Species (1995)
Forest Whitaker: Dan Smithson
Photos
Quotes
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Dan Smithson, Empath : I thought I was dead.
Preston Lennox : I thought you'd drank your last Long Island Iced Tea there, Dan.
Dr. Laura Baker : Yeah, I thought we all had. Hey, you okay?
Dan Smithson, Empath : Yeah, I'm okay. My pants are a little messed up, but I'm okay.
Dr. Laura Baker : She was half us, half something else. I wonder which was the predatory half.
Preston Lennox : The dead half. Let's get the hell out of here.
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Preston Lennox : No one ever asked me to find anything they didn't want dead.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I feel sorry for you.
Preston Lennox : Yeah? That's great. I feel sorry for her.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : She kills if she feels threatened. And she has no remorse about it. None.
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[while drinking Long Island Iced Tea]
Dan Smithson, Empath : These are some good cups of tea, man.
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Victoria Roth, Ph.D. : Are you still having problems with the people at work?
Dan Smithson, Empath : They put the finger on me, saying, I'm the - weird one. I'm the strange one. Why? Because I have feelings? That I feel?
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Dr. Stephen Arden : Have you found any other bodies?
Xavier Fitch : No, we haven't not yet.
Dan Smithson, Empath : You will. She's a predator. Her eyes are in front. Her eyes are in front so she can judge the distance to her prey.
Dr. Stephen Arden : That's right.
Xavier Fitch : Where'd you learn that fact Dan?
Dan Smithson, Empath : I saw it on a documentary on the Discovery channel.
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Dr. Laura Baker : You don't want us to capture her alive so that we can study her?
Preston Lennox : Laura, I think this is strictly a search and destroy operation. Nobody ever asked me to ever find any thing they didn't want dead.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I'm sorry for you.
Preston Lennox : Yeah, well, thank you, Dan. I'm sorry for her.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : I used to be scared of the sight of blood. Now, I'm just getting used to it.
Xavier Fitch : Oh, yes.
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Xavier Fitch : Our laboratory, Visitor Base One, is being moved two blocks from here to some empty virus research labs at the University. They're moving our equipment as we speak. It'll be operational by 8:00. Check into your rooms. Everyone out front in 15 minutes well go on over.
Dr. Stephen Arden : What exactly are we going to do when we go on over?
Xavier Fitch : Process the evidence we've collected on the train.
Dr. Laura Baker : Couldn't we try growing this creature with just its own DNA? We make up a version without including ours this time, so we can investigate its vulnerabilities.
Dan Smithson, Empath : That'd be good. Then I can know how it feels.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Makes sense. This human life form could be a mask. If we could see it without the camouflage...
Xavier Fitch : You're right. You're right. Then at least we know what we were dealing with.
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Xavier Fitch : The video enhancement is not all that great.
Dr. Stephen Arden : How old do you think she is? 20? 23?
Dr. Laura Baker : Her reproductive system should be fully developed.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Her biological clock must be in hyper-drive.
Dan Smithson : She wants to have a baby.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Well, if she manages to have a child, our problems have just started. If her offspring is male, and it develops at the same accelerated rate as Sil, it could be capable of reproduction in less than 6 months. God knows how many females it could impregnate.
Preston Lennox : [on the phone] Fitch?
Dr. Stephen Arden : You see when a predatory species is introduced into a closed ecological system, the extinction of the weaker species is inevitable.
Xavier Fitch : They found the murdered guy's BMW. Ran out of gas in Santa Monica.
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Xavier Fitch : What's happening? Kills a girl at the club, comes home with this guy and kills him.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Well I'd say she fits the classic definition of a psychopath. She's got nothing to inhibit her. No moral sense, no social structure
Dr. Laura Baker : Well she wasn't exactly smothered with a mother's love, or taught good manners, you know what I mean?
Xavier Fitch : I asked what was happening.
Dan Smithson : He did something to her. She was angry.
Dr. Stephen Arden : She'll kill if she feels threatened. She'll kill anyone that gets in her way?
Xavier Fitch : Gets in her way of what?
Dr. Laura Baker : Her life cycle. I think she's trying to mate. Reproduce.
