lady.” He mentions to Savannah, referring to her daughter, Tressa, who’s just moved into the area. His accent is British, with just enough American in it to indicate he’s lived here a while. “Well, I was going to give a little tea, to show her how the town had changed since she left, but she said she only came down here to spend quality time with her little boy.” Savannah explains to Arcane, who then gets straight to the point; “Do you think she’d go out with me?” He asks. “No, Doctor, I do not.” Savannah says in a blunt, but friendly way. Arcane pauses and thinks on this. Savannah continues with an explanation; “Well, you’d be unwilling to work at it.” She says. “Are you saying she’s hard to get?” Arcane asks. “Hard to get as a bonefish!” Is Savannah’s amused reply. Arcane's interest seems piqued.
Meanwhile, back at his Grandmother's house, Jim is raiding the fridge and filling a large brown paper carrier with assorted groceries for the dwarf. The back door opens and his mother, Tressa walks in. "Ah, I thought you'd still be out documenting the swamp. What's all this for?" She says good naturedly as she eyes the bag of food. "I found this dwarf...in the swamp." Jim says. Tressa immediately looks disappointed. Jim continues; "He said some monster hung him out to die." He embellishes the story even further, asking Tressa if it's OK to take the food. "Stop it!" Tressa looks at her wit's end. "You said there's be no more lies down here!" She pauses and contemplates; "Might as well pack the hell up and go straight home!" She sighs deeply. Just then, the conversation is interrupted by a persistent buzzing from the doorbell. She goes to investigate and Jim finishes packing and leaves.
Outside, Dr. Arcane is impatiently ringing the doorbell, watched by Savannah. He turns round and spies a tub of flowers by the porch steps. Going back down, he helps himself to a bunch of them, plucking a few, before ascending the porch again and Tressa comes out. "Hi. I'm Dr. Arcane." He introduces himself, as though requiring some sort of applause for that. He proffers the flowers to her; "Well, take them before I start sneezing. I have some very amusing allergies!" He attempts charm and humour, which come across more as cliched and trite. Tressa just looks dumbfounded as she exchanges glances with Savannah, who gives a sympathetic, but nonetheless helpless shrug. Tressa contents herself with a polite smile to avoid embarrassment.
Later in the swamp, the mysterious green hand seen earlier puts the camcorder on a nearby tree stump, near to where Jim is approaching with his bag of food. He's looking around for the dwarf. As he's looking he spies the camcorder and goes over to it, putting the back of food down. He picks the camcorder up and examines it. It seems fine. He looks a little surprised, then seems to accept this and picks up the food again and continues. As he leaves, he's being watched from the bushes by a mysterious dark figure.
Lurking in the bushes as usual, it's...'Swamp Voyeur'!
Elsewhere in the swamp, the dwarf is grabbed by a man and dragged off screaming. Meanwhile, Jim is still looking for him. As he looks around, he surveys the swamp in it's enormous, yet peaceful grace and beauty: The still cypress trees towering above; the eerie Spanish moss clinging to it; nature alive everywhere. Suddenly, the peace is broken when a strange creature jumps out at him. About his size, and dressed like a human boy; this creature is anything but human. It's like some bizarre mutation, with warty, toughened skin; and talking only in guttural, growling noises. It seems interested in Jim, and a little hostile, although perhaps more in a curious way. It snatches his camcorder and after looking at it, tosses it aside. It then backs Jim up against a tree in a threatening manner. It prods him, and examines his hair curiously. Suddenly, it looks at something behind Jim and darts away, clearly afraid. Jim watches this, then turns to see what it was looking at. he sees a huge, mossy and plantlike humanoid figure, about two feet away from him, regarding him silently. He's taken a little aback, but soon composes himself and doesn't seem afraid. The creature turns to leave, but Jim calls him back. "Hey! Thanks for saving me." He says with politeness as though talking to a normal person. This seems to make the creature turn back to him. "Hey! Thanks for saving me from that thing." Jim says gratefully, completely ignoring the fact that the 'person' he's talking to isn't exactly a million miles away from what he's been saved from in terms of 'thing'. This seems to interest the creature, who merely continues to regard him enigmatically. "If I were a dumb kid I'd think I was dreaming." Jim says in a friendly manner. "Only dumb kids dream?" The creature quips to him, in a clearly human tone, although the voice is deep and resonating with a gravelly non-human tone. Jim continues the conversation politely. "Would you mind telling me what you are?" He asks, in a perfectly natural reaction to such a bizarre situation. "The more I tell you about myself, the less you know." The creature replies cryptically. Jim recognises the hint easily enough; "You don't wanna tell me." He says. "I will.....in time." The creature reassures him, before offering to show him the way home. "I know the way home." Jim says confidently. "By foot? Toad Boy stole your boat." The creature tells him. "How do you know?" Jim asks him, knowing that the creature's been with him all the time and couldn't possibly have seen where Toad Boy went. The creature doesn't answer, merely continuing to regard Jim enigmatically before leaving. Jim follows.
