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Short filmTranscript
00:00In Virginia, the high school astronomy club has met at night to look at the stars with their
00:04telescopes. Leo Biederman is confused because he notices something in the sky that he can't
00:08identify, so his teacher asks him to take a picture to send to a professional astronomer.
00:12The pictures reach an observatory in Arizona, where Dr. Wolf uses his huge telescope to double
00:17check the information. To his shock, he discovers a comet that will crash on Earth. He immediately
00:22tries to email this information, but the server is down. Instead he puts the information in a
00:26floppy disk, naming the comet Wolf Biederman. Then Wolf drives down the mountain while still
00:31trying to call his superiors on his cell phone, but he keeps getting sent to voicemail. At the same
00:35time, a truck is coming from the opposite side and the driver is distracted when he accidentally
00:39drops a cigarette on his lap. Since Wolf is also distracted by his phone, they don't see each
00:44other in their vehicle's crash. Wolf's car falls off the mountain and catches on fire. A year later
00:49in Washington DC, news researcher Jenny begs her boss to let her become an anchor, but her boss
00:54refuses as always. Instead she tells her to research the sudden resignation of the secretary of the
00:58treasury. During lunch Jenny meets with her mother Robin, who reveals that her ex-husband Jason has
01:03gotten married to a new woman and they have twins together. Later Jenny meets with the secretary's
01:07assistant and learns that he quit after talking to the president about Ellie, who the assistant guesses
01:11was a mistress. Jenny manages to track the secretary down and finds him leaving with his family on a
01:16boat full of supplies. The man freezes when Jenny mentions Ellie and asks her for some compassion if she
01:20releases the story, explaining he only quit to be with his family. On her way back, Jenny's car is
01:25surrounded by black vehicles that hit hers until she pulls over. It turns out it's the Secret Service,
01:30who drag Jenny into their own car to take her to a restaurant. Jenny is surprised to find President
01:35Beck waiting for her and his pronunciation makes her realize the secret is not the name Ellie but the
01:39initials E-L-E. Beck explains he'll talk about the subject in two days during a press conference and
01:43asks her not to say anything until then, promising to give her the first question as a reward.
01:47When she returns to the office, Jenny searches the term E-L-E on the internet and is taken to
01:52a
01:52paleontology website. It turns out E-L-E stands for Extinction Level Event and it refers to the
01:57comet that killed the dinosaurs. That night Jenny meets with her father Jason and his new wife.
02:02They're sad that she didn't attend their wedding and even gift Jenny some fancy earrings, but Jenny
02:06can't stop thinking about the incoming tragedy. After drinking a lot, she tells her dad to get back
02:10together with Robin and leaves. On the day of the conference, Jenny's boss is in the last row while Jenny
02:15herself gets the second. President Beck tells everyone about the Wolf-Biedermann comet, which
02:20is bigger than Mount Everest and will strike Earth in one year. The USA has teamed up with Russia to
02:24build a spaceship named Messiah that will intercept the comet and blow it up. Beck also introduces
02:29everyone to the Messiah crew, who appears on a video conference to explain how they'll land the
02:33ship on the comet to plant the warheads. The president asks everyone to continue life as normal and not
02:37to do any hoarding, so he'll be freezing all wages and prices. As promised Beck chooses Jenny first for
02:43questions, so she takes a risk and asks three, bringing up the subject of the secretary's
02:47resignation. Beck has no choice but to admit human survival is at stake, but he believes there's no
02:52reason to panic because they'll win this fight. Another reporter asks about the discovery, so Beck
02:56explains that the scientists who found the comet were killed in a car crash. At home, Leo's family
03:01hears the name and wonders if it's about them. Soon all the neighbors are showing up at their house to
03:05ask questions. A few days later Leo is on every newspaper and magazine. He gives a conference at his
03:11school sharing what really happened and all the kids think he's cool now. Meanwhile the Messiah
03:15crew has a party to share a happy day with their families before dedicating themselves to training
03:1924-7. That night they go to a bar and they discuss the risks of the mission. Because of the
03:24comet's
03:24rotational period, the crew only has a seven-hour window to land on the comet before the sun rises.
