| BACK
TO DESIGN DOC
The Player finds a guillotine in the Death room. It is a
fully operational device that the Player can mess around with
by pulling on the rope, locking the blade in place, and flipping
the stop-latch. (The sound effect for the blade dropping should
be visceral.) There is a basket in front of the device to
catch a head.
The Blue Angel appears and speaks to the Player.
BLUE ANGEL: (tour guide voice) For safety reasons we ask
to not play with the guillotine. The blade is sharp! Do not
put your head in the locking head-hole! The blade falls at
21 feet per second and cuts off the head in 2 one hundredths
of a second. Isn't that nice?
A voice calls from the basket.
LOUIS XVI: (French accent) Hey! Hey! In here! Get me out
of ziss theeng! Ziss is intolerable!
If the Player looks into the basket they will see the severed
head of LOUIS XVI staring back at them.
LOUIS XVI: (grumpily) That bastard Guillotine
END TABLEAU
INT. WORKSHOP. DAY.
DR. JOSEPH GUILLOTINE is in his workshop. A prototype for
the guillotine is behind him. He is talking to someone offscreen.
GUILLOTINE: (with extreme pride) It is beautiful, is it not?
An elegant machine. My lovely creature. I tell you this: every
man and woman has the right to be executed in the quickest,
most humane manner possible. Hanging! Pah! It's beastly. I've
seen many hangings where the victim lingered there for hours.
Hours, I say! That is cruel and insufferable. You asked me
how I came up with this invention. And I will tell you. I
believe that every condemned person-not just the nobility-has
the right to a beheading. I said as much in my speech to the
Constitutional Assembly not just last week. They seemed very
pleased with my idea and are considering adopting it for all
executions. Ah! The Revolutionary Council is made up of such
humane men-men of honor! (pause) Yes. Painless death. That
is all I ask. And death by decapitation is the quickest, most
painless form of death there is. The instant the head is detached
from the body the soul is on its way to heaven! (he flaps
his arms like an angel) Since I am a doctor I have been able
to procure several corpses for test runs. The weight of the
blade assures a clean, decisive stroke! And the speed is remarkable!
It happens in the blink of an eye! It's really a beautiful
thing to see. I wish I had a body here now to show you. (looks
around for something) But look! Here's the thing. We'll put
this melon in the stock-hole. See how it is held rigidly.
No matter how hard the victim squirms in terror, they will
not wriggle free. (he lets the blade drop and the melon is
sliced in two) Once I saw an axeman miss his target. He chopped
off the top of the poor fellow's cranium. The bastard's brains
were exposed like this melon here and he was cursing the axeman,
demanding his gold coin back! For as you probably know, in
our country, you pay the axeman a gold coin to do his job
cleanly. (laughing) Well, my pet here will save the condemned
a pretty penny and put the axeman out of business all together!
It needs some work, however, to make it perfect. And that
is why I have asked you to come to my workshop. Your skills
as an inventor come highly recommended to me and I would have
you help me refine my creation. So what do you think, Dr.
de Villeneuve?
A man walks up to the guillotine and we see that it is DR.
STAUF. He runs his hand over the frame, then turns and smiles
at DR. GUILLOTINE.
DR. STAUF: Monsieur. I would be honored to help you in this
honorable pursuit. We might start with the positioning of
the blade.
DR. GUILLOTINE: The blade, monsieur? Yes?
DR. STAUF: If it were placed at an angle it would cut even
faster and more cleanly.
DR. GUILLOTINE: (with keen interest) Indeed?
DR. STAUF: (smiling) I think you and I are going to get along
quite well, monsieur.
The two speak excitedly as we FADE OUT
Encounter 1: The Player will come across Dr. Guillotine
wandering through the house. He has a horrified expression
on his face and says: "They weren't supposed to use it
like that. I invented it for humane purposes. And those demons
turned it into something evil. They almost put me in the damned
thing!"
Encounter 2: If the Player clicks on a wastepaper
basket sitting next to a desk, they will see the severed head
of LOUIS XVI. He says: "Of all the kingdoms in the world,
I had to be King of the French!"
Encounter 3: The Player sees a painting depicting
a guillotine execution from the French Revolution. The characters
come to life for a moment, screaming with excitement. The
Blue Angel is one of the people in the mob, and she turns
to the Player and says: "Nobody really knows how many
were executed during the Revolution-there were thousands upon
thousands. The Guillotine came to be known as "The National
Razor."
A gold coin from the reign of Louis XVI. Coin becomes basket,
looking down into it the bloody and severed head of Louis
comes to life.
A miniature guillotine with a doll strapped to the board.
A severed melon dripping juice like blood.
Various tools from Dr. Guillotine's workshop
back to top
 BACK
TO DESIGN DOC
|
