9 Page #2

We hear EXPLOSIONS and SCREAMS outside.

We see the scientist cobbling together another SMALL BURLAPDOLL, a little more evolved.

He labels it “5,” then makes notes in a journal.

TITLE CARD #5

SCIENTIST:

(his voice a mere whisper

now)

Five so far....I can’t get themright...

DISSOLVE TO:

TITLE CARD #6

INT. SCIENTIST’S LAB - ANOTHER DAY

RADIO (V.O.)

(through static)

Gas masks are being distributed...

ALERT:
beware....

We see the scientist desperately grabbing bits and scraps forone last doll. He is like a skeleton, almost no energy left.

RADIO (V.O.) (cont’d)

...deadly gas....

The radio voice dies out. We hear nothing but STATIC.

TITLE CARD #7

6.

The scientist totters over, makes a note in his journal. He

clutches the little box, and suspends this last doll with arope in a strange contraption.

SCIENTIST:

(a feeble whisper)

My last one... this one, finally,

must work... it must....

TITLE CARD #8

The SOUND of the scientist collapsing to the floor.

DISSOLVE TO:

...........................................................

SEQ. 020 - Attic

SEQ. 020 - INT. WORKSHOP - DAY

The thin strand of rope stretches... stretches... and

CRAAAACK.

The rope SNAPS, and---

a SMALL BURLAP FIGURE falls onto the table.

As he falls, he is yanked free from a large, circular

Machine.

He had been attached with the fraying rope and a long cable,

attached to him by the TALISMAN. The cable still dangles

from the Machine, but the force of his fall pulls the

Talisman off.

The little burlap figure pulls himself to his feet, shaking

his head. Falling free from the connecting cable has finally

awakened him.

He is made up of odd patchwork items: burlap, a thick zipper,

big round gas-mask eyes (which we recognize as what we saw

before, in the title sequence).

We pull around to see the number "9" painted on his back.

We pull back further to see...

7.

SEQ. 020 - INT. RUINED WORKSHOP - EERIE, INDETERMINATE

DAYLIGHT:

...he is on the tabletop in the RUINS OF A SMALL ROOM.

Splintered BITS OF WALL jut up to the open sky. Rotted

FLOORBOARDS are BENT and WARPED. The room is full of years

of DUST and ROT. Dust hangs in the feeble rays of dirty

sunlight.

The table and floor are covered with the same kinds of scraps

and raw materials from which “9” is made: burlap, hinges,

bits of Machinery.

"9" blinks and turns around, his head darting this way and

that, trying to make sense of his surroundings.

He walks over to the edge of the tabletop. He peers over, and

sees...

...the SCIENTIST LYING DEAD ON THE FLOOR.

Slumped on the floor, we clearly see: the scientist’s

skeletal hand is clutching a tiny box.

He hears a clattering sound and turns to see

A loose window shutter. He goes over to the window.

He pushes opens the window to see-

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