03:29They'll need to work fast because if the comet is reached by sunlight, there'll be dangerous gas
03:33eruptions. Two months later, the crew finally leaves Earth on a space shuttle that will take them to
03:38the station where the Messiah was built. All news outlets cover the launch and explain that Messiah
03:42was originally a project called Orion that the Russians developed for nuclear warfare. It's
03:46powered by a prototype nuclear propulsion system which will allow the crew to reach the comet before
03:51it gets too close to Earth. The crew is transferred from the shuttle to the Messiah successfully and
03:55now they have a long journey ahead of them to find the comet. Five months later reporters all over
03:59the world get ready to cover the Messiah's landing and Jenny is shocked to learn she's finally getting to be
04:03an anchor since she was the one who broke the story. Meanwhile the crew finally gets to see the comet
04:08and are amazed by its size. They start getting the warheads ready, carefully moving them around in
04:13zero-g. On Earth, Jenny explains to the viewers that the Messiah will have to fly through the comet's
04:17tail, which is full of rocks, sand, and ice. Soon the Messiah starts flying through the tail and the
04:23pilots do their best to avoid all the potential hazards. However there are too many rocks and they're
04:27all huge, so the ship is still hit a couple of times. Thankfully the damage is minimal and the
04:32Messiah safely lands on the comet. Now the crew has six hours and 18 minutes to finish the mission
04:36before sunrise. The astronauts come out with a special machine that immediately starts drilling.
04:41For the few first hours things go well, but eventually the drill gets stuck. The hole they've
04:45made so far isn't deep enough for the warheads to do any real damage, so someone will have to go
04:50down
04:50and free the drill to finish the mission. With only 20 minutes left, the pilots on the ship realize the
04:55crew is taking too long and they won't have time to come back. They decide to fly closer to rescue
04:59them,
04:59although this means they may not have enough fuel later to go back to Earth.
05:03Commander Monash goes down the hole and discovers it opens up into a cave, which caused the drill to
05:07get hammed against the side. After lots of pulling and even jumping on it, Monash manages to free the
05:12drill up and starts climbing out as fast as possible. The pilots arrive with the ship but must stop flying
05:17to save fuel, so they land at a running distance behind the crew. Unfortunately they run out of time and
05:21the sun comes out. Little by little the comet is reached by light so the astronauts cover their visors
05:26with solar shields. A gas eruption shoots Monash out of the hole before he can finish climbing and
05:31doesn't give him time to cover his visor, so his face gets burned. The crew manages to catch him by
05:36his tether cable and reel him in before they start running toward the ship. Gas keeps blasting from the
05:40ground above them and unfortunately hits the medical officer, who is set flying into open space. The rest of
05:45the crew get to the Messiah just in time and the ship flies away before the temperature gets worse.
05:49Some astronauts wish to rescue the doctor, but they don't have the fuel or the time to do so.
05:54Monash's face is in a terrible state and he can't see, so now Captain Tanner is in charge.
05:59Earth receives an update on the mission. The crew has planted the warheads but lost a man in the process.
06:03Jenny reads a few words to honor the doctor's memory. Once the Messiah is at a safe distance,
06:08the crew detonates the warheads. The shockwave caused by the explosion reaches the ship,
06:13making it shake like crazy and interrupting its transmission to Earth. The astronauts rush to
06:17minimize the damage and stop any possible fire before it even begins, helping the ship stabilize pretty
06:22quickly. The crew discusses what to do now and considering the damage on the ship, they agree
06:26to go home. Moments later President Beck receives bad news and has to share them with the country as
06:31carefully as possible. It turns out the warhead detonation only succeeded in breaking the comet
06:35in half, and the resulting pieces are still big enough to cause catastrophic damage to the planet.
06:40Both pieces are heading toward Earth and NASA has lost all contact with the Messiah,
06:43so they don't know if the crew is alive. Beck announces that the government has been excavating
06:47shelter caverns in the cliffs of Missouri to use as a bunker, which will be able to contain 1 million
06:52people plus enough animal and plant life to repopulate the Earth after everything is over.
06:56200,000 people have been already selected, including leaders, doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers,
07:02soldiers, and artists. In one month, a national lottery will choose the other 800,000 people.
07:08The details of the lottery procedure are sent to Jenny, who shares them on her show. The lottery drawing
07:13will be in August and pick the winners by their social security numbers. However people who are
07:17over 50 years old can't participate unless they're part of the chosen scientists needed to rebuild.
07:22Leo's family soon gets a call telling them they're part of the preselected group.
07:25With only four weeks left before impact, Jenny visits Robin, who won't be part of the lottery.
07:30Jenny admits she thinks it's unfair she was preselected since she's only a journalist.
07:34Meanwhile Leo proposes to his girlfriend Sarah so she can legally be his family too and come to the
07:39bunker. Sarah doesn't want to leave her parents behind, but Leo promises to use his fame to get
07:43them in. As days pass, people all over the country panic and looters begin to set abandoned stores on
07:48fire. The flames aren't put off because firefighters are busy preparing the shelters. The rest of the
07:53world isn't doing well either. The major cities in Latin America have been taken over by looting gangs
07:58and in Moscow, people fight over food and fuel as the shortages continue. Two weeks before impact,
08:03Tanner does some calculations before checking on Monash. His face is free of blisters now,
08:07but his eyes are still damaged. The only thing he can occasionally see is flashes of light.
