Note: Several weeks after I wrote this piece, I was reading Tom Tomorrow's wonderful book "Hell in a Handbasket" and I realized the script below is similar to his cartoon "The Republican Zone" which he originally published in February of 2005, over a year before I wrote my piece. My piece is different enough so that I feel I can leave it up here, but I have to acknowledge I was probably unconsciously inspired by Tom Tomorrow's work.
THE PARODY ZONE 2
By Richard Nathan
No one is on the stage. The voice of the HOST is heard (either from the wings or from the sound system).
HOST
(off-stage)
There is a world that exists outside the edges
of the imagination, an unearthly realm that
shamelessly rips off a classic television series
of the Nineteen Sixties. Our lawyers have
demanded that we
call this place ... The
Parody Zone.
The "Parody Zone" theme music is played as the host exits.
Light do not come up yet. We hear the voice of a network news ANCHOR.
ANCHOR
(off-stage)
We have confirmed that a flying saucer has
just landed in Washington, D.C. We take
you to the scene.
Lights come up on a television REPORTER.
REPORTER
This is the site where moments ago the
saucer landed. Wait!. A wall on the
side is opening! A ramp is sliding down!
Something is coming out. Something ...
not of this earth!
Enter an ALIEN who resembles George W. Bush, carrying a book. He has a ray gun tucked into his pocket. He pushes the reporter aside.
ALIEN
People of Earth. We come in peace.
REPORTER
Are you...
ALIEN
Shut up! I'm talking here! Is that camera
on? Good! As I was saying, we come
to bring peace to your planet. We have
good intentions. That's because our intentions
are good. But we know you are a war-like
people. You like war. And you have weapons
of mass destruction which you have used on your
own people. You have been evil doers. But
my people are a forgiving people, and we will
forgive you one last chance to cooperate with
us. If you refuse, we will have no choice but to
blow up your planet to bits.
Enter the Host. The Reporter and the Alien freeze while the Host is on the stage.
HOST
Submitted for your approval, the occupant of
a flying saucer, here to offer peace to a
troubled world. But such gifts come at a
price, a price that can only be tallied ... in
The Parody Zone.
Exit the Host.
ALIEN
I brought a book here with me, a book that
tells how to bring peace to your world. It's
called "To Convert Mankind."
The Alien holds the book up. The Reporter takes it and begins to look through it.
ALIEN
If you join with me, together we will use
this book "To Convert Mankind" to change
things so that you can make a valuable
contribution to the forces for peace in the
universe!
REPORTER
Wait a minute! The full title of this book, it's
"To Convert Mankind Into Carbon-Based
Rocket Fuel."
ALIEN
Why do you say that?
REPORTER
It's right here in the book! In English!
ALIEN
English? Are you kidding me?
REPORTER
Any idiot who could read could see
what you're up to!
The reporter holds up the book and turns to the title page. Written on it in huge letters are the title: "TO CONVERT MANKIND INTO CARBON BASED ROCKET FUEL." The Alien grabs the book back and looks at it. Then he speaks into the camera.
ALIEN
Sorry. You shouldn't have seen that. That
version's a classified secret.
The Alien takes out his ray gun and shoots the reporter, who falls dead.
ALIEN
Revealing classified secrets is a capital offense.
It's offensive to capital. Besides, what that
reporter said wasn't true. I have looked into
the matter, and I have found that
I am not the
forerunner of an alien invasion, bent on killing
your entire population and converting you into
rocket fuel. And I hope my word is good enough
for you.
Enter the Host.
HOST
An appeal for blind trust from the most
powerful being on the planet. A situation
that unfortunately is not
confined ... to the
Parody Zone.
BLACKOUT!
THE END
© 2006 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.
Click here to go to other scripts by the same author
Click here for more POLITICAL sketches