Boy, there's a lot of inbreeding in these little towns!
Meanwhile, elsewhere, the dwarf is on the ground with his assailant towering above him wielding a vicious cosh. "Compliments of Dr. Arcane" The thug sneers as he starts to beat the screaming dwarf senseless.
"Toad Boy? You mean he mutated or something?" Jim asks the creature as they walk home together. "Strange things here" is the creature's succinct reply. "I'm used to strange things. I'm from Philadelphia." He tells the creature about himself: About how he has a thing for loving to wander around different neighbourhoods late at night (strange kid!). He sneaks out after his mother, Tressa is asleep in bed. "You'd be surprised some of the things I see" He says (what could *possibly* be stranger than what he's seeing at the moment, I ask!?) Elsewhere, the thug has left the dwarf lying on the ground, bleeding profusely. Back with the odd couple, Jim is continuing to tell the creature about himself. "We've only been down here weeks." He complains about Tressa and seems unhappy that she's ready to go home already. "She was hoping we'd get along better down here because she remembers how it was when she was growing up. I wish she'd go home and leave me here." He jokes about wanting a trial separation. Just then, the creature becomes distracted from the conversation and puts out a hand to hold Jim back. They both look ahead on the ground. "That's him!" Jim exclaims, seeing the dwarf. They both go over and Jim kneels down beside the body, putting his ear close to listen for a heartbeat. He looks sad, and the creature gently moves him away. The dwarf is clearly dead. The creature bends down and puts a huge hand over the dwarf's forehead. The air around them is bathed in a luminous and mysterious green light. All around, the swamp seems to be listening. Suddenly, it's as though something returns suddenly to the dwarf, and he wakes with a start. Immediately, he sees the creature and runs in panic, screaming, despite Jim's shout that he's a friend. Just then, a bird gives a call, and the creature recognises what it means. He looks round. He seems to develop some sense of urgency. "He'll make it back to town. Now go now! That path." He indicates the direction for Jim to go in. "Hurry!" he says concertedly. Jim is hesitant. "What if he doesn't make it? This swamp is....." "ME! The Swamp is me. *I* am The Swamp!" He looks deeply at Jim, who leaves.
As Jim leaves, we see the thug watching them from the bushes. He leaves, and the creature turns to follow him, totally aware of his presence. They confront each other. Plucking a piece of grass from his mouth, the thug turns, grinning broadly. "You tried to kill something in this Swamp." The creature tells him grimly. The thug arrogantly tells him it's "Just a dwarf". "You will never try it again!" Is the creature's grave reply. The burly thug just laughs and attacks with a punch. He's easily blocked, and judging by the sound effects, his hand is crushed effortlessly in the creature's grip. He's thrown to the ground with so little effort that he may just have been a dwarf himself. He crawls backwards away from the creature, now afraid and begging not to be killed. The creature picks him up and backs him against a tree, and merely stares at him. The man gives a brief smile, thinking he's going to be all right as the creature backs off. However, a sudden startled look begins a bizarre metamorphosis. Shoots are beginning to entwine round him from the tree. His body starts to turn to bark and roots begin to issue forth from his shoes. He screams.
In the swamp, a strange tree is standing there, all twisted and gnarled. Looking at it closely, it's vaguely manlike, with a gnarled part of it's trunk resembling a tortured human face akin to something out of the painting 'The Scream'. As we see the tree closer, an eye opens. someone in there is still alive and sentient!
Just as Hurd thought that the day couldn't get any worse,
he saw a pack of Labradors approaching him eagerly
In Houma, Arcane and a lady friend are walking hand in hand back to his car. He opens the car door for her and she gets in. He walks around to get in himself when he looks across the street and sees the dwarf sitting on some steps eating. He looks interested and beams with pleasure. "Humphrey!?" He exclaims. On seeing and hearing the Doctor, Humphrey shrieks and gets to his feet in a panic. Arcane moves towards him with a malevolent smile. Humphrey runs shrieking into a nearby alley. Arcane follows. In the alley, Humphrey tries to get through a door but finds it locked. In his panic he opens a gate and runs down some steps, but the door at the bottom is also locked. He's cornered. "My, my. Nobody home?" Arcane sneers cruelly at him from the top of the steps. "Keep away! Keep away!" Humphrey cries in terror as Arcane advances down the stairs like a predator. The scene fades out.