Xavier Fitch : Okay, so why did she kill the girl at the club?
Dan Smithson : Sexual competition.
Preston Lennox : She's pretty hard on the competition.
Xavier Fitch : And now she's managed to mate.
Preston Lennox : It doesn't look like a successful mating to me. He's still got his pants on.
Dan Smithson : She's frustrated.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Who isn't.
Xavier Fitch : What is her problem? He was here. She was here.
Dr. Laura Baker : All right, maybe she rejected him. She probably has some special kind of senses. Rats can sense diseased or genetic damage in their potential mates, So we can test his body for any hereditary diseases, any defects that would have made him a loser, essentially.
Preston Lennox : Needles. Maybe he was some kind of a doper or a diabetic.
Dr. Laura Baker : Yeah. Well, either way would have made him unacceptable. Excuse me. All right. Insulin. Diabetic. There you have it.
Xavier Fitch : Well, she could have just walked out. Why did she have to kill him?
Dr. Laura Baker : Well, I guess he pissed her off.
Dan Smithson : Some men don't like to get rejected. They get insistent.
Xavier Fitch : Put an APB out on this guy's car.
Aide : It's already happened.
Xavier Fitch : I'll go back to the motel. I want to check it out thoroughly.
Preston Lennox : More docile and controllable, huh, Fitch?
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Preston Lennox : Well... I guess we all must be here for the same reason, whatever that is.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I'm Dan Smithson. And I don't know why I'm here either. But they said they needed me, and that it was very important so I came.
Dr. Stephen Arden : What do you do, Dan?
Dan Smithson, Empath : I... I'm an empath. Sometimes they show me awful things that people have done, and then I try to tell them why they did it.
Preston Lennox : What qualifies you for that?
Dan Smithson, Empath : I feel things deeply, that's all.
Preston Lennox : [smiling] What am I feeling right now?
Dan Smithson, Empath : You want to believe that nothing affects you, that you're not afraid of anything. But you're curious just like the rest of us.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Stephen Arden. Harvard Anthropology Department. Expert at cross-cultural behavior.
Dr. Laura Baker : Laura Baker. Hi. Molecular biologist. Hi. And who are you and what do you do?
Preston Lennox : Preston Lennox. And if I'm here I think the shit has definitely hit the fan.
Dr. Stephen Arden : What exactly is your area of specialty, Mr. Lennox?
Preston Lennox : Let's just say I am a freelance solution to some of our government's problems.
Dr. Stephen Arden : And what exactly might they be?
Preston Lennox : The kind that people don't usually like to talk about.
Dan Smithson, Empath : You hunt people, don't you?
Preston Lennox : I guess so.
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Xavier Fitch : Mr. Lennox?
Preston Lennox : Yeah.
Xavier Fitch : As the... Well, the non-scientist amongst us, are you at all clear about what's going on here?
Preston Lennox : Oh, I think so. You created a monster with some kind of formula you got from outer space. The damn thing got away, and now you want us to hunt it down and kill it. Now, is that pretty close?
Xavier Fitch : I guess.
Dr. Laura Baker : Wait a minute. You don't want us to capture her alive so that we can study her?
Preston Lennox : Laura, I think this is strictly a search-and-destroy operation. Nobody ever asked me to find anything they didn't want dead.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I'm sorry for you.
Preston Lennox : Yeah. Well, thank you, Dan. I'm sorry for her.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : [holding a picture of Sil and John Carey] we found this in the living room. She liked him.
[Gives the picture to Press to look at]
Preston Lennox : Well, not enough. Can't see any more of that than we did on the video monitor.
Xavier Fitch : He didn't get a very good picture of her, did he?
Aide : Criminologist say there's no evidence of semen in the hot tub water.
Preston Lennox : [sarcastically] well, maybe she took it with.
Dr. Laura Baker : So she probably hasn't managed to mate.
Dan Smithson, Empath : We interrupted her.
Xavier Fitch : Yes, I think we did. Give me something I can use.
Preston Lennox : What have you come up with lately, Fitch?
Dan Smithson, Empath : She's not scared of us, that's for sure.