08:12Tanner decides to read to him to keep him entertained. When the time comes to evacuate,
08:16the National Guard allows Leo to bring his family and Sarah, but not her family even though Leo made
08:21the request. Sarah refuses to leave her loved ones and chooses to stay, so she has to watch the bus
08:26take
08:26Leo away. In the meantime Jenny is informed Robin has self-deleted. After picking up her possessions from
08:32the morgue, she sits under the rain to grieve. Jason comes to pick her up and reveals his wife left
08:36him to hide with her family. Jenny tells him she feels like an orphan before leaving alone in a cab.
08:41Five days before impact, the chosen people and rescued animals are arriving at the bunker in
08:46the limestone cliffs of Missouri. A crowd is gathered behind the fence asking to be saved too. Leo watches
08:51the desperate people who have brought their babies and hears a soldier say they'll be in the bunker for
08:55two years. Refusing to continue without Sarah, Leo says goodbye to his family and runs away to rescue his
09:00wife. At the news station, Jason brings Jenny some childhood pictures and says a final goodbye,
09:05leaving her in tears. That night NASA launches a series of missiles known as Titans to hopefully
09:10destroy the comet and Jenny follows their trajectory on her newscast. Fourteen hours later Beck delivers
09:15the results, the missiles have failed so humanity must get ready for impact. The smaller fragment comet
09:20has been named Biedermann and will impact in 12 hours near Cape Hatteras in the Atlantic Ocean.
09:24This means its tsunami will reach the US eastern coast and destroy very important cities like New York
09:29and Philadelphia. The main body of the comet called Wolf will land in western Canada several hours later,
09:34and this will be the actual extinction level event. For two days after impact, dust and debris will
09:39fill the sky and keep it dark for two years. Without sunlight, all plant and animal life will die.
09:44Ten hours before impact, Tanner finishes his calculations and announces he has a plan.
09:49They can do nothing about the Biedermann fragment, but he believes they can stop the main Wolf comet to
09:53save humanity. Since the gas eruptions have created a very large fissure that reaches the comet's center,
09:58they can put the remaining warheads into that hole and blow the comet up in small fragments.
10:02The Messiah doesn't have much fuel left, so they can't land on the comet or leave after they're done.
10:07They'll be shooting the ship right into the fissure and dying in the process. It's hard to hear but
10:11the crew agrees they have no other choice. They get in contact with Houston and share their plan to
10:15bring people hope. On Earth, Leo hitchhikes his way home but Sarah and her family are already gone.
10:21He remembers Sarah's father has a bike so he steals it to leave town faster. There's a huge traffic jam
10:26blocking every road but the bike allows Leo to easily move among the cars. He finds Sarah and her parents
10:31tell her to leave with her baby brother. The three youngsters get away on the bike while Sarah's
10:35parents watch them in tears. At the news station, the journalists draw sticks to choose who will go
10:39with Jenny to the bunker. However she feels guilty because her boss has a daughter, so when the
10:44helicopter comes to pick her up, Jenny lets her boss and the child take her place. Afterward Jenny
10:48goes to the beach to find Jason and they reconcile before they agree to wait for the end together.
10:52At that moment people around the world watch the Biedermann fragment coming down in the sky until it hits
10:57the Atlantic Ocean. A gigantic explosion happens and the sky turns dark as a huge tsunami forms.
11:02Soon the wave covers New York, bringing down thousands of buildings and killing every person
11:06who couldn't escape. Jenny and Jason hug on the beach as they are killed too. The Statue of Liberty
11:11is destroyed and its head now floats around with the rest of the debris. The water even reaches the
11:16roads near the coast, so people leave their cars and try to run away in panic to search for higher
11:20ground. Sarah's parents stay, choosing to go out with dignity. Leo, Sarah, and the baby are still
11:26racing uphill but soon they must drop the bike and continue on foot like everyone else.
11:30Two minutes before the second impact, NASA puts the Messiah crew in contact with their families
11:34for a final goodbye. Sadly Monash's wife is stuck in traffic and couldn't make it on time. Tanner's
11:40two sons are on active naval duty and couldn't be reached either, so Tanner prays to his dead wife
11:44saying they'll meet soon. When NASA is about to end the transmission Monash's wife arrives with her
11:48baby and Monash gets his final goodbye as well. Then the countdown begins. The crew says their last
11:54words to each other as the Messiah enters the comet's orbit and makes it through the fissure just in
11:58time. The warheads are detonated and the comet blows up in millions of tiny fragments. On Earth,
12:03Leo and Sarah reach the top of the hill and watch the fragments cover the sky as if they were
12:07fireworks.
12:07A few days later after the waters of the Atlantic Ocean finally recede,
12:11Beck gives a speech acknowledging all the lives lost in every continent and asking people to remember
12:15those losses while they work to rebuild their future.
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