At the Langford house, Tressa is seated on the porch. Savannah joins her, looking like she's been doing some gardening. "Jim still packing?" Tressa asks her. Savannah confirms this. Tressa seems deep in thought. "I was thinking of taking a walk in the swamp." She says. "Well, there's time. The taxi'll be a while yet." Savannah tells her. She goes to the seat and moves Tressa over, sitting down beside her, obvious that Tressa is concerned. They look at each other in contemplation. "Let Jim stay here this summer." Savannah requests. Tressa shakes her head slowly; more in depressed contemplation than refusal though. Savannah continues; "You have to go back. You do important work: Psychological research. It's important to a lot of people; but what does he have to go back to? It's not as if he has a large circle of friends." Tressa agrees. "He's no friends at all. He can make them, but his lying drives them away." She's at a loss to know why he does it, saying she's taken him to the best child psychologists on the market; "He told the woman Jim Kipp wasn't his real name." She says, looking downwards; "His father was a liar too." There's a faint trace of bitterness in her voice at his mention. "And you did your fair share when you were his age." Savannah counters. Tressa looks taken aback. Savannah reminds her about a heart shaped Emerald she was given by Savannah and her father for her 12th birthday. "You told us it was stolen. You'd lost it, carelessly." Savannah looks sympathetic, rather than reproachful though; "Sometimes lying is less painful than telling the truth." Tressa looks at her pleadingly. "Mom, if you want to help; help me find my way back to my child." She asks. "Right now you're bad for him. He needs time off from you.....Give it to him." Is Savannah's calm, but blunt reply. Tressa ponders this, but doesn't appear to like the answer. She gets up and walks away into the edge of the swamp. There it seems much more peaceful and less confusing. All around her are the sights and sounds of nature. She looks at the trees, the beautiful flowers; listens to all the sounds of the fauna. She sits in a tree hollow resembling a throne like chair. As she sits and considers everything she notices something glinting beside her, hanging from a branch. It's the emerald heart pendant! She gazes at it in awe, drawing closer. As she does so it seems to glow in the centre, and a wave of peace and understanding seems to overcome her. She smiles benignly, understands; then gets up and leaves. As she goes, we become aware that the branch the emerald was hanging from was really the swamp creature's hand, perfectly blended into the surrounding foliage.
Emeralds are a girl's best friend!
The scene cuts to Arcane and his lady friend entering a bizarre and mysterious cave. The place is eerie. All around the walls are little alcoves in which strange mutated creatures are chained up. The woman walks in while Arcane remains standing in the entrance, proudly surveying it all. We're starting to see the real Arcane now he's in his private sanctum. The woman looks around, obviously disliking the place; "What a dump! I don't look good in this kind of light." she says. Arcane saunters in and approaches her, smiling. "Do you know why I'm showing you my cave?" He asks calmly. "Because you're a kicked out loony toon?" She makes the mistake of replying. Arcane lets this go with a laugh....albeit a dangerous one. "Wrong. I want you to be more afraid of you than you are." She doesn't look like the smartest of people, but she's quite capable of taking the hint. "I'm real afraid of you....always will be." She replies. He ushers her to the alcoves. "Come and meet some of my glorious failures." he announces as he presents the mutations within to her. He approaches the first, a small and wizened thing with leathery wings; "I call this one....I've forgotten. What do I call you?" He teases the mutant callously, clearly relishing it's torment. It can only answer with moans and guttural sounds. He moves on to the next alcove containing another humanoid figure with a pig-like featured head. "It's hard to believe that they were once as human as you and I." He says casually.
Watch this show too often and you could get like this!