Xavier Fitch : We're all beat. We'll go back to the hotel and get some rest.
Sil : [reading Fitch's lips] Tomorrow night we'll go back to the club.
Xavier Fitch , Sil : Stake it out.
Preston Lennox : She's not stupid. She's not going to repeat herself.
Dr. Stephen Arden : There's no point going back there. It provided such a poor specimen.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I'm not so sure.
Xavier Fitch : Look, she's been in the city two days. It's what she knows. And I'd rather try the club than sit around the command center reminiscing about how close we got.
Dr. Laura Baker : [in car driving back to the hotel] she would make one excellent biological weapon. If someone out there thought we were some kind of galactic weed that was going to spread through the universe.
Preston Lennox : So what you're saying is that she's the cure and where the disease.
Dr. Laura Baker : That's well said.
Preston Lennox : "Baker, Laura, 1735 Meander Drive, Simi Valley, California" that's you right?
Dr. Laura Baker : Last time I checked.
Preston Lennox : What do you do for kicks out there in Simi Valley?
Dr. Laura Baker : Oh, pine for guys like you.
Preston Lennox : [smiling] That's what I thought
[they both laugh]
Dr. Stephen Arden : [inside the hotel] So anyone hungry?
Dr. Laura Baker : Uh no, thanks. I'm beat. I'm just going to try to get some sleep. Good night.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Yeah, good night.
Dan Smithson, Empath : I'll have something to eat with you.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Thanks, Dan.
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Aide : We block the road in both directions. The press is going apeshit. We've got to tell them something.
Xavier Fitch : Well you tell them what you want. You just don't tell them the truth.
Preston Lennox : I don't buy her showing up at the club like that. Too damn convenient.
Xavier Fitch : Well, seeing is believing, or don't you trust your own eyes?
Preston Lennox : Get back! Get back get all these people back!
Dan Smithson, Empath : Fitch. Fitch! It doesn't feel right.
Aide : Sir. We found what looks like a severed thumb in the pocket of one of the doors that got ripped off.
Dr. Laura Baker : Here, let me see that.
Dr. Stephen Arden : She may have caught it in the door trying to get out.
Dr. Laura Baker : We'll get it over to the lab. If it's hers, it'll check out. It'll be genetically identifiable.
Xavier Fitch : It's all over, everyone. Tomorrow you can go back to your lives. Congratulations congratulations on a job well done.
Preston Lennox : [as Fitch walks off] just like that, huh, Fitch? I don't think so.
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Xavier Fitch : Good evening, I'm Xavier Fitch. I'm in charge of this operation, would you sit a little closer please?
[They all sit closer]
Xavier Fitch : in November of 1974, a small group from S.E.T.I. S-E-T-I, search for extraterrestrial intelligence, used the radio dishes at Arecibo to send out a message to whoever might be listening. They sent about a quarter of a kilobyte including structure of human DNA, a map of our solar system, population of the Earth. Helpful facts like that. In January of 1993, Arecibo received a message back from an extraterrestrial unknown source.
Dan Smithson, Empath : That's great.
Dr. Laura Baker : Intelligent life beyond this planet?
Xavier Fitch : Yes. There were two distinct communications. The first message turned out to be a superior catalyst for methane. We now have the potential to produce an infinite amount of energy from this clean burning fuel. This convinced us that we were dealing with a friendly intelligence. The second message turned out to be a new sequence of DNA with the rather friendly instructions on how to combine it with ours. Here's some technical data on the whole operation. You can get feedback on it from Dr Baker here. Basically the new combined DNA sequence was injected into 100 human ova. We got seven to divide. Four petered out, two were stored in liquid nitrogen, and we allowed one to grow. That's its code name there, Sil
[video shows cells dividing]
Xavier Fitch : that's after 2 hours.
[Sil is now a fetus]
Xavier Fitch : one day
[Sil is now a more fully developed fetus]
Xavier Fitch : two days.
Dr. Stephen Arden : My god.
Dr. Laura Baker : [amazed] It's growth is amazing.
Xavier Fitch : [the video shows Sil as a fully developed fetus] it's a week.
Dan Smithson, Empath : It's a girl.