"How'd they get like this?" She asks him. He passes a chained up human woman, although all she can do is stare and drool; her mind gone. "Genetic engineering." He answers; "Translocation of phenomenal genetic material from one species to another." He herds her away from the alcoves, putting his arm round her. "Did I tell you that I graduated from a major medical school at age 19....a genius." He announces smugly, showing absolutely no modesty whatsoever. "Imagine what I could accomplish if I'd used all my talents for the good of Humankind?" He states (clearly indicating that good intentions are the last things on his mind.) "Looks to me like you do this just for fun!" The woman makes an astute observation. He pauses, then beams with sudden glee, reaching for a trolley to which the dwarf from earlier is strapped to. he pulls it to them. "And this, my salacious dish, is Humphrey!" He announces in a now excited and animated fashion. "I was going to turn him into a normal sized man, but he escaped twice." He bends over the helpless dwarf. "Having a bit of Deja-Voodoo?" He gloats, lording his power over his bound victim. "You shouldn't have survived my goon's headbreaker, Humphrey." He says disapprovingly. "It wasn't my fault. Some freak of nature brought me back to life." Humphrey tries to plead his case. At the mention of this, Arcane's mood changes. There is recognition and bitterness in his face. He's brought down to earth. "I can't tell you how sick and tired I am of that..." He spits the words venomously; ".....swamp thing's interference in my affairs". He clearly has a long history with this 'swamp thing'. He appears more unhinged now, pouncing suddenly towards Humphrey. "I don't know whether to kill you right now or proceed with the experiment. You do want to be a normal sized man.....don't you?" He asks the dwarf, who shakes his head vigorously, saying he's perfectly happy as he is. Humphrey looks to the side while he's saying this, towards the mutants chained up. Arcane sees him do this and assumes him to be looking at his woman, who is standing in the same direction that Humphrey is looking in. He becomes angry, accusing the dwarf of ogling his woman. He grabs the woman's arm and drags her roughly beside him. Humphrey protests his innocence emphatically. "How should I punish him for lusting after you?" Arcane asks the woman softly, even seductively, getting real close to her. "Just make it quick, will ya. I'm cold is all." She replies. Arcane goes over to a nearby spotlight and switches it on her. He turns to face the dwarf. "You know what, Humph; I've decided that I'm not going to punish you after all." He stands arrogantly, hands in pockets, and beaming broadly. "Well, you've had enough punishment for one day, haven't you?" Humphrey nods, not arguing with this. "What you need for a change....is pleasure." Arcane continues, with an obvious glance to the woman; and a knack of making magnanimity and pleasure sound full of latent menace. He unstraps Humphrey and helps him down from the trolley. The woman starts to protest vociferously, saying she's getting sick of all this; but Arcane displays something of a violent streak, hitting her hard across the face. "Well....Go to it, my man!" He orders Humphrey, as he stands there clearly intending to watch. The woman tries to distract and dissuade Arcane; "C'mon, let's go. He's not in the mood." She says. "Well put him in the mood!" Arcane orders her forcefully, grabbing her throat and leaving her in no doubt that he's the type that isn't likely to be dissuaded. Arcane picks up a remote control and switches on a music system. Loud rock music starts to blare out, and the woman starts to dance erotically. Humphrey and Arcane watch her excitedly. Humphrey is standing in front of the trolley, with Arcane having seated himself on it, behind him. Arcane is enjoying himself immensely and jokes with Humphrey, patting him on the back. The dwarf seems oblivious, both enraptured by the dancing and looking down and worried all at the same time. Arcane surveys him with disdain. "You've outlived your uselessness!" He says quietly to Humphrey, as he pulls out a small handgun from his jacket pocket and puts it to the back of the oblivious dwarf's head. He pulls back the hammer and starts to squeeze the trigger.
Outside, there is a violent lightning flash, and a gunshot is heard.
Care for a game of Doctors and Nurses!?
At the Langford house there are two suitcases on the porch. A boat has pulled up outside. Jim arrives with a third case and Savannah helps him
carry the luggage outside. As they go outside, Jim's walk is slouched and despondent. Savannah comforts him. "Mrs. Langford!....Hey, buddy!" A
voice shouts to them as a young blond man from the boat greets them. Savannah introduces him to Jim as Oboe Hardison; and introduces the boy
to Oboe as Jim Kipp. "It's not my real name." Is Jim's reply, the lying starting already; but Oboe merely laughs good-naturedly, saying that Oboe's
not his real name either. They sound like kindred spirits already.
Make the most of it guys, none of you are
going to be in the series for long!
"Wait!" Tressa's voice suddenly shouts from the house as she starts running towards them. She turns to Oboe. "Take those" She says, pointing to her cases; "but not Jim's" She turns to Jim. "I wish I could stay too." She says, smiling at him. They hug and Jim thanks her. "Thanks, Mom." Tressa tells Savannah, smiling serenely. Jim's overjoyed and runs to the house, shouting for joy; and spilling open his case in his enthusiasm, sending clothes flying all over the garden. "I'm staying! I'm staying. Did you hear that!? I'm staying!!" he yells to nobody in particular. Tressa and Savannah look at each other and laugh. Jim runs excitedly into the swamp. Tressa turns back to Savannah. "You know I did lose the emerald heart....but I found it again." They hug. Tressa gets into the boat with Oboe. As she leaves, she waves goodbye.
Jim is running through the swamp, lost in enthusiasm, still shouting for joy that she's letting him stay. From the hidden safety of the bushes, the Swamp Thing is watching him. He almost seems to smile.