Xavier Fitch : Yes, l...
[Amazed]
Xavier Fitch : we decided to make it female so that it would be more docile and controllable.
Preston Lennox : More docile and controllable huh? Well I guess you guys don't get out much.
Xavier Fitch : [Sil is one month on the video] that's her one month after she was born.
Dr. Laura Baker : So you kept her caged in there?
Xavier Fitch : We decided it would be safer to keep her in isolation.
Dan Smithson, Empath : She didn't like being locked up like that. She didn't like being alone like that.
Xavier Fitch : Didn't she?
Dan Smithson, Empath : She's hiding something, something inside her.
Xavier Fitch : You're right, Dan.
[Sil is shown on the video monitor at 3 months old she is shown sleeping]
Xavier Fitch : this is 3 months after she was born, and you watch carefully
[she screeches in her sleep]
Preston Lennox : What the hell was that?
Dr. Stephen Arden : Back the tape up. Watch her eyes. Rapid eye movement. she's dreaming.
Dan Smithson, Empath : She's having horrible nightmares.
Dr. Laura Baker : It's some kind of anxiety reaction.
Preston Lennox : Got me a little anxious.
Xavier Fitch : Well it made the research team a little anxious, too. So the decision was made to terminate the experiment to run more research so that we could determine what we were dealing with.
Dr. Laura Baker : [the video monitor show Sil inside the gas chamber] you were going to gas her?
Xavier Fitch : That was the decision.
Dan Smithson, Empath : It makes you feel bad. It makes you feel bad that you had to kill her doesn't it?
Xavier Fitch : I don't know.
Preston Lennox : [Sil is shown jumping through the glass escaping the gas chamber] Wow.
Xavier Fitch : Yes. Yesterday morning the body of a transient was found in a boxcar on a siding near Salt Lake City. Preliminary DNA tests conclude he was killed by our creation, by our Sil.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Have you found any other bodies?
Xavier Fitch : No, we haven't. Not yet.
Dan Smithson, Empath : You will. She's a predator. Her eyes are in front. Her eyes are in front so she can judge the distance to her prey.
Dr. Laura Baker : That's right.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Where'd you learn that fact, Dan?
Dan Smithson, Empath : I saw it on a documentary on the Discovery Channel.
Preston Lennox : I caught that show myself.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : [discovering the conductors dead body] Something bad happened here.
Preston Lennox : No shit.
Xavier Fitch : Crushed her larynx.
Dan Smithson, Empath : She was afraid. She's scared. Frightened.
Dr. Stephen Arden : [looking over the food Sil ate] Hungry, too, by the looks of it. She's been eating like a horse.
Preston Lennox : Well, our girl is definitely not on a diet.
Dr. Laura Baker : She must be storing up calories for something.
Xavier Fitch : Any ideas?
Dr. Stephen Arden : [sees conductors dead body] Oh, my.
[Sees the cocoon]
Dr. Stephen Arden : Well, that's.. that looks like some sort of chrysalis. Some kind of cocoon.
Preston Lennox : What are we looking for, a giant moth?
Dr. Laura Baker : If that is a cocoon, she'll be fully grown now.
Xavier Fitch : Fully grown.
Preston Lennox : Well, maybe that's how she got by our people. They were looking for a child.
Dan Smithson, Empath : She is a child.
Preston Lennox : It stinks in here. I'm going outside.
[to Aide]
Preston Lennox : get the conductor's ID and credit card numbers on your computer. There's no sign of them on the train. Let's assume she took them with her.
Aide : I'll see to that.
Dan Smithson, Empath : She kills if she feels threatened, and she has no remorse about it. None.
Dr. Stephen Arden : Of course, Los Angeles is perfect for her. It's a city of the future. Anything goes. Totally mobile population. Everyones a stranger. Very little in this town is taboo or unacceptable. Whatever she does no one's going to notice her.
Xavier Fitch : Yeah well whatever, so... Los Angeles is where the battle is going to be fought. And won.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : Something bad happened here...
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Dan Smithson, Empath : Something's - something's wrong.
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Dan Smithson, Empath : Fitch, Fitch it doesn't feel right.
